How To Remove Default Microsoft Apps in Windows 10.
Microsoft continues its long history of including many applications in Windows 11 that we don’t need. This is sometimes referred to as malware. So, enterprising people continue their long history of finding ways to uninstall Microsoft’s default apps in Windows 11/10. Why? Because fewer unnecessary apps in Windows 11 makes Windows 11 faster.
Remove Default Microsoft Apps from the Start Menu
You may not want to uninstall the default Windows applications, but simply don’t want to see them in the Start menu. Unpinning Windows apps is easy.
Open the Start menu, right-click the application and select Unpin From Start. The application will disappear from the Start Menu.
Uninstall Microsoft Apps in Windows 11 via Start Menu
Perhaps the easiest way to uninstall Microsoft apps is from the Start menu.
Select the Start menu, locate the application you want to uninstall, right-click it and select Uninstall.
Windows will ask you to confirm that you want to remove it. Select “Uninstall” and the app will be uninstalled.
Uninstall Microsoft Apps in Windows 11 via Settings
If you want to uninstall multiple applications, this is a good point-and-click method.
Select the start menu and start typing uninstall . There is no need to click on the search bar or select the search tool from the taskbar. Just start typing. Select Add or Remove Programs from the results.
The settings will open in the Applications & Features area. Find the app you want to uninstall, right-click it and select Uninstall.
Windows will ask you to confirm that you want to uninstall the application. Select “Uninstall”.
When the application is uninstalled, a progress bar appears, and when completed, the message “Deleted” appears.
Uninstall Microsoft Apps in Windows 11 via Control Panel
Yes, Control Panel is still in Windows 11. It is not as easy to uninstall as it was in previous versions. Programs can still be uninstalled using this method, but Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps don’t even appear here. You will most likely want to uninstall UWP apps.
Select the start menu and start typing . Select “Control Panel” in the results.
When the Control Panel window opens, find “Programs” and select “Uninstall a Program” below it.
In the Uninstall or Change a Program window, select the program you want to uninstall, and then select Uninstall.
Windows will display a User Account Control (UAC) window asking, “Do you want to allow this application to make changes to your device?” Select “Yes”. Depending on the size of the program, it may take several minutes for the program to complete.
Uninstall Microsoft Apps In Windows 11 Via PowerShell
Even home users can learn PowerShell and have better control over Windows. Writing a PowerShell script to uninstall Microsoft apps will give you maximum control over what is removed. It also makes it quick and easy to uninstall multiple Microsoft applications, so save the script for next Windows 11 installation.
If creating a PowerShell script is more than you’d expect but still want that speed and control, skip to the scripting section below.
Select the start menu and start typing powershell . Select the PowerShell ISE option and open it as administrator.
Once opened, enter and run the Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned cmdlet.
When asked if you really want to change the execution policy, select Yes to All. This will allow you to run the scripts you create.
First you need to get the package names for Windows apps. Create a script and save it with a name such as get-InstalledApps.ps1. Copy and paste the following cmdlets into a new script. They will create and save a list of the Name and PackageFullName of the installed UWP apps. The comment lines in the image, starting with a # sign, explain what the cmdlets do below it. Get-AppXPackage | ` Select-Object -Property Name, PackageFullName |` Export- Csv “$ PSScriptRoot Windows-apps.csv”
Open the resulting text file. A good rule of thumb to remove from this file is to remove all lines where you are not sure which file it is, or lines containing “neutral” in PackageFullName. This will leave only those things that you are sure you want to delete. If you don’t know what to do here, skip to the next section of the article.
Create another script and name it uninstall-WindowsApps.ps1. Use the following cmdlets to remove only those Windows applications that are left in the text file. The comment lines in the image, starting with a # character, explain what the cmdlets do underneath. $ unwantedApps = import-CSV “$ PSScriptRoot Windows-apps.csv” $ unwantedApp variable foreach ($ unwantedApp in $ unwantedApps) { Get- AppXPackage $ unwantedApp.name | Remove-AppXPackage -WhatIf }
When ready, remove the -WhatIf parameter and run the script. Apps will be removed.
Uninstall Microsoft Apps In Windows 11 Via Scripts
There are several out-of-the-box scripts that you can use to remove unwanted Microsoft applications. Two of the most popular are Windows 10 Decrapifier and Windows 10 Debloater. Both do similar things and both work on Windows 11, however we will only cover Windows 10 Debloater here as it has a graphical user interface (GUI) that you might find more useful.
Go to the Windows 10 Debloater page and click the Code button, then select Download ZIP Archive.
After downloading the zip file, unzip it. Search for Windows10 DebloaterGUI and launch it.
Some script will run and then the Windows10 Debloater GUI will open. There are several options here, but the fastest and easiest to use is REMOVE ALL BLOATS.
Once selected, you will see the script runs in the background and removes many things. This may take a few minutes. The only notice that this has been done is that the script stops scrolling and the last line is All Tasks Completed. All unwanted Microsoft applications are gone.
How to Restore Default Microsoft Apps in Windows 11
Great, you have uninstalled all unnecessary and standard Microsoft applications. But what if you need them? You can go through the Microsoft Store and reinstall them one by one. However, the easiest and fastest way is to use one line of PowerShell.
Create another script and name it restore-WindowsApps.ps1. Run the following cmdlets to restore default Microsoft applications. The comment lines in the image, starting with a # sign, explain what the cmdlets do below it.
Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | foreach {Add-AppXPackage – Register “$ ($ _. InstallLocation) appxmanifest.xml” -DisableDevelopmentMode}
All the standard Microsoft applications that you usually have on your version of Windows are installed.
Windows 11 and Default AppsÂ
Unnecessary default apps have always been part of Windows and, frankly, most operating systems. Now you know how to take care of this. Are you using any other methods like Chocolatey package manager? Which is your favorite? We love hearing from you about new things. Let us know about it.
How To Remove Default Microsoft Apps in Windows 10
How To Remove Default Microsoft Apps in Windows 10