Please help streamline Windows 10. Need the garbage out!

New to this forum and Windows 10. Previously used XP and Linux. Any windows OS after XP is brand new to me, so please bear with me.

I've already removed several apps in add/remove programs. I've also uninstalled several with PowerShell. McAffe, Word, People, Camera, XBox, Store, and all the obvious junk has been removed.

My memory usage is still a ridiculous 37% when the system is idle and the network is turned off.

Is there a list of services, apps, or other things I can remove/disable to get the unnecessary junk out of this OS and free up my resources?

My computer usage is basic. I run E*Trade Pro, browse the internet, play games that are not demanding on my system, basic document writing and printing.

My computer usage didn't intensify over the years since XP, so all I really want is a machine that functions like XP. Things I want, I install. Not liking the multitude of (money sucking, privacy violating) programs that are lurking behind the scenes here.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

What junk on you system is causing problems?
Why would 37% memory usage be a problem?

I don't see anything wrong. Do you?

Thanks for the replies folks.

@margrave55 : The problem is, there are a stack of services running that don't need to be. They use resources when I'm not doing anything. Also, If I leave my network connected and don't have anything running that requires internet, the OS is constantly using the connection to do things that I haven't given it permission to. Another problem is, when I try to modify/uninstall/delete things I'm often told I don't have administrator privileges (or some other error like "access is denied"), but I am absolutely logged in as administrator. I am the only user of this machine, so if I want to alter a file, the OS should let me.....even if it's going to crash my system. I have nothing stored on this machine, so I don't care if I do something that makes it crash, it would be a learning experience. I would even like to disable Edge if I can, but access is denied to all of those files also. I know disabling Edge is not recommended because it's part of the OS and it can cause instability, crashes, etc. But I've read numerous reports of PPL disabling it and the system ran better afterwards. I want to try things like that. If it crashes, I reinstall, not a big deal.

@dalchina : I've tried Classic Shell 4_3_1 and it only changed the start menu configuration. I'll try the one you linked as well. Thank you for the anti-telemetry program list also. Definitely will give those a look. I've done all the steps to disable the background apps too. I'm hoping to go a little deeper than the basic configuration steps windows shows to everyone. In XP I turned off or set to manual a ton of services. This OS has a list of running services longer than my arm, some of those I'm sure are unnecessary, I just don't know which ones.
@swarfega: Thank you for that guide! Very informative.

Just wanted to update if anyone is following....

I found this list of service configurations by Black Viper: Black Vipers Windows 10 Service Configurations | Black Viper | www.blackviper.com

After going through the list and duplicating his/her recommendations I shaved another 4% off of my memory usage. Now at 33% when idle and network is turned off. System startup time has also improved.

dalchina, it seems that messing around with the services can help improve performance. I'm the type of person who likes to try things out. Of course I've jammed up operating systems beyond recovery, but I'm happy to have learned from my mistakes. Still going to look for ways to shave more memory usage off my idle readings. I'll report back here with my results.

Now, does anyone have an experience with disabling (not uninstalling) Edge? Or should I start a new thread?
When I try to follow the steps here: How to Uninstall or Disable Microsoft Edge in Windows 10 - Driver Easy
I can't get past the first process. I cannot rename the Edge folder they reference. That's one of the problems I'm having. How do I get permission to alter critical OS files/folders like Edge?

Again, I'm well aware of the negative impacts disabling Edge can have. I still want to proceed though.

You sound as though you're obsessed.
There's really no need to fuss over all those services. They use little in the way of resources and they're not doing any harm.
I think you need to just let Windows run ... and chill out a bit. A computer is not worth all these worries.

1Mythical1 said:

@margrave55 : The problem is, there are a stack of services running that don't need to be. They use resources when I'm not doing anything. Also, If I leave my network connected and don't have anything running that requires internet, the OS is constantly using the connection to do things that I haven't given it permission to. Another problem is, when I try to modify/uninstall/delete things I'm often told I don't have administrator privileges (or some other error like "access is denied"), but I am absolutely logged in as administrator. I am the only user of this machine, so if I want to alter a file, the OS should let me.....even if it's going to crash my system. I have nothing stored on this machine, so I don't care if I do something that makes it crash, it would be a learning experience. I would even like to disable Edge if I can, but access is denied to all of those files also. I know disabling Edge is not recommended because it's part of the OS and it can cause instability, crashes, etc. But I've read numerous reports of PPL disabling it and the system ran better afterwards. I want to try things like that. If it crashes, I reinstall, not a big deal.

To OP: Keep in mind that for modern Windows Systems (XP and onwards) memory (RAM) is being used almost to full capability, because any memory that's not used it's like something going to waste. See Superfetch explanation here. Windows preloads most common workloads using a complex algorithm. W10 even goes one step further; it even compresses RAM portions, it adds several preference level to memory tables, etc... If you want more info, check some of the works of Mark Russinovich.

It looks like this could be your computer
ASUS VivoBook X540LA-SI30205P - 15.6" - Core i3 5020U - 4 GB RAM - 1 TB HDD
ASUS VivoBook X540LA-SI30205P Specs - CNET
Do you get the computer fairly recently and had to clean out some bloatware?
Run winver and let us know what version you are using.
Ensure all of your Windows Updates are up-to-date.

Post #1: “My memory usage is still a ridiculous 37% when the system is idle and the network is turned off.”
--- That doesn’t sound unreasonable to me.
--- However what is the computer performance when normally using the computer?

On E*Trade Pro is it always running in the background?
Are your startups at a minimum?
Do you use OneDrive? If not disable OneDrive in startups.
What internet security package are you using?
Run disk cleanup, if you prefer you can run free up space now.
--- I do mine on a monthly basis.