Author Topic: Debloating Windows 10 and increasing privacy with SharpApp  (Read 154 times)

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A new utility called SharpApp has been released that helps you debloat and increase privacy in Windows 10 by uninstalling preinstalled apps and disabling various telemetry settings.

Developed by MirinSoft, SharpApp is a frontend to various PowerShell scripts that will automate the process of uninstalling preinstalled apps (debloating), disabling various Windows 10 telemetry features, and quickly installing a variety of useful applications.

"SharpApp is a free and portable tool building upon a PowerShell engine and community-powered script files for disabling telemetry functions in Windows 10, uninstalling preinstalled apps, installing software packages and automating Windows tasks with integrated PowerShell scripting," SharpApp's GitHub repository reads.

Using SharpApp in Windows 10

When started, users will be presented with a screen asking what privacy templates they would like to install, which will install a variety of PowerShell scripts that can be executed to perform different tasks.


Caption

When first using SharpApp, MirinSoft recommends that all users utilize the 'Basic Template', which is already preinstalled, to enable various privacy settings in Windows 10. They also recommend that all users run this template every time they upgrade Windows 10, as telemetry settings may have been reset.

To add further functionality, users can also install the "Interactive template" and "Silent template" PowerShell scripts to perform interactive or automated removal of preinstalled Windows apps, turn off data collection, or install common and popular software on the computer.

To use an installed template, users need to go to the 'Scripting' section and then select the 'Installed PowerShell scripts' dropdown to see a list of installed PowerShell scripts.

As you can see below, SharpApp comes with the appsPrivacyTemplate (disables telemetry in third-party apps) and the basicPrivacyTemplate (disables Windows 10 telemetry) scripts already preinstalled.


Preinstalled Templates

When you select a particular script, the PowerShell script and a brief description of what will be changed is displayed.


basicPrivacyTemplate PowerShell script

To run the basicPrivacyTemplate script, select it from the drop-down and then click 'Run Script'.

After applying the basicPrivacyTemplate, you can always revert these changes by executing the '_undobasicPrivacyTemplate' script.

Debloating Windows 10

To debloat Windows 10 and remove unnecessary preinstalled apps, you can install the 'Interactive template' from the Windows section and then run the 'Windows10Debloater' script, as seen below.


Windows10Debloater

This process can take a while, so please be patient while it is running. You can tell that the script is running as the 'Run Script' button will now be renamed to 'Processing'.

To illustrate how the Windows10DeBloater script works, below is what my Windows 10 Start Menu looked like before running the script.


Original Start Menu

Below is how the Start Menu looked after the script finished.


After Windows 10 Debloating

Other utilities

In addition to the various PowerShell scripts that can be executed, SharpApp also includes an Apps, Telemetry, and Packages section that allows you to manually remove preinstalled applications, block Windows 10 telemetry hosts, and install popular software.

For example, below is the 'apps' section where it lists all preinstalled apps and allows you to remove them manually.


Apps section to manually remove preinstalled apps

The 'telemetry' section makes it easy to install various HOSTS files from WindowsSpyBlocker that block hostnames associated with Microsoft and Windows telemetry.

Finally, the 'packages' section offers a list of popular utilities, security software, and applications that you can create Ninite installers for and deploy on the computer.


Packages section allows you to install popular programs

Overall, SharpApp is a useful tool for quickly disabling various telemetry settings in Windows 10, removing unwanted preinstalled apps, and quickly install popular software.

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