Regrettably, it looks like I will need to run Windows 10 on some of my computers. On this page I'll document all the changes I make to my test Win10 partition, so that those changes can be applied more quickly to other computers later.

• How to remove Edge from Windows 10
• Turn Off Automated Updates (What version of Windows 10 will my main w7 computer get? This needs Pro.)

• Notepad++
• HoneyView
• LibreOffice
• Discord
• Firefox
• Chrome
• Opera
• Foobar2000
• GIMP
• SyncThing

• In PC> Settings> Privacy> there are several tabs:
  • General, make sure “Let apps use advertising ID to make ads more interesting to you based on your app activity” and “Let websites provide locally relevant content by accessing my language lists” are both set to OFF.
  • Activity History, make sure “Store my activity history on this device” and “Send my activity history to Miscrosoft” are both OFF.
  • Location, everything should be OFF.
• In PC> Settings> Gaming, set Xbox Game Bar to OFF. Also, in start menu, right click the Xbox Game Bar and click “uninstall.”
• Remove the search field from the task bar by right clicking the task bar. Go to “Search,” and select “Hidden.”
• Download and install Classic Shell. During setup, disable “Classic IE,” but go ahead and install everything else. When you click the start button for the first time, a configuration menu will come up. (At this time, default settings are acceptable.)
• Download and install the “ Take Ownership” registry edit. This allows you to right click system folders and select “Take Ownership,” which prevents windows from keeping you out of settings.
• To turn of excessive interface animations, open the Control Panel, navigate to System & Secur4ity > System > Advanced System Settings > Performance Settings. Select “Custom,” and disable most of that junk.
• To remove default apps, open the start menu and type powershell. When the application appears, right click and select “Run as Administrator.” If for some reason any of this garbo needs to be added back to the machine, that is possible to do.
  • To remove the Windows Store enter Get-AppxPackage *windowsstore* | Remove-AppxPackage.
  • To remove Windows Maps enter Get-AppxPackage *windowsmaps* | Remove-AppxPackage.
  • To remove Windows Phone enter Get-AppxPackage *windowsphone* | Remove-AppxPackage.
  • To remove the XBox app enter Get-AppxPackage *xboxapp* | Remove-AppxPackage.
  • To remove Zune Music enter Get-AppxPackage *zunemusic* | Remove-AppxPackage.
  • To remove Zune Video enter Get-AppxPackage *zunevideo* | Remove-AppxPackage.
  • To remove Skype enter Get-AppxPackage *skypeapp* | Remove-AppxPackage.
  • To remove Bing News enter Get-AppxPackage *bingnews* | Remove-AppxPackage.
  • To remove Bing Finance enter Get-AppxPackage *bingfinance* | Remove-AppxPackage.
  • To remove Bing Weather enter Get-AppxPackage *bingweather* | Remove-AppxPackage.
  • To remove Cortana enter Get-AppxPackage -allusers Microsoft.549981C3F5F10 | Remove-AppxPackage.