yuchdev/windows_10_antispy

Another Windows 10 "pocket antispy". Disable Telemetry services and traffic, completely disable Cortana and removes all Metro bloatware

Yet another Windows 10 pocket antispy script

Helps you to get rid of all Windows 10 bloatware and disable MS spying tools

Current version performs following cleanups:

• Disable all Telemetry and data-collecting services in Service Control Manager
• Disable data-collecting tasks in Windows Scheduler
• Block all traffic to all known MS Telemetry servers
• Disable Cortana
• Remove any Metro bloatware

Application works from the command line and requires Administrator privileges.

Pre-requisites

• You must have Python version 3.4+ installed, however last version always recommended
• You should install psutil Python module before running the application: pip3 install psutil

Disable Telemetry

Calling the script with the key python windows_10_antispy.py --disable-telemetry disables services and policies related to MS Telemetry, and also disables Scheduler tasks starting Telemetry-related applications and services

If it's not enough for you, you can python windows_10_antispy.py --block-telemetry-traffic. This effectively blocks all traffic to all known MS Telemetry-related services. I should notice, MS insists that these changes may harm your system, however testing shows no any problem with Windows work.

Disable Cortana

Cortana is a source of irritation of many Windows users, it may start consuming your CPU or write insane amount of some data to your disk. Simply stopping the Cotrana process through the Task Manager does not help much, Runtime Broker, manager of Metro applications, would start it again in 1-2 seconds.

However, running python windows_10_antispy.py --disable-cortana makes it stop forever by renaming the directory, containing Cortana executable before Runtime Broker starts it again.

Remove Metro bloatware

Windows 10 comes with insanely irritating amount of applications, from games to Sticky Notes, and without any chance to decline its during the system installation. Luckily, the script offers several options, which help you to get rid of any of them, in fact all of them if you feel that need.

Uninstall "default list"

Running the script with the key python windows_10_antispy.py --uninstall-bloatware performs uninstalling of some reasonable "default" set of Metro applications, releasing some amount of your disk drive and leaves the system in absolutely working state, because there are no really useful applications there. Here's the list:

• MicrosoftEdge
• ContentDeliveryManager
• CloudExperienceHost
• Win32WebViewHost
• XboxGameCallableUI
• SecureAssessmentBrowser
• SecHealthUI
• PeopleExperienceHost
• XGpuEjectDialog
• ParentalControls
• NarratorQuickStart
• BioEnrollment
• Wallet
• WebpImageExtension
• XboxSpeechToTextOverlay
• Advertising.Xaml
• MicrosoftEdgeDevToolsClient
• GetHelp
• ZuneMusic
• ScreenSketch
• Appconnector
• People
• HEIFImageExtension
• WebMediaExtensions
• Messaging
• VP9VideoExtensions
• Photos
• XboxIdentityProvider
• Cortana
• XboxGameOverlay
• MicrosoftStickyNotes
• XboxApp
• MSPaint
• XboxGamingOverlay
• WindowsMaps
• WindowsSoundRecorder
• 3DBuilder
• WindowsAlarms
• windowscommunicationsapps
• WindowsCalculator
• Microsoft3DViewer

Choose which Metro applications to uninstall

Your preferences may be different than mine, so you may want to choose which Metro applications to uninstall and which to keep using. Here you need to perform two steps.

First, run the script with the key python windows_10_antispy.py --list-bloatware > metro_apps.txt, listing all Metro applications, and redirect its output to file

You will find the list something like provided it above, but a bit longer. You can edit the file metro_apps.txt, leaving applications which you want to uninstall, and deleting which you want to keep using.

After you finished with the file, you can run the script providing the file name with the key python windows_10_antispy.py --uninstall-from-file metro_apps.txt and enjoy your cleaned up Windows 10