The topic 4 Windows 11 “features” I turned off to make my PC feel truly mine again is currently the subject of lively discussion — readers and analysts are keeping a close eye on developments.
This is taking place in a dynamic environment: companies’ decisions and competitors’ reactions can quickly change the picture.
Windows default settings are fine, but if you want a cleaner, more stable experience here are six settings you should consider turning off.
There’s no lack of Windows 11 debloating tools, such as Chris Titus Tech’s Windows Utility, Raphire’s Win11Debloat, and Tiny11 Maker. The one I used was good ol’ Rufus. Besides creating a bootable Windows 11 disk, it also allows you to remove much of Microsoft’s bloat even before you create the ISO. This includes OneDrive, Teams, Outlook, and even Copilot. It also allows disabling Fast Startup and the mandatory Microsoft account requirement — Rufus isn’t my favorite debloater for nothing.
I didn’t have to run a debloat script after installing Windows; everything I didn’t want on my installation never got installed in the first place. For those of you who want an even more streamlined setup process, Rufus has an option that automates the entire installation, wiping the first disk it detects and speedrunning through the setup. If you go down this route, ensure your target disk is the only one in the system, and you’ve backed up any important data.
Finally, after years of tolerating Microsoft’s relentless push for ads and bloatware, I took matters into my own hands and removed it all.
It’s basically a ritual at this point to disable all kinds of data tracking Microsoft generously dumps on you with its default Windows 11 installation. In the name of telemetry, the company wants to track which apps you open, what you type on your system, and which ads will be the best ones to bombard you with. Most people I know aren’t comfortable with this (naturally), and disabling optional data sharing becomes the first step after setting up a new PC. The Privacy & security settings have a Diagnostics & feedback section, where you can turn off Send optional diagnostic data. To also avoid sending your keylogs to Microsoft, turn off the setting below it, titled Improve inking and typing.
Even after installing a relatively clean copy of Windows 11, and disabling ads and offers, the system kept nagging me with useless notifications. I didn’t care about notifications from Microsoft Store, Alienware Command Center, or the Nvidia app. Thankfully, the Notifications section in system settings allowed me to disable notifications on a per-app basis. Since I still wanted apps like Discord, Snipping Tool, and qBittorrent, I didn’t simply disable all notifications at the top.
At the end of the app list, you’ll also find Additional settings, hiding a “feature” called Get tips and suggestions when using Windows. Unless you’re using a Windows system for the first time, this setting is best left disabled. A system that keeps nagging me with needless tips to “use Windows” can never feel truly mine.
This one might be debatable, but I don’t see a point in keeping the transparency effects enabled. I kept them turned off on Windows 10, and that’s what I wanted on Windows 11, too. Disabling Transparency effects in the Visual effects section of the Accessibility settings doesn’t take too much away from the esthetics (unlike the animation effects), but saves me some system resources. When I’m running out of visual memory in Forza Horizon 6, and need some extra room to turn the graphics settings up a notch, the transparency settings are one of the first things I gladly disable. Once I did that, I realized I didn’t miss the effects at all, and so I kept them turned off.
Windows isn’t perfect out of the box and I make these changes immediately for a better experience.
Disabling Windows 11 settings didn’t quite get me all the way. Since I missed Windows 10 so much, I also needed a way to bring back some simple design choices that Microsoft decided to mess with. One of the most frustrating things on Windows 11 is the missing Refresh button in the context menu, unless you press Shift + Right-click or change the registry settings manually. The other thing I don’t like is the centered Start button. While the taskbar settings allow both the Start button and the taskbar icons to be left-aligned instead, what I wanted was the icons at the center and only the Start button at the left.
The simplest way to achieve both these things was to install Windhawk. It is an open-source Windows modding tool that lets you apply community-created tweaks to tailor the experience to your taste — no registry changes needed. Windhawk modifies active Windows processes in system memory instead of altering the registry settings for its mods. You can enable and disable these mods on the fly, enabling a seamless customization experience. For my needs, I only needed the Classic context menu on Windows 11 and Start button always on the left mods. Windhawk can actually do a lot more, like changing the look, position, and behavior of the taskbar, changing the notifications placement, tweaking the size of the Start Menu, disabling F1 from opening help, and much more. I’m yet to fully explore Windhawk, but I feel I’ll keep coming back to it.
This one tool gives me back so much more of control over my day-to-day user experience
Besides removing the annoying Windows 11 bloatware and disabling ads and telemetry, what truly made my PC feel mine again was bringing back Windows 10 features. I couldn’t stand some of the changes on Windows 11 and didn’t want to get “used to” them. Tools like Windhawk and Winqero Tweaker give you all the options you need to customize your Windows experience.