I want to make Windows 10 leaner, suggestions?

antares · 06 Jun 2017

After some research I made some custom changes to Windows 10x64 that I describe below using the Policy Editor. Any other suggested customizations? Thanks

How to Prevent Windows 10 From Automatically Downloading Updates

How to Disable Cortana in Windows 10’s Anniversary Update

How to Uninstall Windows 10’s Built-in Apps (and How to Reinstall Them)

How to Stop Windows 10 From Automatically Updating Hardware Drivers

Configure Windows telemetry in your organization

UPDATE:
I just realized I should've started this thread in the "Performance & Maintenance"
forum. Anyone knows how to move it? Thanks

dalchina · 06 Jun 2017

Why do you want to stop updates? I have mine set to notify- so they are downloaded when I want them. Never had an unexpected restart. (And as I have Pro, I defer feature updates (= no Creator's Update for while yet).

Not updating = potential insecurity. And MS does correct some things- albeit extremely slowly.
Granted, there has been a risk when MS got things badly wrong with updates- which I escaped, having updates set to notify.

Tutorials
The tutorials here cover a number of the points above. Do have a look at the extensive tutorial section.

antares · 06 Jun 2017

I'm not stopping Updates, I'm just disabling Automatic Updates, I can still Update manually whenever I choose. So I'm still updating, but I'm doing so manually

TairikuOkami · 06 Jun 2017

antares said:

Any other suggested customizations?

I do not think, you will get any advice on that subject, unless you are looking for something specific, because customization are rather subjective, each person has his own way. Like from your 5 suggestions, I would not uninstall the built-in apps, it breaks some stuff and I like my Windows mean and lean, to mention some crazy stuff: I have disabled events logging or WinINet Caching. You can check my tweaks, but you should always backup before making any changes. For comparison, my services and my disk activity 15 mins after startup.

Bobby Phoenix · 07 Jun 2017

Are you trying to make it leaner to save space? I think upgrading your storage would be a better option. Changing things MS has built in is usually not a good thing especially multiple things. The end result is usually massive issues down the road when you try to update things as Windows looks for certain files, and if not found results in BSoD, blank/black screen at boot, among other things. It's best to just not use/ignore things you don't want than to try to modify the system.

antares · 07 Jun 2017

Bobby Phoenix said:

...when you try to update things as Windows looks for certain files, and if not found results in BSoD, blank/black screen at boot, among other things...

None of the changes I mentioned involves deleting any files, it's just disabling that feature/function with the built in Policy Editor. You can always enable it later at any time if you wish so. So there's no risk involved in breaking the system. I do however think that ,as mentioned by TairikuOKama in his reply, there might be a risk in breaking the system by uninstalling Apps (3rd item in my post), but even then you can reinstall them later. Of course, as long as a backup is made, you are 100% insured.

CountMike · 08 Jun 2017

NTLite

antares · 13 Jun 2017

Another useful tweak:

Disable or Uninstall OneDrive Completely in Windows 10

CountMike · 13 Jun 2017

Or just download a leaned out Windows: Download Windows 10 Creators Update Bloatware Free Edition - MajorGeeks

Cr00zng · 13 Jun 2017

Or, you could just use ShutUp Windows10:

OO ShutUp10: download free antispy tool for Windows 10

O&O Software is a gold MS partner, the above tool is free for individuals, colleges and not for profit organizations. No installation required, the recommended settings are safe, just run it after Windows update...