Microsoft continues its long history of including a lot of apps we don’t need in Windows 11. It’s sometimes called bloatware. So enterprising people continue their long history of finding ways to remove default Microsoft apps on Windows 11/10. Why? Because fewer unnecessary apps in Windows 11 make for a faster Windows 11.
Remove Default Microsoft Apps from the Start Menu
Maybe you don’t want to uninstall the default Windows apps, but would just rather not see them in the Start Menu. It’s a simple process to unpin Windows apps.
Open the Start Menu, right-click on the app and select Unpin from Start. The app disappears from the Start Menu.
Uninstall Microsoft Apps in Windows 11 via Start Menu
Perhaps the simplest way to uninstall Microsoft apps is to do it from the Start Menu.
- Select the Start Menu, find the app you want to delete, right-click on it, and select Uninstall.
- Windows will ask you to confirm that you want to uninstall it. Select Uninstall and the app is removed.
Uninstall Microsoft Apps in Windows 11 via Settings
When you want to uninstall several apps, this is a good point-and-click method.
- Select the Start Menu and start typing remove. There’s no need to click in the search bar or select the Search tool in the taskbar. Just start typing. Select Add or remove programs from the results.
- Settings will open to the Apps & features area. Find the app to be removed, right-click on it, and select Uninstall.
- Windows will ask you to confirm that you want to uninstall the app. Select Uninstall.
There’ll be a progress bar as the app is uninstalled and it will say Uninstalled when finished.
Uninstall Microsoft Apps in Windows 11 via Control Panel
Yes, the Control Panel is still in Windows 11. It’s not as handy for removing everything as it was in previous versions. Programs can still be uninstalled through this method, however, Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps won’t even show up here. UWP apps are the ones you most likely want to uninstall.
- Select the Start Menu and start typing control. Select Control Panel from the results.
- When the Control Panel window opens, look for Programs and select Uninstall a program below it.
- In the Uninstall or change a program window, select the program to remove and then select Uninstall.
Windows will show the User Account Control (UAC) window asking, “Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device?” Select Yes. Depending on the size of the program, it may take a few minutes until the program is gone.
Uninstall Microsoft Apps In Windows 11 Via PowerShell
Even home users can learn PowerShell and have greater control over Windows. Building a PowerShell script to uninstall Microsoft apps will give you the most control over what gets removed. It also makes removing a bunch of Microsoft apps a quick and easy task, so save the script for the next time you install Windows 11.
If creating a PowerShell script is more than you bargained for, yet still want that kind of speed and control, skip to the scripting section below.
- Select the Start Menu and start typing powershell. Select the PowerShell ISE option and open it as Administrator.
- Once it is open, enter and run the cmdlet Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned.
When asked if you really want to change the execution policy, select Yes to All. This will allow you to run the scripts you make.
- First you need to get the package names for the Windows apps. Create a script and save it with a name like get-InstalledApps.ps1. Copy and paste the following cmdlets into the new script. They will create and save a list of the Name, and PackageFullName of UWP apps installed. Comment lines in the image beginning with a # explain what the cmdlets under it do.
- Get-AppXPackage |`
- Select-Object -Property Name, PackageFullName |`
- Export-Csv “$PSScriptRoot\Windows-apps.csv”
- Open the resulting text file. A good rule of thumb for what to remove from this file is to delete any lines that you’re not sure what it is or that has “neutral” in the PackageFullName. This will leave only those things that you are certain you want to uninstall. If you’re not sure what to do here, move on to the next section of the article.
- Create another script and name it uninstall-WindowsApps.ps1. Use the following cmdlets to uninstall only the Windows apps that remain in the text file. Comment lines in the image beginning with a # explain what the cmdlets under it do.
- $unwantedApps = import-CSV “$PSScriptRoot\Windows-apps.csv”
- $unwantedApp variable
- foreach($unwantedApp in $unwantedApps){
- Get-AppXPackage $unwantedApp.name | Remove-AppXPackage -WhatIf
- }
When you’re ready, remove the -WhatIf parameter and run the script. The apps will be uninstalled.
Uninstall Microsoft Apps In Windows 11 Via Scripts
There are a few pre-made scripts that can be used to remove unwanted Microsoft apps. Two of the most popular are Windows 10 Decrapifier and Windows 10 Debloater. Both do similar things and both work in Windows 11, however we’ll only look at Windows 10 Debloater here, as it has a graphical user interface (GUI) option that you may find more helpful to use.
- Go to the Windows 10 Debloater page and select the Code button, then select Download ZIP.
- Once the zip file is downloaded, extract it. Find Windows10DebloaterGUI and run it.
- Some script will run and then the Windows10Debloater GUI will open. There’s several options here, however the quickest, simplest one to use is REMOVE ALL BLOATWARE.
Once selected, you’ll see the script running in the background removing a lot of things. This can take a few minutes.The only notification that it’s done is the script stops scrolling and the last line is Finished all tasks. All the unwanted Microsoft apps are gone.
How to Restore Default Microsoft Apps in Windows 11
Great, you cleared out all the bloat and default Microsoft apps. But what if you need them back? You could go through the Microsoft Store and reinstall them one by one. However, the simplest and quickest way is with a single line of PowerShell.
- Create another script and name it restore-WindowsApps.ps1. Run the following cmdlets to restore the default Microsoft apps. Comment lines in the image beginning with a # explain what the cmdlets under it do.
Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | foreach {Add-AppXPackage – Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\appxmanifest.xml” -DisableDevelopmentMode}
- All the default Microsoft Apps that your Windows version normally has are installed.
Windows 11 and Default Apps
Unnecessary default apps have always been a part of Windows and, to be fair, most operating systems.
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