How do I remove everything except Win10 and drivers?

donline

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Hi folks, I've just got a new ASUS X-series laptop and it has lots of junk/bloatware programs installed...

What's the best and safest (I'm not very tech savvy) way to remove everything except Windows 10 and the necessary drivers on my laptop? What options do I have from most safest to most risky?

Otherwise, can I just go through and manually uninstall all of the bloatware without needing to mess around with uninstalling Win10? I tried out PC Decrapifier but this was unfortunately useless and didn't find anything. By the way, is ASUS Giftbox bloatware? I couldn't find any info online.

I was reading this page and wondering if these options here might be good for cleaning up the laptop? http://www.asus.com/us/support/FAQ/1013065

Any advice much appreciated! Thanks
 
Solution
Create Installation Media and Install Windows from Scratch

The classic method of performing a clean install is still our go-to option with Windows 10. You just need to download and create installation media, either on a DVD or a flash drive, and install it from there.

Download the Windows 10 media creation tool from Microsoft. This tool will download the correct Windows 10 installation files for your system, and help you create an installation DVD or flash drive. Start it up and select the “Create installation media for another PC” option to create installation media.



Be sure to select the correct type of installation media for the copy of Windows 10 that’s licensed for your PC — Windows 10 Home or Professional. (If “Windows 10”...
Create Installation Media and Install Windows from Scratch

The classic method of performing a clean install is still our go-to option with Windows 10. You just need to download and create installation media, either on a DVD or a flash drive, and install it from there.

Download the Windows 10 media creation tool from Microsoft. This tool will download the correct Windows 10 installation files for your system, and help you create an installation DVD or flash drive. Start it up and select the “Create installation media for another PC” option to create installation media.



Be sure to select the correct type of installation media for the copy of Windows 10 that’s licensed for your PC — Windows 10 Home or Professional. (If “Windows 10” is the only option, you can safely use that and it will detect what version you want.) You should also choose your language and select whether you want the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows here. Most people will want the 64-bit version, but you can create installation media that includes both, and the installer will automatically select the most appropriate one when you use it to install Windows on a computer.



Install Windows 10 from the installation media like you would any other operating system. Restart your computer with the USB drive or DVD inserted, and boot from that device. This may require you change a setting in the BIOS, access a boot menu, or use the “Use a device” option in the advanced startup options on a modern Windows 8 or 10 device that includes UEFI firmware instead of the traditional BIOS. Select “Install Now” once the Windows installer starts.

Next, you’ll see the activation screen. What you do here depends on your situation:

If you’ve never installed and activated Windows 10 on this computer before, you’ll see the activation screen. Enter your Windows 10 key here. If you don’t have one, but you have a valid 7, 8, or 8.1 key, enter it here instead.
If you’ve ever installed and activated Windows 10 on this computer before, click “I don’t have a product key”. Windows will automatically activate once it’s installed.
The second situation works because of how Windows 10 activates PCs. When you install and activate Windows 10 on a system for the first time, the installer confirms that you have a “genuine Windows” system installed and registers your hardware with Microsoft’s servers. After that, you shouldn’t have to enter that key again on the same PC–Microsoft will recognize your hardware the next time you install Windows 10 on that machine, confirm it’s registered, and automatically activate itself.

screenshot.11

Go through the setup process normally until you see the “Which type of installation do you want?” screen. Select the “Custom” option to ensure you’re performing a clean install and not an upgrade install.

Partition your system drive however you like. If you just have a single Windows partition, you can tell the installer to overwrite it. If you have many partitions, you could delete them all and tell Windows 10 to install itself in the unallocated space.

screenshot.12

After you log into your new, cleanly installed Windows 10 system, it should automatically activate itself after you connect to the Internet.

To ensure it activated correctly, open the Start menu and click on Settings. click the Update & Security button, and go to the “Activation” tab.



Verify that you see “Windows is activated” here. Also, note the edition of Windows 10 you have installed — either Windows 10 Home or Windows 10 Pro. Most people will receive the Home edition as part of the free upgrade from 7 or 8, but you’ll get Windows 10 Pro if you previously had a Professional edition of Windows 7 or 8 installed.

When we reinstalled Windows 10 Pro on our computer, it activated immediately. But, if Microsoft’s activation servers are overloaded, so it may take some time before your system activates. If it’s not activated, you may see information here that can help you activate.

Some people report having to reboot several times, while others have just waited. The following command can force an activation to occur if it’s not happening automatically after going through the steps above. First, open an Administrator Command Prompt by right-clicking the Start button or pressing Windows Key + X and selecting Command Prompt (Admin). Type the following command and press Enter:

slmgr.vbs /ato

Many people report having to run this command several times. if you see an error message, try rebooting and running it again, wait and run it again, or just wait and let Windows activate automatically. Microsoft’s servers may be overloaded at the moment you’re trying to activate.

Perform a Reset and Remove Everything
If you’ve already upgraded to Windows 10 and want a fresh install, there’s an easier method. You can use the Reset feature to reset your Windows 10 system back to a fresh state. If you installed Windows 10 yourself, this should give you a fresh Windows system in no time.

There are a few caveats, however: this method isn’t ideal for every situation. If you purchased a computer that came with Windows 10, for example, this will likely bring back the bloatware that came with your Windows 10 PC. (There’s a way around this, but we’ve yet to test it ourselves.)

In addition, some people have reported that it won’t fix some system corruption issues, in which case you’d want to perform a real clean install using Option One above.

To reset your Windows 10 PC, open the Settings app, select Update & security, select Recovery, and click the “Get started” button under Reset this PC. Select “Remove everything.” This will wipe all your files, so be sure you have backups.
http://www.howtogeek.com/224342/how-to-clean-install-windows-10/

There's no way to get surgical and leave the correct drivers, BUT because it's a new laptop, windows 10 should already have the drivers for it built in.

It's recommended to download all the drivers you will need and put them on a CD/USB stick incase you lose access to the internet because you don't have your LAN drivers.

Asus's website will have all the latest drivers for your laptop, and if you're only downloading the drivers you don't need the "utilities" like ASUS Giftbox (which is bloatware)

Option one is your best choice really, for a clean system. Since you already have Windows 10 installed, it "shouldn't" ask for a CDKey when installing, but if it does, there should be an option to skip that step, and once windows has finished installing it will recognize the CDkey is already registered on the motherboard and use that.

There should be a sticker on your laptop with the CDKey though, it may be hidden like underneath your battery, so you'll have to take it out and take a picture with your phone or write it down.
 
Solution

donline

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Thanks so much James Mason

Ok first of all, I'm feeling a little nervous with all of this, as this is a new laptop and I'm concerned about messing it up from the start with doing all of this (especially with this being the first time I've done this before)...

So taking things step by step, if I download the media creation tool and then create/download the Windows 10 installation - would this download the entire operating system (just as I have it installed now) or just certain parts, and could this be used as a backup for Windows 10 in the future if anything should get messed up later on?

I've read that Windows 10 is also stored somewhere on the computer if anything goes wrong, is that right? (Is this where the media creation tool copies the files from?) Also, if I download Windows 10 to a flash drive, would this be the earliest version before I changed any settings etc? I'd like to be able to fully back up my entire system just in case I mess up this fresh/re-installation process - what would you recommend for this?

Would any USB memory stick be fine for backup/creating an installation drive?

I couldn't find a product key (I looked under the laptop), so will continue looking for that.

I have no idea what the instructions mean when they say about 'partitioning the system drive'... All I can see/understand is that I have a C Drive where my files are stored. What would you suggest with partitioning? Also, I've seen something about creating a 'system image' and wondered if that's useful?

Is it likely that the bloatware would reappear if I just do a system reset?

How would I check which drivers I need to download so that my system will work after fresh installation?

What do I gain by doing the fresh installation compared with me just going through my system and uninstalling bloatware/unnecessary programs using tools like Revo Uninstaller and CCleaner? Would the fresh installation really be much different in terms of how clean the system is?

Thanks again :)
 


1. No what it will download is a "clean" version of the OS without any of the ASUS software/specific drivers installed (but it may very well have some of the drivers included, and as long as it has internet access it can get the rest), it's a basic windows, no office, no chrome, ect.

2. Yes, that's correct, that's what the "reset option" will do if you choose it, it will reset it back to what Asus sold you.

3. It's a brand new OS, so nothing you've done to it would carry over.

4. Depending on the size of your current OS, it is possible to "make a backup." Windows has built in tools for that, just use Cortana to search for Backup and you'll find the things for it. A backup of your whole system could be like 50-300GBs in size (if not bigger) so you'd need a storage device to hold that data.

5. You want a USB stick that's 8GBs or larger for creating the Windows Install.

6. Check you laptops manual/the support page for it, it will be listed where it's located somewhere in there. If you bought it from ASUS, it has to be on the laptop somewhere. It may even be underneath the hard drive, which you'd have to remove (or lift up really), and that may or may not be easy, it probably is though.

7. Partitioning is when you want to divide the size of the hard drive into smaller pieces for... various reasons that don't apply to the regular user. Your Hard drive is already partitioned kind of though, as you have a backup/restore (of the basic asus version) of the OS on it so you can restore it to factory defaults without needing a CD/DVD.

8. It's quite possible the bloatware will comeback if you do the System Reset option (that's what 7 talks about) but it wouldn't hurt to try as long as you have your data backed up.

9. the Support page for you laptop model will have all the drivers needed.

10. Bloatware can be hard to get rid of, even with that kind of software. You don't gain much besides knowing that it's not there at all, even though you can successfully remove it with things like Revo and CCleaner.
 

donline

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Thanks for your guidance and patience, James Mason

I was wondering what's the advantage of creating a copy of Windows 10 (with the media creation tool) compared with the 'recovery version' already being hidden on the laptop? And can the Windows setup file(s) become corrupted on the hard drive?

When you mention that Windows 10 would be downloaded (with the media creation tool), would this be 'downloaded' from the laptop's hard drive or would it be online (from MS's servers)? And can I just download Windows 10 without having to go through the fresh re-installation process?

Do I need product keys and things just to create a copy of Windows 10 to USB memory stick? I was thinking about just doing this (to have a backup of Windows 10 for the future) without necessarily going through the whole fresh re-installation process.

What's the difference with the backup of the whole system - would that include the programs I've installed plus my personal files, in addition to the Windows 10 installation? (I think I just want to backup Windows 10 as I can always easily re-install programs and backup my personal files externally).

I've managed to find the laptop's user manual online, so I'm going to have a read through that and find out where the Windows 10 installation is (and product key).

Also, managed to find the drivers on the support page (there's quite a few and was wondering which are just bloatware).

How does it work with the fresh re-installation process? Do you have to uninstall the current version of Windows 10 first or does the USB memory stick version/copy automatically wipe the old version and re-install the clean version?

Hmm, so at the moment, I'm looking at these two options:

1) Create an external backup of Windows 10 (using the media creation tool) on a memory stick. Plus save the driver files (from the ASUS support page) as well on the memory stick. Then go through the system with Revo and CCleaner to remove unnecessary programs/files. Then on-going, backup my personal files with an external HDD.

2) Wipe the system (Windows 10 and all programs/drivers) and then try to re-install everything from scratch.

I guess the easy option would be number 1, but I'm still interested in attempting option 2. What's the worst that could happen?!

Cheers
 

USAFRet

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He's recommending making a backup of the system as it is currently, just in case.

Make this backup to somewhere else.

A clean install of the OS will wipe everything. But if it goes wrong during the process (power outage, etc), you have a fallback position.

I've seen far too many threads here where something like that happened.
"I was installing the OS, and the dog..."
"The power went out during..."
"oops...I selected the wrong drive or partition"

Always have a fallback position.
 

LukeFatwalker

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I'm going to say that yeah the best way is to re-install the OS. I'll add that when you're back up and running you'll want to run a backup with either a tool like Macrium Reflect Free or Rollback Rx. Basically something so that if you want to do this again you don't have to re-format everytime; and with Rollback you can even restore and migrate over any data, which may be helpful!
 


1. The advantage of creating your own copy of Windows is that it's a copy Asus hasn't touched and loaded with unnecessary software. The disadvantage is it's also a copy Asus hasn't touched and preloaded with the correct drivers for your laptop. Yes it's possible for a dozen reasons that the hard drive/recovery partition (setup files) can get damage and the data becomes corrupt. It's not a huge worry though.

2. It's downloaded online, "download" refers to data transfers over the internet only, otherwise you're just moving/transfering data locally, reading/writing it from local hard drives. Yes you can download an untouched copy of the OS with having to install it on your computer, if say you wanted to install it on another computer (and had a separate Key for it)

3. As the others mentioned it's always smart to have a backup incase the installation goes wrong, and especially if there's any important documents you want to save, as on a clean install everything that was there previously is lost.

4. You don't need product keys to create a copy of Windows, because during the install it asks you for your key, but you have installed it already so it either A) won't ask, or B) you can skip and when it finishes it will eventually check the hardware for what key is registered with it and use that without asking you.

5. A backup of your whole system would be so you could restore it exactly the way it is currently. It would include literally everything on the hard drive, hence why the backup could be so large. Your programs are generally things you don't backup separately because they have more connections throughout the computer that are only established when they're actually installed, and you can always reinstall a program.

6. You don't need to read through the whole thing, it should be mentioned in the table of contents and if not it'd be under one of the first few sections most likely or under the recovering OS section or replacing hard drive section. (although it wouldn't kill you to actually know your laptop well)

7. Yes there's a lot of drivers, they should all be listed as "drivers" though and not "software".

8. Part of any Windows installation is the formating/removal of all data from the hard drive/partition. You don't have to do any prework besides telling the computer to boot from a USB/CD drive instead of the hard drive. And you can actually most likely run the new Windows install from within windows after you've created it and tell it you want to do a clean install there and it will reboot the system the correct way to do it for you.

Finally, I'd say you actually kind of want to do a combo of both option one and two. I would use the Windows Backup utility to create a backup file on your external HDD, as well as just manually copying any documents you want to save there as well for easy restoration, It's not unwise to put the drivers on here as well. And then do the wipe-the-system install to get a version of windows guaranteed to not have any bloatware on it, then install the drivers from the external HDD and download/reinstall any programs you want.

Doing option one is actually gonna be pretty hard/time consuming because you have to research what to get rid of and what to keep, and there's not good list because Windows itself has a ton of programs/ect that it needs but don't sound important to the average user.
 

donline

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Thanks USAFRet,

When you mention about making a backup of the system as it currently is, would that be with the media creation tool (and saving to USB memory stick) or is that something else? Sorry, I find it a bit confusing.
 

donline

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Thanks again James Mason

That sounds good with just being able to download a copy of Windows 10 for backup (without necessarily installing right away).

Actually, the thing with me is that it's a brand new computer and I've not really used it yet (apart from playing around with the settings in Windows 10, and installing/testing out some programs), so there's nothing to lose at this point (like personal files) except messing up the computer from the start and not being able to fix it.

A question that came to mind yesterday was, if I were to use the media creation tool, download a clean version of Windows 10, and then do a fresh re-installation (wipe)... would there still be the option to restore the laptop to the manufacturer's/factory settings (i.e. Windows 10 with all of the ASUS and other stuff installed, as per how I received the laptop) following the fresh re-installation? Or would the fresh re-installation remove this option? And if this option did still exist, where would I find this option in Windows 10?

The reason I'm asking the question above is because I actually have two brand new laptops (both ASUS) and was considering using the second laptop (which I'm likely to return for a refund) as a kind of 'test dummy' for trying out the fresh Windows 10 re-installation. I've not even switched on this second laptop yet or done anything to it... but I would definitely need to restore it back to factory settings if I want to return it later for the refund (which is fine, the seller gives me 45 days 'open shop' to test the computer and return it if I want, in original condition). Would this be a good idea?

 


To check whether there is a recovery partition:

Click in Cortana's search box, type "Computer Management"

In here, go to Storage > Disk management

In the list in the middle, you'll see a C: drive and probably 1-2 other drives without letters, those are your other partitions and one of them is most likely your recovery partition and would be several GBs in size. That's what will be used to restore the computer to Asus factory specs.

When installing Windows 10 Clean, only tell it to install on the C: drive and it will leave the recovery partition alone. Don't format the other partitions to "free up space" or anything.

But if you REALLY don't want to even touch the current one, you can actually kind of dual boot Windows 10 so you can have two copies of it running at the same time to try both out until you decide you don't want one or the other:
http://www.howtogeek.com/214477/how-to-dual-boot-two-or-more-versions-of-windows/
 

donline

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Thanks again James Mason

I'll check regarding the recovery partition like you said.

That's really interesting with the option of dual booting.

Just a quick update... I spoke with ASUS support and they said that the Windows 10 product key is stored on the motherboard (encrypted) so it's not written anywhere (e.g. on a sticker/label).

They also said that they didn't recommend doing a clean re-installation as then they no longer provide support for the laptop. Plus, they said that the Windows 10 product key might not re-activate following the clean re-installation (they also talked about there being different licenses - OM I think they said - and that the difference in licenses (perhaps the clean version downloaded from Microsoft vs the factory/original version) might cause issues during this process as they are not the same? They also said I might have issues with trying to re-install any missing drivers following the clean re-installation.

Finally, they said that the clean re-installation would wipe the recovery partition (but it sounds like from what you said you can prevent this from happening).

What do you think about the above?

I have decided that I'm going to do the following though before possible clean re-installation:

1) Backup the factory/original recovery partition onto a USB memory stick.
2) Download/create a clean copy of Windows 10 (using the media creation tool) from Microsoft's servers and save to USB memory stick.

So then I have both the original/factory version and clean version of Windows 10 for backup/recovery if needed. Sound good?

Cheers
 


As long as you don't have an enterprise (something big businesses get when they buy 100s of computers) edition of Windows 10 then there's no worry about that. The key being stored on the motherboard also means it's not going anywhere, so you can reinstall it on that motherboard as many times as you like. The other edition is Windows 10 Pro, which it's unlikely you have, you have the Home edition. The Asus support guys don't really know what they're talking about besides not being able to provide support for the laptop, but that's mostly BS as well anyways/them lying again.

What you've decided sounds right.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3011736/windows/how-to-create-an-image-backup-in-windows-10-and-restore-it-if-need-be.html

You'll need a couple large USB sticks to accomplish this, but it sounds like you've got it figured out.

 

USAFRet

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All that blah blah from Asus is them trying to protect their turf.

Given a valid qualifying OS on the system, it WILL Upgrade, and it WILL activate.
My little Asus Transformer Upgraded from 8.1 to 10 no problem.
 

donline

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Thanks USAFret. I agree, it felt like they were trying to scare me away from doing the clean install. They had some kind of hidden motive!
 

donline

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Thanks James Mason

Yes, I think the laptop has the Home edition of Windows 10 (will double check).

I'm getting the USB sticks (2 x 16GB Kingston Datatraveler G4 16GB USB 3.0) delivered on Monday, so will make the backups and then look into the clean Windows re-installation. Will keep you posted on how things go.

I'm planning to test the clean re-installation on the second laptop (which I will return for a refund), so I'm going to backup the factory version of Windows 10 from that laptop and also download the generic clean version of Windows 10 from Microsoft's servers using the media creation tool...

I was wondering if I could wipe the memory sticks once I've tested/installed things on the second laptop, and then re-use the same sticks again for backing up the first laptop (which I plan to keep)? I guess I wouldn't need to re-download the clean version of Windows from Microsoft? And that I would just need to backup the factory version of Windows from the first laptop? Just asking in case wiping the memory sticks and re-using them again for Windows backups causes any issues (plus wondering if installing the same clean Windows 10 installation on multiple laptops is a problem)...

Cheers and have a great weekend
 


yeah, there's no reason you can't reuse the memory sticks, that's their purpose, portable reusable memory.
 

donline

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Great, thanks James Mason

I'll be getting the memory sticks tomorrow (Monday) and will make those backups then brave the clean Windows 10 installation... will keep you updated! Thanks for the support
 

donline

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Hi again James Mason,

I'm just reading through all the info/instructions again, and wanted to check I'll be doing the right things...

1) Backing up the factory/original version of Windows 10 (and the system):

Which of the following two instructions should I follow (are they the same)?
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-10/create-a-recovery-drive
http://www.pcworld.com/article/3011736/windows/how-to-create-an-image-backup-in-windows-10-and-restore-it-if-need-be.html

2) Downloading the clean version of Windows 10:

Is it best to download the Windows 10 Disc Image ISO file direct (like here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO) or to download and use the Media Creation Tool? Does Microsoft require you to register to use the Media Creation Tool?

And once I have the file(s), can I just drag and drop them across to my USB stick?

I was wondering which instructions to follow out of the following for step (2):
http://www.howtogeek.com/186775/how-to-download-windows-7-8-and-8.1-installation-media-legally/
or the beginning of this page: http://www.howtogeek.com/224342/how-to-clean-install-windows-10/

I think the thing I'm getting confused most with is the first step (1) because different terms are being used like 'recovery drive' and 'Image backup', and I'm not sure if these are the same or different things?

Any advice much appreciated!
Hope you've been having a good weekend.
 

donline

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Great, thanks James Mason!
(The memory sticks have now arrived in store, so picking them up later today).

I was wondering when Windows 10 reactivates (following clean re-installation), does this require Internet access? (The reason I ask is because I'd prefer not to have to setup wifi/router access on the second laptop I'll just be testing the Windows re-installation on before returning the laptop). And if it does require Internet access/activation, does Microsoft harvest personal data/computer info during this process? (Like many folks, I'm keen on data protection and privacy, and plan to block telemetry on my new laptop).
 


Yes it requires an internet connection to activate, but if it's a clean install there's no personal data besides maybe the gps location it was activated, which doesn't really tell them anything.
If you deactivate all the telemetry and stuff before "using it" then you shouldn't have anything to worry about because facebook and your credit card company already know more about your life then you do.

They would also already know about the computer existing anyways because it was already activated and used a little. (turned on at least, maybe updated)
 

donline

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Thanks James Mason

Good to know with how the reactivation works.

I've now got the memory sticks and plan to try things out on Thursday & Friday... keep you posted :)
 

donline

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Hi James Mason

Just a quick update... I've now downloaded a clean version of Windows 10 and created a recovery drive/backup of Windows 10 from my laptop. All went well (took around 40 mins and 90 mins, respectively, for each task).

I had a question come to mind... when I was creating the recovery drive/backup of my laptop, would this definitely be a copy/backup of how the laptop was at factory/original settings? Or is it possible that the backup would be made from another recovery point (perhaps the latest backup point)? I was wondering about this because when going through the process of creating the recovery drive, it was not specified how far back the recovery image/backup would be taken from. How would you check how far back it goes (without running the recovery)?

Thanks again!