If you've used a recent version of Windows 11, you've probably noticed what a glitchy, ad-ridden mess it has become. Even Microsoft has acknowledged as much and promised to "fix" Windows 11 . However, we don't have to wait for Microsoft to make good on its promise because we can de-bloat and clean up Windows ourselves.
Why I love this open-source script
It safely and easily removes the junk from Windows
All we need to make Windows usable again is one tool. It's called Windows Utility or winutil, for short. It's a free and open-source script developed by Chris Titus. It has been around for almost 6 years. The community actively maintains it and keeps it up-to-date with Windows updates.
Usually, I'm wary of scripts that make system-level changes, but I trust this particular script for two reasons. Firstly, Chris Titus Tech is a tech content creator on YouTube with a decent following. Second, the script itself is open-source. Anyone can audit every line of code the script executes. It's the first thing I run after a fresh installation of Windows, and I'd love to share why.
So here we have a fresh installation of Windows. As you can see, there are random ads and articles on the desktop. I'm also seeing a lot of Microsoft apps that I don't need or use. Also, why is there Cortana next to Copilot? At least they've removed Bing ads from the search bar.
There is even more bloat running in the background, including various telemetry services—eating into the computer's resources for no good reason. Let's try and clean some of this up.
Installing and launching the utility
It takes one quick command to download and run
We'll start by launching the script, which is pretty easy. All you have to do is look up "powershell" in the search bar and select "Run as Administrator." This will open a terminal box.
In the terminal, type the following command and hit Enter.
The command will launch a new window for Windows Utility.
It has four tabs: Install, Tweaks, Config, and Updates. After a fresh installation, the first thing you'll probably do is install the software you need. This utility makes that process convenient. Under the Installtab, you can select as many programs you want to install or update, and then click Install/Upgrade Applicationsto automatically install them on your system. I'll be skipping the Installtab for now and jumping into the Tweakstab.
The Tweakstab is where most of the de-bloating process takes place. You don't want to select everything here (tempting as it may seem). At the top of the Tweakstab, you'll see four options: Standard, Minimal, Clear, and Get Installed.
There is also an "Advanced Tweaks - Caution" section. Only select these advanced tweaks if you know exactly what you're doing. The tweaks in this section can break system functionality. This is where you can disable things like Microsoft Copilot, Storage Sense, Adobe network activity, and Microsoft Edge bloat.
Run the standard de-bloating tweaks
This safely removes most of Windows junk, including telemetry
For most people, the Standardoption will suffice. It disables Windows telemetry (or at least reduces it), disables consumer features (all those app suggestions and Microsoft-branded bloatware preinstalled on Windows), automatic folder discovery , activity history, temp files, and so on.
These "essential" tweaks are safe to run. However, it will still check the "Create Restore Point" button by default and create a snapshot which you can restore if you don't like the changes or if something goes wrong.
Once you've selected the tweaks, click the Run Tweaksbutton. The script will show you a log of all the changes it's making.
The standard tweaks might also select "Run Disk Cleanup" by default. On a fresh installation, it will barely take any time to run, but on older systems, it can take as much as 30-60 minutes to complete.
The Configtab is more for power users, and it has some quality-of-life tools too. You'll see a list of shortcuts to legacy panels like Control Panel, Sound Settings, System Properties, Power Panel, and a few others. If, like me, you cannot get used to the new settings app, this is where you can find most of those legacy menus. This tab can also install some Windows features for you, like WSL , .NET frameworks, Hyper-V , and others.
Disable feature updates
I only keep security updates enabled
I definitely recommend using the Updatestab while you're at it. You'll see three options here: Default Settings, Security Settings, and Disable Updates. The Security Settings option will disable feature updates and only allow security patches required to keep your computer safe. Windows updates have been breaking a lot of systems lately, so I only allow security updates on all my Windows machines.
You don't want to disable updates entirely because then you won't be getting those security updates. However, if a Windows update is causing serious problems, like potentially frying SSDs , you can disable Windows updates temporarily. Do remember to turn Windows Update back on later.
There are alternatives beyond de-bloating scripts
Scripts like the Windows Utility tool will debloat your Windows for the most part. However, if you want to truly de-bloat Windows to use it like a normal operating system, you'll want to modify the Windows installer ISO and install the modifed version . At any rate, if you don't feel like gutting Windows just to get a usable OS out of it (and if you're not locked into any Windows-only software), there has never been a better time to switch to Linux.
