#computer resources

This is more for my own reference to keep all of this on one post. But hopefully others will find this useful too! So yeah, as the title says, this is a to organize links and resources related to handling/removing nonsense from Windows 10 and Windows 11. Especially bloatware and stuff like that Copilot AI thing.

First and foremost, there's O&O Software's ShutUp10++ (an antispy tool that help give you more control over Windows settings) and App Buster (helps remove bloatware and manage applications). I've used these myself for Windows 10 and they work great, and the developers have stated that these should work with Windows 11 too!

10AppsManager is another bloatware/app management tool, though at the moment it seems to only work on Windows 10.

Winaero Tweaker, similar to ShupUp10++ in that it gives you more control over Windows to disable some of the more annoying settings, such as disabling web search from the taskbar/start menu and disabling ads/tips/suggestions in different parts of the OS. I think ShupUp10++ covers the same options as this one, but I'm not entirely sure.

OpenShell, helps simplify the Start Menu and make it look more like the classic start menu from older versions of Windows. Should work with both 10 and 11 according to the readme.

Notes on how to remove that one horrible AI spying snapshots feature that's being rolled out on Windows 11 right now.

Article on how to remove Copilot (an AI assistant) from Windows 11. (Edit 11/20/2024) Plus a post with notes on how to remove it from Windows 10 too, since apparently it's not just limited to 11 now.

Win11Debloat, a simple script that can be used to automatically remove pretty much all of the bullshit from both 10 and 11, though a lot of its features are focused on fixing Windows 11 in particular (hence the name). Also has options you can set to pick and choose what changes you want!

Article on how to set up Windows 11 with a local account on a new computer, instead of having to log in with a Microsoft account. To me, this is especially important because I much prefer having a local account than let Microsoft have access to my stuff via a cloud account. Also note this article and this article for more or less the same process.

I will add to this as I find more resources, so feel free to check this top post for updates! I'm hoping to avoid Windows 11 for as long as possible, and I've already been used the O&O apps to keep Windows 10 trimmed down and controlled. But if all else fails and I have to use Windows 11 on a new computer, then I plan to be as prepared as possible.

Edit 11/1/2024: Two extra things I wanted to add onto here.

A recommended Linux distro for people who want to use Linux instead of Windows.

How to run a Windows app on Linux, using Wine. Note that this will not work for every app out there, though a lot of people out there are working on testing different apps and figuring out how to get them to work in Wine.

The main app I use to help with my art (specifically for 3D models to make references when I need it) is Windows only. If I could get it to work on Linux, it would give me no reason to use Windows outside of my work computer tbh (which is a company laptop anyways).

Edit 8/28/2025: Here's something for how to deal with an error where Windows 11 will wipe your SSDs, holy crap. How the hell do they expect people to happily go along with Windows 11 when stuff like this can apparently happen??

Edit 10/2/2025: Windows 10 is going to officially stop receiving updates mid-October 2025. However! Microsoft is allowing for people to sign up for Extended Security Updates, under certain conditions. See this post for highlights of what specifically you need to do to apply for the ESU! Also check out this page from Microsoft itself with further details. Note that you have until October 2026 to sign up for the ESU, so it's not just by the end of this month!!

Edit 10/18/2025: Thank you to @libraoffice for pointing out this Reddit thread which contains additional information and instructions on how to best handle this updates situation for Windows 10. As far as I can tell, these should work too!

Top 5 Websites I Use In Our Homeschool

If you’re anything like me, one of the first things you look for when planning out your homeschool is to find websites for your kids to use.

When I taught in the classroom we had many opportunities for the kids to be on the computer about 20 min. each day.  I wanted to include a computer time in our homeschool schedule so finding websites for my kids to practice skills was a must.

Today I’m going…

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