This one looks more like a PowerShell automation and debloating script for power users than a classic one-click optimizer, but it still requires knowing exactly what each tweak does. Used without that understanding, tools like this can easily create confusing problems.
To be fair, this tool doesn't claim to fix a broken system; as near as I can tell it doesn't actually remove the underlying Windows installation, so the core problem will remain.
And in the end of each sprint a single exe comes out. Or multiple. Like a soap opera for product managers.
[0] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkTgX1mGmDg
[3] - https://officesnapshots.com/2014/11/18/microsoft-redmond-bui...
Glad to see it's still in use.
When Windows 95 entered the picture, such wipe-and-reinstall antics were pretty much standard for all but trivial problems. Even then people would usually live with those problems, though a handful of people would be able to go in and fix them. Of course, Microsoft has introduced some functionality over the years to mitigate such drastic measures, but they tend to be variations of the same theme (e.g. restore points rolling back changes, rather than going in to fix what is broken).
I tried that. The advice was to reinstall. Then I remembered that this is the convention with Windows -- when it stops working, reinstall...
I will be switching to Linux before the ESU program expires though. I use my desktop mostly for gaming and have been planning to evaluate a few distros and desktop environments. I have my own Proxmox/TrueNAS/Debian homelab and use macOS daily for work so I'm fine with the CLI and tinkering but I'd rather everything Just Works™ for my gaming machine. I did a lot of dual booting back in the Fedora[ Core] 6-12 days but ultimately it got too tedious.
in conclusion:
>still requires knowing exactly what each tweak does. Used without that understanding, tools like this can easily create confusing problems.
Which I have always taken as extreme encouragement to use performance-improving setting configuations, and therefore gain the understanding to do so effectively.
If I can do it, anybody can, I'm no engineer.
With this approach in mind it makes the Titus offerings show a remarkable amount of superiority.
As another commenter has noted, 2022 is just when his Utility was beginning to get noticed.
It is being kept up-to-date with Windows 11 as it evolves.
It seems to work OK: it didn’t break anything, and disabled some Windows annoyances but not all.
It’s closed source so I don’t fully trust it, but I’m not keeping anything sensitive.
First: "safe" and Windows never ever matched. Not in Windows 98, not in Millenium, not in Vista. Not ever.
I, reluctantly, after having confiscated my mother-in-law's Windows laptop and replacing it with a Chromebook about two years ago (which still works fine for her btw), ordered her a new desktop PC six months ago, running Windows 11.
Six months.
Six months is all it took for this piece of shit to become infected to the point of being unusable. Malware over malware took over: whatever 0-click or 1-click exploit in Edge that took over the machine and tells her to call indian scam center to help her "get her PC rid of viruses", blinking left and right, covering half the screen.
In other words: good old Windows. It's 20-fucking-25, nearly 26, and Microsoft still cannot ship an OS that's not rooted when a grandma is browsing for less than six months.
Pathetic.
Windows is a mediocre piece of insecure (and now spying) turd.
I fully agree with you: reliable Linux distros are the Windows replacement.
And as we've reached a point where everyone except some part of the corporate world can do everything they need from an Android smartphone and these same people are just fine with a Linux distro on their laptop or desktop, people can be switched. And some are. And the numbers of "desktop Linux" users are slowly but surely growing.
I don't care about the snarky "2026 is the year of Linux on the desktop". Linux conquered everything: all the servers, all the routers, 500 of the world top 500 supercomputers, etc. Linux shall conquer the laptop and the desktop too.
And those who don't switch have two choices: MacOS (pricey hardware) or be slaves to that turdery on bits that Windows is.
P.S: actually I don't even care: be it Linux or MacOS or BeOS or Atari's TOS: anything but Microsoft.
I gave her an iPad Owh, 10 years ago? And I’ve never had to troubleshoot her system ever again. No spyware. No viruses. Nothing.
The worst that happened recently is that the Starlink antenna had te be realigned after a particularly heavy wind blew it off the roof almost. Oh and her printer needed new toners after printing for x years without problems.
If you want inkjets, buy those with ink tanks. More expensive up front, but operating cost is so cheap. And no more "you have to replace a whole cartridge just because Magenta is low"; if Magenta is low, buy a bottle of Magenta, and fill.
For laser printers, buy those whose toner cartridges are separate from the drum, and those whose toner cartridges can be reset mechanically. And refillable.
My go-to brand for printers is Brother, btw.
https://www.theverge.com/23642073/best-printer-2023-brother-...
Mine is... 15+ years old? I replaced the toner once. And it doesn't have WiFi, so I bought Printopia for my iMac (to which it's attached) to enable AirPrint.
I even offer to hire your gradma, she seems really good at locating very valuable 0-days online.
To some extent. I am not convinced it would be as bad.
For one thing, Linux is less of a monoculture.
For another, you can lock it down more for that type of user. You can set it up to make it hard to install anything from outside trusted repos.
There are even more minimal Windows versions, but easy, convenient, legal distribution is kind of tricky
To be honest, I don't mind the Windows games. In fact I believe the ones shipped with XP, Vista, and 7 were top-notch. What I mind is games with annoying advertisements in them. I mind when my Weather program is not native and is a glorified web app, also ridden with advertisements.
is changed into a stock ticker and tabloid news cornucopia... dagnabbit, I know where to get those, I just want the weather info.
"They have no taste" was right.
If you really want a clean windows environment, you are better off getting an IoT enterprise LTSC license. It is boring, stable, has zero bloat and doesn't require hacking the registry to stop candy crush from reinstalling itself.
That said, it feels like a constant arms race. Microsoft introduces a new user-hostile pattern (like making local accounts harder to create), the community builds a workaround and then Microsoft patches the workaround. I am tired of fighting my own OS.
I still have my mid-2015 MBP running triple-boot between macOS, Windows and Arch Linux. That machine could run everything...
I now have to keep around a physical PC desktop in order to run games like ARC Raiders. I use OBS with a capture card to use my MacBook's screen as a monitor for the PC, and an application called Deskflow to forward the MacBook's keyboard to the PC (I connect the mouse directly). Also, SonoBus for voice chat, since the PC doesn't have a microphone built-in. It works well enough.
Works for me without any extra hardware. Just a network connection between the machines. Haven't tried voice chat though.
Edit: Steam streaming works pretty well too, but feels a tiny bit more laggy than the above. Also running non Steam games is a bit of a pain.
I used to love my 2013 MBP. ARM Macs run pretty much everything I need, and some things better than Windows (such as Lightroom and PS which don't run at all on Linux).
But what kills it for me is the absolutely bonkers window management, and the fisher-price interface filling up half the screen with empty space around huge widgets.
I think the Pro version is enough for reasonable experience, most of the terrible stories originate from the Home version, which should be avoided like the plague.
Unfortunately seems like there's no way of getting a license legally without being a company. Windows Server seems easier to obtain but harder to morph into something useful (mostly because of missing drivers on Windows Update) though definitely possible.
Doches•2h ago
(Asking as I don't have a Windows box of any kind around to test, as I'm not a masochist and therefore all of my machines run Linux or macOS)
jordand•2h ago
matthberg•2h ago
https://github.com/ChrisTitusTech/winutil/releases/tag/25.12...
Doches•2h ago