Windows 10 Clean Installation Guide

Downloading and creating the installation media:

For people who have an Enterprise Key and want download Windows 10 Enterprise, see:
Download Windows 10 Enterprise ISO With Media Creation Tool


1- Go to the Windows 10 Download Page

2- Download the Windows 10 Creation media tool

3- Run the file you just downloaded by right clicking on it and choosing "Run as Administrator"

4- Choose create installation media for another PC then the language of the ISO you want (ie. English-US)


5- Choose the architecture (32-Bit or 64-Bit)

6- Select the 2nd radio button on the next screen which says "Create installation media for another PC"

7- Insert a USB Flash Disk, I recommend at least an 8GB Flash Disk if you want to create a USB Installation media that contains only one architecture (as in, either 32-Bit or 64-Bit) or a 16GB USB Flash Disk if you want to create a USB Installation Flash disk that contains both 32-Bit and 64-Bit.

8- On the next screen, "Choose which media to use" , select the first radio button which says "USB Flash Drive"

9- Hit next and wait for the download / creation of the USB Flash Disk to be completed.















How to select Windows Home or Pro when installing Windows 10

10- Once the USB Flash Disk has been created, keep it plugged in to your PC then reboot and go into your BIOS screen by pressing the F2 or DEL or ESC key depending on which computer you have.

11- Ensure that "Enable CSM" under the boot menu is DISABLED to ensure we are installing Windows 10 in full UEFI mode. (if your laptop's BIOS has that option)

12- Also ensure that "Fast Boot" is enabled in the boot menu options (if your laptop's BIOS has that option)

13- Restart your PC and press they key which is supposed to pull up the boot menu options. As an example, for Alienware computers that would be the F12 key,on ASUS laptops that would be the ESC key. On my MSI laptop, it is the F11 key; so this depends on your computer really. For more info, refer to your motherboard guide.

Make sure you haven't set the USB Flash Disk as the first boot device otherwise every time the setup restarts your computer, it will boot to the USB Flash Disk and start over again.

What I do is I set my USB Flash disk as my 2nd boot device and when I start the computer, I simply keep hitting the F11 key (that's the boot menu options key on an MSI laptop check with your laptop manufacturer which key gives you the boot menu options) to get the boot menu options, then choose the USB Flash disk. This way, when it does reboot during the setup, it boots straight to your first device which ideally should be your internal storage drive.



14- Once you have the boot menu in front of you which you would've gotten by restarting your computer and continuously bashing that respective key, you will get 2 options that pertain to the Flash Disk drive, once that has a preceding UEFI: and one without.

Select the one which has UEFI: followed by your flash drive name.

In my case, this was UEFI: SanDisk_Ultra

This way, we are booting into the Windows 10 installation environment in UEFI mode.

15- Once you get the initial License Agreement, then enter your Windows 10 product key when prompted although you can click on the SKIP entering key to proceed without entering a key for now and you still can add your product key once you are in Windows

If your product Key is embedded in the BIOS and you don't know it, you can find it by using RWEverything:

Spoiler: How to find out your Windows Product Key which is embedded in the BIOS

Use RWEverything to find the key in the BIOS:

Download RWEverything and launch it a admin


Click on ACCESS > ACPI Tables

Then go to the MSDM Tab:

Note: If you don't want to use a USB Flash Disk, you can select the ISO download method.

 

Drive Partitioning:

Spoiler: RAID Installation Tips

1) Set the boot mode in your BIOS to Intel Rapid Storage (AKA RAID)
2) Create the RAID Array from the BIOS for the required SSDs and set the Data Stripe Size to 64K
3) Boot from the Windows 10 Installation Disk
4) When it prompts you to install Windows and shows you the drive, don't create the partition yet, instead, hit Load Driver then navigate to the root of your Windows 10 USB Flash Disk then point it to the folder which contains the RAID Driver and let it load the first driver (you usually see 2 choices)
5) Now create the partition and install Windows on it
6) Configure everything as you like then install all your drivers
7) Now after Windows loads, wait for about 2 minutes until you see the Rapid Storage Technology icon in the taskbar, then head to the performance tab and set the options like this:

8) Restart

1- It is imperative that you only have one drive attached to your computer once you are installing Windows, be it Windows 7, 8, or 10, Windows has a nasty habit of placing the boot files on the 2nd drive and/or 2nd partition if it finds one. Thus, we need to ensure we only have one drive attached to the system when we are installing Windows and we need to create only one partition; so if you plan on partitioning your drive into C:, D:, etc. for now, we only want to create the C: Partition so everything will go into C: including the boot files.

Having the boot files installed on a 2nd partition or 2nd drive not only slows down your boot time if the second drive was a slow HDD, but also will create headaches when creating an image backup of your system.

Example: You install Windows, setup everything, then backup your C: partition to another partition. When the time comes and you want to restore that image, it would be missing the boot files since they are on another partition/drive. So if your boot files ever get corrupted or infected by some virus, you would have to format and start from scratch.

Update: solution to install Windows while multiple drives are present without having the boot files placed on the 2nd or 3rd drive present in the system: How to properly install Windows on a system with multiple drives

2- Once you get to the partition wizard screen which shows you the connected drive and any partitions if they exist, press SHIFT + F10 to pull up the Command Prompt Window.

3- Once you are at the command prompt, type: diskpart then hit Enter

4- Type list disk then hit Enter

5- You will now see the number next to the disk you are trying to install Windows on, if you followed the guide and only had one drive connected, then it would be Disk # 0

6- Type select disk 0 then hit Enter to make that disk the working disk which diskpart is going to perform its actions on

7- Type clean then hit Enter



8- Now that our disk is wiped and is neither initialized as an MBR Disk nor a GPT Disk, we can go back to the Windows Drive Partition Wizard.

9- Press refresh on the bottom left of the Window.

10- Select the empty/unpartitioned space of your drive then click on NEW

11- Now we need to enter the size of the disk. If you want to setup the disk as a single partition, then just leave the default size alone. If you want to create 2 or more partitions out of your drive. Then enter the number in MB of the partition size you want to allocate for C: which would be the Windows OS Partition.

Note: The way I do it, and because I don't like seeing my disk size as 100.2 GB for exampe of 99.9 GB, I will show you how to get the exact size to create the partition.

Example: Let's say you want to create a 200GB Partition for C:

Using a calculator, enter 200.1 x 1024 which would give you a value of 204,902.4 MB

Now add 644 MB to that value because Windows needs to create a few other partitions before C: like recovery, system, and MSR

So your end result would be 204,902 + 644 = 205,546 MB

So now you can enter 205,467 in the size of the new disk and create it, you will notice that you will get a C: partition of exactly 200.1 GB

Why did I add the 0.1 GB? because if the partition was exactly 200.0 GB then Windows will display it in Computer as a 199.9 GB partition. So that 0.1 GB we added is to get an exact 200GB Partition.



12- At this point, if you have more unpartitioned space, leave it unpartitioned until we get to the Windows desktop

13- Select the newly created partition, it would usually be the 4th one then hit the NEXT button to start the Windows Installation

 

Installing Windows and Initial Configuration Post Installation:

Now you will see the installation progress, your system may reboot during this process.



As soon as you see the initial welcome setup wizard, if your computer's WLAN Adapter's driver was automatically installed by Windows 10, then it will prompt you to connect to the wireless network. DO NOT do that at this point, you will see a small text link that says SKIP. If you do connect to the WLAN network at this take you will be forced to login to Windows using a Microsoft Account which I personally do not recommend but it's up to you.

Follow the below illustrations to setup the options the same way I did. This will prevent the initial Micro$h4ft spying sessions although we have a lot to do afterwards.







Next screenshot would be different than this as I am installing Windows 10 here in a VM so it auto detected an internet connection, you will get your wireless connections here, just click on skip in the bottom left otherwise you will be forced to login with a Microsoft account which I highly do not recommend.

















DO NOT CONNECT TO THE WIRELESS NETWORK UNTIL WE ARE DONE WITH THE TWEAKS AND DRIVERS INSTALLATION OTHERWISE WINDOWS WILL INSTALL ALL THE DRIVERS FOR YOU.
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Tweaks and Privacy Concerns:

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Remove Cortana Search Toolbar & Task View Button, and People:

Right Click on the taskbar and set the options as illustrated below:



Also right click on the Windows Store and Mail Icon in the taskbar and click Unpin from taskbar
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How to uninstall all Windows Store apps in Windows 10

I've always wanted to get rid of all the Windows Store apps in Windows 10 but it only allows you to uninstall a few and not all of them. Apps that I never will use like Photos, Maps, Music, Videos, Groove Music etc. cannot be uninstalled.

Download CCleaner then extract the ZIP Contents to a folder. Make sure you right click on the ZIP file then go to Properties and choose UNBLOCK from the bottom right if it was blocked before extracting it otherwise all the files within will have a blocked status.

Right click on CCleaner64.exe then choose RUN AS ADMIN

From the left pane, click on TOOLS

You will now see all the Microsoft store apps, click on each one, then click uninstall from the right, wait for 10 seconds, then do the same for the next Microsoft Store app until you remove all the ones that you don't need.

Do not remove the Store app itself otherwise you won't be able to install any Windows Store app in the future. Something as simple as AdBlock Plus for Edge or the HEVC Video Extension cannot be installed without the Windows Store
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Click on the Start Menu Button, then scroll down to the Windows System folder, then click on Control Panel and change the view to Large Icons:




Next, scroll down and locate "System" then from the left pane, click on Advanced System Settings > Computer Name

Now enter a description like " John's Computer ", this is just a description for what the computer is on the network.

Then click on Change at the bottom to change your computer's name and reboot when prompted.

We want you to do this right now as it will ensure proper operation of the group policy rules that we are going to tweak soon since they point to: Computer name\Username\Rule Name



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Disable Autoplay [Optional]:

Go to Control Panel > AutoPlay , then disable all the AutoPlay options as shown below:



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Folder Options:

Go to Control Panel > File Explorer Options , then set them as per the illustrations below:





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Disable Windows Defender:

Windows Defender is the heaviest Antivirus out there and will cause your computer not work as fast as it should. See how heavy it is in the latest AV Comparative Tests here (lower bar meals less system impact = lighter) = AV Comparative Antivirus Performance Test

The problem is, simply disabling it is not all you need to do before you install a new AV/Security Suite. To ensure 0 conflicts with your new Antivirus that you are about to install, it is strongly advisable to also disable the Windows Defender services from starting up automatically as they will still be running in the background even if you have disabled Windows Defender!


To Disable Windows Defender:

Unless you really want to use a useless anti-virus that is almost as good as nothing (see: AV-TEST ), has annoying definition updates that are delivered through Windows Updates rather than automatically through the app itself like it should, then here is how to disable it.

Firstly, please note that we need to disable its 3 components one by one exiting the settings after each setting change and going back. If you disable all the 3 settings together, Windows may freeze forcing you to do a forced restart or Windows Defender will simply ignore the fact that you just disable it and re-enable itself automatically.

1) Click on the start menu button then click on SETTINGS

2) Click on the Update & Security button

3) Click on Windows Defender from the left pane

4) Disable the components one by one, starting from the bottom (3rd option):



5) Now exit the Update and Security Window and re-enter again then repeat the same steps to disable the 2nd component:



6) Now exit the Update and Security Window and re-enter again then repeat the same steps to disable the 3rd component, after this step, you will notice the Windows Defender app turns the PC Status to RED = ie. Not Protected :





After you do that, do this (you cannot do Step 1-3 though if you have Windows 10 home or single Language as it doesn't have the Group Policy Editor):

1) Disable Smart Screen from Settings > Update & Security > Windows Security > App & Browser Control (turn them all off)

2) Now go into the Windows Defender settings and turn off all the 4 radio buttons

3) Immediately after doing that, double click on this reg file: Disable Windows Defender.reg



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Taskbar and Start Menu Properties [Optional]:

This is how I set mine as I hate when different windows I open are combined into one group, takes on extra setup to click on the grouped items to select the folder I want and is just too darn annoying:

1) Right click on the taskbar then select Settings.



2) Set the options as illustrated below:

 

Internet Options:

Just in case you ever wanted to use Internet Explorer

Uncheck the boxes where the arrows point to.

 

Language Settings:

After adding the languages that you want (in case you had extra language to add other than English that is), go to Control Panel > Languages > Advanced Settings from the top left pane

Set the options as illustrated below:

 

Network and Sharing Center Advanced Sharing Settings [Optional]:

Here is how I setup my Network and Sharing Center advanced sharing settings, I like to share folders myself and give appropriate permissions, follow the below illustrations and once you save, log off and back on for the changes to take effect:

 

Regional Settings [Optional]:

I like the day to be shown first rather than the month and I like military timing.

I will also show you how to make the day of the week always appear in the taskbar rather than only when you hover over the date.



This is how the date will look like in your taskbar if you did the above:

 

Reserved

 

System Settings:

Computer Name

We covered that in the previous page

Hardware

Let's disable automatic drivers download through Windows Update although this setting doesn't do a thing, but at least let's do our part and set things the right way:



Advanced

Here we are going to change a few performance options, this is how I like it for a bit more snappiness, I don't really like animations when minimizing/maximizing windows and I hate the fade effect or balloon notifications, this is all optional and up to you though:





System Restore

Disable System Restore (optional), this has never helped me solve any problems, I create system images instead.

Remote

Disable Remote Assistance unless you want a Micro$h4ft employee ever logging into your system and destroying it:

 

Autoruns:

Let's disable a few startup entries using Autoruns

1) Download Autoruns

2) Extract the ZIP file to a folder

3) Right click on Autoruns64.exe and choose Run as Administrator

4) Disable the below items

 

Registry Tweaks:

Note: If you will be doing the below tweak to remove the "- Shortcut" Affix at the end of the file name of shortcuts, then you will need to go to any folder in any drive, right click on it, and choose send to desktop as shortcut as a test. This will create the Explorer registry key which we will need to edit below.

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Organization / Owner:

1) Press the Windows + R button to open up the Run Dialogue Box then type regedit then press the OK button.

2) Navigate to the following key:

Code:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version

In the right pane, double click on RegisteredOrganization then enter the Organization you want, for example, your PC's Manufacturer

While you are still there, you can also double click on RegisteredOwner and enter your name




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Change Icon Spacing:

By default, Windows gives a horizontal icon spacing for icons of a -1125 value which is a bit too short for my liking as any icon which has long text would be truncated with ... after a few letters so you won't be able to see its name unless you click on it. I like to give it a bit more room so the icons all appear with their full name, navigate to this key in regedit:

Code:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics

Now change the IconSpacing value from -1125 to -1850
Also change the IconVerticalSpacing value from -1125 to -1225

This will leave some spacing between icons which makes them look neater rather than cramped next to each other and it will also ensure that icons which have long names will have the full name displayed properly rather than for example: Revo Uninst.....



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Disable " - Shortcut " Affix:

Whenever you create a shortcut for a file or folder, the newly created shortcut will have a "– Shortcut" suffix at the end of the original file or folder name.

That can be annoying for some as we already know it's a shortcut since it has the shortcut arrow on the icon and it will make the file name very long which may probably lead to the text of the icon being trunscated.

If you prefer the created shortcut to have the exact same name with the original object, without the "– Shortcut" suffix, you can use the following registry trick to disable the "– Shortcut" completely.

1. Run Registry Editor (RegEdit).
2. Navigate to the following registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
3. In the right pane, double click on link registry value.
4. Change the “link” binary value data to 00 00 00 00.
5. Log off or reboot immediately otherwise any change to any other parameter in the registry without logging off will cause this value to revert back to default.

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PC Settings:

Now let's click on the Start Menu Button > Settings

The below images will walk you through each and every section on how I configure the settings:

 

Start Menu Customization:

 

Explorer Customization:



If you want to hide the 3D Objects folder, then download this reg file then double click on it to merge it with the registry: Remove 3D Objects Folder.reg

 

Restore the classic Photo Viewer as the default app for handling images:


1) Download the Photo Viewer Restore Reg Entry then double click on it to merge it with your registry

2) Now go to Start > PC Settings > Apps > Default Apps then click on the Photo Viewer and change the default app to Windows Photo Viewer

 

Remove Previous Versions:

File History is a useless feature that is supposed to enable you to restore previous versions of a file. This feature has been there since Windows 7 and hasn't gained any popularity and thus, Microsoft will remove it completely in the future but for now, if you don't want to see it in the right click context menu or in the file properties, then download the below to reg entries and double click on each one of them to merge them with your registry:

Remove Previous Versions Context Menu.reg

Remove Previous Versions Properties Tab.reg

If you have Windows 10 Pro, you can also launch the Group Policy Editor by typing gpedit.msc in the Run Dialogue Box then go to: Computer Configuration > Windows Components > File History then enable the rule which says " Turn off File History"

 

Services:

Press the CTRL + R button on your keyboard to launch the Run Dialogue Box then type services.msc and hit enter to open up the Services Menu

Double click on the following services and set them to disabled:

- Connected User Experiences and Telemetry
- Geolocation Service
- Payments and NFC/SE Manager
- Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Service (Disable this only if you don't use a touch keyboard. ie. touch screens)
- Windows Error Reporting

 

Task Scheduler Items to Disable:

I have disabled the following tasks using a custom batch file, simply download it and run it as admin. Disable Task Scheduler Privacy Related tasks-W10.bat

Here is what it disables and the contents of the batch file:

Code:

schtasks /Change /TN "Microsoft\Windows\AppID\SmartScreenSpecific" /disable
schtasks /Change /TN "Microsoft\Windows\Application Experience\AitAgent" /disable
schtasks /Change /TN "Microsoft\Windows\Application Experience\Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser" /disable
schtasks /Change /TN "Microsoft\Windows\Application Experience\ProgramDataUpdater" /disable
schtasks /Change /TN "Microsoft\Windows\Application Experience\StartupAppTask" /disable
schtasks /Change /TN "Microsoft\Windows\Autochk\Proxy" /disable
schtasks /Change /TN "Microsoft\Windows\CloudExperienceHost\CreateObjectTask" /disable
schtasks /Change /TN "Microsoft\Windows\Customer Experience Improvement Program\Consolidator" /disable
schtasks /Change /TN "Microsoft\Windows\Customer Experience Improvement Program\UsbCeip" /disable
schtasks /Change /TN "Microsoft\Windows\DiskDiagnostic\Microsoft-Windows-DiskDiagnosticDataCollector" /disable
schtasks /Change /TN "Microsoft\Windows\ExploitGuard\ExploitGuard MDM policy Refresh" /disable
schtasks /Change /TN "Microsoft\Windows\Feedback\Siuf\DmClient" /disable
schtasks /Change /TN "Microsoft\Windows\Feedback\Siuf\DmClientOnScenarioDownload" /disable
schtasks /Change /TN "Microsoft\Windows\FileHistory\File History (maintenance mode)" /disable
schtasks /Change /TN "Microsoft\Windows\Location\Notifications" /disable
schtasks /Change /TN "Microsoft\Windows\Location\WindowsActionDialog" /disable
schtasks /Change /TN "Microsoft\Windows\Maps\MapsUpdateTask" /disable
schtasks /Change /TN "Microsoft\Windows\Maps\MapsToastTask" /disable
schtasks /Change /TN "Microsoft\Windows\Power Efficiency Diagnostics\AnalyzeSystem" /disable
schtasks /Change /TN "Microsoft\Windows\Shell\FamilySafetyMonitor" /disable
schtasks /Change /TN "Microsoft\Windows\Shell\FamilySafetyRefreshTask" /disable
schtasks /Change /TN "Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\QueueReporting" /disable

 

Group Policy Editor (only for Windows 10 Pro/Enterprise):

These are the rules that I enable or disable:

- User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Attachment Manager > Do not preserve zone information in file attachments = Enabled

- Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > AutoPlay Policies > Turn off Autoplay = Enabled

- Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Cloud Content > Do not show Windows tips = Enabled

- Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Cloud Content > Turn off Microsoft consumer experiences = Enabled

- Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Data Collection and Preview Builds > Allow Telemetry = Disabled

- Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > File Explorer > Do not show the 'new application installed' notification = Enabled

- Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > File History > Turn off File History = Enabled

- Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > HomeGroup > Prevent the computer from joining a homegroup = Enabled

- Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Location and Sensors > Turn off location scripting = Enabled

- Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Location and Sensors > Turn off location = Enabled

- Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Location and Sensors > Turn off sensors = Enabled

- Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Maps > Turn off Automatic Download and Upload of Map Data = Enabled

- Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Search > Allow Cloud Search = Disabled

- Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Search > Allow Cortana = Disabled

- Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Search > Allow search and Cortana to use location = Disabled

- Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Search > Do not allow locations on removable drives to be added to libraries = Enabled

- Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Search > Do not allow web search = Enabled

- Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Search > Don't search the web or display web results in Search = Enabled

- Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Search > Prevent indexing when running on battery power to conserve energy = Enabled

- Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program > Allow Corporate redirection of Customer Experience Improvement uploads = Disabled

- Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program > Tag Windows Customer Experience Improvement data with Study Identifier = Disabled

- Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Defender Antivirus > Turn off Windows Defender = Enabled (Only if you don't want to use Windows Defender that is)

- Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Defender SmartScreen > Explorer > Configure App Install Control = Disabled

- Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Defender SmartScreen > Explorer > Configure Windows Defender SmartScreen = Disabled

- Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Defender SmartScreen > Microsoft Edge > Configure Windows Defender SmartScreen = Disabled

- Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Defender SmartScreen > Microsoft Edge > Prevent bypassing Windows Defender SmartScreen prompts for sites = Disabled

- Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Error Reporting > Disable Windows Error Reporting = Enabled

- Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Game Recording and Broadcasting > Enables or disables Windows Game Recording and Broadcasting = Disabled (if left not configured or enabled, Steam will warn you that Windows Game Recording is active and might hamper your performance)

- Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Ink Workspace > Allow suggested apps in Windows Ink Workspace = Disabled

- Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Ink Workspace > Allow Windows Ink Workspace = Disabled

 

How to disable telemetry, keylogging, speech recognition, and other privacy breaching settings - DO NOT USE WINDOWS 10 WITHOUT THIS!

1) Download O&O ShutUp10

2) Upon the first run, it will recommend you to create a system restore point, that is up to you.

3) Set the options as per the illustration below, these are my recommended settings but feel free to click on any of the options to display a popup/caption of that that particular option does.







4) After you have selected all the options that you want to disable, simply exit the app; it will recommend you to restart which you should do immediately.

5) After you restart, run the tool again you will notice that one of the Telemetry options is back to the OFF mode so you need to again enable it and visually scan for any other options that didn't stick.

6) Exit the app again and reboot once more. This time all the settings should remain the way you set them.

This is one of the best tools I have used in a long time and is a gift from heavens to Windows 10 users, without this tool, I wouldn't even dare to go online or use Windows 10 as you can see your every step, keystroke, and even speech is recorded and sent to Micro$h4ft. Thanks to this tool, it has changed my stance of Windows 10 from a piece of garbage OS to a tamable and usable OS.

While many other tools on the web exist that may do the same thing, they are often bundled with malware, Trojans, etc. This is the only tool that I found so far which actually works and is trusted coming from a great company such as O&O, a Microsoft Partner LOL
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Disable Driver Updates through Windows Updates:

Note: This is not a must. If you are not comfortable with getting the latest drivers on your own, then leave this alone otherwise future updates to newer Windows builds may fail due to outdated drivers.

Fortunately, now O&O ShutUp10 works for disabling Driver updates through Windows Updates.

But also, if you have Windows 10 Pro installed, then:

1) Press the Windows + R Key to launch the Run Dialogue Box
2) Type gpedit.msc then hit enter
3) Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update
4) Enable the rule which says: "Do not include drivers with Windows Updates"

 

OpenCL and OpenGL Compatibility Pack

==========================================================

Macrium Reflect Installation/Usage Guide

Create System Image:

Now that we are done with the initial configuration of Windows 10, create a system image using your favorite imaging program before you proceed with the drivers installation.

I recommend creating this image before the drivers installation because let's say a few months down the line a lot of drivers have been updated and you want to start fresh again rather than uninstalling the drivers and installing the new ones, this way we have a restoration point beforehand so we can start fresh again.

After you create the first system image, proceed to the next step.

 

Drivers Installation:

Start installing your drivers one by one, restarting after each driver installation even if you were not prompted to do so. Do not take shortcuts if you want everything to work 100%.

Here is my recommended Driver installation order, off--course this will very from one computer to another but this should give you a general idea:

01-Chipset

02-Intel Management Engine Interface Driver

03-Intel AHCI-RAID Driver (AKA IRST or Intel Rapid Storage Technology; even if you don't have a RAID Setup, the IRST Driver also contains an updated AHCI Controller driver which is better/faster than the default MSAHCI Driver that windows Offers)

04-USB Drivers, if your computer uses USB ports other than the Intel Extensible Host as those are built into Windows already.

05- Graphics Card Drivers

06- Audio Drivers

07- LAN Drivers

08- WLAN Drivers

09- Card Reader Drivers

10- The rest of the remaining drivers

 

Getting Online and Running Windows Updates:

Beware, the moment you go online, there is a new screen that pops up, hit SKIP



Now that we have all the drivers installed, you may connect to your wireless network and run Windows Update to get the latest updates.

 

Anti-Virus Recommendation:

After running Windows Updates, go ahead and install your preferred Anti-Virus. I personally use NOD32 Antivirus after having had tried them all as it is the only AV which doesn't conflict with other apps on my system, doesn't give me a single false positive is one of the lightest security solutions as you can see in the link below of the AV-Comparative Performance tests, and offers superb protection.

Have a look at these lists before making a decision:

AV-Comparatives Real-World Protection Tests

AV-Comparatives Performance Test

AV-Comparatives False Positives

Some of the other Anti-Virus comments form my experience using them:

Emsisoft Anti-Malware: Too many false positives for my liking but it's very light and would be the runner up after NOD32 Antivirus.

Avast! AntiVirus: It is only free for 1 month now not 1 year. You have to be very careful when installing it to unselect the bloat like software updater, VPN, etc. I'd only consider the paid version to be honest since the free version is not really free anymore.

Norton Security: Comes bundled with the Norton Identity Safe/Norton Toolbar for my browser, has ads for components not pertaining to your license like file shredder, password manager, etc. I don't like security solutions which offer additional bloatware without the possibility of doing a custom installation.

Bitdefender AntiVirus/Internet Security = This is not an Anti-Virus anymore, this is an all in-on crapware solution that has a system optimizer, browser cleaner, driver updater, everything you can imagine is there. No thank you. Give me the protection only.

Kaspersky Anti-Virus = Great AV, with a low performance impact, but it limits you, three re-installations and your license is blacklisted. I don't use software that limit me on how I use them or limit me on how many times I can format my computer so that's unfortunately not an option for me also their reputation has gone downhill lately so stay away.

Webroot SecureAnywhere = The lightest AV on the planet spoiled by terrible false positives, ranging from file FPs to website FPs. Your system with be literally unusable with this junk installed on it.

F-Secure AntiVirus = Light on the system, simple interface BUT conflicts with programs that I am trying to install. They'd never finish installing until I paused the AntiVirus. Didn't all the time but it happened enough to make me not recommend this.

Avira AntiVirus = Was a great AV until they ruined it by now offering a mandatory installation of the Avira Launcher, a very bloated and stupid launcher that again has a system optimizer, etc.

 

Software Recommendation:

AIDA64 Extreme
AS SSD Benchmark
Autoruns
BatteryInfoView
CCleaner
CPU-Z
CrystalDiskMark
Everything
FastStone Capture
FlashFXP
Geek Uninstaller
GPU-Z
HWiNFO64
MiniTool Partition Wizard
Nero Platinum Suite
O&O ShutUp10
Tag&Rename
WinRAR
Active@ Partition Recovery
Active@ UNDELETE Professional
dBpoweramp
Internet Download Manager
O&O Defrag Pro 19
PassMark PerformanceTest
PDF-XChange Editor
PDF-XChange Viewer
HIDE.ME VPN
qBittorrent
Rufus
SyncBackPro

 

DirectX 9 Redistributable



For more tweaks and fixes, visit this thread:

Windows 10 Tweaks and Fixes

 

Thank you so much for this informative thread @Matrix Leader. I installed Windows 10 on my laptop following all the steps, step by step, but i got some problems.

In post #15 i couldn't disable WdNisSvc and WinDefend.
https://imgur.com/VwuIf7R

In post #21 i called Microsoft 3 times and they kept telling me my ID is invalid, but the windows activated itself when i connected to internet.

In post #28 i connected to internet and made a search for updates. the windows downloaded and installed all the updates without asking me, replaced some OEM drivers like Graphics drivers.
http://prntscr.com/8f9sy9

should i uninstall the updated drivers and reinstall the OEM drivers?

another problem i don't think it's related to the thread but I installed CoreTemp and i keep getting this crash message "http://prntscr.com/8fa03e", it was working before and i am not sure what's causing it.

CPUID HWMonitor can detect the temps with no problems and i use this app because it allows me to add all cores temps in the taskbar, hopefully you know any alternative app.

Finally, about the antivirus. what do you think about Malwarebytes Anti-Malware?

 

For Post #15, that means you didn't properly disable Windows Defender. Go again to Control Panel > Windows Defender and check is it showing a status in RED that it is disabled? If not, then you need to disable it again, follow the guide and do it one component at a time, then exit after disabling each component then enter Windows Defender again and disable the next component. Only when Windows Defender is really fully disabled can you delete those registry entries. It is vital that you disable them if you want to install your own AV and have no conflicts.

For post #21, it took me 2 attempts to activate via phone. The first time it always tells me "An error was detected, please repeat your last entry" when I enter the first installation ID. Also, if this is the first time you activate Windows after an upgrade from 7/8 to 10, you will need to activate it through the internet first which you did now. So you should be fine.

For post #28, do you have Windows 10 Home or Pro? An alternative solution to disable driver updates it to set your connection as a metered connection then tell Windows Updates to never install drivers over metered connections.

Let me know how this all goes once you try it.

As for MBAM, it is a great companion for any AV. I have a lifetime license for the Pro edition but I never use it as I don't want two security solutions running on my system at the same time. Even with my high end system, I can feel the slowdown. Not because of MBAM, but that's what happens when you have 2 security solutions. If you are ready to compromise a bit of performance then it's good. I don't use it because: A) my system is clean, I never use cracks or anything, everything is licensed/genuine so I never even encounter dangerous files to start off with. B) MBAM has never found anything but false positives on my system., I know I can add them to the whitelist, but this just adds one more thing to worry about. I choose to run 1 good AV and be done with it. Which is NOD32 AntiVirus, the only AV that has never failed me. The new NOD32 v9 Beta is stable as a rock, lighter than v8 and v7 and the final version would be out soon.

 

For windows defender, it's disabled as shown in picture, but in settings there is an options i missed disabling. unfortunately i can't disable it now.

http://prntscr.com/8fbkg0
http://prntscr.com/8fbmls


For windows updates, Sorry but i am not completely understanding you. Should i reinstall windows and apply these settings? or i should uninstall the updated drivers and reinstall them after changing settings?

my windows is Windows 10 Pro

Downloading NOD32 now, too many friends advised me to install it.

thank you so much.

 

For Windows Defender, first it seems that you have disabled it through Group Policy as per my guide, so now, turn off that Group Policy Setting, then you would be able to access Windows Defender, then disable the Real Time Protection then re-enable the Group Policy rule to turn off Windows Defender, now you would be able to disable those 2 startup entries.
=======================================================================================
For Windows updates, do this:

Start > Settings > Devices > Printers and Scanners > Turn off Download Over Metered Connections

Start > Settings > Devices > Connected Devices > Turn off Download Over Metered Connections

Start > Settings > Network & Internet > Advanced Options > Set as metered connection

Now Uninstall that driver, reboot, then install your own driver. Hopefully Windows should not update the driver again.

Let me know how it goes.
=======================================================================================
As for NOD32, indeed, been using it for 12 years since NOD32 v2 which was the lightest AV on the planet in those days. Now they added a lot of extra security features like HIPS (Hosts Intrusion Prevention System) and HTTP scanning so it became not as light as before, but not heavy as well.

It is the only AV that respects its users, doesn't leak any data to any organization, has a great support forum, doesn't restrict you from re-installing it again, so if you format a lot like me, rest assure you'd be able to activate it with your license every single time! Unlike other AVs which would blacklist your license after a few activations. Also, it has the best user interface and doesn't need to install any add-on on your browser for it to work!

Do not even bother with NOD32 v8, grab the latest BETA v9, install it, let it update, then it will prompt you to reboot. It is super stable and is almost out as final, it's just a matter of days. Remember to download the 64-Bit version. Also, don't bother with Eset Smart Security, the firewall it has makes it really heavier and it has a lot of stuff you may not need like Parental controls.
=======================================================================================

 

These 2 suggestions would solve one hell pain in my butt I always had with Win10. Not that I oftebly use it but...

 

As simple as they look, it took a lot of time for me to figure out why the heck Computer looks so weird when I first open it, where the heck did Micro$h4ft hide all my drives? Then with a bit of tinkering around in the File Explorer Options AKA Folder Options, I noticed that by default Computer opens up in the QuickAccess view, how convenient........Not!

 

Windows defender problem, Fixed.

about the Windows update problem, i remember that HP, at windows 10 release day, recommended updating drivers through windows update but i can't find their statement now. i will try your method with the nvidia graphics driver and post my feedback.

 

Thank you, this guide is not perfect yet, with users' feedback like yours, we can work together to perfect it

 

Okay i used the metered connection method and Windows Update doesn't seem to detect the OEM driver it updated before. not sure if that's what should be happened

btw i am getting over 30 updates for Microsoft office 2013 i think anyway to hide them?

 

You cannot hide updates in Windows 10. Why would you wanna hide them anyway? Office updates are good.

PS: Office 2016 will be released on the 22nd of September so I didn't even install Office for now. I have an Office 365 Subscription so it entitles me to use the latest Office for 9 USD a month + 1 TB of OneDrive storage for 5 users + 60 mins free Skype Calling minutes every month. Not a bad deal

 

That's why i want to hide them i am waiting the office 2016.

about that deal. 9$ is the cost of calling my father in UAE from egypt for 20 mins i think. thank you for letting me know about it, it can be a life savior for me if it's still available

 

It's always abailable, it will allow you to install Office (latest version) on 5 PCs and/or MACs and 5 diff. mobile devices like iPads or tablets so that's a total of 10 devices.

Out of the 5 users for PCs/Macs, you login to your MS Office My Account then send the users an invitation, they must have a valid .passport email like @live.com or @outlook.com

I used my Gmail address to register so it is now considered as an MS passport account as well. This way with my Gmail, I can login to OneDrive, Skype, Office, etc.

My friend who just purchased the same subscription had Office 2016 installed on his Mac. Kinda funny how Micro$h4ft releases the 2016 version for Mac months before the PC version. I think they are smoking something.

Here is the link: https://products.office.com/en-us/buy/office

Choose Office 365 Home not Personal. Pesonal is for 1 user only, Home is for 5 users + 5 mobile tablets/iPads + free 60 min skype call minutes every month! a big time saver + 1 TB storage on OneDrive for each of the users so everytime you invite someone, their Micorosft Account ID gets registered under your My Office Account page and they get the access to Office and 1TB of OneDrive storage.

 

Thank you so much, subscribing!

btw eset nod32 is so awesome. the last time i used it was in 2011 i think. too many stuff changed

my windows 10 is complete. just coretemp isn't working i can't find the reason but i will search for alternative

EDIT: RealTemp is the alternative.

 

Perfect! Gotta love hearing success stories

ESET FTW!

 

10$ BTW. Ithought nowadays people are immune to off numbers.

 

i suggest you to add "how to go back to the old clock and volume control"
and i will install audio switcher to switch between internal speaker and usb sound card output fast

 

I learned something about turning off notifications suck as the clock and the notification center. I forgot and a Google search didn't provide the answer but how do you keep Windows 10 from uploading system updates in a Peer to Peer environment?

I enabled metered connection in my Wifi settings but not sure if that's all I need to do.

 

How to stop 10 from using your PC's bandwidth to update strangers' systems
Win Update > Advanced > Choose how updates are delivered > set it to off:​

• Off: disables the peer-to-peer update feature entirely. Updates will only be downloaded from M$ servers & won’t be uploaded to anywhere
• PCs on my local network: This is the best option. With this enabled, you’ll benefit from peer-to-peer updates on your home or work network. This means faster downloads & less download bandwidth used. You’ll only have to download the updates once & they’ll be shared amongst all your PCs. Your PC will never upload updates over the Internet.
• PCs on my local network, and PCs on the Internet: This option is the default, although it probably shouldn’t be. With this enabled, 10 will upload updates from your PC to other computers over the Internet. These computers would normally just download updates from M$, but M$ will save on bandwidth because they’re getting some updates from your Internet connection.

 

O&O ShutUp10 is all you need to stop all privacy concerns and these annoying new features.