Once installed, Windows 10 hardly meets the needs of all users: as we have seen in other articles, the operating system automatically installs superfluous applications (even on the Pro edition) and highlights behaviors that many do not like at all. For optimize and speed up Windows 10 and make it faster you can use some settings accessible through the graphical interface of the operating system as well as make some changes in the system registry or in any case from the command line. For some users these are operations that can be really tedious and often complicated.
The good news is that all the changes that allow you to make Windows 10 faster, especially on systems with modest hardware configurations, are officially supported by Microsoft. IT administrators, for example, can distribute them using Active Directory GPO policies: with the script we propose below, therefore, “we are not inventing anything”. We simply offer a tool to apply changes to optimize and speed up Windows 10 in one go.
How the script works to optimize and speed up Windows 10
PowerShell allows you to carry out all configuration operations automatically, without having to deal with the creation of keys and values in the system registry and without having to resort to the command reg.
Using the fantastic script as a basis “Win10-Initial-Setup-Script” available on GitHub and now no longer updated by its original author, we have adapted it and added some new features so as to customize Windows 10 and adapt it to your needs.
Rather than letting the script carry out all the changes foreseen by default by the author, we have made sure that the user can reflect on whether or not to apply each change.
In the configuration that we have prepared, the script to optimize and speed up Windows 10 (free download from here) offers dozens of different possibilities. In the following paragraph we explain everything the script can do to optimize and speed up Windows 10. We suggest do not run the script right away but check everything it allows you to do and understand how it works in detail.
Before starting the optimization script, it is also essential create a full backup of the system. It will be possible to restore the initial configuration in case something goes wrong.
Changes to customize, optimize and speed up Windows 10
The following changes are applied, one after the other, from the PowerShell script that can be downloaded by following the link published previously and also shown at the end of the article. For our part, we suggest that you thoroughly research all the changes that may be applied before deciding whether to proceed or not.
1) Assign a name to the device. It is done manually by pressing the key combination Windows+R typing sysdm.cpl but the script allows you to proceed automatically without tedious steps.
2) Activate the feature System Restore. By default it appears disabled in Windows 10 but together with Previous versions is useful and can be enabled manually. We also talk about it in the article in which we explain how to restore a previous version of a file or folder with Windows 10. The script allows you to activate System Restore automatically for the unit C: allocating 10% of the available space to the feature. For the other units you will have to do this manually by pressing the key combination Windows+R and typing sysdm.cpl ,4.
3) Enable Windows 10 updates to download and install on-demand only. This is the feature available in Windows 7 which was then lost over time. The change applied is the one described in the article where we explain how to disable automatic updates in Windows 10.
4) Disable WiFi Sense. Feature that if activated (no longer present in the most recent releases of Windows 10) shares the credentials of the wireless networks used with other users.
5) Turn off built-in Web Search in the Windows 10 Start menu. If the Start menu, in your opinion, should only be the Start menu and not use the Microsoft Bing search engine if local searches do not offer any results, you can easily disable this feature. We also talk about it in the article how to search for files on your Windows 10 PC: how the new search works.
6) Uninstall automatic installation of unnecessary applications. Prevent Windows 10 from downloading and loading potentially useless apps.
Attention. This change is irreversible: the file Restore.cmd presented later will not reinstall third-party apps that may be present on the system.
7) Prevent UWP applications downloaded from the Microsoft Store from exchanging data in the backgroundeven when using other programs.
8) Disable geolocation services. However, it will no longer be possible to establish the location of your Windows 10 devices.
9) Turn off automatic map updating in Microsoft Maps.
10) Disable sending feedback to Microsoft
11) Make Windows 10 no longer show suggestions on applications to install or download additional components.
12) Disable the unique ID that is used to locate the same Windows 10 PC device and show “ad hoc” advertising messages.
13) Prevent websites from accessing the language list installate in Windows 10.
14) Disable Cortana completely: the digital assistant will no longer be integrated into Windows 10 and will no longer offer its services.
15) Avoid sending any errorsto Microsoft found on your system.
16) Limit the distribution of Windows 10 updates to your local network only avoiding that, using a scheme peer-to-peerthe operating system shares them on the Internet also with third-party systems (occupying upload bandwidth).
17) Deactivate the services Consumer Experience. Connected with some of the features briefly described in the previous points, these services study the user’s behavior and interests and download and install potentially interesting apps.
18) Disable the WAP push service which facilitates file sharing between your Windows 10 PC and other devices.
19) Automatically set the network connection to “private”. currently in use. In another article we highlighted the differences between private and public networks.
20) Prevent Windows Defender from showing a warning when you are not using a Microsoft user account.
21) Enable the button F8 al boot. In previous versions of Windows it allowed you to access the operating system recovery menu.
22) Windows 10 is set to activate at night to proceed with any updates download and to carry out other maintenance operations. The script allows you to disable this behavior.
23) Turn off the Remote Assistance feature. If you don’t use it, why keep it enabled in Windows 10?
24) Remove background blur effect on the lock screen (introduced with Windows 10 May 2019 Update).
25) Do not allow the use of so-called accessibility keys. Usable to activate special interaction modes for disabled users, these keys can also be used to recover the forgotten Windows 10 password and access the system.
26) Configure Windows 10 Task Manager, significantly improved compared to previous versions to show all possible technical details. In another article we showed the potential of the Windows 10 Task Manager.
27) Show details while performing file operations and on folders, transform the icons in the taskbar showing the compact version (so as to have more space on the screen and show a greater number of them), disable the icon People (only in some versions of Windows 10), show all icons in the traybarprevent the operating system from looking for apps to use to open unknown files.
All operations that can be performed with the script, using a few simple PowerShell commands, even on copies of Windows 10 that have not yet been activated.
28) Every time a new link is createdWindows adds the suffix “– Connection” to the name. The script allows you to eliminate it by changing the default behavior of Windows 10.
29) Disable visual effects heavier to improve system performance and overall responsiveness of Windows 10 (recommended only on systems with a modest hardware configuration).
30) Show file extensions and hidden items. Two adjustments applicable from the card View Of File Explorer which can now be applied automatically.
31) Show the This PC icon on the desktop and its contents as soon as you press the key combination Windows+E (File Explorer).
32) Using the script you can uninstall all currently known potentially useless apps that are already present on the system. You may also remove Xbox features and disable Flash in Edge and Internet Explorer (the Edge shortcut may be automatically deleted from the taskbar and desktop). Finally, virtual printers such as the XPS printer and the Microsoft fax can be removed.
33) With a single operation it is then possible unplug tiles from the Windows 10 Start menu so you get a compact, Windows 7-style menu.
Attention. This change is irreversible: the file Restore.cmd presented later will not allow you to restore the configuration of the Start menu (once the tiles have been removed they will not be recoverable).
34) The script also allows you to enable periodic backup of the contents of the system registry again in Windows 10. As explained in the article on backing up the registry with Windows 10, starting from the old version 1803, the operating system no longer saves a backup copy of the registry in the folder %systemroot%\system32\config\RegBack.
35) The script gives you the opportunity to deactivate the functionality if necessary Space…
