alt Hacker NewsO&O ShutUp10 – The antispy tool for Windows 10 and 11
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No source code? No thanks but no thanks.
There also seems to be a lot of ‘privacy’ tools popping up on github lately. It’s a good time to be wary of any if you don’t trust the author 100%.
It’s like when HIV emerged in the 80s - the disco days of free love are over. Be wary of who you’re sleeping with, and always wear a condom.
https://schneegans.de/windows/unattend-generator made all those tools obsolete and useless for the most part, "debloating" after it's installed is always bad business.
https://wpd.app works well too for extra telemetry and https://github.com/builtbybel/privatezilla still works with Windows 11 but again autounattend.xml works magic.
Open-source alternatives that offer similar functionality:
- WinScript: https://winscript.cc/
- Winhance: https://winhance.net/
I find O&O ShutUp10 easier to use and understand.
- imagine a version of windows made from the ground up with 0 spyware, 0 adware, 0 bloatware
- 100% minimal designed for absolute performance coded ground up in rust
- backward compatibility by required drivers on the fly instead of bloating the OS with 30 yrs of support for all the. 456257963423512 hardware device types
- Its called "Windows Maximal" priced 4x the cost of Windows Home
- when are we getting this version of windows?
You may also check out https://github.com/flick9000/winscript. It has a GUI, but generates a powershell script.
https://github.com/ramensoftware/windhawk is also worth mentioning, I use it to unfuck the Taskbar.
I removed my dual boot in 2009, so the last windows I used on a personal computer was Vista. I switched my close family (parents and even my grand mother) to Linux years ago, nevertheless I still am the tech-savyy go-to person for other people and I am completely disconnected from what's going on the Windows world. Is an antivirus still needed there? Are there some good tools that should always be installed on a computer? The only thing I usually do is to put as many free software as I can (Firefox, Thunderbird, LibreOffice, VLC, Gimp...) But then what ?
This is more a decrapifier than an "anti-spy tool". Yes, it also lets you easily block things like microphone access and disable AI features, but it's not a firewall.
I started using it with Windows 10 because I could disable most of the crap Microsoft was using with a few clicks. When I reinstalled Windows 11, this was one of the first things I ran because of how much shit there's now (weather, news, recommended apps, ai, etc). I have almost everything disabled.
We can do the same by following some guides, setting up system policies and go to 20 different menus, but this does the same in 1 or 2 minutes.
Unfortunately, over the years, ShutUp10 has also suffered from some enshittification itself. Now there's a message tell you to buy the premium version, more branding, etc. I understand why, and considering it still does the job and still runs without having to install it, perhaps I shouldn't complain too much especially when it's free, but it used to be more "bare-bones"... something that I prefer on these tools.
I'm always hesitant to trust these things after one of them turned off CRL checking because external connectivity = bad!!1
Huge fan of this. I run it once on a fresh format, and then I never have to worry about Windows annoying me again.
(And no, I simply do not like Linux or even macOS enough to switch over, despite being perfectly competent. That, and I play video games that will never be compatible.)
An even better solution — don’t use windows.
I can't read the page. There's a giant fucking sticky navigation panel that blocks over half the screen.
Ah yes, the closed-source proprietary black box antispy tool.
FYI this seems to be an AI slop copy of Win11Debloat which is the original (+has all the same options).
Support the original, not the copy: https://github.com/Raphire/Win11Debloat
When your OS is pure spyware, maybe it's time to look into switch to a less abusive option. The more people that switch, the stronger signal it sends.
This tool is equivalent to dating an alcoholic that beats you whenever they're drunk, so you keep trying to take away all the alcohol instead of dumping them and finding a new partner. The signs were always there and they just keep getting worse, it's time to move on.