The “Bloatware” phenomenon is what has ruined the performance of new computers for years and is a real nuisance for all users, beginners who don’t understand why their PC is already slow, more experienced ones who have to waste hours removing these useless components.The word Bloatware, for those who have never heard it, indicates in a derogatory way all those useless and heavy programs that are not required. Often these Bloatware are pre-installed programs by PC manufacturers, which almost remain unused by users and which, sometimes, are also just trial versions of paid programs (such as the antivirus or the Office suite).
On a Winwos PC it is possible remove pre-installed components and apps manually or using free automatic programs, making the PC perfectly clean again, without any additional software that was not foreseen or totally useless for our purposes.
READ ALSO: Delete pre-installed programs, trials and trial versions
1) Manual app removal
First of all, let’s see what the regular procedure is for removing applications in Windows. To proceed, let’s open Settings by pressing WIN+I on the computer keyboard, let’s go to the menu Applet’s open Installed apps o Apps and Features and check the list of installed programs and applications.
By clicking on these apps the button appears Uninstall, which is used to remove them. Unfortunately list of apps listed in the SettingsIn fact, it is not complete and often does not include pre-installed system applications.
Also for many apps the button Uninstall it is not active, it is gray and cannot be clicked. Obviously, making it easier to uninstall apps that can generate money or promote services (for that matter Windows 10 is free), it is not in the interests of those who produce them.
We saw how in another guide uninstall apps in Windows.
2) Hide or disable apps with PowerShell
For some apps, those that Microsoft considers to be an integral part of Windows that no user should give up, can be hidden or completely removed only by using PowerShell scripts, launching them manually or using simplified tools.
PowerShell is a command line interface very similar to the Command Prompt, which is used to manage Windows 10 components and its installation.
In this case, we use Powershell to hide Windows 10 pre-installed or bloatware appsso that you can recover and restore them if you change your mind. To open Powershellwrite
PowerShell
in the Start menu search bar, right-click
Windows Powershell
and then up
Esegui come amministratore
in order to have full control of the system; subsequently you can launch PowerShell commands to remove one or another app installed on the system.
Right away, the specific PowerShell commands to use to remove key pre-installed applications and often unused.
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.3DBuilder" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.BingTravel" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.BingHealthAndFitness" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.BingFoodAndDrink" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.BingWeather" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.BingSports" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.BingNews" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.BingFinance" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.BioEnrollment" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.Getstarted" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "king.com.CandyCrushSodaSaga" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.Music.Preview" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.MicrosoftSolitaireCollection" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.MicrosoftOfficeHub" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.Microsoft3DViewer" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.Office.OneNote" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.People" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.Print3D" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.MSPaint" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.SkypeApp" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.WindowsCalculator" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.WindowsFeedbackHub" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.WindowsCamera" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.WindowsMaps" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.WindowsStore" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.Windows.Photos" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.WindowsPhone" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.WindowsAlarms" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.WindowsCamera" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.XboxApp" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.XboxGameCallableUI" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.XboxIdentityProvider" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.XboxSpeechToTextOverlay" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.XboxIdentityProvider" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.XboxGameOverlay" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.ZuneMusic" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.ZuneVideo" | Remove-AppxPackage
You can also run these commands all together, but it would be better to run them one by one so you can choose what to keep and what to actually remove. The app names are quite explanatory in the command itself.
3) Completely delete apps with DISM
To erase any bloatware programs or apps from your system, you can use another command line tool called DISM (Deployment Imaging Service and Management), già incluso in Windows 10, sempre dentro Powershell.
While the previous command deactivates them, with DISM it completely deletes them from Windows. The DISM command is relatively powerful and can be used for various system operations.
DISM commands to remove additional apps from your system. First of all, on the Powershell console started by administrator, run the command:
DISM /Online /Get-ProvisionedAppxPackages | select-string Packagename
Now, locate the name of the PACKAGENAME to remove and run the command:
DISM /Online /Remove-ProvisionedAppxPackage /PackageName:PACKAGENAME
For example, to remove ZuneVideo which is of no use, the command is
DISM /Online /Remove-ProvisionedAppxPackage /PackageName:Microsoft.ZuneVideo_2019.19021.10411.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe
The name shows the date of the last update, so it can change from the example. Once the operation has completed successfully, you may need to restart your computer for it to take effect. By repeating the command that shows the list of apps, you will find that the removed one is no longer present.
4) Removing Windows components with external programs
If Powershell commands are intimidating, you can use external programs to quickly remove all the useless software on your PC.
Windows10Debloater is a free collection of PowerShell scripts to remove certain pre-installed components, including Cortana and Onedrive. Before using it, however, it is best to create a backup of your system. There are three different versions available that differ only in the level of control the user can have over the process.
Windows10SysPrepDebloater.ps1the silent version of the script designed specifically for automated deployment.Windows10Debloater.ps1interactive version that requires the user to make decisions after execution; Windows10DebloaterGUI.ps1the version with a graphical interface.
O&O AppBuster it is a simpler program to use, which shows all the apps installed on the system (even the hidden ones) and allows you to remove them with one click. This application is very good because for each removed app it gives the possibility of being able to reinstall it in the same way.
HibitUninstaller is a program for uninstalling regular programs that also includes a Windows app manager. From the menu
Tools
you can open the
Windows Store App Manager
where you will find all the installed applications, the manufacturer’s name, the version, the size and the date of installation or last update.
Since sometimes the names are not recognized correctly, before pressing the uninstall button it is best to press the right mouse button on an app and open “
Installation Folder
” to fully understand what it is about.
5) Disable Windows components
Apart from applications, Windows 10 also includes many additional features such as Cortana, Onedrive and monitoring tools. To remove them, just open the Start menu, search Turn Windows features on or off and proceed with removing the elements that we will never use and that only take up useless space.
In another article we saw others Automatic programs to block data collection in Windows 10which serve precisely to deactivate these internal and hidden functions.
6) Reinstall clean Windows
If we have just bought a notebook and immediately notice the presence of too much bloatware on the PC, we can act before filling it with programs and personal files by carrying out a Windows reset and a clean reinstallthus eliminating any additions by the notebook manufacturer.
The fastest way to start a clean reinstallation of Windows is to open the Start menu, search Reset your PCopen the item that opens, press on Reset your PCchoose Remove everything in the screen and use cloud reinstallation when prompted by the system.
After a few minutes (necessary to download the clean Windows ISO from the Internet) the PC will restart and the recovery process will begin; at the next startup we will have a totally clean Windows 10 or Windows 11, without any trace of the bloatware seen previously.
To learn more we can read the guides above how to reset windows 11 (clean install) come on how to reset Windows 10 (Reset PC).
Conclusions
Bloatware are in fact advertising tools added by the notebook manufacturer or by Microsoft itself as “sponsors”, which pay to be visible in the Start menu or while using the computer. These programs, if not used, should be uninstalled immediately, using one of the methods seen above.
The best method to remove all bloatware remains a clean installation but it is only applicable if we have just opened the PC and notice too much bloatware, although nothing prevents us from restoring the PC with a clean installation once in a while.
For further information we can read the guide above how to format and install Windows from scratch, to have a clean and new PC.