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Comment by rubenbe | Hacker News Reader

As a long time Linux user, I recently got confronted with the Windows group policy editor.

You can use it to disable (blacklist) all the Windows crapware (xbox, etc). Or in the extreme case, whitelist only specific files.

I still prefer a text config file over the GUI, but this thing is insanely powerful.

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Almost all office IT departments use `gpedit.msc` to provision and disable features for employee devices.

`gpedit.msc`, `regedit.msc`, PowerShell, and Active Directory are pretty much the standard toolset for any Windows sysadmin.

Keep in mind that it's restricted to Pro and up. Are you a home user who wants to disable all the crapware and telemetry Microsoft infected your machine with? You've got to pay Microsoft more money to be allowed to do that!

A quick Google search will show how easy it is to enable the Local Group Policy Editor on Windows Home.

Sure it's easy to crack windows too. They still put too much behind Pro like disk encryption, something that should be default.

I don't argue with that... I think it should be default, but I am hopeful that people will still try it out. The steps to install Group Policy in Windows Home are pretty straightforward and similar to adding other Windows features.

Note that (boot) disk encryption is available on Home (and enabled by default), it's just external disk encryption which is only available on Pro.

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