Microsoft needs to refocus on Windows 10 fundamentals - Mary Jo Foley

winactive said:

Yes, because I know how judicious you are about cutting out bits you don't need. Default install with all the updates and accumulated crud was heading that way, I frequently see 50-70GB.

I don't believe you, and I do this for a living. I see Windows 7 as 12 gb install and Windows 10 as a 20 gb install.

Landyman said:

We need the following versions:-

Home/S: for simple domestic use.
Pro: with only professional features (gamers/power users)
Enterprise/LTS: for large companies etc.

Updating should be simple. Cumulatives with bug/security. Feature updates should be deferrable for all, set to EOL date.

alphanumeric said:

Not having to see the tiles clutter up my start menu when looking for something else.

Agreed. In addition some apps auto-start at log on whether you have ever used them or not. Paint, Edge and Skype spring to mind. Although I do use Edge so I don't care about that one.

And they are massive and getting bigger - the apk for Paint is now more than 600MB (it takes 300MB+ on x64 when installed) which is prettry large considering the size of the whole ISO for something that I'll never use but takes CPU anyway. Paint is the worst example but all these apps are bloated - you only have to compare download size of games from the MS store to, er, anything else.

They can be compacted quite efficiently (I get nearly 90%) using compact.exe but that is another story really. It should be automatic as (especially) people who buy small 32GB tablets may not think of doing it and they shouldn't auto-start if you never once used them.

Rocky said:

I don't believe you, and I do this for a living. I see Windows 7 as 12 gb install and Windows 10 as a 20 gb install.

In some cases, I agree with you. For example, Windows folder size for a W10 Pro, 64-bit v1803 PC:



In other cases, I agree with winactive. Windows folder size for a W10 Pro, 64-bit v1809 PC:




The content of the "Windows" folder are not manually managed on either of the PCs.


That's pretty much what I see on my clients' PCs/laptops as well and still don't know why the Windows folder size fluctuate in size.

f14tomcat said:

Explain, please, how gaming is a professional feature.

Gamers often need functionality not in W10 Home like deferring updates easily. Drivers that auto update, etc. makes a terrible mess, it's just easier to be able to flick switches.

I take it you don't game.

alphanumeric said:

Not having to see the tiles clutter up my start menu when looking for something else. Not having them be reset as the default app, etc. Its personal choice is all. I don't want them there cluttering things up so I removed them. I just clipped and pasted the commands in from Brinks tutorial. Not all that hard really. Not having the Uninstall option locked out would make it all that much simpler though.

You use the actual W10 apology that passes for a Start Menu? I never see tiles and I've stripped nothing (don't particularly feel much love for the ModernUI creep, but hey it's on the death list so....)

alphanumeric said:

@Cr00zng Was 1809 in the second screen shot an upgarde maybe, with a windows.old as excess baggage?

The chances are that you are correct, but as I've stated earlier, the content of the "Windows" folder is not managed manually.

The "Windows" folder size is probably impacted by the the type of PC at hand. The 1803 PC is a business machine, meaning that pretty much only business software installed. The 1809 PC on the other hand has non-business apps, in addition to business software, pretty much testing various apps prior to using/recommending them.