Most minimalinstallpossible , third party firewalls?

So... I only use windows for PC gaming. I'm running into the brick wall that new hardware simply isn't supported in Windows 7.

I do not want any of the new features of windows 10, just hardware support for my 8'th gen processor and GTX 1070...

What is the most basic, minimal install of windows 10 I can manage?

I also want to use a third party firewall to stop everything windows 10 tries to connect to the net for except for when I am browsing or online gaming. Is this possible?

Or should I just donate my new hardware and go back to a 6'th gen motherboard and processor for a few more years?

I value my privacy, control of registry, third party firewall use etc... and hear so many bad things about windows 10.. is it possible to make it tolerable?

TairikuOkami said:

Free Firewall

Thank you for the reply. I'm skeptical at this point but if manually installing drivers etc... for my chipset etc... don't work in 7 I know the gig is up. Time marches on.

I view the PC as a tool that I use and the internet as something I connect to only for a specific purpose. I don't want to be connected via a store, I don't want any updates, no automatic checking of anything or reporting... any AV or firewall I want to be third party. I also want to be able to completely control my color settings etc... I know about the windows start menu fix programs fortunately.

I know it's an archaic way of thinking, but from the very first game I was forced to use windows for and leave DOS 3.1 behind, I have viewed each update of windows as a loss of control... 10 however... seems to be several steps further.

I've even heard of some people running a Linux system between their Win10 computer and the net to manually stop it from connecting for updates, telemetry etc...

TairikuOkami said:

My kind of a man. I am happy to say, that I have tamed the beast the way I like it. There are some consequences, like removing Cortana crippled Start and such, but I can live without that.

I use Windows Firewall. I do not have any Windows process allowed to connect. No leaking, as far as I can tell.

Really? I figured I would be roasted alive on here, glad to hear someone else is a minimalist. :)

The skeptical part of me wonders: If Windows is the thing I want to control with my firewall, and Windows is also the firewall, how can I trust it? I.e. Can the police police themselves? Does it automatically "ignore" certain activity Microsoft views as central to the OS... (Of course they would use a much more eloquent way of saying that, if it was the case).

Can you use Regedit.exe and tools in there and actually have it save your preferences? I seem to remember Win10 on a laptop I had somehow changing or ignoring things I altered in registry... as though it had another reference source it was using that over-rode my registry changes...

Tinfoil hat conspiracy thinking or have you seen that? How tame have you gotten this beast to become? :)

I bought a new laptop last year, a 7th gen i5 (advertised as a gaming laptop). I wanted it primarily for field recording for my recording studio. The PC, with the vendor's install was unusable for recording as I kept getting drop outs and Resplendence Latency Mon also showed the glitches. I started to try and tame the install but was unsuccessful and returned it to the original factory image and installed a second SSD (it came with an M.2 SSD and space for a laptop hard drive or SSD) and made it a dual boot. The second install was Win 10 home, needed device drivers and my recording studio software. It is a "minimal" install and works great, for audio recording.

TairikuOkami said:

I turn off computer with my tweaks to make sure, that 10 will not "forget" them.


The only services running. Could have been less, but Windows Firewall is demanding.

That doesn't look bad, but can you turn off Windows defender? I don't like it and don't trust it, to be honest...

I hear the basic functionality in 10 is based mostly on 7, so why is it so hard to get back the control? Is there any third party program to block/turn off defender etc...?

So far my new ASUS 300 series motherboard is actively fighting my install of Win7... it manually resets settings I change to prevent booting from a thumb drive to install 7... I had to go to CD but without the asus installer injecting USB 3.0 drivers I can't get them in now. I have half-functioning Win7 and would like to stay with Win 7 to be honest... but may just give up and use 10.