Make windows 10 suck less

instructions.md

Windows 10 not suck mode

Installation

• Create a bootable USB thumb drive (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10)
• Boot computer onto drive
• Format SSD/HDD
• Install windows

Setup

• If ethernet is plugged in, unplug it & don’t connect to wifi
• Select “I don’t have internet”
• Select “Continue with limited setup”
• Select no/decline
• Toggle everything optional off

Update everything

• Reconnect to internet, if you get a prompt that says finish account setup close out of it, and if you can’t just restart your PC and you won’t see it again.
• In windows search type “Check for updates” and update everything mandatory, you can skip optional updates
• In windows search type Microsoft store, click the hamburger menu in the top left, click “Downloads and Updates”, click “Get Updates” and let everything install
• Reboot your computer

Settings

Some of these are optional, might add a severity level at some point. Separated and ordered by the way they are laid out in the settings app

• System
  • Notifications & Actions
    • Uncheck “Show notifications on the lock screen”
    • Uncheck “Show reminders and incoming VOIP calls on the lock screen”
    • Uncheck “Show me the windows welcome experience….”
    • Uncheck “Get tips, tricks, and suggestions”
    • Uncheck any apps you don’t want notifications from (revisit this after you have installed your stuff)
  • Multitasking
    • Uncheck “Show suggestions in your timeline”
  • About
    • Click “Rename this PC” and rename to something more useful
• Devices
  • Typing
    • Click “Typing insights” under “How AI as helped you”, toggle it off
  • Autoplay
    • Toggle off autoplay for all media and devices
• Personalization
  • Background
    • Change to solid color, black
  • Colors
    • Choose dark theme
    • Turn transparency effects off
    • Choose accent
  • Lockscreen
    • Change background to picture, select random or upload one
    • Uncheck “Get fun facts, tips and more on lockscreen”
    • Change all apps for status on lockscreen to “None”
  • Start
    • Uncheck “Show recently added apps”
    • Uncheck “Show suggestions occasionally”
    • Click “Choose which folders appear on start” and do what you want
  • Taskbar
    • Check “Use small taskbar buttons”
    • Click “Select which icons appear on the taskbar” and uncheck any unwanted (Revisit this after you have installed your stuff)
    • Click “Turn system icons on or off” and uncheck any unwanted
    • Right click the task bar
      • Uncheck “Show Cortana button”
      • Uncheck “Show Task View button”
• Accounts
  • Sign-in options
    • Uncheck “Use my sign-in info to automatically finish setting up….”
• Time & Language
  • Date & time
    • Adjust your time zone manually
• Gaming
  • Game bar
    • Uncheck “Record game clips, screenshots, and broadcasts…”
• Search
  • Permissions & History
    • Turn SafeSearch off
    • Turn cloud search off
    • Turn my device history off
• Cortana
  • Talk to Cortana
    • Uncheck “Use Cortana even when my device is locked”
• Privacy
  • General
    • Uncheck “Let windows track app launches to improve…”
    • Uncheck “Show me suggested content in settings” Really Microsoft?
  • Activity History
    • Uncheck “Store my activity history on this device”
  • Background apps
    • Turn off all apps you don’t want running in the background (pretty much all of them) (revisit this after you have installed your stuff)
  • App diagnostics
    • Click the change button under “App diagnostic info for this device is on” and turn it off

Remove all the things

• Remove “Edge” shortcut from desktop and taskbar
• Remove “Mail” from taskbar
• In windows search type “Remove programs”
  • Uninstall everything possible (except for things like hardware drivers)
  • Go to “optional features” near the top
    • Remove internet explorer 11
    • Remove Microsoft quick assist
    • Remove Windows hello face unless you’re using it
  • Startup apps
    • Disable everything you don’t want opening (revisit this after you have installed your stuff)
• Start menu
  • Right click and remove all tiles on the right section

Remove Everything ext

Open powershell as an administrator and run the following

• Remove Maps

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers *maps* | Remove-AppxPackage

• Remove Alarms/Clock

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers *alarms* | Remove-AppxPackage

• Remove People

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers *people* | Remove-AppxPackage

• Remove Photos

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers *photo* | Remove-AppxPackage

• Remove Camera

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers *camera* | Remove-AppxPackage

• Remove Messaging

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers *messaging* | Remove-AppxPackage

• Remove Your Phone

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers *phone* | Remove-AppxPackage

• Remove Get Help

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers *GetHelp* | Remove-AppxPackage

Firefox

• Download/install Firefox
• Close any account prompts
• Pin to taskbar, remove shortcut from desktop
• Install ublock origin, allow to run in private windows

Firefox Settings

• General
  • Make default browser, you can uncheck the “Always check”
  • Uncheck “Use a background service to install updates”
  • Uncheck “Recommend extensions”
  • Uncheck “Recommend features”
• Home
  • Set homepage, new windows, and new tabs to Blank Page
• Search
  • Default search engine to duck duck go
• Privacy
  • Tracking protection to “Strict”
  • Enable “Do Not Track” always
  • Disable all login/password autofill
  • Disable address autofill
  • Set history to “Never remember history”
  • Open settings for notifications and block all requests
  • Uncheck all Firefox data collection