Windows 10
OS refresh
November 2019 | |^19
Head to Settings > Apps and Features to check what’s installed on
your PC, and when you last used it.
Uninstaller apps such as Iobit Uninstaller (above) or CCleaner can remove the
dregs left behind by apps, and even remove built-in space-hoggers too.startup process, and you can also use
it to disable their automatic execution.
If you want to get more involved with
what happens at startup, Autoruns
(https://download.sysinternals.com/
files/Autoruns.zip) gives you much
more granular and deep control,
although you should treat it with kid
gloves, because heavy-handed
tinkering could potentially cause more
problems than it solves.
So, what’s the best way to deal with
old, unwanted apps? To completely
expunge them from your system, of
course. There’s nothing wrong with
Windows’ built-in uninstallation
procedures. You can flit through your
Start menu, right-clicking things that
shouldn’t be there, and using the
Uninstall option to get rid of them.
Or you could use the Apps & Features
tool, accessible from Windows’
settings panel, which (sometimes)
offers up a bit more detailed
information about when a program
was installed, and when you last
deemed it important enough to run.
That usually works just fine. But if
you’d like some more reassurance that
a troublesome app is really gone, and
with it any trace of its existence (we’re
well aware that revenge is usually a
big contributor to any uninstallation
process), something like the free
version of IoBit Uninstaller 8 (www.
iobit.com) can work wonders. It
makes software removal quick and
straightforward, and it hunts for
absolutely every file associated with
the app that’s on death row.
We wouldn’t opt for the paid-for
Pro version, even though it adds extra
tools for stripping away manufacturer
bloatware, because apps such as PC
Decrapifier (www.pcdecrapifier.com)
do the job just fine without any
outlay. It might be tempting to try out
CCleaner (www.ccleaner.com), too,
given that it can even get rid of
Microsoft’s default apps, and we’re
not going to stop you – but it’s worth
pointing out that CCleaner can be
very annoying in terms of
notifications. If we do use it, it’s
generally immediately removed once
the task is complete.
Go virtual instead
We’re at the point in the PC’s evolution where the overheads of virtualisation
are proportionately so small, and the technology enabling it so plentiful, that
running an everyday OS in a virtual machine is entirely reasonable. You
obviously won’t get 100 percent of bare metal performance from a virtualised
instance of Windows 10, but it has a host of advantages. When you’ve got a
system running just as you like it, you can take a snapshot, then quickly return
to it at any point in the future. You can whip up a fresh copy of Windows in
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systems, and run them simultaneously on the same machine. If you’re the kind
of person who loves to settle down to a good Windows reinstall in the evening,
then you’re probably the right candidate for running a virtualized system.
WHFRXOGÀOODQHQWLUHLVVXHRIthis magazine with ways to do it, but if you’re
willing to experiment, here’s a broad framework that’s a good place to start.
Use Fedora Workstation as your host OS (https://getfedora.org/en/workstation)
and use the included Boxes app (a front end for KVM/QEMU) to get your VMs
up and running. Install VirtIO to ensure that all of the IO functions work
properly, and SPICE to deal with 3D acceleration. And make sure you’ve
accessed your BIOS/UEFI settings and enabled all the good stuff that makes
VMs work well – VSHFLÀFDOO\,QWHO97RU$0'9GHSHQGLQJRQ\RXUSODWIRUP
If you fancy a challenge, both VMWare ESXi and Microsoft Hyper-V Server are
pro-grade bare-metal hypervisors, which put a minimal layer between your
guest OS and the hardware they’re working with, but they do require some
pro-grade understanding to get the most out of them, so are beyond the scope
of this feature.If you have Windows 10 Pro installed on your machine,
you have access to some form of Hyper-V already.