Windows debloating tools are basically useless | Hacker News Reader

Windows debloating tools are basically useless

pcmag.com

10 pointsdryadin9 comments

I think article sounds click bait or at the very least not representing the facts fairly. Also, debloating is not only about performance, but about you not seeing random crap, when open the star menu for instance, other similar anti-user features, like the new context menu that doesn't offer you the same functionality as the old.

What I would agree or say, is that if you debloat and update Windows, the update will most likely undo whatever you did, and well, that's part of the game. I usually solve this by disabling updates and deciding when I will update the system, so I'm prepared and have reserved time to re-apply the patches on that day.

The point in the article is that 'debloating' does nothing for performance. And they're right. Uninstalling things you don't run does nothing for performance. Background tasks largely don't interfere with foreground processes thanks to the foreground process boost Windows uses.

I think there is some merit to the idea but I definitely avoid compiled tools and prefer to do it myself.

I like when I search for a local app for it to NOT do a Bing search. I’m just weird.

But I’d really like to know how to keep it debloated. How does one keep Windows Home Edition from wanting to install OneDrive, Teams, XBox, CoPilot, etc?

Sure they can be removed, but they’re just like “the cat came back the very next day…” song.

> Although debloat tools can flip a Group Policy or Registry setting, Windows will ignore it unless you’re using a Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) version of Windows 11, intended for businesses.

Exactly; just use the LTSC version of W10/11. So much is stripped away from that already, no need for debloating

Never used LTSC myself but I understand it is not the best choice for most users: fewer updates, limited hardware support.

I believe these debloating tools are 'marketed' more towards the streamlining of customizing Windows.

For example as mentioned in the article, Win11Debloat by Raphire.

[https://github.com/Raphire/Win11Debloat]

There's "debloat" in the product name.

I used this when installing fresh copies of Windows 11 and was very satisfied with it. I never thought about it increasing RAM as the author says, I was just interested in disabling CoPilot, all telemetry options, changing the start menu and task bar to act more like Windows 10 and various other options.

Winutil is definitely a tool I wouldn't recommend for a beginner, as many of the options are things you wouldn't want to mess with, but it will create restore points for you to put things back. You can hold your mouseover the options to see what it's doing and click on the question mark icon to learn exactly what it s doing. Since it also lets you run O&O Shutup, it's getting rid of a lot of phone home garbage and tracking you want off too.

I use it and the WinAero tweak tool [1] just to keep Windows Update disabled until I can be sure the slop updates Microsoft puts out are actually working or not, since recently half the time they break something serious in the OS.

[1] https://winaerotweaker.com/

The best windows debloating tool is Linux. It brings down the memory usage significantly.

If removing Windows annoyances is what you need then Chris Titus’ winutil is fine and does what you need.

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