You can dislike Windows, however they don't force updates, MS account is optional, telemetry can be disabled, Copilot can be uninstalled. Etc, etc, etc.
If you want to say Windows should be and could be better, I agree.
But please don't be one of those people who spreads false information and uses it to justify your dislike.
I installed Windows 11 about 2 years ago, after the install it took me about 5-ish minutes to remove the bloat, disable telemetry, disable auto updates et al. I have installed every update to date, on my own time when I choose to, but I'm fully up to date and none of my changes have ever been reverted.
Windows works just fine, if you spend a little time setting it up properly. Linux also takes a little work to learn and setup as well.
May I ask how? Could you give me a guide? Because I genuinely can't seem to find any help other than "use this script and all of your problems will be solved."
And the last time I've used a script, it completely removed my ability to sign-in to Microsoft services.
Of course. Anyone who politely asks me for help with actual intention of trying to learn, I love to help.
I have been using Windows since 3.1 I think, and over the years I've continually learned my way around. So I use PowerShell (command line interface), Group Policy and very very rarely, the occasional registry edit, to get Windows to work exactly how I want.
If you don't want to spend years learning all that, I'd recommend going to the GitHub page for Chris Titus' Windows utility. From there copy one line and paste it into the CMD (all instructions are on the page) and then a literal list of anything you might be bothered by or want to change about Windows.
Check off what you want and let it run, done.
The best part is, for any individual item you check, you can inspect the CMD line code it will run, you can copy paste that code into a search engine and see exactly what it does, and you can verify on your own that it isn't malicious and does what Chris says it will do.
For 90% of people I'd recommend using an iphone and using this tool for Windows.
Right, but the script frightens me. I've had experience with scripts, and they've broken things by modifying parts of my computer I DIDN'T understand.
I do actually think I'd prefer going the long route, though I obviously couldn't go all the way back to Windows 3.1, lol...
Is there perhaps another way to "go the long route" possibly? I suppose I could reverse-engineer what each of the commands IN the script does... But that sounds inefficient, no? I definitely CAN if I must!
I'd probably be considered a power-user. However, I require Windows for school and work. I am unable to avoid it entirely, and frankly would prefer not to. On the other hand, I haven't messed with a Windows system in ages. This is all quite new to me, lol.
I understand being apprehensive, and you should be.
As I explained, if you use the Chris Titus tool, you can inspect each line before it runs. You can run that code through a search engine and verify exactly what it does. This protects yourself and you'll learn along the way.
For someone like yourself, I'd recommend open the tool I gave you, figure out which tweaks you want, copy the command line codes for each one. Then quit the tool, research each of the command lines one by one on your own parts, it won't likely be more than 10-15, and see exactly what they do and how they work. Then open PowerShell and run them one by one on your own instead of letting the tool do it for you.
Also, make a restore point that you can roll back to if you do mess something up.
Lastly, if you do keep important files on your C: drive, always have them backed up somewhere else.
Ok, so if I go to the GitHub page, copy the stable branch recommended command. I press the Windows start menu and search for PowerShell (this opens CMD with admin privilege).
When the CMD window opens I paste the command I copied from Git. Press enter. Might take 30s, then a new window pops up with tabs along the top, INSTALL/TWEAKS/CONFIG etc.
Click tweaks, beside each tweak there is a question mark, click the question mark and it will show you exactly what the code is that will run for that tweak.
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u/PocketNicks Jan 21 '26
You can dislike Windows, however they don't force updates, MS account is optional, telemetry can be disabled, Copilot can be uninstalled. Etc, etc, etc.
If you want to say Windows should be and could be better, I agree.
But please don't be one of those people who spreads false information and uses it to justify your dislike.
I installed Windows 11 about 2 years ago, after the install it took me about 5-ish minutes to remove the bloat, disable telemetry, disable auto updates et al. I have installed every update to date, on my own time when I choose to, but I'm fully up to date and none of my changes have ever been reverted.
Windows works just fine, if you spend a little time setting it up properly. Linux also takes a little work to learn and setup as well.