Just bought a new Windows laptop and it was LOADED with bloatware. Some apps could be deleted simply, some however are baked in. Discovered BloatyNosyApp and the partner app Junk Ctrl for W11 on GitHub https://github.com/builtbybel/BloatyNosy
This seems to have done the trick quickly and surprisingly easily compared to DIY powershell activity.
All PCs bought in retail should be wiped and reimaged with a fresh install. At the very best, you install the firmware updates manually or via the manufacturer app but even then I will take a second look before approving.
It has been like that for a long time
Most OEMs push firmware updates via windows update these days.
The OEMs app might get you them sooner, but nothing is better than windows BSODing, then deciding now’s a good time to install a firmware update.
HP Bios updates were delivered earlier then the actual program by HP itself.
That was the point of the article, it doesn’t do the trick anymore, bloatware is now part of the default install.
But that only removes OEM bloatware and you still have to deal with Windows bloatware.
Bloatynosy removes onedrive, people, microsoft mixed realityportal and such. With just 1 click. I literally just used it now on a fresh windows installation
It also disables telemitry, and a few other things (default “fix” button)
That’s…fantastic.
Yes, let’s fucking download software from a GitHub repo!
And then bitch how Linux isn’t user friendly, because you… might have to download software from a GitHub repo?
The AUR is always your friend. (No, I don’t use Arch, I use ArcoLinux)
One is a choice, the other an inevitability. These are not the same.
Dafuq are you talking about? I’ve downloaded many random shit from Github on Windows to restore some basic UX functionality on W11, while I have never downloaded any software from Github repo on Linux, because everything I need is either on Ubuntu repo or some ppa or - shockingly - is built-in DE. And I’m a programmer and Linux is my daily driver.
Cool, you chose to use github to return optional functionality. That’s a little different from being required to use github so that your latest software purchase can run on your system. It’s not difficult, you’d think a programmer would have a better grasp on simple logic problems.
What the fuck are you talking about? No one downloads software from GitHub on Linux unless they’re doing some really fringe, custom shit. Linux users detest randomly downloaded software from the internet (which is effectively the ONLY way of getting software on Windows, btw). We want all software to be managed by our package managers.
Also, lol on “software purchase”. What software are you buying on Linux?
being required to use github so that your latest software purchase can run on your system
I don’t know what this is referring to.
Maybe proton-ge but again that’s entirely optional. They’re just grasping at straws trying to defend their abusive OS.
Anyone got a spare Linux CD key?
just use Ventoy.
You might like this little program: https://github.com/MrGlockenspiel/activate-linux
Unironically I might for Lindows
I had not heard of Lindows. What a crazy world. Thanks for mentioning it.
My first introduction to Lindows was as a teenager in an internet cafe circa 2005. It was quite the novelty back then and we all got a good laugh out of it.
Yep, here you go: []
Thank you, now I’ve sucessfully activated GNU+Linux Mint.
Been using Windows since XP, watched it get worse with every iteration while getting a shiny new exterior. Was finally forced from Windows 7 to Windows 10 a few years ago and the day Windows tries to foist 11 on me is the day I go fully down the Linux rabbit hole.
I’ve used Windows since 3.1. I thought XP was such a great advancement. I feel like 7 is overall better than XP, but not an all out improvement. 10 is worse than 7, but they’re forcing 7 out. I hate 11. I want to by a new PC, and 11 is the biggest thing holding me back. Could I buy it and install something else? Sure, but I don’t want to pay for this terrible program.
System76 can sell you a computer with PopOS or Ubuntu installed straight from the factory!
I looked into this and didn’t find quite what I wanted, but it did lead me into a whole world of small computer assemblers I didn’t know about.
Getting “professional” versions and installing them has generally been the way to work around Windows bullshit. I haven’t gone to 11 yet, and the vibe I get from folks is that there is no escaping it. But folks have been saying that about Windows forever.
I have used professional versions of 10 through work, and they are better, but they still have a bunch of junk. I hear that Windows 11 is worse in this regard. It also still doesn’t fix the problem of encouraging MS to do these things. I’m not looking to build a PC, so I’d be buying something that comes preloaded with a consumer version, then need to buy a pro version, and now I’ve bought this crap twice, greatly rewarding MS for their poor practices.
If your machine is capable of running windows 7 (properly) it’s not capable of running Windows 11.
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Can you elaborate on the Windows 7 elaborate backdoor?
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You’re being vague. Sounds like bullshit.
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This is one of the best tools I’ve used, works really well!
I just reinstalled Windows after not having a computer for a long time. I’m glad I just happened across this beforehand because it was the best.
Everyone should use this to some extent, even just to disable tracking
It’s awesome right?? Really impressed with the tool!
Once Windows 10 ceases to be supported, I’m moving to Linux. By that time, the majority, if not all the games I play and want to play will be supported.
If you’re not playing games that require kernel level anti-cheats, chances are, they already work on Linux.
If your running Steam, enable running proton in settings. If your running GoG or Epic, use Heroic Launcher.
I’ve been Linux mainly since 2019. Only thing I really go back to Windows for is Photoshop and Vegas.
The last version of Windows I used (and loved) was Windows 2000. It was rock solid and came with nothing but the basics. The install ISO was only 300 MB. 500 MB after service packs were merged. Almost pefect.
ITT: folks who think Linux is too complicated or whatever, but are perfectly willing to jump through endless hoops to work around some of Windows’ deliberate hostility.
The Stockholm syndrome is real.
Microsoft only hurts me when I’m being a bitch. Its my fault. He’s normally really nice.
In my experience Linux usually has many more hoops…
I’ve reinstalled both Linux and Windows on the same machine a few weeks ago and it was considerably easier and faster to install Linux. It also had less problems post-install too.
Installing Linux is incredibly fast and easy, yeah. It’s everything you try to do after that. Unless you are a regular user and have commands memorized you need to open a browser and go look them up every time you need to do some basic shit. I’ve been using Linux off and on since 2008 and you just cannot say with a straight face that it is easier than windows.
Opening up a browser to look up commands to copy and paste is a lot easier than looking up registry fixes and mimicking screenshots into GUIs. I fix Windows for a living and the crazy shit I see daily blows my mind. It seems like in Windows I’m doing the same thing multiple times until it (hopefully) works but in Linux the problem is easier to identify and fix.
I’m a developer, so I find it easier because dependency management is easier (especially if you have a good package manager, arch btw). WSL is improving but is still not enough for my needs (big projects that use usb are not well supported).
I feel like I get closer and closer every day, but video games still keep me anchored down
Have you heard of our Lord and Savior, Proton?
In the holy GNU scripture, we predict the second coming of Proton who will one day return to vanquish the evil Electron.
Out of curiosity: can you mod the game in Linux?
sure, Steam workshop works even identical
otherwise the game data paths are differentSteam workshop works even identical otherwise the game data paths are different
So if I understand this correctly:
The games files inside the game folder are the same, therefore when you apply/load a mod into the gamefolder it works the same correct?
If thats the case, this is the straw that makes me migrate to Linux. I currently have AMD CPU and GPU (because fuck nvidia, even if AMD is not that much better) and from my understanding they should have good drivers in Linux
the biggest difference to Windows gaming is that for Windows games on Linux played via Proton every game gets its own Proton/Wine prefix (basically a windows folder structure)
ifyou want to use mod manager you need to run them inside the game specific proton prefixSteam Tinker Launcher simplify this process
Yeah modding is basically the same assuming you don’t have to use some kind of installer for them then it would be a bit more complicated, however I’d imagine using wine would solve that for the most part (haven’t installed mods through an installer on Linux so can’t speak much on that)
And also you might need to learn where Linux stores those game files but you can always just use steam to directly open the game folder
Basically all is fine, but Vortex etc might have some trouble. I was looking also about GOG (got some of my best games in there), but it seems that Wine is doing fine. CP2077 loses around 10% perf/5FPS, but is a price Im willing to pay just to shove it in the ass to microsoft
folks who think Linux is too complicated or whatever
At one point this was true, but that was many years ago.
Unfortunately, that reputation has kind of stuck.
The barriers are still too steep. My Ubuntu machine updated it’s kernel and then refused to boot after that. I had to look up how to manually lock the old working kernel.
Windows has never completely broken itself on an update for me.
If that happened to my parents they’d be angrily driving to the shop to get another cheap windows laptop.
We have a phrase for a bricked windows install: it’s called the Blue Screen of Death. It’s not like Windows never gets fucked either.
I’ve personally never had such an issue upgrading Linux.
The BSoD isn’t always a bricked Windows machine, it’s often just an OS crash that causes you to restart the system.
Funny, I switched to Ubuntu because my brand new laptop was continually bricking with Windows 10, specifically due to Windows Update.
Roundabouts the time period of the forced Windows 10 update I had a desktop and laptop BOTH completely break, booting only to a black screen on startup, having received somewhere around half of an update I had no say in.
I’d like to think they’ve learned their lesson. I’d like to think I could safely leave a windows computer on overnight without waking up to a surprise new version, or bricked PC. But even having that as an outside possibility is enough to turn me off windows entirely.
Not really. You are underestimating how stupid the average person is. They cannot peel an orange.
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I actually like to be able to play games on my gaming PC so no thanks, I will stay with windows
Not really an issue for basically any game these days. The Steam Deck running Linux has changed the game significantly. I play video games exclusively on Linux. I haven’t booted into my Windows SSD in months. Honestly considering nuking it and making it a game storage drive for Linux.
The amount of Steam games compatible with Linux is about 10 000.
The amount of Steam games compatible with Windows is about 70 000.
Stop claiming gaming on Linux isn’t an issue anymore. Yeah it is getting better, but it isn’t even close to what Windows has to offer at the moment.
Of the top 1000 games on Steam, only 38 currently don’t run at all and 744 of those are Gold or Platinum status on ProtonDB. Having nearly 3/4 of the top 1000 games work flawlessly or nearly so is enough to not need Windows.
If for some reason it’s not, you could dual boot, but I haven’t run into a game in months I could not play.
This isn’t the full picture of those statistics. 10097 games have Platinum or Gold on protondb, out of 11223 with any results at all. It’s not that there’s 60k games broken on Linux, it’s that there just isn’t any data on those.
The only correct thing to do here is to extrapolate from the data we have, which is around ~90% of games work on Linux. So it’s more like 63 000 vs 70 000.
That’s wholly your prerogative, but I just wanted to chime in and say - I was firmly in this camp too, but I’ve been restricted to a shitty second PC as I don’t have access to my usual rig at the moment. Decided it was the time to give Linux a shot after 4-5 years since last time. Every game I’ve tried has worked with 0 mucking around, outside of games I’m obtaining through uh, less ethical means, which don’t just install straight through Steam.
I know it’s only anecdotal and I’m not saying you have to change if you’ve got no reason to, but gaming isn’t really the reason it used to be for not using Linux. Unless you only play competitive shooters with Anti-Cheat that doesn’t work on Linux.
: folks who think Linux is too complicated or whatever, but are perfectly willing to jump through endless hoops to work around some of Windows’ deliberate hostility.
Man I realised this when I found myself running a third party program just to get my audio to simultaneously play out of multiple outputs on windows. I had regular issues with games and my killer ethernet adapter (they’re notoriously bad, but after switching to linux didn’t have any issues). Reformatting for home was getting longer and longer. Start menu search started to become slow and bogged down. Windows store was a nightmare. It was a constant battle to remove all the advertising and tracking “features”. I game, but mostly a PC for me is a tool. When a tool stops doing its job, it gets replaced.
Funnily, when I play games with my friends, I rarely have issues… but as soon as I do, they they’re pretty quick to jump down my throat about my OS of choice.
EDIT: WSL is pretty nice though, I use it on my work box.
I think Windows makes multiple audio input/output hard as a piracy measure and it drives me crazy as well. Perfectly good audio ruined the moment I plug my mic in. Makes it harder to game without a headset.
I use Linux full time since 2020, and have known it since 2013~, but I don’t ever recommend it to anyone. It’s full of papercuts.
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I mean…who are you kidding, you probably will.
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Lucky you. I got told by our IT that I’m going to be their windows 11 sacrificial lamb and will be getting it before everyone else to bang out the quirks. It doesn’t pay to be known as the office nerd :(
My elderly father’s win 10 computer has been absolutely shoving the upgrade down his throat, and I’m about ready to give in and just do it. Telling it to stop notifying him does no good, it just comes right back the next day. Then he won’t touch the computer because the full screen upgrade ad freaks him out and he’s afraid something is wrong. Screw Microsoft.
Switched my nearly 70yo mother to Mint and she’s actually pretty happy with it. If she can do it, anybody can
He’s a good bit older than that and has cancer, and is not able to sit at a computer long enough to learn a new operating system even if he wanted to. Which he really, really doesn’t lol. He hates the thing with the fire of a thousand burning suns and only used it for his necessaries.
I’m also not familiar with any other operating system besides windows, outside of a brief foray into pi-hole years ago that I don’t remember much about, so I’d have to learn it first. While I’d love to start playing around with Linux some day, unfortunately that day isn’t going to be any time soon.
I refuse to update my laptop
Is it your laptop, or is it their laptop? If it’s yours, you have every right to request that they issue a corporate laptop if they need you to use Windows 11 to do your job. Otherwise, it’s time to grow up - it’s not like they’re forcing you to commit an OSHA violation.
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Carl?!
Your work sounds like it has no IT Security department and no HR department
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I remember when I first installed Linux. I thought it was broken because it was so clean and distraction free.
I thought it was broken when I told it to poweroff and suddenly it just died. Nope, apparently that’s just how linux normally shuts down.
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This will help get rid of some of the bloat. I run this on every w11 install I do.
https://github.com/ChrisTitusTech/winutilDowngraded my new desktop computer from Win11 to Win10 this weekend. Still considering if I shouldn’t just go back to Linux now that Valve has made gaming on Linux viable…
I want to switch to gaming on linux so bad. Just a few weeks ago I ran into a sudden issue where any source game I launched in windows would crash my graphics driver, totally unrecoverable without restarting the PC (even shift+ctrl+win+b did nothing) and on some restarts I found myself being forced to boot on integrated graphics and fully reinstall drivers. Total shitshow, started while I was midgame and came out of nowhere, couldn’t figure anything out.
I finally gave up and installed mint, got steam set up and downloading, started moving over some my backed up files… only to find out that a thing I’d ordered to make my VR headset wireless wasn’t going to have Linux drivers. I was gonna have to dual boot windows at the very least. And I’ve had other experiences where Windows updates have broken Grub and forced me to do reinstalls as well, so…
The day can’t come fast enough where companies just build stuff for Linux. The Windows UI gets worse with every release, and it’s really not as bug-free as people seem to think, it just has market share and companies tend to build for it by default. Completely self-fulfilling prophecy.
I was gonna have to dual boot windows at the very least. And I’ve had other experiences where Windows updates have broken Grub and forced me to do reinstalls as well, so…
You didn’t have to reinstall. You just have to boot from a live USB and then run like three commands to fix it. But yes, that is indeed unironically more work to figure out and safely do.
I’m holding out as long as I can on Win10 for gaming. It’s my hope that Linux gaming will be compatible with most of my games by the time I have to choose between Win11 and Linux. Last time I checked there were a few games I was interested in that weren’t completely compatible with SteamOS.
Baldurs Gate 3 has been working great for me on steam proton
It’s working pretty well on my steam deck for me but not without a few bugs. Nothing game breaking though. (I also had some different bugs on windows 10 so not sure how much is platform specific)
I doubt they are platform specific. I have not found any bugs playing on linux that windows didn’t also have.
Have you checked if your games are supported on ProtonDB?
Worst case scenario, you could always set up a dual boot situation if there are just one or two games you play that aren’t supported. That’s what I’ll probably end up doing on my main rig eventually since the only game I’d really miss that’s not supported is ESO.
AFAIK ESO is working fine.
Oh I thought I read somewhere that it’s not. Well, this is good news for me!
When I have time, I’ll try it just to be sure.
I don’t own the Steam version, not sure if that matters.
I’ve been playing ESO through Lutris for a few years. It works great!
When choosing the region/language, choose “English (World)”. Boom, bloatware be gone.
You can safely change it to your correct region once you’ve logged in (Note: the Windows Store won’t work until you do).
the Windows Store won’t work until you do
So just never do it. Noted.
Remember some ‘core’ apps, such as Paint and Calculator are delivered via the Store now too - so they’ll also be missing.
Good. Those are easily replaced by FOSS alternatives.
I’ll just pirate a version of paint
I can’t find a scenario where paint.net doesn’t come out on top when compared to the version of paint that ships with Windows and it’s free.
paint opens a bit faster, and often I want to just draw some stupid rectangles with 5 words and 4 arrows real quick and screenshot it and say “look here’s the mock-up”
Why is this?
Because the paid-for “bloat” is per region. If you don’t define the region… taps side of forehead
Are there laws in England that prevent bloatware?? That sounds like an EU thing, not an English thing. I would think the England install might be even more bloated than the US one.
Europe has “N” versions of windows that do not have media codecs, and a few basic applications installed (e.g basic video player)
Wish I knew about this a month ago when I installed Windows on an older machine that definitely doesn’t need anything but basic stuff.
Sorry about my shitty wording, none of the thr basic stuff is installed, its basically a version of windows that assumes you are going to install your own version of most basic apps. Basically a media player, (both video and music), voice recording, skype and such are NOT installed.
If youre on a device that needs no major feature updates except security ones, thats ehat the LTSB build is for. Getting one legally is difficult, however…
Yeah, I got that. That would have been perfect for my garage computer. A low spec machine that would just be hooked up to my CNC. I don’t need voice recording, media player and stuff like that. Bare bones would be perfect for that machine both in SSD space saved and (I assume) aslightly faster since the hardware is a few years old now.
We have English (United Kingdom) as a localised install.
Not any more bloated then English (US) but if this English (World) install is even cleaner as Andi says, I’ll start using that instead for fresh installs.
Nice Tip.
I think we’re starting to see the beginning of the end of the Windows hegemony, for one reason: the success of the Steam Deck has made gaming on Linux mainstream. The two things that have always kept power users tied to Windows have been games and office, but GAMES were the big one. Suddenly, it starts to look like it might be possible to do without Windows for gaming, if not now, then soon.
games is certainly a big appeal and will bring a lot of people over and has already frankly, but there’s still a lot of device driver issues with consumer hardware and professional level hardware that is a barrier for a lot of people
and general Windows applications that just don’t fly in Linux I guess
I’m still on Win10 but I just can’t see myself moving to win11, it’s ugly and I hate if. If I need to get a new OS in the foreseeable future it’s gonna be Linux.
