I think that Windows 10 is now a serious vulnerability and productivity risk itself. Microsoft’s forced “we do whatever we want in your computer no matter you want/like it or not” policy causes true Denial Of Service (DoS) issues as for the forced updates in the best cases. In the not so best cases they can break a working system for days if some update fails and/or produces further unexpected issues (which is a true risk with the driver updates). Not to mention that they can force you to upgrade your entire OS whenever they want. Microsoft won’t respect your schedule nor your work obligations.
Windows 10 fits the definition of malicious software perfectly:
- Silently downloads and installs unsolicited software in your computer
- Can force reboots anytime, no matter you’re using your computer or not
- Can prevent you from using your computer no matter how much you need it (Denial Of Service)
- Monitors you and your computer for tracking your habits (“and provide customized
adsrecommendations“. Yes, the same excuse as everyone else) - Can potentially break a working system as result of an unfortunate driver upgrade
- Pushes ads to your face while using your computer
- Constantly introduces new security vulnerabilities as result of forcing to install new software as it gets released
Installing a clean Windows 10
Note: The highlighted captions reference the other parts below in this article:
- Ensure the computer is NOT connected to internet.
- Install Windows 10. Follow the instructions for Setting a different location for the Users folder now if you want to.
- Apply all the privacy settings (Reclaim your privacy)
- Ensure all Ads are disabled (How to disable Ads win Windows 10)
- Disable / uninstall unwanted apps (Disable Cortana, Remove provisioned apps)
- Uninstall other unwanted apps via Control Panel > System > Applications (right-click the start menu shortcut and uninstall causes them to be re-installed again)
- Optional: disable or uninstall OneDrive if you don’t use it (Disable or Uninstall OneDrive). Recommended option is disabling it via Group Policies.
- Optional: create a drive image now. If things go wrong later, you can then get back here and start over. I use Clonezilla (free & open source), but other solutions such as True Image or Norton Ghost are also ok.
- Disable the automatic driver upgrades (Getting total control over automatic updates). You may upgrade any driver online anytime later at Device Manager > right-click device > Update driver software.
- Configure the automatic updates (Getting total control over automatic updates). The best method so far is using Windows 10 Pro and setting up the Group Policies, then using Windows Update Mini Tool (WUMT) for selectively downloading and installing updates. WUMT also allows to select how updates should be delivered (automatically, download and notify, etc).
- Connect to internet. Windows 10 should work nicely without stupid notifications nor using your bandwidth arbitrarily at its will.
Updating Windows & Selecting which updates to install
YOU decide when it’s a good time to update your system. It might be once in a month, or every three or six months, yearly, or simply when there is a valid reason for updating. Example: when a software you use requires a more recent version of Windows.
- Using the recommended methods at Win10 Pro (Getting total control over automatic updates below) you can use Windows Update Mini Tool (WUMT) whenever you want to check for updates manually.
- Take your time to examine each update and read what it means exactly. Click the URL link in WUMT for reading the detailed information for each update. This is important: some “Critical Updates” are just unsolicited software preparing/diagnosing your device for a forced OS upgrade later. This is not new (Microsoft silently pushed the win10 setup system into Windows 7/8 via recommended updates with generic descriptions like “This update resolves problems in Windows”, forcing an OS upgrade later). Do NOT trust Microsoft Updates.
- Download and install the updates of your choice, and hide the unwanted ones.
Updating Windows Defender
You can update the definitions for Windows defender directly from the Windows Defender settings. You don’t need to pass through the general Windows Update process for installing these updates. They will appear as installed updated in WUMT though.
Reclaim your privacy
The tool for controlling the updates (below) also includes a great set of privacy settings.
Getting total control over automatic updates
“Politically correct” method using Group Policy:
http://techgage.com/article/taking-back-control-of-windows-10-updates/
Windows may then be updated via third-party tools:
- Windows Update Mini Tool (WUMT, Recommended): https://wumt.blogspot.com/2016/11/windows-update-minitool.html
- Windows 10 Manual Update: https://github.com/slavanap/Windows10ManualUpdate
This script disables Windows Update service, runs WUMT, then disables it:
https://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/72203-WUMT-Wrapper-script-controls-windows-update-service
Another method, not so straightforward:
http://betanews.com/2016/02/22/control-windows-10-updates/
Disabling automatic driver updates (Recommended):
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/take-back-control-driver-updates-windows-10/
Control Panel > System and Security > System > Advanced System Settings > Hardware > Device Installation Settings
How to disable Ads in Windows 10
http://www.pcworld.com/article/3039827/windows/7-ways-windows-10-pushes-ads-at-you-and-how-to-stop-them.html
(be ready to stop the f*cking video thumbnail that starts automatically shouting at you with something completely unrelated. If you know a better article with no such stupid auto-playing videos, please let me know. I won’t ever link to any pcworld page again)
Other
Disable Cortana
Registry hack or Group Policy setting:
http://superuser.com/questions/949569/can-i-completely-disable-cortana-on-windows-10
Remove provisioned apps
Via PowerShell:
Get-AppxPackage *3d* | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage *camera* | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage *communi* | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage *bing* | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage *zune* | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage *people* | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage *phone* | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage *photo* | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage *solit* | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage *soundrec* | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage *xbox* | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage *onenote* | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage *maps* | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage *messag* | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage *notes* | Remove-AppxPackage
https://thomas.vanhoutte.be/miniblog/delete-windows-10-apps/
Disable Scheduled / Automatic Maintenance
Disable Automatic Maintenance:
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/40119-automatic-maintenance-enable-disable-windows-10-a.html
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Schedule\Maintenance MaintenanceDisabled DWORD 0 or delete = maintenance enabled 1 = maintenance disabled
Disable idle-consuming scheduled tasks:
Tasks to disable:
- Application Data\DsSvcCleanup
- Chkdsk
- DiskCleanup
- Defrag
- Diagnosis
- File History
- Maintenance
- MemoryDiagnostic
- MUI
- Power Efficiency Diagnostic
- Skype Update (after installing Skype)
- Windows Defender (optional)
Disable or uninstall OneDrive
Recommended solution is to disable it via Local Group Policy Editor, then open OneDrive configuration and disable the “launch on Windows start” options. It gets removed from the Explorer as well.
Hardcore solution:
https://techjourney.net/disable-or-uninstall-onedrive-completely-in-windows-10/
A script that uninstalls it by following the above steps:
Disable Telemetry
sc delete DiagTrack sc delete dmwappushservice echo "" > C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Diagnosis\ETLLogs\AutoLogger\AutoLoggerDiagtrack-Listener.etl reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DataCollection" /v AllowTelemetry /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
And/or blocking the telemetry endpoints:
v10.vortex-win.data.microsoft.com settings-win.data.microsoft.com watson.telemetry.microsoft.com oca.telemetry.microsoft.com vortex.data.microsoft.com/collect/v1
How to remove the cloud service icons in File Explorer (Dropbox, etc)
Search for “isPinned” in the Registry, find the key for your cloud service (the name is over there), and modify the isPinned value from 1 to 0.
http://www.cnet.com/how-to/get-rid-of-default-cloud-service-icons-in-file-explorer/
Note that isPinned gets reset each time the application starts or the system is restarted. For preventing that, add a “Deny” and “Modify value” permission for that key (Right-click the key > Permissions).
How to run programs automatically at startup
Win+R, then shell:startup. Add the shortcuts there.
http://www.howto-connect.com/windows-10-run-program-automatically-at-startup/
The folder is:
C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
How yo add shortcuts to the start menu
Win+R, then shell:programs. Add the shortcuts there. Putting them into folders make the folders appear directly in the list. The folder is:
C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
How to enable the Hibernate option (and configure other advanced power options)
http://www.howto-connect.com/windows-10-better-use-fast-startup/
How to change the default font
Windows 10 offers no option for changing the system fonts or having a proper theme that uses “MS Sans Serif” or “Tahoma”. These options have been removed from the theme engine. Sadly, this is how far can one customize the ui without modifying system files or installing third party applications. Further customization requires patching the system files.
Still, the default font may be modified with the same registry hack that worked in previous versions:
http://www.laptopmag.com/articles/change-default-font-windows-10
Note: Instead of using the suggested font (Verdana) I recommend using MS Sans Serif as system font. It provides a crisp clear pixel-perfect text in most Windows 10 elements without having to apply further font smoothing tweaks.
Disable Font Smoothing
I think that font smoothing is not required anymore on high dpi screens. Font smoothing makes texts look blurry and cause additional eye strain.
The freeware tool Clear Type Switch makes easy disabling font smoothing system-wide. Available at the bottom of this article:
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/disable-font-smoothing-windows
Still, applications that looked fine in previous Windows versions may look blurry on Win10. This is caused by the application of new DPI settings. Several possible solutions:
- Disable DPI virtualization per app (Right click app icon > Properties > Compatibility)
- Restore the global DPI setting to 100%. The drawback is that it reduces everything so texts might be hard to read.
- Registry hacks that restore the previous scaling method. Here is an application that does it automatically.
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/fonts-appear-blurred-windows-8
Preventing unwanted apps to reinstall themselves
The method that worked for me was uninstalling them from Configuration > System > Applications. The other method (right-click > uninstall option from the Start menu) didn’t work as the applications get constantly re-installing themselves.
Bonus: Ultra-fast keyboard repeat rate
http://superuser.com/questions/388160/keyboard-repeat-rate-repeat-delay-values-in-win7#509811
Bonus: Setting a different location for the Users folder
This is useful when you want to prevent your SSD drive to be scratched with the frequently-changing user data.
http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1964-users-folder-move-location-windows-10-a.html
Summary of the method One: Relocating Users folder during installation
- Start the installation
- Do not enter the product key when asked
- Custom installation
- Press CTRL-SHIFT-F3 when the installation arrives the settings dialog (or requests the product key again) to reboot to Audit Mode
- Cancel the SysPrep dialog
- Connect to Internet. Run “iexplore.exe”. Create the file install.wim. Disconnect from Internet.
- Run the sysprep command from the admin command line. WIN-X, Command Prompt (Admin)
- Continue the installation until finishes.