Thought it’d be nice to have a thread about de-shittifying and customizing Windows :) I know a lot of people use Linux but personally I have been using Windows since I could read and I’m not ready for the switch yet haha. This is not a windows v linux thread. It’s time to take Windows into our own hands >:)
Just as a note, I use Windows 10. A lot of these offer tools for Windows 11 as well but I can’t personally vouch!
Some programs I use(d) to make my computer act more how I like it to:
O&O ShutUp10++ - antispyware tool for windows 10/11, I have disabled cortana and a lot of the bullshit background processes that come baked into the OS
Windows 10 Debloater - a bit redundant because it does most of the same things as O&O, but it’s a script instead of an application, so if you don’t feel like installing more things this is a bit quicker.
Portals - Allows me to organize my desktop apps into folders and it looks really cute :) Works better and is less resource-intensive than anything similar I’ve used.
Everything - It’s been getting better in recent years but using the search tool in File Explorer is generally very slow and doesn’t always show everything. This app shows everything.
TreeSize Free - Sometimes your hard drive is filled up and it’s very hard to find what is causing the issue because Windows default application uninstaller is sort of terrible. This is infinitely easier.
PowerToys - a microsoft app, but I really love it for its search and colorpicker tools specifically.
OpenShell - You can use this to get the “old style” start menu back, if you’re not a fan of what Windows 10/11 did with it.
Sidebar Diagnostics - Widget for your desktop that lets you montior things like RAM usage, CPU/GPU temps, hard drive space, etc.
Winaero Tweaker - I use this sparingly because honestly it’s a bit clunky and sometimes has unexpected side-effects. Nothing machine-breaking but like… be careful with this lol. I like it though because it lets me make my taskbar a little transparent
That’s all the random garbage I put on my laptop to make it do what I like. A lot of it is unnecessary aesthetic stuff, but I am in fact an unnecessarily aesthetically-focused person LMAO.
What do you use to debloat/customize Windows? I’m always looking for new things to fiddle with
i use irfanview as a replacement for the default windows image viewer! it works better hahaha. i use ccleaner for uninstalling stuff, but it’s a little clunky and doesn’t always work great, so maybe i’ll try out treesize instead!
these seem super useful, i’m excited to improve my quality of life on windows a bit haha!
Oh I’ll def check out that image viewer. The default windows one is annoying, but I installed the old windows photo viewer and it doesn’t work with a lot of filetypes!
I was just in the process of dual-booting Windows 11 and Linux Mint (on separate SSDs) and just resurfaced from a dive into this very topic. How serendipitous!
I won’t touch on any piracy aspect here ofc, but I will comment (in agreement with the topic title): Ideologically, with how ridiculous Microsoft is, they should be paying YOU for putting up with them. Well, at least sailing’s never been easier.
Anyways, back on Windows 10 I was using Patch My PC (Home Updater) to keep applications regularly, and conveniently, up-to-date. And while it still seems to be an option, for the time being I’m using:
Very smooth install / ease-of-use, uninstall, bulk updates, tweaks, “debloat” and more. Here’s a video:
In terms of more privacy / “debloat” resources, I’m familiar with the following:
It’s important to be mindful however of how randomly firing off all these scripts / programs, particularly in “wild-abandon” combination, could lead you to serious troubleshooting immediately or down-the-road, where you could just end up restarting from zero
