# How to Debloat Windows 11 and Remove Bloatware

URL: https://www.mytechnician.tech/tips/how-to-debloat-windows-11-remove-bloatware/
Published: 2026-05-12 | Updated: 2026-08-10 | Author: Ankit Kumar
Tags: Windows 11, Debloat, Optimization, Privacy
Summary: Remove preinstalled bloatware from Windows 11—uninstall junk apps, kill startup clutter, and disable background tasks to reclaim speed and disk space.
Recommended app: Ultimate Windows Cleanup Tool — https://www.mytechnician.tech/apps/ultimate-windows-cleanup-tool/ (Microsoft Store: https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9NZZVBC5QWRN?hl=en-us&cid=mytechnician-web). Optional; every step below uses built-in Windows tools.

## What Debloating Actually Buys You
Debloating is removing preinstalled apps, trials, and background features you never use. Be realistic about the payoff: on a modern PC with an SSD and 16 GB of RAM, removing Solitaire will not make anything faster.

What genuinely helps:

* **Startup and background apps** — fewer things competing at login and running all day. This is the real win.
* **Manufacturer trials and "assistant" utilities** — often the heaviest offenders on a new laptop.
* **Disk space** — meaningful on 128 GB and 256 GB machines.
* **Noise** — fewer notifications, promotions, and suggested-content prompts.

> **After a genuinely faster PC?** Pair this with [speed up a slow Windows 11 PC](https://www.mytechnician.tech/tips/speed-up-slow-windows-pc/) and [disable startup programs](https://www.mytechnician.tech/tips/disable-startup-programs-speed-up-boot/).

## Step 1: Create a Restore Point
Before removing anything system-level: search *Create a restore point* → **System Protection** → **Create**. See [create and use a system restore point](https://www.mytechnician.tech/tips/create-system-restore-point-windows-11/).

## Step 2: Uninstall Unwanted Apps
1. **Settings** → **Apps** → **Installed apps**.
2. Sort by **Size** to find the heavy items, or by **Install date** to spot everything the manufacturer preloaded.
3. Click ⋯ next to anything you do not use → **Uninstall**.

**Safe to remove:** manufacturer trials and "experience" apps, preinstalled McAfee or Norton trials, bundled games, Candy Crush and similar Store promotions, Xbox apps if you do not game, Cortana, and Microsoft Teams (personal).

**Leave alone:** anything named **Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable**, **.NET**, **Windows Desktop Runtime**, **Intel/AMD/NVIDIA** driver packages, **Realtek** audio, and your laptop maker's *driver* utility (as opposed to its marketing app). Removing redistributables breaks applications that quietly depend on them.

## Step 3: Remove Preinstalled Store Apps
Most built-ins can be removed from the Start menu: right-click the tile → **Uninstall**.

For the ones that offer no Uninstall option, use PowerShell (Admin). List what is installed first:

```powershell
Get-AppxPackage | Select-Object Name, PackageFullName | Sort-Object Name
```

Then remove a specific package by name, for example:

```powershell
Get-AppxPackage *XboxGamingOverlay* | Remove-AppxPackage
```

Remove only packages you recognise, one at a time. Never run a blanket `Get-AppxPackage | Remove-AppxPackage`—it breaks the Microsoft Store, Settings, and the Start menu.

**Do not remove:** `Microsoft.WindowsStore`, `Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller`, `Microsoft.VCLibs.*`, `Microsoft.UI.Xaml.*`, `Microsoft.WindowsTerminal`, `Microsoft.SecHealthUI` (Windows Security), or anything with `Framework` in the name.

If you remove something you needed, reinstall it from the Microsoft Store, or re-register all built-ins:

```powershell
Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}
```

## Step 4: Turn Off Suggested Content and Promotions
1. **Settings** → **Personalization** → **Start** → turn off **Show recommendations for tips, shortcuts, new apps, and more**.
2. **Settings** → **Privacy & security** → **General** → turn off all four suggestion and advertising toggles.
3. **Settings** → **System** → **Notifications** → scroll to the bottom and untick **Offer suggestions on how I can set up my device** and **Get tips and suggestions when using Windows**.
4. **Settings** → **Personalization** → **Lock screen** → set **Personalize your lock screen** to **Picture** rather than **Windows spotlight** if you do not want promoted content there.

For a full pass: [disable telemetry and tracking](https://www.mytechnician.tech/tips/disable-windows-11-telemetry-tracking/).

## Step 5: Trim Startup Apps
1. Task Manager (`Ctrl + Shift + Esc`) → **Startup apps**.
2. Sort by **Startup impact** and disable anything **High** that you do not need at login: updaters, chat clients, RGB utilities, launcher clients, printer monitors.
3. Leave audio drivers, touchpad utilities, and security software enabled.

Details: [disable startup programs to speed up boot](https://www.mytechnician.tech/tips/disable-startup-programs-speed-up-boot/).

## Step 6: Stop Background Apps
1. **Settings** → **Apps** → **Installed apps** → an app's ⋯ → **Advanced options**.
2. Set **Background apps permissions** to **Never** for anything you open occasionally and do not need alerts from.

Do not do this to apps whose notifications you rely on—see [fix notifications not working](https://www.mytechnician.tech/tips/fix-windows-11-notifications-not-working/) for the consequences.

## Step 7: Optional Features and Scheduled Tasks
* **Settings** → **System** → **Optional features** — remove things like Internet Explorer mode components, WordPad, or language features you do not use.
* **Settings** → **Apps** → **Advanced app settings** → **Choose where to get apps** — set to anywhere, but be aware this is also where the Store-only lockdown lives if you want it.

## What Not to Do
* **Don't run debloat scripts you have not read.** The popular ones on GitHub vary enormously in aggression; several disable Windows Update, Defender, or the Store in ways that are difficult to reverse and that break future feature updates.
* **Don't remove Microsoft Edge with a hack.** WebView2 underpins Widgets, Outlook, Teams, and various app UIs; removing it forcibly breaks them in confusing ways.
* **Don't disable services because a list said so.** Windows 11's service defaults are already conservative, and a disabled service surfaces as a mysterious failure months later.
* **Don't debloat a work laptop** managed by an IT department. Policies will fight you and you may breach compliance requirements.

> **Prefer not to use PowerShell?** [Ultimate Windows Cleanup Tool](https://www.mytechnician.tech/apps/ultimate-windows-cleanup-tool/) clears junk, browser cache, and large files in one offline pass—useful for a repeatable cleanup across several PCs.

## After Debloating
1. Restart and confirm everything you actually use still launches.
2. Check what you reclaimed: **Settings** → **System** → **Storage**, and [free up disk space](https://www.mytechnician.tech/tips/free-up-disk-space-c-drive-full-windows-11/) for the rest.
3. If something broke, roll back to the restore point you made in Step 1—which is why that step is not optional.

---
Source: https://www.mytechnician.tech/tips/how-to-debloat-windows-11-remove-bloatware/ — My Technician, free Windows 10/11 troubleshooting guides.
Related tool: Ultimate Windows Cleanup Tool (Ultimate Windows Cleanup Tool frees up disk space and keeps Windows tidy—temp files, browser cache, registry entries, and large files from one simple app.) — https://www.mytechnician.tech/apps/ultimate-windows-cleanup-tool/
More guides: https://www.mytechnician.tech/llms.txt