I love Win 10..

I must admit, it would be nice if a version of Windows 10 as clean as Enterprise LTSC Edition was available for private home users, I honestly wouldn't care if I had to pay a bit more that a regular Windows 10 Pro license for such an edition. I mean, I just don't see why the regular Windows 10 Home Edition needs to come with games from King.com, Gameloft, Disney etc bundled with some bundled third-party apps as well like Netflix, can't we have a choice?

If I want those apps/games I would download them from the Microsoft Store!!! Also the store apps in cases are slower to open than their desktop equivalence or not as feature rich in some cases.....at least on my old PC, this is even with the apps set to run always as background apps...

mTaylor0248603 said:

I must admit, it would be nice if a version of Windows 10 as clean as Enterprise LTSC Edition was available for private home users, I honestly wouldn't care if I had to pay a bit more that a regular Windows 10 Pro license for such an edition. I mean, I just don't see why the regular Windows 10 Home Edition needs to come with games from King.com, Gameloft, Disney etc bundled with some bundled third-party apps as well like Netflix, can't we have a choice?

You do have a choice - make sure your PC is not connected to the Internet when you install Windows 10 (no matter how much it tries to tell you it is needed and you will only get a "limited setup" without it).

After W10 is installed, you also need to turn off and remove the LIve Tiles on the Start Menu (especially the blank ones with the little arrow that says "A great app is on it's way" when you hover the mouse pointer over them) before connecting to the Internet.

Result: No Candy Crush or any of the other games you've mentioned. No Netflix and most of the other 'bloat' as well.

A lot of the other stuff like XBox, etc. can be removed (if you don't want them) with the Tools option of CCleaner or O&O's AppBuster (from the same company that provides ShutUp10).

Windows 10 is the only version of Windows where I consider it to be absolutely essential to disconnect from the Internet when installing to get a reasonably 'clean' install for home users. You can also install all of your drivers (from the manufacturers' websites preferably) and adjust all your privacy settings, etc. before going online.

CarlSD said:

You do have a choice - make sure your PC is not connected to the Internet when you install Windows 10 (no matter how much it tries to tell you it is needed and you will only get a "limited setup" without it).

What you've described sounds more like a workaround than a choice.

CarlSD said:

After W10 is installed, you also need to turn off and remove the LIve Tiles on the Start Menu (especially the blank ones with the little arrow that says "A great app is on it's way" when you hover the mouse pointer over them) before connecting to the Internet.

I've tried this many times and as soon as I connect my PC to the internet it revert any start menu settings/layout and still auto downloads the bundled apps, even when unpinned/uninstalled. Its as if Windows 10 is just waiting for a connection to complete if WaaS initial setup and reverts anything to do with the start menu until if does.

Only when I let it download that apps first then unpin/uninstall them does it stick.

mTaylor0248603 said:

What you've described sounds more like a workaround than a choice. I've tried this many times and as soon as I connect my PC to the internet it revert any start menu settings/layout and still auto downloads the bundled apps, even when unpinned/uninstalled. Its as if Windows 10 is just waiting for a connection to complete if WaaS initial setup and reverts anything to do with the start menu until if does. Only when I let it download that apps first then unpin/uninstall them does it stick.

That's interesting. Is this something that's just started happening with Windows 10 1909? I haven't done a clean install of 1909 yet but I did download the updated ISO for 1903 a couple of months back and did a clean install with that, disconnected from the Internet, as always. I also did the "turn off and remove the live tiles" routine before going online.

When I did go online, a blue box popped up which said something like "Great - now that you're connected we can finish setting things up" (might not be the exact words but close enough). I thought "uh-oh, don't tell me I'm now going to get Candy Crush and the rest of the unwanted games, etc." I clicked OK but nothing happened.

Might try a clean install with 1909 on a spare SSD to see what happens. Wouldn't surprise me if MS has woken up to the fact that more and more people are learning how to avoid most of the W10 'bloat' and they're going to force it onto you when you eventually go online whether you want it or not. Next step will probably be they will make it difficult or impossible to remove.

It takes me less than 5 minutes to right click on and uninstall everything I don't want. Its just not that big of a deal.

The offline installation option is great, I like that! If it still works .However I sure can spend 5 min to remove the garbage. But is it really removed..or just hidden?

NavyLCDR said:

It takes me less than 5 minutes to right click on and uninstall everything I don't want. Its just not that big of a deal.

Last time I tried that with Candy Crush (before I learned to disconnect the Internet before installing Windows 10) it immediately proceeded to reinstall itself. Can't remember if it was straight away or after a reboot but I do remember it put me off W10 for quite some time after that (I really, really dislike those sorts of shenanigans).

Anyway, I've just tried a clean install of Windows 10 Home 1909 on my spare SSD. Disconnected from the Internet, of course.

Turned off and removed the live tiles from the Start Menu, then adjusted all of my privacy settings, etc. Installed all of my drivers then connected to the Internet.

The "Let's finish setting things up" blue box appeared in the middle of the screen (which immediately wiped out the other usual blue box which appears from the right side of the screen asking about the type of network I was connecting to - this resulted in the choice defaulting to a Public Network). Good one. Changed it to Private later.

After clicking OK for the "Let's finish setting things up" box another blue box popped up with things like Microsoft Account, etc. I just clicked "Skip for now" and it didn't bother me again. Ran Windows Update and brought everything up to date.

After doing all this there is no sign of Netflix, Candy Crush or any of the other games in Post #21 by mTaylor0248603.

And, (I always use Pro except for this little test) I see MS is still playing their little Windows Update "game" with Home users - the option to "Allow downloads from other PC's" in Delivery Optimization is turned on and "greyed out" until you start downloading updates then it becomes available and can be turned off. Doesn't do that in Pro (so far).

- - - Updated - - -

Morton54 said:

The offline installation option is great, I like that! If it still works .However I sure can spend 5 min to remove the garbage. But is it really removed..or just hidden?

Hi,

as far as I can determine, games from King.com, Gameloft, Disney, Candy Crush and other stuff like Dolby Access (if it is still included - I'm not sure) etc. only get installed if you have an Internet connection when you install Windows 10.

But, as I've mentioned earlier, you also need to right click > turn live tile off then right click > unpin from Start all of the "blank" tiles on the Start Menu (the ones with the little arrows).

I did an experiment a year or so back where I installed W10 without an Internet connection but I didn't turn off and remove the tiles. As soon as I connected to the Internet the live tiles "came to life" and downloaded Candy Crush and the other games, etc.

As I also mentioned in my earler post - A lot of the other stuff like XBox, etc. can be removed (if you don't want them) with the Tools option of CCleaner or O&O's AppBuster (from the same company that provides ShutUp10). CCleaner seems to just "hide" them but O&O's AppBuster actually removes them.

Use caution if you're doing this, of course - making an image of your OS before starting is always a good idea.

Barman58 said:

Windows 10 Pro is available for purchase either online or at Brick's and mortar stores, also updates to windows 10 were (last I checked) still free, so if you had a copy of Win7 Pro you could update that to windows 10 Pro - there are tutorials on site to guide you

Hi there

Still working as of this morning (Sun Dec 08) --- I suspect with W7 EOL coming up shortly Ms will not "Shut" this upgrade method --it's in THEIR as well as IMO most users interest to upgrade ASAP. Even for those who might still prefer the basic W7 GUI the built in very much enhanced security on W10 - especially on the latest builds makes this alone a good reason for updating. Ms security is so far improved compared with W7 it could almost be compared with "Computing from another Galaxy".

Cheers
jimbo

Good show CarlSD 🙄.

Jimbo, I'm sure you are right. So, I'm in no hurry to retire my W7. Carefully maintained and tweaked thru many years for my purpose and now running on a SSD, it still performs exellent. Security wise, in the end, it all comes down to user..

Barman, you maybe have a point there. I'll tag this thread for use when the times come.