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I'm with the folks that said reinstall. You can't debloat the windows registry, not really, and apps that claim to can do a partial job at best. There's rust besides that as well. It's all a nightmare.
I keep my documents/pictures/music/etc on a secondary drive. When I reinstall windows I don't tend to lose anything. I just remap my "library" directories to where they are on my 2nd drive with the fresh install. It doesn't give me my programs back, but it does give me all of the files I created with said programs.
Real programmers use butterflies
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Download the Windows 10 or 11 retail ISO and reimage it. There's really no way to get the OEM crapware off a machine short of a reimage.
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The current Win10 installer ISO does not fit on a single-sided DVD. When I recently installed Win10 on my new PC, I downloaded the MS tool which created a bootable flash drive.
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It fits on a dual layer DVD though, I'm not sure I see the problem.
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Paul Sanders (the other one) wrote: It fits on a dual layer DVD though, I'm not sure I see the problem.
If you don't have a dual layer DVD or burner, it's an insurmountable problem.
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Both are cheap and all burners have been dual layer for as long as I can remember.
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Thumb drives are cheaper. And re-usable. Also...if you have a functioning copy of Win10 already running and you just want a reload....Win10 has that built in. Just search for "reset" and it even has an option to download and install from the internet and it will grab the latest and greatest. De-crappifying comes from choosing the "keep nothing" option.
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Then you get crap but from the "decrapify" vendor.
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Better to not download the software from BleepingComputer, because it could be packed with malware or other unwanted apps. Go directly to the home of AdwCleaner, Malwarebytes [^]
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M60 machine gun followed by 3 rounds of 40MM HE.
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A .45 ACP should be enough.
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Well, if you are going to take that angle, a BB gun would be enough. My approach is more in line with low budget actions movies from the 1980's.
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Slacker007 wrote: M60 machine gun followed by 3 rounds of 40MM HE.
Followed by:
- Razing the entire neighbourhood
- Plowing it under with salt and any hazardous materials you may have to hand
- Nuking the entire city from orbit
- Blowing up the Sun
If that doesn't do it, nothing will!
:evil laugh:
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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"The Q'nl were an incredible ancient race. We know of them only by the messages left behind by their victims. Apparently their only source of amusement can be explained using a thoroughly human analogy.
Imagine playing marbles... using neutron stars."
Software Zen: delete this;
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Windows 10 Decrapifier, 18XX/19XX/2XXX - Script Center - Spiceworks[^]
Invest a little time to read the docs and understand the script. Run it during a clean installation of a clean retail ISO. I have been using it for months on all new installations (Windows 10 Pro on industrial PCs for machine control HMIs). It easily gets rid of all the MS junk you don't need and I have never encountered any negative side effects.
Phil
The opinions expressed in this post are not necessarily those of the author, especially if you find them impolite, inaccurate or inflammatory.
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That's a great link. Thanks,
Andy
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I wonder how much more a new PC would cost without the crapware. Depending on the cost, I would even consider spending more just to have it.Looks like maybe $100 , so totally worth the extra money!
Hogan
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This is exactly what MS set out to do with their so-called "Signature Edition" PCs - you'd pay more up-front, but would be guaranteed no extra crapware from third-parties.
I'm pretty sure that's disappeared off the face of the earth.
As for the OP's question - get an ISO from MS directly. That won't get rid of the stuff they bundle, but it's a good start.
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Don't worry, MS will start adding crap through the updates. Example: I now have Spotify...I didn't install it, it just showed up after an update!
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
"Hope is contagious"
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boot from A: and format C: /s LOL
Ah, those were the days.
You can just uninstall all the crapware or, if you have the OS on removable media, just reinstall and start over. I could recommend the incomparable CCleaner, but it doesn't specifically remove OEM crapware. I'm not aware of any general-purpose utility that does this.
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As several other people are stressing: Clean install will do it. It won't even take that long.
New crapware will creep in, though. New cookies, new registry entries, new directories with files you do not know where came from. So you really should plan for another clean install ever month, every two months or every three months, depending on how big the problem is.
Then it isn't as straightforward any more! A clean install will erase even the applications you want to keep, your lists of trusted email addresses, your various certificates, ...
I wrote a software installation wizard handling all sorts of installers (that's how I learned to hate installer developers' unlimited competence in finding new ways of installing software ), so I can have all the software automatically put in place after the clean Windows re-install - provided that I have remembered to add the newest systems to the wizard task list. And, some installers demand interactive input for license keys etc., so I have to babysit it. (I have ordered the task list so that those installers are run before the others, so when they are done, all the fully automated ones can be run without me holding its hand.)
In a few cases, I have to do manual operations after the wizard completes: I have a checklist reminding me of all of those. More important: The checklist tells me what I shouldn't forget before the clean install: Even though I keep all my user data on other disks than C:, several applications insist on putting data there - typically email clients and other network software. So I have to e.g. move all unsorted email from 'inbox' to other folders. Until my checklist had matured, I did loose some (minor) pieces of data.
With the checklist and reinstall wizard in place, doing regular complete cleanups becomes routine. Actually, I don't need to do it more than, say, every three months. That is because I gradually learn how to keep the crapware / spyware / adware / malware in general, from creeping in.
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Put in the microwave for 10 minutes on high.
Nothing succeeds like a budgie without teeth.
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Brain.exe
Knowing exactly what you're about to disable and why as well as how, is superior in the long term to those apps.
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