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Why 'debloating' Windows is a bad idea (and what to do instead)
If you spend any time on message boards for Windows enthusiasts, sooner or later you will run across recommendations for Windows "debloater" utilities. And boy, are there a lot of them.
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When I went to GitHub just now and searched for "Windows debloat," I found 397 matching repositories, containing a hodgepodge of scripts and batch files and compiled apps that promise to "reimagine Windows like a minimal OS," "enhance the security and privacy of your Windows 10 and Windows 11 deployments," and even "revert Windows 11's design flaws."
These magical tools say they can get rid of unwanted software and make your PC run faster while using fewer system resources and protecting your privacy. Like every offer that sounds too good to be true, there's a catch.
What is debloating?
People have been complaining about "bloat" in Microsoft's flagship OS for as long as I can remember. In fact, one of the first posts I wrote on this website nearly two decades ago traced the history of these complaints back to the dark ages of computing: "Windows bloat? It's always been that way."
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So-called "debloating utilities" used to be called performance optimizers, and they were mostly snake oil. These days, utilities that promise to streamline your Windows 11 experience tend to be scripts (usually free) or customized installation images that remove apps, disable services, clean out the Windows registry, and change default settings, all in the name of greater performance.
What can go wrong with debloating?
A decade or two ago, before solid-state drives were standard and when system memory was expensive, this sort of fine-tuning could result in measurable improvements.
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On modern PCs with sufficient system resources, you will see a marginal benefit at best from this sort of indiscriminate brush-clearing, and you run a significant risk of causing additional problems that will cost you far more troubleshooting time than you'll save in an entire year.
I went through the issues reported by users on one popular GitHub-hosted script and found a staggering range of complaints, ranging from "breaks sleep mode on my laptop" and "all my desktop icons turned black" to "most things on my pc are now broken."
Then, of course, there's the risk that one of these scripts will add malicious software, as one popular script was discovered to be doing a couple years ago.
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Using a "debloated" installer created by some random guy with a YouTube channel is just not a good idea. And be skeptical of downloads that can't easily be verified, like the so-called "Windows 11 Government Edition" that was touted as a "maximally debloated" official release. It turned out to be a privately modded version that had been cobbled together from spare parts and was using an illegal hack to activate itself. Oops.
If you're determined to create a custom installation image, you can use a utility like NTLite, which allows you modify a currently installed Windows installation (if you pay for a license) to tweak or remove features, uninstall apps, and disable services. It's an extremely powerful tool, capable of rendering an otherwise functional PC completely useless if you disable the wrong feature. It's appropriate for full-time administrators and hobbyists who aren't afraid to break things. If you're just trying to make your PC easier to use, it's overkill.
If you have older hardware that can't be upgraded, you might benefit from reducing the impact of apps and services that run in the background. But you don't need one of these all-purpose scripts to accomplish that.
What to do instead
Here's a quick checklist of ways to safely tune your system.
1. Remove unwanted apps from the Start menu
In Windows 11, most of the apps included with a default install are just shortcuts that take up almost no disk space. On Windows 10, some games include installation files that use fairly modest amounts of disk space. If you see an app you don't want, you can make it disappear in short order. Right-click the app icon and click Unpin From Start. Boom! Gone.
2. Remove unwanted icons from the taskbar
Right-click any empty space on the taskbar to open a menu that you can use to remove toolbars, buttons, and other clutter. In Windows 11, click Taskbar Settings and use the three checkboxes at the top of that Settings page to hide the Widgets icon (which appears at the far left of the taskbar) and the Task View button and change the Search box to an icon or hide it completely.
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As for any other icons, including the three default icons -- File Explorer, Microsoft Edge, and Microsoft Store -- just right-click and choose the "Unpin from taskbar" option.
3. Uninstall unused apps
Many (but not all) of the apps that are preinstalled with Windows 11 can be uninstalled. If you know you'll never play the Windows 11 version of Solitaire or use the Microsoft Clipchamp app to edit a video file, you can right-click the app icon and choose Uninstall. The disk space you save is minimal, but every byte counts, right? Use the Apps page in Settings if you want to do bulk uninstalls.
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Some built-in apps don't support the Uninstall option. You can't uninstall the Microsoft Store app or the Microsoft Edge browser, for example, both of which have important system functions and can break things if removed (the Store apps is required to update some core Windows components, and the Edge engine is used by some third-party apps). Although you can use Google to find PowerShell commands that will get rid of apps that don't include the Uninstall option, going to those lengths isn't worth it. Just hide their shortcuts and move on.
4. Reduce tracking
You can reduce the amount of diagnostic data Windows collects by going to Settings > Privacy & Security > Diagnostics & feedback. Make sure the Send Optional Diagnostic Data switch is set to Off.
5. Disable unwanted startup apps
Open Task Manager and check the Startup Apps tab to see if any third-party programs are running automatically. For example, if you don't use Microsoft Edge, you can disable its entry and save some resources.
Worried about excessive memory and CPU usage? What to know
On a clean install, Windows is pretty reasonable about resource usage, in my experience. You'll occasionally see a burst of activity as the operating system indexes files for its built-in search capability or when it scans for malware using the built-in Microsoft Defender program. If you install a third-party antivirus app, Microsoft Defender disables itself. I don't recommend turning off this protection just to save a few CPU cycles.
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One of the biggest mistakes people make is to assume that because an app or service is using a large amount of memory, it's somehow bloated or inefficient. If the memory would otherwise be unused, then allowing an app to use it is a perfectly acceptable way to improve performance. Windows is generally very good at managing memory and can quickly discard pages of memory when they're needed by a new process.
The Performance tab in Task Manager offers an accurate picture of real-time memory and CPU usage. The only time it's necessary to micromanage individual apps and processes is when you're trying to do more than your system's overall resources can comfortably support. If that happens regularly, you're better off trying to upgrade or replace the system so that you have the resources you need.
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With the above tweaks out of the way, the best strategy for avoiding "bloat" is to be extremely careful about installing any third-party software. Legacy programs that add their own services and auto-starting add-ons are the worst offenders in this regard. But treating every third-party program as a potential source of performance problems is probably a wise strategy in the long run.