New Lenovo laptop w/Windows 10 Home - Major limitations (how to fix)?

Try3 said:

Sammy,

1 Add or Remove Default Desktop Icons - TenforumsTutorials

2
Windows Defender SmartScreen for Apps and Files from Web - Turn On or Off in - TenForumsTutorials
Windows Defender SmartScreen for Microsoft Edge - Turn On or Off - TenForumsTutorials
Windows Defender SmartScreen for Microsoft Store Apps - Turn On or Off - TenForumsTutorials

3 There isn't for Windows 10 Home. There wasn't for Windows 7 Home Premium.

4 Your replacement antimalware utility will disable WD for you. See also Enable or Disable Real-time Protection for Microsoft Defender - TenForumsTutorials

There are links to tutorials at the top of every TenForums page.

Denis

I use extensively gpsedit within Windows 8.1 but I have been using the Classic Shell as I can't stand (for the most part) the new Windows design.

My eyes clearly aren't used to the new Windows layout. I previously searched within the settings of Windows 10 Defender and more but I could not find what you posted. Then today, I revisited the links again and I found them. Argh.

Thanks for linking them. I appreciate it.

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Matthew Wai said:

I have been using Microsoft Defender happily since the free upgrade to Windows 10 in 2015.
I was criticized for that on another forum.

It's not bad, surprisingly. But I'd like to disable it on occasion as I don't need it running in the background continuously.

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dalchina said:

- which does rather seem to be encouraging sammy888 to leave the sparkling new laptop .er. unDefended, so to speak.

I have disabled and enabled AV for more than 25 years depending on my needs and what I'm doing at the time.

For "average" users, I wouldn't recommend doing what I do.

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dalchina said:

This comes with Win 10 Pro. Whilst there are threads out there to add it, 100% compatibility is not guaranteed.
Most tutorials here give the equivalent registry details and reg file where a group policy is involved and that is relevant to the topic.

There is this (free):
Policy Plus brings Group Policy to all Windows editions - gHacks Tech News
- which also includes a useful find feature

Why were you expecting to find the group policy editor? Did you have it previously?


Not entirely true - and note that Defender is also your firewall.

Installing a 3rd party AV partially disables Defender.

There are plenty of threads here you can read arguing that Defender is good enough.

I have gotten used to the Group Policy Editor in Windows 8.1

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Matthew Wai said:

If you mean "This PC", try running the following two lines of commands via Windows PowerShell or Command Prompt:

Code:

(REG Add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel" /V "{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}" /T REG_DWORD /D "0" /F)
(REG Add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\ClassicStartMenu" /V "{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}" /T REG_DWORD /D "0" /F)

Thanks. Noted.

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mngerhold said:

Bit late to the party:

1: Settings>Personalisation>Themes>Desktop Icon settings - I know, its intuitively obvious!
2. Don't know what that is
3. Only in Pro AIUI
4. Only by installing something else (or pretending to, say using DefenderControl), or (brutal) renaming msmpeng.exe in ProgramData folder while booted to command prompt.

Argh. Totally ridiculous placement.

Classic shell has been replaced with Open Shell (Classic Shell)

Some programs / apps to use to tweak Win 10 you may find useful

Is there a hack to allow me to actually be "administrator"? I'm the only user for crying out loud and it's my laptop. Why is Windows telling me I don't have administrator rights when I am logged in as adminstrator. My UAC level is the lowest too. I never had this issue with Windows 7 Pro.

dalchina said:

Did you in fact notice my mentioning Policy Plus /(free)? - no need to hack the O/S - and better than the Group Policy editor in that ot adds search.

Was it here or elsewhere that it mentioned that the file you recommended may not be as good or as reliable as the actually Windows Group Policy Editor? The search feature is definitely a plus though.

Also instructions specific to Windows Group Policy Editor don't usually apply to the application you recommended. For instance, there's no way to disable Windows Defender from it, but you can if you have Windows Pro and following these instructions: Windows Defender Turned Off by Group Policy [Solved]

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Megahertz said:

Classic shell has been replaced with Open Shell (Classic Shell)

Some programs / apps to use to tweak Win 10 you may find useful

Thanks. If only there was a hack to make me full Adminstrator and stop reminding me or asking to continue in the pop-up.

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Try3 said:

Sammy,

4 Your replacement antimalware utility will disable WD for you. See also Enable or Disable Real-time Protection for Microsoft Defender - TenForumsTutorials

There are links to tutorials at the top of every TenForums page.

Denis

With Windows 8.1 I was able to disable WD completely in the Group Policy Editor, but I can't do so in Win 10 Home. I can disable Smartscreen, but MsMpEng.exe keeps on restarting even when I disable real time scanning,

Additionally, even after I removed or disabled a lot of bloatware, I am consuming more than 25% of RAM compared to 18% with Win 8.1 and about 19% with Windows 7 on a system that's not as powerful as my laptop.

Try3 said:

Sammy,

Admin privileges & UAC are exactly the same as they were in Windows 7.

Denis

Sorry Denis, nope.
If you slide down the UAC on Win 7 id doesn't ask for permission. On Win 10 it still does.

To turn off UAC on win 10

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

If you do not have such a Registry key, then just create it.
Tip: You can access any desired Registry key with one click.

In the right pane, modify the value of the EnableLUA DWORD value and set it to 0: