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How to declutter, quiet down, and take the AI out of Windows 11 25H2

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/11/what-i-do-to-clean-up-a-clean-install-of-windows-11-23h2-and-edge/
46•mariuz•2h ago

Comments

frameset•2h ago
Whilst I appreciate you can do this, and some people have programs they need Windows for, I am sick of fighting my OS.

One thing I realised when I switched to desktop Linux was just how quiet it was.

It just sits there until I want to do something. It doesn't try and trick me into changing my default browser, or put adverts in my program launcher, or harvest my data.

It just runs my programs when I ask it to.

ryandrake•1h ago
I'm tired of fighting my software in general, not just my OS. I only wish it was as easy to "declutter, quiet down, and take the AI out of" my other software as it apparently is to do with Windows. I'm tired of all the pushiness, nudging, pressuring, and coercion. Software products should not be trying to change my behavior.
exe34•1h ago
I feel like that also happens on Linux tbh. Gnome has very specific ideas of how everything should be, and anything they let you do through plugins today, they will take away tomorrow.

Of course, you have the option of not using gnome. I myself use xmonad and don't bother with desktop environments anymore.

pcdoodle•1h ago
I tried Gnome 5 years ago and all we could do is point and laugh at it. I tried it recently with a new framework laptop "official support" and all, still a horrible OOBE and I don't feel like I can trust them.
bitwize•1h ago
GNOME was started by a guy who thought Microsoft was peak software design. Its founding document is called "Let's Make Unix Not Suck" where not sucking basically means being more like Windows. Make of that what you will.
youngNed•1h ago
That's OK. That was a different time, that was an effort to attract people, for whom, windows was their baseline. Bringing people in like that was not a wrong decision, many people first experience of non windows was gnome, many of those stuck around.
type0•45m ago
> GNOME was started by a guy who thought Microsoft was peak software design

It was then, now it's about trying to outapple MacOS in braindead minimalism

purplehat_•39m ago
Hey - I wonder if you might be able to elaborate on this? I'm on gnome and have had by and large a pleasant experience, and now I'm curious what I might be missing out on. What made it feel like a horrible OOBE for you?
andrew_lettuce•1h ago
I think there's a fundamental difference between software with strong opinions and software that fights and tricks you. I definitely use some applications "wrong" but I recognize and accept that's on me. The programs don't really care, but Windows feels like a lawn mower that hates me, or Larry Ellison.
jwrallie•30m ago
I like Gnome on my Surface Go, because the defaults make sense on a touch interface, but all my other computers are running Xfce.

I changed the panel to mimic OpenSuse (it’s already a preloaded template) and it is perfect for using with a keyboard and mouse with a familiar interface.

If anyone is looking for a desktop environment that does not get in your way, that is the one. Things evolve slowly on Xfce, it is for some of us a feature, not a bug.

ivanjermakov•1h ago
This is really uncommon outside of bigtech/VC startup companies' products. The only "misbehaving" Linux programs I can name from the top of my head are google chrome and postman (both which I no longer use).

This problem is unfortunately also prevalent in websites and it's even harder to evade.

sharts•2h ago
Probably better by now to just drop windows. Other ecosystems seem fairly mature by now and running the one off windows application when necessary seems to be getting easier all the time.
moepstar•1h ago
Indeed, leaving Windows behind for the odd application is easy.

With the depreciation of my late 2017 Intel iMac 5k incoming, i however wonder how to ditch macOS for Linux and keep the one odd Mac App I kinda depend on - ideas welcome!

If you’re wondering, the App is MoneyMoney and keeps track of all bank accounts automatically, sorts all spendings into categories etc.

There simply seems to be no equivalent, and running Mac Apps on Linux just doesn’t seem to be a thing yet (at least in a half-viable way I know of, and yes, I at least read about Darling).

Again, if anyone does have a pointer (running macOS virtualized? What’s the status there?) would be much appreciated..

Edit: oh and i fully intend to keep using the iMac, its an i7 with 64GB RAM and the 5k display is still so gorgeous to look at.

vbezhenar•1h ago
https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM
doublerabbit•1h ago
I've used Revision [0] which tightly strips Microsoft rubbish out of the OS on my mother's new build. Rather then relying on GitHub PowerShell scripts

I was skeptical at first but after having a phone call with her today and telling me it just works. That made me happy

[0] https://www.revi.cc/

Marsymars•1h ago
That is a very opinionated tool - it doesn't just uninstall some bloat, it disables Windows Updates, Windows Defender, memory compression, automatic BitLocker, core parking, switches to dark mode by default, adjusts the time the OS waits to kill apps, adjusts cursor acceleration, etc. (And it has an open issue of "default settings cause overheating during sleep".)
awesomeusername•1h ago
I've been Linux only for around 15 years personally, but I don't push it on others.

A few weeks ago I told the company our few Windows machines are going to be sunset-ted. No push back (other than a request to have one for the odd thing - but will do that in a VM. Even the devs who have always been on Windows are up for it.

At home my kids use computers for playing and making games. Windows was the path of least resistance. I realized it'll make essentially no difference to them to switch to Linux. And boy do kids adapt quickly.

So thanks MS, sincerely. I've never both worked and lived completely Windows free, but your encouragement to drop Windows has made me realize how painless it is, and I should have done it years ago.

Edit: One guy is on mac. And always will be. No issue there IMHO

jeffrallen•1h ago
2025, the year of Linux on the desktop. :)
uxcolumbo•47m ago
What about people who need to use creative tools? There is Blender and Davinci Resolve, which are great. But GIMP is just not a match for Affinity. And what about apps like Ableton?

I wish I could make the full switch, but it's just not possible at the moment.

rzwitserloot•23m ago
Network effects says that is long-term immaterial; there just needs to be some event that breaks a self-reinforcing cycle.

The reason there is no linux version of Affinity is thus simple: Because there aren't enough linux users to warrant spending the relatively tiny cost it takes to do that. It won't cost much and it won't significantly change Affinity as a product to have a linux release. They just don't bother; not enough paying users.

And why aren't there enough linux users? Because Affinity, for one, doesn't run on it.

That is the self reinforcing cycle that so far kept Windows around as default choice.

But that cycle can be broken. If not through a sudden burst based on some serious hype, then perhaps simply with slow and steady change.

bm3719•1h ago
Why bother? If you run updates, it'll randomly crap on all your custom settings anyway.

You win, MS. I thought I could keep a Windows box around for the occasional game and as an emergency backup for when I need random peripherals to "just work". I give up. The current Windows box (which I barely use anyway) is my last one.

jazzyjackson•1h ago
You upgrade to professional and edit the local group policy settings and this is no longer a problem

Microsoft is user hostile and all but there is a good product in there somewhere

kgwxd•1h ago
My gaming PC was the only one left running Windows. 10 Pro which I paid $200 for just a few years ago. Last time I booted it up, Minecraft wouldn't work, and I couldn't update anything, even the game. Funny, no other games had issues continuing to support Win 10.

I put Arch on it last week and couldn't be happier. My 3080 is working just fine. Rocket League is even better on Proton than native Windows; turns out Java MC is a nice switch from bedrock, and my kid that I play with agrees, so we'll play that version together instead.

I have a tiny partition with unregistered Win 11 just for Roblox now. I tired to put MC on there, in case we wanted to do bedrock once in a while, but now the MC launcher is, for some reason, tightly coupled to the Microsoft Store, and if you're not logged into that, you can't play MC, not even the Java Edition, so that's the end of Windows MC for me.

bitwize•1h ago
Microsoft will just cotton onto the workarounds, block them, and force the crudware back in in an update.

The only way to win this game is not to play. Use a different OS. It will hit Microsoft where it hurts.

Although that may hasten Linux's demise, since it is only by Microsoft's good graces that Linux is allowed to run on PCs in the first place. Linux is Zion (The Matrix)—not a true resistance, but controlled opposition that reinfirces dominance. Once it gets too big, the Architect can wipe it and start again.

Retz4o4•35m ago
Then what’s the best option? (Other than to not play)
Wowfunhappy•30m ago
Windows LTSC.
SoftTalker•6m ago
Is windows even really that important to Microsoft anymore? I get that most people still think of it as the flagship product but isn’t that azure and cloud now?
derac•1h ago
I recommend IoT LTSC
BrenBarn•47m ago
It will be hilarious if the thing that finally brings us "the year of Linux on the desktop" is not some killer new advance in Linux UX, but just the implosion of the Windows UX.
dade_•33m ago
Everything is moved to Linux, but I still need Windows for the occasional proprietary Office document and tax software, which is available for Mac. I expect Windows 10 malware to be horrific so security risk is unacceptable and I despise Windows 11. I guess I’m buying a MacBook Air.
typpilol•13m ago
My windows won't update due to some firmware bug past 23h2, every time I try it just blue screens, even from a disk

Didn't think it would end up being the perfect time to stop taking feature updates and use security updates alone

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How to declutter, quiet down, and take the AI out of Windows 11 25H2

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/11/what-i-do-to-clean-up-a-clean-install-of-windows-11-23h2-...
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