Making Windows 10 Pro menu look more 'professional'

Moltuae · Aug 26, 2016

I'm gradually starting to put Windows 10 out to some of my business customers now but I find the general look and feel of it, out-of-the-box, isn't professional/business-like. With its overly colourful menu and all the "life at glance" and "Play and Explore" crap, it just says 'home' Operating System. IMO, this stuff should be off by default in Pro edition, configured with a minimalistic clean looking interface.

This is what I'm talking about:

Now I know I can delete each of the tiles manually to clean up the menu or I can install 3rd party software to change the way the menu looks, but I'd prefer to automate the process without extra software. And preferably I'd like to automate un-installation of all the games and any other inappropriate junk rather than just remove the relevant tiles.

I'm contemplating writing something myself, maybe just a batch or Powershell script, assuming that's possible (haven't actually looked into this much yet). Before I go down that route, has this already been done? Does anyone know of an application/script that does this?

ccritchie · Aug 26, 2016

I do know that the Start menu can be configured via Group Policy, but only on Windows 10 Enterprise editions. As far as I'm concerned, that was a stupid move on Microsoft's part. It would not have been that hard to allow that feature to be available on Win10 Pro.

PBComputer · Aug 26, 2016

I have a few powershell scripts I have a massed from others I can share. It removes a lot of the windows apps.

Mick · Aug 26, 2016

This probably isn't the complete answer, but these two refs should help get you started. The first tells you which commands to run (via powershell) and the second might help you get started on incorporating those commands into a script of your own.

http://www.howtogeek.com/224798/how...-10s-built-in-apps-and-how-to-reinstall-them/

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd878294(v=vs.85).aspx

This has some useful stuff, too:

https://social.technet.microsoft.co...ninstall-for-allusers?forum=win10itprogeneral

Moltuae · Aug 26, 2016

Some good pointers. Thanks for the links Mick!

Looks like it shouldn't be too difficult to knock something together.

PBComputer said:
I have a few powershell scripts I have a massed from others I can share. It removes a lot of the windows apps.

That would be great Paul, thanks

PBComputer · Aug 26, 2016

I have upload to dropbox https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8n0wyvv1om7osbn/AABZ-nZakgN4EIvaXRV4GfMCa?dl=0

I use the removal ones daily, Never used the setup on. it was from someone on GitHub.

Paul

nlinecomputers · Aug 26, 2016

What is the difference between the two remove windows 10 app scripts?

Moltuae · Aug 26, 2016

Well this is what I have so far, cobbled together from some of the links/scripts above ...

(Add/remove the single # to exclude/include an item)

Code:

### Uninstall Candy Crush:
    Get-AppxPackage king.com.CandyCrushSaga | Remove-AppxPackage

### Uninstall 3D Builder:
    Get-AppxPackage *3dbuilder* | Remove-AppxPackage

### Uninstall Alarms and Clock:
#    Get-AppxPackage *windowsalarms* | Remove-AppxPackage

### Uninstall Calculator:
#    Get-AppxPackage *windowscalculator* | Remove-AppxPackage

### Uninstall Calendar and Mail:
#    Get-AppxPackage *windowscommunicationsapps* | Remove-AppxPackage

### Uninstall Camera:
#    Get-AppxPackage *windowscamera* | Remove-AppxPackage

### Uninstall Get Office:
    Get-AppxPackage *officehub* | Remove-AppxPackage

### Uninstall Get Skype:
    Get-AppxPackage *skypeapp* | Remove-AppxPackage

### Uninstall Get Started:
#    Get-AppxPackage *getstarted* | Remove-AppxPackage

### Uninstall Groove Music:
    Get-AppxPackage *zunemusic* | Remove-AppxPackage

### Uninstall Maps:
#    Get-AppxPackage *windowsmaps* | Remove-AppxPackage

### Uninstall Microsoft Solitaire Collection:
    Get-AppxPackage *solitairecollection* | Remove-AppxPackage

### Uninstall Money:
    Get-AppxPackage *bingfinance* | Remove-AppxPackage

### Uninstall Movies & TV:
    Get-AppxPackage *zunevideo* | Remove-AppxPackage

### Uninstall News:
    Get-AppxPackage *bingnews* | Remove-AppxPackage

### Uninstall OneNote:
#    Get-AppxPackage *onenote* | Remove-AppxPackage

### Uninstall People:
    Get-AppxPackage *people* | Remove-AppxPackage

### Uninstall Phone Companion:
    Get-AppxPackage *windowsphone* | Remove-AppxPackage

### Uninstall Photos:
    Get-AppxPackage *photos* | Remove-AppxPackage

### Uninstall Store:
    Get-AppxPackage *windowsstore* | Remove-AppxPackage

### Uninstall Sports:
    Get-AppxPackage *bingsports* | Remove-AppxPackage

### Uninstall Voice Recorder:
    Get-AppxPackage *soundrecorder* | Remove-AppxPackage

### Uninstall Weather:
    Get-AppxPackage *bingweather* | Remove-AppxPackage

### Uninstall Xbox:
    Get-AppxPackage *xboxapp* | Remove-AppxPackage

Also, this (command line/batch):

Code:

REG ADD "HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CloudContent" /v DisableWindowsConsumerFeatures /d 1 /t REG_DWORD /f

... to prevent the re-installation of the 'cloud' crap.

I'm still looking for ways to auto-uninstall most of the games, such and Candy Crush though, which would appear to require a few more steps (namely, to discover the installed version):
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/remove-candy-crush-saga-windows-10

So far, using the above Powershell script, I'm down to this:

I'm looking to uninstall the games and remove all the tiles.

Porthos · Aug 26, 2016

I am of the opinion that if it does not have an uninstall in right click it stays and just gets unpinned.

Why,
I have read and seen first hand issues with windows that required a clean install because of it.
They don't take up much space.
They will be reinstalled during the 2 upgrades each year anyway.

nlinecomputers · Aug 26, 2016

Porthos said:
I am of the opinion that if it does not have an uninstall in right click it stays and just gets unpinned.

Why,
I have read and seen first hand issues with windows that required a clean install because of it.
They don't take up much space.
They will be reinstalled during the 2 upgrades each year anyway.

I agree but I wouldn't mind a script that could do the unpinning quickly.

MichaelEC · Aug 26, 2016

I'd be happy if it didn't open at all when I want the start menu. I can do without the tiled billboard.

Moltuae · Aug 26, 2016

Porthos said:
I am of the opinion that if it does not have an uninstall in right click it stays and just gets unpinned.

Why,
I have read and seen first hand issues with windows that required a clean install because of it.
They don't take up much space.
They will be reinstalled during the 2 upgrades each year anyway.

I would tend to agree, but if it it doesn't have a right-click uninstall option I don't think it can be uninstalled using the Powershell
Remove-AppxPackage method either. Is that correct?

I'd like to uninstall everything that is uninstallable but I'm happy to unpin everything else. I'm presently looking to use something like this for unpinning:
http://www.tenforums.com/customizat...d-powershell-script-unpin-all-apps-start.html

GTP · Aug 27, 2016

PBComputer said:
I have upload to dropbox https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8n0wyvv1om7osbn/AABZ-nZakgN4EIvaXRV4GfMCa?dl=0

Thanks Paul, I grabed them as well. Hope that's ok?

Moltuae · Aug 27, 2016

What I've discovered so far is that (it would seem) there is no simple way to automate the removal of all the tiles from an active Windows account. The scripts above go part way towards it but some tiles (such as Minecraft) seem to be difficult/impossible to unpin by Powershell scripting alone.

The closest solution I can find is to manually create a clean Start Menu first, export it and then deploy it, therefore applying it to all new user accounts created thereafter:

http://www.groovypost.com/howto/make-the-windows-10-start-menu-duplicate-among-all-user-accounts/

https://www.niallbrady.com/2015/09/...tem-center-2012-r2-sp1-configuration-manager/

Mick · Aug 27, 2016

Looking at your first link: So - are you thinking that once you've generated that xml file, you could copy to, say, a USB stick, then import it for use on subsequent machines you were setting up? I don't have two similarly specced Win 10 machines handy to try this on, but I'd be interested to know if that worked.

Moltuae · Aug 27, 2016

Mick said:
Looking at your first link: So - are you thinking that once you've generated that xml file, you could copy to, say, a USB stick, then import it for use on subsequent machines you were setting up?

Essentially, yeah, for individual/workgroup machines. Though personally I would probably do it via ScreenConnect, possibly via a toolbox batch script. For domain machines, a network share and a GPO would be better of course.

I need to experiment some more when I have more time. I've spent too much time on it already.

Making Windows 10 Pro menu look more 'professional'

Moltuae

Rest In Peace

ccritchie

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PBComputer

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Mick

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Moltuae

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PBComputer

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nlinecomputers

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Moltuae

Rest In Peace

Porthos

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nlinecomputers

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MichaelEC

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Moltuae

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GTP

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Moltuae

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Mick

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Moltuae

Rest In Peace

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