What if you delete the “Program Files” folder in Windows? [video]

It makes you wonder how the thing is built. Like rather than modifying the code, Windows 11 is like a service that run on top of 10 and modifies a few UI things near the end of the startup process. Was that just some kind of hack due to time constraints? Or is the Windows codebase really that much of a delicate ecosystem when it comes to not breaking legacy software so they couldn't even modify the taskbar or file explorer without wrecking something?

https://github.com/tiagoad/suicide-linux

https://esoteric.codes/blog/suicide-linux

You can have continued progress without choosing the off-release to fist your consumers.

First, my requirements: what I need of an OS is a file launcher for my apps and a means of access to my files and not much else. I even consider networking and TCP etc. additional to my basic requirements—yes, I require them, but they ought to take the form of a separate installable application which I should be able to select from a range of similar products. I have no control over developers who develop apps for Win32/64 APIs so if I want to use their applications then I'm usually obliged to use MS Windows—and that's the problem—I'm forced to hack Windows as Microsoft puts hundreds of roadblocks in my way and makes it almost impossible for me to both achieve a minimum system optimized for my requirements and to stop the company spying on me or selling my personal data.

I've never been happy with just Administrator rights as it's too restrictive, to hack Windows properly I want superuser rights, and to achieve at least some aspects of it, I'll sometimes go to the trouble of deleting unnecessary Windows features holus-bolus and or nuking or mutilating Microsoft's constant and increasing roadblocks that attempt me from doing so. Sometimes my efforts are very successful, other times not.

The trouble is, for me an operating system is only a means to an end (I've little interest in the workings of Microsoft's proprietary code as its forever changing and I've too few resources to be fully proficient and constantly up-to-date year after year). This poses a dilemma, as (a) I often need a hack in a hurry, (b) I don't have the time or sufficient knowledge to spend ages reverse engineering/disassembling the code, and (c), as there is usually precious little really useful information about what I'm trying to achieve available on the internet, my attempts to achieve them are often by brute force and brutal (BTW, I'm never worried about crashing the OS as I can stream it from a backup in minutes and no data is lost as anything of importance is stored on separate drives).

This is a huge subject of which not much appears on the Web, that's why this story's video is important even though it's very superficial and tells us very little of what we actually need to know to do the job properly. It seems to me that much of what I'm about to mention doesn't get mentioned because either websites are either scared of publishing stuff that's highly likely to end up producing an irreversible crash or BSOD and or that those who discover truly powerful ways of taming Windows deliberately do not tell others (knowledge is power after all).

What follows is just a very short bullet list of ideas and things I do to give the flavor and it's far from complete (my notes on how I modify Windows for my own use extends to many hundreds of pages). Moreover, what I mention here does not extend to every Windows installation I do (they all have different uses and the need for integrity, security etc. varies with each installation). If anyone has any ideas, links to hack sites etc. then I'd be most grateful to hear from you.

1. First, although the Dark Web is likely to have much more sophisticated solutions that I'd really like to know about I don't go there for answers—certainly not so in recent years—for all the obvious reasons.

2. One thing that's obvious from the video is that the later versions of Windows 10 and 11 are much more solid operating systems than earlier ones, a BSOD on say Windows 10 is much less likely than on Windows 7. The video shows us that and it's also my own experience (whilst I only use Win 7 I've spent time attempting to hack later ones including Win 10 (but not 11) to the extent that I would consider them suitable to use (at this point I still consider it unusable).

What's important here however is that whilst Windows 10 and up have more inbuilt Microsoft trash the fact that the basic operating system (its core) is now much more solid means that users can hack it with much less chance of total failure (the video clearly shows that). Remember, years ago Mark Russinovich made the comment that the essential Windows core files only amount to some 40 to 60MB, so I reckon all the rest is fair game for serious hacking. With that in mind we really need to ask how the fuck can a full version of Windows amount to an enormous 7 gigabytes or so (when one thinks about it, it truly is outrageous—so is the fact that we users are so acquiescent in complying with Microsoft and letting it get away with subjecting us to so much crap).

3. The video shows the problem of deleting both directories and files because the operating system locks them. Anyone who remembers the lack of adequate file/network locking in the '80s will recall all the effort that went into bootstrapping them to ensure that locked files cannot be casually unlocked. Unfortunately, whilst clearly important for stability, it can, at other times, be a curse such as when one's trying to delete some feature that Microsoft does not want you to remove. Of course, file and directory permissions play a big hand in this too. (I've many ideas for inventive hackers on how file-locking ought to be hacked.)

This used to drive me mad until I found a quick, albeit dirty, solution. If you want to delete Windows directories or files locked by either file locking or permissions then boot up a Linux disk or Linux utility such as Parted Magic and use its file manager. Problem solved, we can now delete anything at will. When I was testing Windows 10 I deleted great swathes of files and directories and was essentially able to remove all the useless add-ons and utilities without affecting the stability of operating system in the slightest. This way, I even made many hacks to the desktop, some with considerable success, others not (I've more to do on this when I've time). I could provide much more info about it but obviously I can't do so here. That's not to say I'm very knowledgeable, in fact I know much less than I ought to know about it, and info from others about which Windows file does what and what the consequences are of deleting it, etc. would be very useful to know.

4. This brings me to the need for resources. In the past there were re-compilations of Windows CDs in which much of the dross had been removed and key setup changes made. This was a quick way of cleaning up much of Windows in advance of it being installed. I've not seen any of these disks for Windows 10 (although I've not looked of late), does anyone know what the status of such CDs is?

What's needed for the game and adventurous like me is a dedicated Website that lists all these super-hacks together with info and user experiences. If anyone knows of any then please let me know. Here, I'm referring to sites that are likely to be headed with words to the effect 'Don't proceed further with this website if you are worried that taking our advice may brick your Windows OS', after all sites dedicated to rooting Android phones are full of such warnings.

Such sites would also provide hacks such as how to change 'stubborn' permissions and unlock files (and advise which files the invaluable tool Unlocker cannot unlock and why it cannot do so—that said, I couldn't live with Unlocker, every Windows user ought to install it)! Similarly, we need a Windows 10 version of the now-defunct and once invaluable tool X-Setup Pro, it was invaluable because it actually showed the actual registry patches/hacks before it applied them (and the app had many hundreds of such useful patches builtin).

I could go on as there's much more but it'll have to for now.

Edit: the video presenter shows surprise that the Windows 11 user interface is built upon Windows 10 UI. This I did not know but I am not at all surprised as I do know that Microsoft has been up to these tricks since at least Windows 7. With Windows 7 Microsoft eliminated Quick Launch from the TaskBar but with a little effort it was easily brought back (I still use it, it's one of the first mods I do to a Win 7 installation).

What I find so very damn annoying about this finding is that the Win 10 UI is alive and well and hidden within the Win 11 one. Thus, there is absolutely no reason why users should not be able to select a UI from an older (or previous version) when upgrading (here users should be able to retain the Win 10 UI). Clearly, this is only bloody-mindedness on Microsoft's part that they cannot do so. Think back to Windows 8 and Metro: imagine how much trouble Microsoft could have avoided if users who hated Metro could have simply selected/kept the Windows 7 UI.

That this was not possible because of an internal Microsoft policy decision tells us much about its corporate strategy. I've claimed for years that Microsoft's policy of forcing disruptive change onto users without option is both deliberate and authoritarian. Unfortunately, this deliberate tactic of 'Disruption' is much of the reason for why there's so much trouble on the internet now. Simply, these arrogant bastards think they know it all when often they haven't a bloody clue.

OK, I'll give my mom in law my AMD 3700X and install Windows 11 on that one instead (and I'll buy myself a 7700X). Same thing: "Hardware not supported by Windows 11'. WTF. That 3700X is a recent machine. And the error message it totaly uninformative: it just says "hardware not supported".

Well, good thing a few years ago I made her switch her SME to Google Workspace / GSuite only. She and her employees are doing everything from the paid version of GSuite (something like 50 EUR / employee per year).

Guess what's installing atm on that 3700X for my mother in law? Ubuntu.

I dd'ed the .iso and the install starts just fine.

It's insane: you want to give 145 EUR to Microsoft for their ad-ridden and keylogger infested spyware of an OS but they don't let you. Unhelpful error message. Instead of saying what is not supported, they just say: "Hardware not supported".

So now it's going to be Ubuntu everywhere at her little SME and OS X laptops for when they're on the go.