Privacy @lemmy.ml DominusOfMegadeus @sh.itjust.works 9 mo. ago

Advice on cleaning bloatware off of a new PC

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I helped my 77 year old mother purchase a new laptop, and I want to be sure to get all the bloatware off of it, and set her up with with some better privacy options. I am aMac guy at home so I haven't done this kind of thing for many years. (I use Windows at work, so I'm quite familiar and capable, but obviously I have to rely on IT knowing what they are doing (they don't)). I did make sure to get the pro version of Windows 11. I'm going to set her up with Proton mail I think. This is the computer that is coming:

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-thinkbook-16-g6-abp-amd-in-16-touch-screen-notebook-amd-ryzen-5-with-16gb-memory-512gb-ssd-gray/6565272.p?skuId=6565272

(Forgive me if this is not the correct place to post)

42 comments

Wipe the operating system entirely and reinstall it from scratch. That would do a lot of it. And if the only thing she's really going to do is browse the internet, you might consider installing mint instead.
- If you’re staying with windows and re-installing anyway (recommend this), make a ‘data’ partition, then link my documents, pictures etc. To identical folders on the data partition. Save user files on the data partition only.
  
  That way, next time to reinstall it’s not a big deal at all, just relink the data folders. Your data is never touched and re installing is easy.
  
  Or use Linux ;)
  
  Edit: Something like this.
- +1 pick Windows 10 / 11 Enterprise and/OR LTSB for a cleaner experience. Setting Windows as English (International) also seems to still get rid of a ton of garbage. https://www.w10privacy.de/english-home/ is also a great tool to mass disable telemetry and bullshit Windows components. Then set Windows to only security updates. You may also want to read this about what connections Windows makes and how to disable what you don't need further.
- Linux Mint is good for beginners. If Windows is a necessity, use the Chris Titus WinUtil script to configure and remove bloat.
  
  I tried to get her to go Mac and she is adamantly against learning any kind of new OS
  
  No, it isn't.
  
  I say this as someone who had their first UNIX class 35 years ago, and having been in IT since 1994.
  
  I've run it as a test - to see how viable it is for family and friends. It has a LOT of usability issues for newcomers.
  
  Power management is non-existant out of the box-as in it will keep right on running until the battery is dead.
  
  Too many things require command-line management, e.g. that stupid printer notification thing that's on by default.
  
  The default UI stuff is as bad as Windows is - the crap color choices mean one window is hard to distinguish from another. And to change it requires...editing text files. What is this, 1992?
  
  Then the lack of software. No, Open/Libre office is not the same as MS Office. Just try to open an excel spreadsheet on Libre or Open and see what happens. Or anything more than the simplest Word doc.
  
  Then there's no Publisher, no OneNote.
  
  Sure, some of this is use-case, but how do you know that use-case won't show up in 6 months?
  
  And really pity the power user who needs to remote into other machines. Now they gotta install VNC or RDP. Which one? OK, Remina seems like the VNC/RDP client of choice, again, which one? The descriptions in the repo say very little about what makes them different. OK, fine, I'll use this one. Now setup an RDP connection, only to find it won't connect, some kind of security error with TLS. OK, t-shoot a TLS error. Ah, they've deprecated TLS 1. Fine, reinstall TLS 1. Still no go. Wait, why is an RDP connection failing for TLS, it doesn't use TLS. Oh, choosing RDP in Remina doesn't change the security type to RDP. WTF?
  
  OK, now that's fixed, I need to connect to a user machine to support them. What do I use since there's no remote control by default, unlike Windows, where at most you walk them through clicking ~~one~~ two checkboxes to allow inbound RDP. Now I gotta walk a user through installing a VNC server, and all that entails. Great.
  
  Oh, your Logitech wireless mouse doesn't work out of the gate? Let's Google that. Oh, You gotta go install this software someone wrote so a wireless mouse can work. A mouse that has worked out of the box on Windows since ~2005.
  
  On and on the merry-go-round goes. With Windows, that ride mostly stopped with Win2k in 1999, even more so with XP.
  
  Sorry, as much as I'd like to see "The Year of the Linux Desktop", it's still a long way off. Distros like Mint are really impressive, but I won't be installing it for any family, because the support effort is still way too high.
- This is the answer. If she is more comfortable with windows there are stripped down versions of 7 and 10, maybe even 11 that will have even less of the crap that msft throws in.
  
  Unfortunately that stripped down versions are very unsafe because of removed antivirus features and sometimes they even include malware. I don't recommend that for a casual user who doesn't know what safety on the internet is
I highly recommend Chris Titus' tool to debloat and switch off/remove unnecessary components.

You can also switch off Windows Updates and only allow security updates.

It is multiple tools in one place. Super useful and reliable.

https://christitus.com/one-tool-for-everything/
- Used this last week. Great asset for making windows a little more bearable
- Thanks!!
- SO MANY OPTIONS. Anyone have any recommendations?
  
  There are recommended selections in there, and they are good from what i remember
Definitely wipe everything and reinstall, although if the install media is supplied by the PC manufacturer you’ll want to delve into the install options to ensure minimal bloat is getting reinstalled.

Also this post is two hours old and no Linux evangelists have told you to uninstall windows yet. This is progress folks! I’m ready for your downvotes once you’ve finished with your waifu pillows.
- Install linux mint of mx linux for her. Been doing that to a lot of grandma's with great results.
Get a 16gb thumb drive and download windows media creation tool

Laptop usually have proprietary drivers for wifi/ethernet/Bluetooth so visit manufacturers site for those drivers

Delete all partitions on the drive and create a single large partition (windows will make 3 that's fine)
Keeping new versions of Windows secure is a fool's errand. Sure you can uninstall the bloatware, disable the telemetry, etc., but there's nothing to keep Windows from using an update to put it right back on.

If you want your Ma' to not have to worry about any of that, then it's time to switch to Linux. Mint is a good variety for people coming from Windows.
- I am totally on board with this, but I cannot convince her to learn something new at this stage of the game. I have tried.
  
  Mint looks quite similar, and if she asks "Microsoft applied an update and now the start menu looks different."
  
  If all she does is browse the internet and read emails, she'll never know the difference. You could even set up the splash screen to display the Windows logo or just disable it all together.
- Automatic updates can also destroy her work in case she happens to fill an online form or edit a document without autosave. The active usage time thing is there but ehh you can't set all 24 hours as no-reboot time unfortunately
  
  Windows asks you a few times to update now or later, gives you a timer of three hours and offers you to open the closed documents again without having to use autosave.
  
  I don't like the forced updates either, but if you lose anything to them it can be classified as "on purpose ".
Checkout things like WinDebloat, Privatezilla, Winaero Tweaker, Bulk Crap Uninstaller, and LoveWindowsAgain. There's some overlap between them (as they were built for different purposes), but they all pretty much kill telemetry at the service or installed level (as in remove the components providing telemetry).

Yea, it's BS you have to do this. And screw MS for this crap.

You could also download Win10/11 LTSC, which natively doesn't have some of this crap, but also doesn't get feature updates automatically - just system/security updates 2x/year - so you won't deal with problems caused by updates.

And you can still run the apps above to reduce what's left.

Also, go grab MAS on github. It'll help if you have any problems with activating. It's a script Microsoft tech support uses.
To begin with you would need to configure the machine to the desktop disabling all what can be disabled.

Then I'd check something from here and remove only what can be deemed safe.

Having somewhat answered the main query if mom does not do anything that makes windows a necessity I'd highly suggest installing something like this and set yourself up for unattended remote control so you can assist if seen necessary.
- I like the remote control idea! She does do WordPress, not sure which interface.
  
  Could put rustdesk on it.
- Linux is an awful answer. See my other comment as to why.
  
  I will agree with you it's not the one stop solution but I recommend it due to having triaged it on my own.
  
  Yes they gave me the mandatory eye roll and sighs as to why I installed Linux but aren't bothered with updates, ads, malware, tracking and whatnot. They want to watch a movie or do some work it just works and doesn't bog them.
  
  Also I emphasise that I can't recommend it for CAD/Graphic/Professional workflows that are tailored for windows sadly.
I doubt whether "debloating" could reduce stability or not. I've never done that and have no intention to do it for my 88 year old grandfather's windows. I'd have strict applocker rules on, though

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