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There are isolated problems with current patches, but they are well-known and documented on this site. |
.I only used Portable 10AppsManager to delete all store apps (except for the store app) and blocked store apps updates.
No other 3rd party tweaks.
Consider downloading, installing, and using Revo Uninstaller Free:
https://www.revouninstaller.com/revo-uninstaller-free-download/
Go to Windows Apps and uninstall the Windows programs you don’t want. Use this option carefully to avoid uninstalling Microsoft Store programs you want to keep:
It depends whether you want to debloat *during* a clean install to affect all new accounts or *after* installation/upgrade.
I’ve been using Windows 10 Decrapifier for clean installs for about 4 years now and it’s never caused any problems, even though I’ve made several additions to the script. What I like most about it is that it works on the .DEFAULT account template… so *all* new accounts use the same settings and I don’t have to run debloater tools for each account. I’ve tried several PowerShell debloater scripts and still find Windows 10 Decrapifier to be the best, particularly for returning full control with minimal CPU/disk/network usage *very* quickly after startup by reducing some of the scheduled tasks set to trigger at logon.
On installs that are already established (e.g. in-place upgrades), I concur with @geekdom… Revo Uninstaller Free is one of the better tools to remove Windows UWP bloatware apps (I prefer to use the portable version).
IMO Geek Uninstaller is also very good… and almost a fifth of the size (6.32MB) of Revo Uninstaller Free Portable (28.2MB)… perhaps important if you only have limited capacity left on a ‘utilities’ USB stick.
(As you can see… my install is pruned of UWP bloatware.)
Hope this helps…
Since there have been several Windows updates, does Decrapifier still work OK.
I’ve used Windows 10 Decrapifier on every version of Windows 10 since 1809 without any issues. Just recently I’ve been using it with Windows 10 Pro 22H2, again without issue. One of the nice things about it is that it allows for a transcript… so you can see exactly what script commands have run and the changes they’ve made. It’s particularly useful for debugging if you make changes to the script as I do.
Any suggestions on what to comment out or add?
Note: The transcript shows everything completes successfully… with *one* exception. Line 620 fails to remove the pinned Edge icon from the taskbar. I’m still working on finding its correct location to remove it automatically.
I run the script from a USB stick during a clean install. I pause OOBE, open an elevated PowerShell prompt then enter the following commands one-by-one:
Set-ExecutionPolicy unrestricted CD D: .\decrap_22H2.ps1
After the script has completed I enter:
Set-ExecutionPolicy restricted
Hope this helps…
In general, can this script be used after installing Windows ?
Yes, but it’s not quite as effective for the following reasons:
1. The .DEFAULT account template has already been established and thus subsequent accounts created from it don’t reap the full benefit of pre-OOBE customisation in Admin mode. What this means in practice is that the script will run in the CURRENT_USER context… so you’ll need to run it for *every* account you want to make changes to.
2. The Start menu navigation (the left-hand pane) reflects the changes brought about by the removal of default UWP apps, i.e. it’s pruned considerably.
3. The custom Start menu layout of the right-hand tile area (i.e. defined by $StartLayoutStr in the script) is *not* created and, unfortunately, will show ‘advertised’ apps (i.e. not yet installed until the app tile is clicked on). However, it’s considerably cleaner than a Start menu tile layout of the same test machine that hasn’t had the script run on it because the tiles for the built-in apps have been removed.
It’s easier to show comparison screenshots:
3. Post-OOBE, Windows Update adds more ‘features’… which the default script is obviously unaware of. However, using tools like Revo Uninstaller Free (I prefer the portable version) or Geek Uninstaller can remove most of these additions.
4. Most of the ‘look and feel’ changes are dynamic as they affect HKEY_CURRENT_USER.
5. You’ll still need to reboot so the changes to services can take effect.
However, running the script on an existing account *does* work quite effectively overall although the script runs slower as it has to process a very much larger HKEY_CURRENT_USER hive on first pass, i.e. ~line 214 – Function RegChange.
Comparing a ‘pre-OOBE’ transcript (i.e. how the script is designed to be used) with a ‘post-OOBE’ transcript (i.e. run on an established account) shows remarkably few differences.
Obviously using the script as intended (i.e. by pausing OOBE to go into Audit mode) runs it in the context of the built-in (but usually hidden) Administrator account.
Running it afterwards using, for example, the first account created runs it in a standard user context, even though the first account created is – by default – a member of the Administrators group – hence the default use of User Account Control (UAC) for any action that requires elevation. A prime example is having to run the Windows PowerShell console using Run as administrator so the script can make changes within the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE registry hive.
Whilst a comparison of the two transcripts (i.e. ‘pre-OOBE’ vs ‘post-OOBE’) showed 105 different lines, most of these were due to re-ordering:
Other than that there were very few differences and no errors, other than the one I already mentioned about the failed removal of the pinned Edge icon on the taskbar.
Hope this helps… let me know if you want to see the ‘pre-OOBE’ and ‘post-OOBE’ transcripts and I’ll attach them for comparison.
Does this work?
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\EdgeUpdate (create)
DWORD = CreateDesktopShortcutDefault Value=0
So I could just start over again and use the OOBE procedure. Or, I could test it out on this brand new installation which I haven’t added anything else to except drivers. By the way, this is just a single user on a single machine.
If it’s just a single user, single machine then you may as well just run the script as is rather than doing the clean install/halt OOBE/run script in Admin mode dance. You won’t get much more benefit from the extra work. 
I’ve used O&Oappbuster successfully for a few W10 installations with no complaints.
But then i go further and deprovision apps using PS commandlets, for instance:
Uninstalling W10 apps
Like Rick I have been running Decrapifier on new installs since my first 10 system and have never had any issues. Also used it on a few Win11 installs and it works fine. I have used it on existing systems from the user account and it has worked well.
I have NOT tried this but it may be helpful to your current situation:
If you’ve already gone through this and logged in, no worries. Just run sysprep, which is located at c:\windows\system32\sysprep\sysprep.exe. Select the options to reboot into audit mode (See the image in step 4). This will remove all user content and reset Windows back to default, so make sure you back up anything you may have.
Yay, the Edge shortcut pinned to the taskbar has gone (and the pinned Store shortcut).
I replaced the Miscellaneous Cleanup Function (lines 612-621 in the script) with the following:
#Miscellaneous Cleanup Function
Function Misc {
#Unpin Store and Edge icons from Taskbar
#See https://stackoverflow.com/questions/45152335/unpin-the-microsoft-edge-and-store-taskbar-shortcuts-programmatically (post 3)
Write-Host "***Unpinning the Store and Edge icons from the Taskbar...***"
$appnames = "^Microsoft Edge$|^Microsoft Store$"
((New-Object -Com Shell.Application).NameSpace('shell:::{4234d49b-0245-4df3-b780-3893943456e1}').Items() |
Where-Object{ $_.Name -match $appnames }).Verbs() |
Where-Object{ $_.Name.replace('&', '') -match 'Unpin from taskbar' } |
ForEach-Object{ $_.DoIt(); $exec = $true }}
Tested and working.
Hi Rick. After several reads of this thread and the other one you pointed to, I’m beginning to see what I need to do. But there are a couple of things I don’t understand – sorry 
It seems I should be installing Windows 10 Pro 22H2. Okay, I have a fresh copy from a Github link. And I should interrupt the install at point #9 in the other thread. Also okay. But here’s what puzzles me: I have a USB stick inserted that contains the OS, but it seems I need to install another stick containing the Decrapifier script? And if the Windows install is only partially completed, how come Powershell works? Again, sorry, I’m trying to learn about computers at a time when my thought processes have slowed to a crawl. But t least I’m persistent!
Thanks,
Claire
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