Windows 10 Tweaks and Fixes (Index post #1)

@iunlock: I use Linux most of the time. Infact I use cortana and it is kinda fun playing with digi-assistant. Disabling service called "Connected service and telemetry" will disable most telemetry though.
Windows 10 TH2 could be safer one than Anniversary. As for testing cumulative updates, I would say the results will vary. If you dislike WU, disable BITS and WU and issue is solved. In anniversary edition, build 447 was very good.

 

Windows Update Blocker

 

Nice! Thanks!!! Another one for the collection.

Currently I'm using:

+ O&O
+ SD Anti Beacon
+ Registry Tweaks (manually done)

Is that similar to your set up?

 

ye but not Anti Beacon, there is no point using 2 apps that do the same thing, O&O has a better interface and the ability to export/import all your settings for when you format the next time.

But this Windows Update disabler is awesome, say you just formatted but want to get online to activate for example, your favorite paid system imaging app (in my case, Macrium Reflect Home) but do not want any updates or driver to be installed before you make your first image, this tools comes in very handy to do just that.

 

Music to the ears. Awesome.

Ah question about Macrium. I've just used it to clone an image from the stock SSD on the GT73VR to another m.2 SSD, and when I went to factory restore it never finished and ran into problems.

Any ideas? Because it's suppose to clone 1:1, including all the nitty gritty boot/recovery files etc yea? Hmm...

I've always been a little gun shy of cloning and am used to doing fresh installs... just not sure what went wrong with the last clone. Maybe I missed something.

 

no idea, it has always worked for me

what you may have missed is selecting all the partitions, as in, not just C, but also the system reserved partitions before that and whatnot....

after that, when restoring, you choose select all partitions and then you see the partitions in the source reflecting the same way on the target, after the restore, just change the boot device in BIOS options then wipe your other drive clean in Windows

 

Macrium once recovered first 2 partition on another drive in a such way that MBR was spoiled and it showed wrong C drive size and unexisting partitions. Kinda stupid that you can't clone OS with different target partition size. But it's free.

 

have you tried the option of fixing Boot issues on left side of the UI. Also, if you've Intel RAID inf file with you just point that driver to MR(I can't remember the correct option) and most issues will be fixed. I'd clean the existing partitions using Linux or Windows PE and then start restoring the image.

 

Windows 10 Toggle Tweaker

 

OK, I will check it out. Thanks, bro.

 

Usefull Thread I have to say...thank you guys!

 

Thank you for the thread! Very useful.

Didn't find this one in the list, thought I'd post it here. For my taste I don't like additional folders in This PC/Computer screen because I access them from side-panel. Surely, you can just hide them, but I like a more permament option.
In the end it will look like the screenshot below.
The attached zip contains .reg files for removing/restoring all the folders, as well as for removing individual folders from Explorer.

 

You might as well add this;



@Phoenix @Mr. Fox

Let's get rid of Windows 10 filth, and Cortana The Digital Slut. xD

 

Wow, the OP has alot of stuff Windows 10 should've had already or by default. Kids, this is why you don't use Windows 10. It'll give your whole family cancer!

 

LOL

I have to spend like 45 mins just configuring Windows to avoid the cancer it contains before I can even think of installing drivers / using it

 

This seems to work OK overall. I like it, except for one thing... It did something to disable my ability to use a PIN in lieu of my password for Windows 10 and I cannot figure out what it disabled or broke to regain that feature. I had to restore an OS image to get that functionality back. If I could figure out which one of the many tweaks caused that, (so I can avoid it,) I'd start using it.

 

I never use a pin or password. Please mention this to the developer on MDL forum or just stop using it

 

I normally do not, but when I wanted to play Gears of War 4 and had to use Windoze OS X Cancer Edition and a Macro$lop account to do that I thought it would be a good time to test the fingerprint reader. I got used to using it instead of typing a PIN or password. It actually worked nicely because the DM3 has a touch (not swipe) fingerprint reader. But, you cannot use it without a PIN. Winblows 10 will not let you set it up or use it without a PIN.

 

I've done the majority of the tweaks listed in this thread as well as in the "Windows 10 Installation thread" but I wonder if I overdid it Consider Win10 Enterprise LTSB edition, it already comes w/o Windows crAPPS, Cortana, Edge, no feature updates (only critical updates are being pulled AFAIK).
So will I still need some of these tweaks or not really? (Maybe only UI tweaks)

PS: Driver updates are still impossible to turn off in Enterprise edition. Registry tweaks, several different group policies - nothing seems to work. The only workaround is to create an empty folder where the driver is being installed and revoke all permissions for system and trusted installers, then OS will download them but will fail to install.

 

It's there but you missed it:

How to Make Windows 10’s File Explorer Look Like Windows 7’s Windows Explorer

 

Ohh, sorry about that. You've made such an extensive list, it's very easy to miss things

 

Is there listed anywhere, which of these break skype or prevent Windows Store from working?

 

I'm not sure what is your intention, to break Skype and Store or to prevent it.

Anyhow, I don't think any of these tweaks will break Skype functionality, I've used most of them and my Skype is working just fine. Although I'd recommend steering clear of Skype, or any other MS product for that matter, if you're concerned about privacy. I know it can be a pain to convince all your friends to move to a similar app (I'm in the process myself), but unless you want all your messages, audio/video calls recorded and sent to Microsoft, that's the only way to go.

As for Win. Store, there is a description in each tweak of what it actually does. And yes, some of them will disable/delete the Store.

 

Thanks for the info. Nah I wasn't concerned about privacy, but I did in the past use a one click disable a bunch of Windows services/stuff. It broke Skype (kept saying I had messages, was using the wrong times). And it broke Windows store. The store however couldn't be fixed. Tried many things even recommended by Microsoft support, so I try to avoid messing with any Windows apps/services, they're very sensitive and break other things (calculator also WOULD NOT work, no matter what). I'll just make a few backups/restore points to be safe

 

you need to copy the win32calc.exe.mui file and place it in: C:\Windows\System32\en-US

If you don't have a Windows EN-US version, then it needs to be placed in the folder respective to the language of your OS, example: fr-FR

 

There was some windows command that was supposed to fix all those apps/re-download them. Not sfc /scannow. But that was a while ago, I learned to just not mess with them haha. I had previously went through and Uninstalled all of those apps and it was more bs than I got benefits

 

Any idea what "Speed up PC performance" does to improve performance?

 

Probably small RAM, cache tweaks.

 

Windows 10: turn off ads in File Explorer

 

There are ads in File Explorer now??? RLY?!
EDIT: Oh yeah, and some fanboys dare to call it anything but an ad. I guess they expect the one to be rainbow colored bucket of arrows and big AD HERE above it.

 

I neither know if this is mentioned anywhere in this thread, nor if this issue is something that popped up as part of the latest Windows update, but I found some new telemetry related to application compatibility. It was causing my CPU usage to spike at random. Here's how to get rid of it.

Run command prompt as administrator and enter the following lines, pressing enter after each one. You can copy/paste all of these at once, put them into a text file, and save it on a flash drive for future use:

1. sc delete DiagTrack
2. sc delete dmwappushservice
3. echo “” > C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Diagnosis\ETLLogs\AutoLogger\AutoLogger-Diagtrack-Listener.etl
4. reg add “HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DataCollection” /v AllowTelemetry /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

I also wanted to post about disabling automatic driver updates. I generally don't have a problem with most of the drivers that W10 downloads. Chipset, USB, networking, all work fine. The airplane mode driver that's a part of most Clevo notebooks is more up to date from Windows Update than from Clevo, and it actually installs correctly unlike previous versions. One thing that was problematic, though, was the audio driver. The version that's included with Windows, along with at least half a dozen other sets I tried, has an issue that causes the volume to increase on the primary jack after waking the system from sleep. Neither the basic Microsoft audio driver, nor the NVIDIA one that operates through my Dell monitor exhibits this.

But Windows 10 being Windows 10, it would keep installing the Realtek driver from Windows update. I thought I had found a way through group policy editor (gpedit.msc) to disable all driver updates. While that did work, it also prevented any drivers I downloaded myself from installing correctly. There is a workaround that's somewhat clunky but functional. Make sure you're not connected to the Internet for this first part:

1. Go into group policy editor (Win + R, gpedit.msc). This is included in W10 Pro and apparently can be added in W10 home if these instructions are to be believed.
2. Select Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System -> Device Installation -> Device Installation Restrictions
3. Highlight "Prevent installation of devices that match any of these device IDs" then the link for Edit policy setting
4. Click Enabled in the upper left, then the Show button under "Prevent installation of devices that match any of these Device IDs:"
5. Go into device manager, find the problematic device, then double click on it to access the properties.
6. Click the Details tab then select "Hardware Ids" from the drop-down menu.
7. Right click on each Value and select Copy
8. Go back to the Show window that opened in the group policy, double click the area under Value, then right click and select Paste

Repeat steps 5-8 as needed for each hardware ID you wish to add.

Reboot your computer.









Now you can go back online. Next time Windows tries download and install the driver, it will cough up an error message. To get rid of that, you'll need to download the Show or hide updates troubleshooter from Microsoft.

1. Run the file you just downloaded and click next
2. Select Hide updates
3. Select the driver for the device you disabled via group policy editor above. In my case, it was listed as Realtek - Media.
4. Click next, then follow the prompts until it says you can close the troubleshooter

If for whatever reason you want the driver to install again, you can have the troubleshooter make the update visible to Windows Update again, then you can either disable the group policy you set above outright, or remove the hardware IDs individually.

 

Here is how to uninstall Micro$loth OneDrive feces... run in command prompt as Admin, or save to batch file and run as Admin. This literally uninstalls it completely, including the Windows service for this piece of crap.

Code:

taskkill /f /im OneDrive.exe

%SystemRoot%\SysWOW64\OneDriveSetup.exe /uninstall

If you still have any of the icons in Windows Explorer, there are some registry tweaks to nix those.

Here is one example...
http://www.windowscentral.com/how-remove-onedrive-file-explorer-windows-10

 

when i do a clean install of Win10 Home x64 device manger is missing virtually everything and i have to "have disk" install every thing, wifi, audio, graphics, chipset drivers, like 15 have disk, it`s a pain.

Can i not put the drivers on an usb stick and Windows will use them when it is installing, So i dont have to do it manually, or when windows setup is complete, allow me to install all the drivers in one go, instead of one at a time.

Thanks

John.

 

Use NTLite and add driver packages during post install section.

 

I have done that in the past but it takes a bit of doing, Why cannot windows search available storage devices for drivers when it does not have the correct one to install.

John.

 

Your tweaks have been added to the index. Thank j00

 

After installing the latest Win10 on reboot my user name is not show it is black and you cannot select another user name, you have to remember your user name and password or you cannot get into windows, looks like MS is being a bit of an AH.

Anyway i searched around for a fix, and the link below was of use, maybe it will be to others

All i needed to do was download "Enable Displaying User Names on Sign in Screen" reg file and run it, and after reboot my user name is back again, I don't know how well it works with multiple user system, so you takes your chances.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials...t-display-user-name-windows-10-a.html#option1

John.

 

They are securing against those with nefarious intents while doing the install.

 

Turn off most Windows 10 Ads with a double-click, or manually

 

Get CMD back with Creators Update instead of Powershell
Ofc if you want to stick with Powershell gl getting acquainted with new syntax...


Update (May 1 2017) - You can use WinAero Tweaker or even directly from the settings for the above tweak, But here's another one that will let you get context menu for both cmd and powershel l with admin privileges as well.

Spoiler: CMD and Pwershell both needed as per the Prompt demands below..

Code:

::COMMAND PROMPT HERE
    reg add "HKCR\Directory\shell\MenuCmd" /v "MUIVerb" /t REG_SZ /d "@shell32.dll,-22022" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Directory\shell\MenuCmd" /v "Icon" /t REG_SZ /d "cmd.exe" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Directory\shell\MenuCmd" /v "ExtendedSubCommandsKey" /t REG_SZ /d "Directory\ContextMenus\MenuCmd" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Directory\shell\MenuCmd" /v "Position" /t REG_SZ /d "bottom" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Directory\background\shell\MenuCmd" /v "MUIVerb" /t REG_SZ /d "@shell32.dll,-22022" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Directory\background\shell\MenuCmd" /v "Icon" /t REG_SZ /d "cmd.exe" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Directory\background\shell\MenuCmd" /v "ExtendedSubCommandsKey" /t REG_SZ /d "Directory\ContextMenus\MenuCmd" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Directory\background\shell\MenuCmd" /v "Position" /t REG_SZ /d "bottom" /f
    reg add "HKCR\LibraryFolder\background\shell\MenuCmd" /v "MUIVerb" /t REG_SZ /d "@shell32.dll,-22022" /f
    reg add "HKCR\LibraryFolder\background\shell\MenuCmd" /v "Icon" /t REG_SZ /d "cmd.exe" /f
    reg add "HKCR\LibraryFolder\background\shell\MenuCmd" /v "ExtendedSubCommandsKey" /t REG_SZ /d "Directory\ContextMenus\MenuCmd" /f
    reg add "HKCR\LibraryFolder\background\shell\MenuCmd" /v "Position" /t REG_SZ /d "bottom" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Drive\shell\MenuCmd" /v "MUIVerb" /t REG_SZ /d "@shell32.dll,-22022" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Drive\shell\MenuCmd" /v "Icon" /t REG_SZ /d "cmd.exe" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Drive\shell\MenuCmd" /v "ExtendedSubCommandsKey" /t REG_SZ /d "Directory\ContextMenus\MenuCmd" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Drive\shell\MenuCmd" /v "Position" /t REG_SZ /d "bottom" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Directory\ContextMenus\MenuCmd\shell\open" /v "MUIVerb" /t REG_SZ /d "@shell32.dll,-37415" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Directory\ContextMenus\MenuCmd\shell\open" /v "Icon" /t REG_SZ /d "cmd.exe" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Directory\ContextMenus\MenuCmd\shell\open\command" /ve /t REG_SZ /d "cmd.exe /s /k pushd \"%%V\"" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Directory\ContextMenus\MenuCmd\shell\runas" /v "MUIVerb" /t REG_SZ /d "@shell32.dll,-37444" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Directory\ContextMenus\MenuCmd\shell\runas" /v "Icon" /t REG_SZ /d "cmd.exe" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Directory\ContextMenus\MenuCmd\shell\runas" /v "HasLUAShield" /t REG_SZ /d "" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Directory\ContextMenus\MenuCmd\shell\runas\command" /ve /t REG_SZ /d "cmd.exe /s /k pushd \"%%V\"" /f
::POWERSHELL PROMPT HERE
    reg add "HKCR\Directory\shell\MenuPowerShell" /v "MUIVerb" /t REG_SZ /d "@powershell.exe,-109" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Directory\shell\MenuPowerShell" /v "Icon" /t REG_SZ /d "powershell.exe" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Directory\shell\MenuPowerShell" /v "ExtendedSubCommandsKey" /t REG_SZ /d "Directory\ContextMenus\MenuPowerShell" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Directory\shell\MenuPowerShell" /v "Position" /t REG_SZ /d "bottom" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Directory\background\shell\MenuPowerShell" /v "MUIVerb" /t REG_SZ /d "@powershell.exe,-109" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Directory\background\shell\MenuPowerShell" /v "Icon" /t REG_SZ /d "powershell.exe" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Directory\background\shell\MenuPowerShell" /v "ExtendedSubCommandsKey" /t REG_SZ /d "Directory\ContextMenus\MenuPowerShell" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Directory\background\shell\MenuPowerShell" /v "Position" /t REG_SZ /d "bottom" /f
    reg add "HKCR\LibraryFolder\background\shell\MenuPowerShell" /v "MUIVerb" /t REG_SZ /d "@powershell.exe,-109" /f
    reg add "HKCR\LibraryFolder\background\shell\MenuPowerShell" /v "Icon" /t REG_SZ /d "powershell.exe" /f
    reg add "HKCR\LibraryFolder\background\shell\MenuPowerShell" /v "ExtendedSubCommandsKey" /t REG_SZ /d "Directory\ContextMenus\MenuPowerShell" /f
    reg add "HKCR\LibraryFolder\background\shell\MenuPowerShell" /v "Position" /t REG_SZ /d "bottom" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Drive\shell\MenuPowerShell" /v "MUIVerb" /t REG_SZ /d "@powershell.exe,-109" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Drive\shell\MenuPowerShell" /v "Icon" /t REG_SZ /d "powershell.exe" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Drive\shell\MenuPowerShell" /v "ExtendedSubCommandsKey" /t REG_SZ /d "Directory\ContextMenus\MenuPowerShell" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Drive\shell\MenuPowerShell" /v "Position" /t REG_SZ /d "bottom" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Directory\ContextMenus\MenuPowerShell\shell\open" /v "MUIVerb" /t REG_SZ /d "@shell32.dll,-37446" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Directory\ContextMenus\MenuPowerShell\shell\open" /v "Icon" /t REG_SZ /d "powershell.exe" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Directory\ContextMenus\MenuPowerShell\shell\open\command" /ve /t REG_SZ /d "powershell.exe -noexit -command Set-Location '%%V'" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Directory\ContextMenus\MenuPowerShell\shell\runas" /v "MUIVerb" /t REG_SZ /d "@shell32.dll,-37448" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Directory\ContextMenus\MenuPowerShell\shell\runas" /v "Icon" /t REG_SZ /d "powershell.exe" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Directory\ContextMenus\MenuPowerShell\shell\runas" /v "HasLUAShield" /t REG_SZ /d "" /f
    reg add "HKCR\Directory\ContextMenus\MenuPowerShell\shell\runas\command" /ve /t REG_SZ /d "powershell.exe -noexit -command Set-Location '%%V'" /f

 

your tw34k has b33n added to the index, Thank j00

 

Windows 7 Calculator for Windows 10


Download Old Calculator for Windows 10 from Windows 7 or Windows 8

 

Add Control Panel to right click context menu:

Create an empty reg file and paste the following text in it then save it as any name you want .reg

Code:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Control Panel]
@="Control Panel"
"icon"="Control.exe"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Control Panel\command]
@="Control.exe"

or simple download this file and merge it into your registry:

Add Control Panel to Desktop Context Menu

 

How to disable Automatic Maintenance in Windows 10 via Registry I can delete the post if it's posted before

How to Put the Command Prompt Back on the Windows+X Power Users Menu in "Crapstone edition"
"When you install the Windows 10 Creators Update, you may notice Command Prompt missing from the Power Users menu. Here’s how to get it back."

Change Icon Text Size in Windows 10 Creators Update
"Starting with Windows 10 Creators Update, Microsoft has removed the ability to change advanced text sizing options. Various options to configure the text size for user interface items like menus, title bars, icons and other elements have been removed along with the classic Display settings."

Change Title Bar Text Size in Windows 10 Creators Update
"Starting with Windows 10 Creators Update, Microsoft has removed the ability to change advanced text sizing options"

Change Message Box Text Size in Windows 10 Creators Update
"Starting with Windows 10 Creators Update, Microsoft has removed the ability to change advanced text sizing options."

Change Menu Text Size in Windows 10 Creators Update
"Starting with Windows 10 Creators Update, Microsoft has removed the ability to change advanced text sizing options"

 

I checked my privacy settings with spybot anti beacon 1.6,,the installer version has a check box to re-immunize on startup,,after watching barnacles on you tube-- it showed M$ updates changing privacy settings thru M$ win 10 updates..... heres a link if you want to check it out.

https://www.safer-networking.org/spybot-anti-beacon/

 

You might check after boot each time for a while, to see if it's consistent, or only happens occasionally.

Even after running your tools automatically at boot, Windows might come through later on a maintenance pass and undo the settings.

If you run for longer that 24 hours - no daily reboots - I'd check randomly / daily for changes made while running.

 

I have been checking for a few days now, its consistent-all full green-blocked. You know what they say , build a smarter mouse trap and you get a smarter mouse, in other words, M$ will work on ways to go around privacy settings or reset them and Privacy programs will work on ways so they dont. The re immunize feature on each startup is a nice feature to have.

 

How to configure Classic Shell to look exactly like the Windows 7 Start Menu:

1- Download and install Classic Shell, choose a custom setup and install nothing but the Classic Start Menu and the Classic Shell Update (optional)
2- After the installation is done, click on the start menu once and import the settings from this file: Classic Shell XML Configuration File
3- Download this Start Menu Orb and select it from the Classic Shell Setting > Start Menu Style > Replace Button > Then browse for the image: Windows 7 Start Menu Orb
3- Click on Start > PC Settings > Personalization > Colors, then set the options as illustrated below:



End result:

 

Can you take a look into Resource Monitor and see how many processor threads Classic Shell eats? Thanks

 

Papusan and the crew: