YOU’LL NEED THIS

WINDOWS 11 An up to date installation. (Optional) 8GB USB stick for clean install

THERE’S NOTHING QUITE as annoying as booting up your brand new Windows 11 PC for the first time, only to find that it’s crawling to a snail’s pace due to the presence of bloatware. Common culprits include ‘registration’ programs from your machine manufacturer, as well as trial versions of antivirus and backup programs.

Your OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) may want you to use their proprietary apps or ones that they’ve been paid to preinstall, but this isn’t necessarily best for your machine. Bloatware consumes system resources, and can even pose a security risk due to undisclosed bugs.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to go through your Windows 11 device and list apps, distinguish the unnecessary ones, then remove them. You’ll also discover how to reset your device to factory settings, if necessary. Windows has safeguards to prevent you from deleting anything crucial but, we recommend making a full system backup before proceeding.–