Windows 10 installs useless apps again after i uninstall them

Hello,

I followed the guide Apps - Uninstall in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums to uninstall useless apps for all users and prevent it from installing in new users. I'm making a powershell script that removes all useless apps for all users and new users at our school's computers because there are many users logged in and it makes the computer much slower. After i removed all useless apps, and few minutes later... i see the SAME apps are being downloaded and install it back again without notice and without a microsoft account.

How can i fully stop it from downloading?

Could you give an example?

If you uninstall an app (like mail or people etc) for all users then it (should and normally) will not reinstall.

However... There are some apps though (flipboard, minecraft) which are not installed but have a tile in the start menu and will download if you click on them. Some people say they download even if you don't click on them but I've not observed this myself.

Thirdly when you upgrade from one version of Windows 10 to the next you'll get the whole lot back again. There is no way around that as far as I know.

If you are interested here is my powershell to remove apps - it is based on the tutorial you linked to and some GitHub project I found referenced in the source below.

I don't do it to make things faster (as they don't use any CPU when not running except for the occasional update) but rather to save a bit (about 1GB) of disk space. You can comment out any you want to keep of course with a # in the $apps array. As you can see I choose to keep Weather, Calculator, Mail and Skype.

Code:

$OS = Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem
If(-not $OS.Caption.Contains("10")) {
	Read-Host -Prompt "This script only works with Windows 10.  Press Enter to exit."
	exit
}

# Apps to remove
$apps = @( 	
	"9E2F88E3.Twitter"
	"ClearChannelRadioDigital.iHeartRadio"
	"Flipboard.Flipboard"
	"king.com.CandyCrushSaga"
	"king.com.CandyCrushSodaSaga"
	"Microsoft.3DBuilder"
	"Microsoft.Appconnector"
	"Microsoft.BingFinance"
	"Microsoft.BingNews"
	"Microsoft.BingSports"
	#"Microsoft.BingWeather"
	"Microsoft.ConnectivityStore"
	"Microsoft.CommsPhone"
	"Microsoft.Getstarted"
	#"Microsoft.Messaging"
	"Microsoft.MicrosoftOfficeHub"
	"Microsoft.MicrosoftSolitaireCollection"
	"Microsoft.Office.OneNote"
	"Microsoft.Office.Sway"
	"Microsoft.People"
	#"Microsoft.SkypeApp"
	"Microsoft.Windows.Phone"
	"Microsoft.Windows.Photos"
	"Microsoft.WindowsAlarms"
	#"Microsoft.WindowsCalculator"
	"Microsoft.WindowsCamera"
	"Microsoft.WindowsMaps"
	"Microsoft.WindowsPhone"
	"Microsoft.WindowsSoundRecorder"
	#"Microsoft.WindowsStore"
	"Microsoft.XboxApp"
	"Microsoft.ZuneMusic"
	"Microsoft.ZuneVideo"
	#"microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps"
	"Microsoft.MinecraftUWP"
	"ShazamEntertainmentLtd.Shazam"		
)
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Functions
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
function PressAnyKey
# This function displays "Press Enter to continue" 

{	Write-Host; Write-Host
	Read-Host -Prompt "Press Enter to finsih"
	Clear-Host
	mainMenu
}
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
function removeApps2 {
# This function removes unwanted Apps that come with Windows. If you  do not want
# to remove certain Apps comment out the corresponding lines below.  Based on https://github.com/W4RH4WK/Debloat-Windows-10
$deleteAll = $true
$deleteFiles = $true
	
	If ($deleteAll)
	{	Write-Host "Removing default apps" -f yellow
		foreach ($app in $apps)
		{	Write-Host "Removing " -noNewLine; Write-Host $app -f white

			# Need to hide the progress bar as otherwise it remains on the screen
			
			$ProgressPreference = "SilentlyContinue"
			Get-AppxPackage -Name $app -AllUsers | Remove-AppxPackage
			$ProgressPreference = "Continue"

			if ($deletefiles)
			{	Get-AppXProvisionedPackage -Online |
					where DisplayName -EQ $app |
					Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage -Online
						
				$appPath="$Env:LOCALAPPDATA\Packages\$app*"
				Remove-Item $appPath -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction 0
			}
		}
	}
	Else	{Write-Host "Request cancelled - apps not removed" -f yellow}		
	
	pressAnyKey
}
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# GO !!!!!
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
removeApps2

Thanks for the info, but i made a very simple script for automatic script that fully setups a computer after re-installation.

Code:

Get-AppXPackage | where-object {$_.name –notlike “*photos*” -and $_.name -notlike “*store*”} | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-appxprovisionedpackage –online | where-object {$_.packagename –notlike “*photos*” -and $_.packagename -notlike “*store*”} | Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage -online

and this is the script that needs to be included in automatic cmd script

Code:

Powershell.exe -executionpolicy remotesigned -File debloat.ps1

We have a network system that we can boot into network and re-install OS in 1-click. In the menu, we can select the OS, mirrors, drivers, domains, and rename a computer. When done choosing the options, just 1-click to start installation, and after boot, it will run automatic cmd script and it will do everything itself until it finished and log out.

Thanks for posting the script. I much prefer your "not like" to my long winded way of saying "do this, then this, then something else and then the other". I will use it.

I am a beginner at this scripting - my background is midrange where you process one record and then move on to the next.... Not the most elegant or efficient I know.

Are you still getting the problem with re-installation though as you are removing the appxpakage and the appxprovisionedpackage the same as me and I don't see that happening...

Yes, it is happen on some computers, so i ran the script one more time to stop it. Running the script for the first time might not fully remove apps so run the script again after few minutes.