Things to disable on new business PC.

January 5, 2024 1:30 PM

I'm getting a new desktop PC for work. I think it's going to be a Dell. Switching from Mac, so I need your advice on all the annoying "features" to have my computer guy disable on the new machine.

I'm getting Windows 11 (I'm used to the *%@* that is MacOs Ventura - it will be fine), and mostly will use Microsoft Office. Won't be using it for anything too fancy, but I like to be really efficient, using keystrokes, hotkeys, and key remapping. Just to give you an idea of what will annoy me: pop ups, things that slow down typing or mouse use, things that try to "help" you when you didn't request help.

So far my list includes:

- delete all bloatware.
- disable OneDrive.
- disable Cortana.
- diable Bing? Firefox will be set as my default browser, but people say Bing still pops up?
- Some "news" widget?
- Copilot?
- disable recommended items on start menu

What else? Especially stuff that has to be done by editing the registry and that sort of "deep under the hood" settings.

posted by bluesky78987 to Technology (15 answers total)

Best answer: Do your research on how to set up a new Windows 11 PC without using a Microsoft Account. Microsoft really, really, really wants you to use a Microsoft account for your Windows login. This will affect how Office is licensed but I don't know how different.

Also, generally I create the primary administrator account, and then create a second local account to use as my regular login, but that gets more complicated. It's best you're not logging into the machine as your admin account though.
posted by AzraelBrown at 2:49 PM on January 5 [4 favorites]

If this is a work-owned, administered-by-work Windows laptop, it may be locked down enough that you can't remove things.
posted by scruss at 2:53 PM on January 5 [6 favorites]

Best answer: DIY mod: put a post-it note over the camera. It's the only way to be sure.
posted by SPrintF at 3:01 PM on January 5 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Just to clarify: I'm the boss so I can change anything I want. Also, what's bad about using a Microsoft account?
posted by bluesky78987 at 3:06 PM on January 5 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Definitely go into the settings and search for "privacy," "recommendations," "advertising preferences," anything like that. Microsoft has lots of sneaky stuff in there and you can disable most but not all of it.

Look up "notifications & actions," there are several popups and "suggestions" and feature promos you can do without.

Disable automatic updates if you want - I have mine just notify me when there's a big one (a "cumulative" update usually) and I do it when I have a minute. But you might want to let it ride for security.

Open up "startup apps" and see if there's anything shady in there. When you do start up the computer, look in the taskbar area and see if there's anything strange, and go into its preferences to disable forever.

As for the Microsoft account, I would say that although it's fine to have one for your Teams, Skype, Xbox stuff etc, having *everything* you do on your computer be somehow associated with an account is not necessarily what everyone wants, for privacy, security, and ethical reasons. You can do it if you want - it's your computer and you know best! - but remember that you can always add an account later or app by app but it will be harder to remove it.

One thing I like to do if you don't mind getting a little into nuts and bolts is, poke around in the "services" panel and find a few things that are obviously not going to be used but that automatically start and run all the time. But only disable stuff you know is OK - you can look up "____ windows service" and see if it's commonly disabled by people who care.

Actually looking around, in 10 there's an "optional features" system setting that has tons of random things you might not need. I think a bunch of these are the services I kill manually.

Have fun! I always enjoy the sensation of getting one over on them, but definitely keep a sharp eye out for the next couple weeks as things assert and reassert themselves.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 4:49 PM on January 5

Best answer: I run Open Shell Menu to simplify the system view back to a user-friendly late-1990's, and Ubit.ch to add the 'classic menu' to Microsoft Office. At least Excel and Word become useful again.

I'm a one-man band but my IT contractor hasn't complained about me using these so I guess they're common.

Try and get the Pro version of Windows - I was sold what I was told was pro but is actually some 'Home Premium', the Pro version is more adjustable re turning off annoyances.

BUT MS annoyances keep coming, like the recent taskbar 'assistant' [imgur link for jpg] that I found impossible to switch off without turning off Windows Search.
posted by unearthed at 5:32 PM on January 5

Best answer: Manufacturers will put all kinds of junk into the system that is difficult or impossible to remove. If you can wipe the hard drive or SSD and install Windows 11 clean, that's your best bet. I don't know enough about the company you're buying your PC from but maybe they sell the Windows 11 media/license separately alongside the computer?
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 5:49 PM on January 5 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I just got a new Dell computer yesterday, so I will be following along as I spend the weekend installing and uninstalling. One minor tweak I make is to disable the F1 key and the caps lock key. I also skip the Microsoft account; the last one I had got hacked even though I never used it.
posted by Umami Dearest at 6:43 PM on January 5

Best answer: Oh and my computer came with not one but two chunks of nuisance bloatware from McAfee, both of which I ditched. The Windows built-in security is good enough on its own.
posted by Umami Dearest at 6:49 PM on January 5 [1 favorite]

Best answer: News and recommended items are definitely things I would remove at first. I’m going to disagree with removing your Microsoft Account. It is kind of like not having an AppleID. OneDrive has versioning and allows you to share links without sharing the file itself so any edits are made in the same spot. I use Teams/Sharepoint and it took me awhile to not hate it because it is so enterprise-y, but it works well especially if you have multiple people editing the same document. Theres some basic good document management. I wish you could create major versions like “Sent to client on Jan 01” but I haven’t dug into it and I’ve seen no one do that. Plus it is one of those pieces of software that everyone uses and is going nowhere it is better than probably whatever cool thing comes up.

Windows will try to introduce some cool new feature and I can see the meetings now, “Lets take the functionality of the start button away and replace it with relevant content and news!” But Windows itself isn’t bad anymore and is on par with OS X.
posted by geoff. at 11:22 PM on January 5

Best answer: I use this tool, O&O ShutUp10++, to choose which Windows settings to enable / disable.
posted by jouke at 11:51 PM on January 5 [3 favorites]

Best answer: A big irritation is the tech companys' passion for syncing accounts. Make sure not to use the same Goodie ID or Apple ID, or any such similar thing, that you use on your personal computers or else your personal stuff will be merged with work stuff when your back is turned.
posted by SemiSalt at 5:20 AM on January 6

Best answer:

DIY mod: put a post-it note over the camera. It's the only way to be sure.

Well, you could nuke it from orbit.

Failing that, I'll add a little suggestion to make sure to check your BIOS settings. Sometimes (including on my current computer) there's all sorts of preinstalled intrusive and annoying crapware that the manufacturer did their best to make immortal, or at least automatically resurrectable, by putting some crapware-monitoring crapware into the BIOS.
posted by Flunkie at 9:49 AM on January 6

Best answer: Oh, also, regarding the camera specifically: I've often used the "post-it note over the camera" suggestion that I quoted, but in recent years I've switched to using these things, which I think are great. They adhere to the camera or computer body and essentially become a little sliding window shutter that you can easily flick back and forth to keep the camera covered or uncover it when you actually want to use it.

Their stick-to-it-ness is in the Baby Bear zone - sufficient to stay in place unless you want to remove it, but easy to intentionally move. Same with the position of the shutter - it is easy to open or close, but it will stay open or closed unless you want to open or close it.

Also, they're two-tone, red and black, but the red can't be seen unless the shutter is open. So, you can easily tell at a glance if it's "wrong" for your current desire.

Looks like Amazon is saying they're "currently unavailable", but I'm sure you'll be able to find similar things if you hunt around a bit.
posted by Flunkie at 10:02 AM on January 6

My two last Windows laptops (an HP and a Lenovo) have had camera-blocking sliders built in, no need for the post-it note or third-party contraption to physically block the camera. In fact the one on my Lenovo tends to slide to block the camera when I didn't intend it to. (Logging in via face recognition is nice so I usually keep it active.) The camera has an indicator light so apps can't use it without you knowing, anyway.
posted by kindall at 6:22 AM on January 7