Install a Fresh Copy of Windows 10 to Remove OEM Clutter

Windows 10: Install a Fresh Copy of Windows 10 to Remove OEM Clutter

Many of you may be building your own computers these days, but just as many computer users buy their next device right off the shelf of their favorite box store or from an online retailer.

If you are purchasing a device built by one of the many OEMs, it is very likely that device is going to arrive with a lot of extras pre-installed that come from the company who initially built the device plus some additional overlay style software/controls from the OEM themselves.

Of course, as long as you have drivers from the OEM for your device, and most are made available through the products support page, then you could always do a clean install of the operating system and have a pristine image ready for your own software and customizations. Microsoft is also working closely with many manufacturers to include hardware drivers right out of the box to avoid needing to track them down elsewhere.

In fact, any OEM devices sold in Microsoft Stores come in this configuration and they call it their Signature Edition PCs. This means they meet all the Windows hardware requirements and contain zero bloat from the manufacturer.

If you already have your device or purchased it through another channel, then that bloatware is likely already embedded in the recovery software that is included with the hardware. That means even using the reset options that are available in Windows 10 will result in those items being reinstalled alongside of the operating system.

Last year when they released the Anniversary Update for Windows 10, Microsoft included a new option that refreshes your Windows 10 device by downloading a clean version of Windows 10 directly from Microsoft that does not have any of the OEM bloatware. This is basically the equivalent of performing a clean install of the operating system except the previous version of the OS is backed up to allow the user to revert back to it within 10 days if necessary.

This tool, simply called the Refresh Tool does have a few caveats that you should be aware of before using it on your systems.

1. It removes all apps from the Windows Store that do not come with Windows by default and any desktop software you have previously installed. Be sure to verify you have access to installation media for that software and your digital licenses and product keys so you can reinstall them later.
2. Settings will be removed even if you decide to retain your personal files.
3. As mentioned earlier, all of the extra software/apps installed by the device manufacturer including drivers, support apps, and utility overlays will be removed. The system hardware drivers should be available out of the box during the Windows 10 install or accessible from the manufacturers support website.
4. You will be given the option to keep or remove your personal files however, just in case, always have a backup of those files because there could be an issue during the refresh process.
5. The total download image is approximately 3GB so make sure you have room on the device for that file and space for the installation process to work.

After you have backed up your personal files you can begin the refresh install by visiting https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10startfresh and scroll down the page until you see the blue Download tool now button. Click/Tap on that to download the refresh tool to get started. It will prompt you to save the file and then you click/tap that downloaded file to begin the refresh process.

At this point just follow the prompts to go through the refresh install, but here is a rundown of what steps you should expect/things you will see on the screen during that process.

• Accepting the License terms.
• Select to either keep your personal files or nothing at all.
• The image download will now begin but how quickly it completes will depend upon your Internet connection.
• Once the image is downloaded it will then be validated.
• After validation installation media will be created on the systems hard drive and it will be used for the installation.
• A check will be made for updates and they will be downloaded and integrated into the installation files.
• Your PC will be checked to make sure it is ready for the install and has enough space.
• At this point the system will begin the install process and you actually still have time to cancel it before the first reboot.

Note: You can continue to use your device during the download, validation, media creation, and update download parts of this process.

Once the system reboots, by the way it may do this a few times during the installation, you will go through the normal out of box experience to setup Windows 10 on your device once the installation is complete.

After the entire process is wrapped up and you are back to the Windows 10 desktop, you will be able to reinstall your apps, software, and make your customizations so that the system is configured to your personal preferences.

If you are comfortable with the refreshed install, I highly recommend running the Disk Cleanup Tool with administrator permissions so that you can remove the Windows 10 installation files that were downloaded and the old Windows 10 installation. This should free up around 5-7GB of space on your systems hard drive.

And if you provide tech support for your family and they have upgraded to Windows 10 on an OEM device, this is a great way to give them a fresh install and eliminate all the extras that OEMs add to their hardware which have the potential to cause issues down the road.

What's more reliable: A PC, or a Mac. And what kind of PC?

What’s more expensive: a Windows PC or a Mac? The answer seems obvious: When you compare price tags to power and features, PCs almost always win.

But when you consider costs of use as well as costs of purchase, Macs appear to be cheaper. At least that’s the conclusions found by both IBM and computer repair company RESCUECOM (website).

Using a computer costs money, especially in the workplace. Long learning curves cut productivity. When an employee must figure out why their computer isn’t behaving as it should, that employee is not being productive. If he or she is forced to call IT for advice or, worse, a visit, two people are taken away from their other chores. What’s more, if employees are frustrated by the tools given to them, morale drops.

According to IBM, Macs are easier to learn and cause fewer problems than Windows PCs. And according to RESCUECOM, they need fewer repairs. That’s less downtime, fewer helpdesk calls — and therefore smaller overhead.

IBM’s experience

Fletcher Previn, IBM’s VP of Workplace as a Service, spoke last October at the jamf Nation User Conference (webpage) and said, “Every Mac we buy is in fact continuing to make and save IBM money.”

Since 2015, IBM – the company that launched the PC more than 35 years ago – started giving employees a choice of platforms. “The goal was to deliver a great employee choice program and strive to achieve the best Mac program,” says Previn. By the time of Previn’s speech, IBM had 90,000 Macs.

According to his talk (Youtube video), a Mac costs a third as much to manage than a PC, and they drive only half as many support calls. And when Mac users do call, their problems appear to be simpler to solve. Twenty-seven percent of PC support calls result in a deskside visit; only five percent of Mac calls required the same.

The ease of setting up a new computer is an important part of the equation. When an employee gets a new Apple computer, they “just get a shrink-wrapped Mac at [their] desk with a post-it note on it with a URL to our Internet, and that was the sum total of instructions you needed to get that machine up and running…That would be very different than what we had in the Windows PC space up.”

Previn knew he sounded like an Apple evangelist, and he felt it necessary to point out that “I’m not the Mac guy at IBM. I’m responsible for all platforms.” But he knew that janf is a Mac-oriented software company, and that his audience would likely be true believers.

Nevertheless, his argument was compelling.

The support calls that do or do not come in

You don’t have to be a corporate giant to get an overview of computer problems. A tech support company gets a pretty good idea of who’s having what type of problems with any particular brand of computer.

RESCUECOM is such a company, and they found compelling pro-Mac numbers in their recent Annual 2017 Computer Reliability Report (webpage). RESCUECOM employs more than 5,500 technicians in the USA, Canada, and the United Kingdom. They charge $30 a month for a home subscription and $50 for businesses.

Just to make things clear, I have no business ties to RESCUECOM, and I have no opinions on the quality of their work.

Released in late January, the report shows that Apple products received fewer service calls per units sold, with a reliability score of 669, more than twice as high as the second best, Samsung (326). The worst? Toshiba, with 4.

To calculate a brand’s reliability score, RESCUECOM compares a brand’s market share with the percentage of repair calls it receives for those products. A higher number means fewer calls compared to sales figures. Note that these are repair calls; how-to questions don’t apply.

RESCUECOM can only guess as to why Apple does so well. “Apple’s high reliability may be due to the durability of its components, providing a lower computer repair rate, and the complimentary tech support that comes with most products.”

Samsung’s relatively high score seems a bit surprising considering their recent reputation for exploding smartphones. But I assume that when a Note 7 bursts into flames, the owner is more likely to call Samsung, or their provider, than a third-party company such as RESCUECOM.

Having bought a Lenovo Yoga 900 last year, I’m relieved but not ecstatic to discover that my brand of choice (this is my third Lenovo) came in fourth out of ten with a score of 139. According to UECOM’s CEO, David Milman, “Lenovo is consistently a top performer on RESCUECOM’s Computer Reliability Report.”

I almost bought a Surface, but the report made me glad I didn’t. Microsoft came in next to last, with a reliability score of 45. “Historically, fixing the Surface tablets has been a nightmare for customers,” warns Milman.

Should we all give up on Microsoft?

I’ve been using DOS and Windows PCs since I packed away my old, CP/M-driven Osborne I more than 30 years ago. Despite their problems, I’ve always preferred the PC platform.

Maybe it’s just stubbornness, or perhaps a dislike about the Cult of Mac. I don’t have plans to change.

But this is serious food for thought.