Managing Windows Store default apps that come with 10 - Easy!

Wonderful little program here. Remove any or all of the Windows Store
apps, such as Groove Music, with just a click. Reinstall just as
easily.

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/10appsmanager-windows-10



-dan z-


--
Someone who thinks logically provides
a nice contrast to the real world.
(Anonymous)

slate_leeper wrote:

Wonderful little program here. Remove any or all of the Windows Store
apps, such as Groove Music, with just a click. Reinstall just as
easily.

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/10appsmanager-windows-10

-dan z-

Too bad it is yet another site that blocks anyone using an adblocker.
They really want you to see their ads.

Does this tool run in the background (loaded as a startup program or
runs as a service) to keep the apps you removed actually removed after
subsequent Windows updates?

In article , VanguardLH
wrote:


Wonderful little program here. Remove any or all of the Windows Store
apps, such as Groove Music, with just a click. Reinstall just as
easily.

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/10appsmanager-windows-10


Too bad it is yet another site that blocks anyone using an adblocker.
They really want you to see their ads.

the site works fine with ad blocking (and i block ads in multiple ways).

On Thu, 28 Mar 2019 21:51:23 -0400, nospam wrote:

Too bad it is yet another site that blocks anyone using an adblocker.
They really want you to see their ads.

the site works fine with ad blocking (and i block ads in multiple ways).

I use the Tor Browser Bundle, which is what I use for all downloads.
https://i.postimg.cc/T35ZVDxC/store01.jpg

The site worked just OK (see below), although it's one of those types that
has advertisements designed to show the wrong (big green) buttons larger
than the right (small blue) buttons in non-privacy browsers (I tested a
couple), where clicking the wrong buttons downloaded "Opera" in one test.

If you click on the right (small blue) button, you get the zip file:
https://www.thewindowsclub.com/downloads/10amW10.zip

As for "problems", the TBB did initially and momentarily ask
"Will you allow www.thewindowsclub.com to use
your HTML5 canvas image data? This may be
used to uniquely identify your computer."
https://i.postimg.cc/T35ZVDxC/store01.jpg

It went away before I had the chance to click "Don't Allow".
o I don't know if it defaults to an "Allow" or a "Don't Allow" though.

On Thu, 28 Mar 2019 20:16:19 -0500, VanguardLH wrote:

Does this tool run in the background (loaded as a startup program or
runs as a service) to keep the apps you removed actually removed after
subsequent Windows updates?

Hi VanguardLH,
You bring up two great questions.

Does the tool run in the background?
Does the tool prevent re-installations of the 35 Microsoft Store apps?

I never heard of the app, until now, where I don't know the answer
o But I can look in the task manager to see if it's running

I just checked with it running and without it running.
o I don't see anything in the "Processes" tab when not running.
o Nor do I see it in the "Startup" tab (although there are other places)

All I can say is I don't "see" it running (but others would know better).
o What I don't like about the app is the way it doesn't "record" the deletion

It's a minor quibble, but there's no way to tell which apps you've deleted
from the app itself. When you click on the "Maps" icon for example, and say
"Yes" to uninstall it, it says it worked - but nothing visually changes.

Worse, no matter how many times you bring up the program, it _still_
provides zero indication the "Maps" app was deleted.

In fact, if you click _again_ on the "Maps" icon for example, it _still_
gives you _excactly_ the same "Are you sure you want to uninstall this
app?" dialog.

My quibble is that it should do two things when you uninstall an app
o It should change the icon of that app in some manner
o It should NOT ask you to uninstall if you already uninstalled it

As for keeping Microsoft from putting those 35 horrid apps back...
o I would _love_ to know if it _keeps _those 35 horrid apps _off_ my system!

VanguardLH wrote:

slate_leeper wrote:

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/10appsmanager-windows-10

Too bad it is yet another site that blocks anyone using an adblocker.

Didn't nag or block me.

I beleive that I read somewhere that Windows 10 1903 will natively allow
the removal of the programs.

We will have to wait and see what it has once it has been released


On 3/28/2019 11:52 PM, arlen holder wrote:
On Thu, 28 Mar 2019 20:16:19 -0500, VanguardLH wrote:

Does this tool run in the background (loaded as a startup program or
runs as a service) to keep the apps you removed actually removed after
subsequent Windows updates?

Hi VanguardLH,
You bring up two great questions.

Does the tool run in the background?
Does the tool prevent re-installations of the 35 Microsoft Store apps?

I never heard of the app, until now, where I don't know the answer
o But I can look in the task manager to see if it's running

I just checked with it running and without it running.
o I don't see anything in the "Processes" tab when not running.
o Nor do I see it in the "Startup" tab (although there are other places)

All I can say is I don't "see" it running (but others would know better).
o What I don't like about the app is the way it doesn't "record" the deletion

It's a minor quibble, but there's no way to tell which apps you've deleted
from the app itself. When you click on the "Maps" icon for example, and say
"Yes" to uninstall it, it says it worked - but nothing visually changes.

Worse, no matter how many times you bring up the program, it _still_
provides zero indication the "Maps" app was deleted.

In fact, if you click _again_ on the "Maps" icon for example, it _still_
gives you _excactly_ the same "Are you sure you want to uninstall this
app?" dialog.

My quibble is that it should do two things when you uninstall an app
o It should change the icon of that app in some manner
o It should NOT ask you to uninstall if you already uninstalled it

As for keeping Microsoft from putting those 35 horrid apps back...
o I would _love_ to know if it _keeps _those 35 horrid apps _off_ my system!



--
2018: The year we learn to play the great game of Euchre

Keith Nuttle wrote:
I beleive that I read somewhere that Windows 10 1903 will natively allow
the removal of the programs.

We will have to wait and see what it has once it has been released

It doesn't get more "natively" than it already is.

https://i.postimg.cc/fT2jwMV2/remova...n-Settings.gif

A certain number of "Apps" have the in-box bit set in
the App database, and are not (nominally) removable. In
the picture above, you will easily be able to see examples
of stuff where the Uninstall button is grayed out.

You have the same level of functionality in that window,
as you do from Powershell. Something marked as unremovable,
won't be removed.

The advantage of the Powershell method, is in one command,
you could wild-card the removal, and do maximal damage
with a single command. You could try to remove every
App on the machine (i.e. lose that pitiful copy of
commercial Solitaire which is "free").

When I was scrolling that dialog, I was looking for
"Flappy Birds" to practice on, but I must have missed it.
(There's some promoted program they keep on there, which
mysteriously I cannot remember the name of it. And I
call it "Flappy Birds" as a shorthand.)

Paul

On Thu, 28 Mar 2019 23:15:34 -0000 (UTC), arlen holder
wrote:

7. Check that the apps are truly removed (& that they don't come back!).
How?

I checked by bringing up the Windows "add or remove programs" in
settings. The store apps were no longer listed. (Full disclosu the
only ones I had listed prior to using this program were the ones that
MS did not allow being uninstalled, as I had already uninstalled all I
could.)

As far as coming back.... well, it IS Microsoft...

This page describes the manual way to do it (Win-10 info is past the
Win-8 stuff on the same page):
https://www.thewindowsclub.com/erase...apps-windows-8

This program to automate that appears to be a graphic interface for
using the same commands that can be used manually.

The rest of your instructions look great.

-dan z-



--
Someone who thinks logically provides
a nice contrast to the real world.
(Anonymous)

On Fri, 29 Mar 2019 08:36:40 -0400, slate_leeper wrote:

7. Check that the apps are truly removed (& that they don't come back!).
How?

I checked by bringing up the Windows "add or remove programs" in
settings. The store apps were no longer listed.

Hi Dan,
Thanks for that confirmation of how best to check they're gone.

I added a step in the tutorial beginning and end to check the 35 apps:
Start Settings Apps Apps & features

Here are my results, where I left a couple of the Store apps:
https://i.postimg.cc/htMB198j/store02.jpg

As far as coming back.... well, it IS Microsoft...

Understood. That means some will _likely_ come back (e.g., the ones that
weren't removable, most likely, if they do come back).

The good news is this thread is archived so people can find it again:
https://alt.comp.os.windows-10.narkive.com/jvWBajCn/managing-windows-store-default-apps-that-come-with-10-easy

This page describes the manual way to do it (Win-10 info is past the
Win-8 stuff on the same page):
https://www.thewindowsclub.com/erase...apps-windows-8

Ah, that's useful also.
So that all benefit, I added this section to the tutorial:
================================================== ==========================
8. You can also delete these apps manually, sans a GUI:
https://www.thewindowsclub.com/erase-default-preinstalled-modern-apps-windows-8
o Open an elevated PoewrShell window
o List all the installed apps using "Get-AppxPackage":
Get-AppxPackage | Select Name, PackageFullName
o Note the package name of the app you wish to remove & run:
Get-AppxPackage PackageFullName | Remove-AppxPackage
o To uninstall for all user accounts, use this command style:
Get-AppxPackage -allusers PackageFullName | Remove-AppxPackage
o To uninstall for any one user account, use this command style:
Get-AppxPackage -user username PackageFullName | Remove-AppxPackage
o Note that you need to restart your computer afterward.
================================================== ==========================
EXAMPLES:
o Uninstall 3D Builder:
Get-AppxPackage *3dbuilder* | Remove-AppxPackage

o Uninstall Alarms & Clock
Get-AppxPackage *windowsalarms* | Remove-AppxPackage

o Uninstall Calculator
Get-AppxPackage *windowscalculator* | Remove-AppxPackage

o Uninstall Camera
Get-AppxPackage *windowscamera* | Remove-AppxPackage

o Uninstall Calendar & Mail
Get-AppxPackage *windowscommunicationsapps* | Remove-AppxPackage

o Uninstall Get Office app
Get-AppxPackage *officehub* | Remove-AppxPackage

o Uninstall Get Started app
Get-AppxPackage *getstarted* | Remove-AppxPackage

o Uninstall Solitaire Collection
Get-AppxPackage *solit* | Remove-AppxPackage

o Uninstall Get Skype app
Get-AppxPackage *skypeapp* | Remove-AppxPackage

o Uninstall Groove Music
Get-AppxPackage *zunemusic* | Remove-AppxPackage

o Uninstall Microsoft Solitaire Collection
Get-AppxPackage *solitairecollection* | Remove-AppxPackage

o Uninstall Maps
Get-AppxPackage *windowsmaps* | Remove-AppxPackage

o Uninstall Money
Get-AppxPackage *bingfinance* | Remove-AppxPackage

o Uninstall Movies & TV
Get-AppxPackage *zunevideo* | Remove-AppxPackage

o Uninstall OneNote
Get-AppxPackage *onenote* | Remove-AppxPackage

o Uninstall News
Get-AppxPackage *bingnews* | Remove-AppxPackage

o Uninstall People app
Get-AppxPackage *people* | Remove-AppxPackage

o Uninstall Phone Companion
Get-AppxPackage *windowsphone* | Remove-AppxPackage

o Uninstall Photos
Get-AppxPackage *photos* | Remove-AppxPackage

o Uninstall Store
Get-AppxPackage *windowsstore* | Remove-AppxPackage

o Uninstall Sports
Get-AppxPackage *bingsports* | Remove-AppxPackage

o Uninstall Voice Recorder
Get-AppxPackage *soundrecorder* | Remove-AppxPackage

o Uninstall Weather
Get-AppxPackage *bingweather* | Remove-AppxPackage

o Uninstall Xbox
Get-AppxPackage *xboxapp* | Remove-AppxPackage
================================================== =========================

The rest of your instructions look great.

Thank you for posting in the spirit of Usenet, so that everyone benefits
from your knowledge & effort!

The archives are he
http://tinyurlcom/alt-comp-os-windows-10
http://alt.comp.os.windows-10.narkive.com

Andy Burns wrote:

VanguardLH wrote:

slate_leeper wrote:

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/10appsmanager-windows-10

Too bad it is yet another site that blocks anyone using an adblocker.

Didn't nag or block me.

*_As to visiting the site and it bitching I'm using an adblocker_*

With Ghostery, I had to disabled its Enhanced Ad Tracking on that site
to get past it bitching that I'm using an adblocker. I have to reduce
adblocking to get the site to stop bitching about me using an adblocker.

With uBlock Origin (and subscribing to all blacklists since the overlap
is removed before putting the table into memory for quick lookup, and
excluding all the hosts files which are aften overly aggressive), the
site does not bitch about me using that adblocker with its multiple
blacklists.

So, it all depends on which adblocker you use and how it is configured
as to whether the site detects you are using an adblocker and will bitch
to you about it. More and more sites are defending their loss of ad
revenue by blocking visitors they detect are using adblockers. There
are even libraries of scripts (client and server-side), so the sites
don't have to write their own detection code, along with monitoring if
your client doesn't retrieve the 3rd party content through their server.
While I mentioned that I use an adblocker, you did not indicate if you
use one at all.

I'm testing Ghostery because it looks like it will survive Google's
decision to further restrict usability of extensions in their Manifest
V3 requirements (proposed, so far, but likely to become reality although
perhaps slightly modified). uBlock Origin and uMatrix that I used for a
long time won't survive Manifest v3, and Gorhill, their author, has
stated he won't bother to adapt his extensions, so they'll go dead.
Before Chrome users are foisted with Manifest v3, I'm trying other
possibilities that will survive. Not even Adblocker Plus may survive
the change unless they recode their extension. Adblockers currently
rely on the webRequest API but Google wants to force extensions to use
their declarativeNetRequest API which is more limited. Changing to the
new API means, for example, being limited to 30,000 total across all
internal and subscribed blacklists. The EasyList blacklist alone is
88,254 entries. With my selection of blacklists in uBlock Origin, it is
using an aggregate blacklist of 117,633 network filters + 124,272
cosmetic filters (and that's without adding in the hosts files that
would add another 63K+ network filters). Google's Manifest V3 would
mean a lot more 3rd party resources could track or spam your web
surfing.

https://www.ghacks.net/2019/01/22/ch...in-for-chrome/
https://windowsreport.com/chrome-ad-blockers/

Instead of adblockers looking in the document object (web page) to
detect the content to determine if it contains matching content to
block, adblockers will have to recode to using the NetRequest API.

Google is losing revenue due to adblockers hence why they are motivated
to disabling them or further throttling them. Since it is their API,
they could obviously mask any resources in a web page that connect to
Google services, like Google's analytics and tracking services.

While Chromium variants could bypass the change, and while Chromium is
the open-sourced project upon which Chrome is based (except Google adds
further components that are proprietary), guess who controls the
open-sourced Chromium project? Yep, Google developers and community
volunteers.

I might have to switch back to Firefox (far more configurable than
Chrome but mostly through cyptic settings via about:config) if
adblockers get crippled in Chrome; however, it doesn't take long for
Mozilla to follow Google (well, except it took Mozilla over 6 years to
finally support multi-process that Chrome had many years earlier).
Microsoft dropped their EdgeHTML rendering engine and switched to
Google's Blink engine. Mozilla (well, one developer there) claims:

Mozilla's mission is not to fight chrome. Our mission is to keep the
web free and open. Using Blink doesn't advance that mission.

Yeah, maybe. That's a directive that could change if Mozilla loses
further resources and can no longer afford to support their own
rendering engine for subsequent additional web technologies.

*_As to how this app manager functions_*

No response on if the tools runs in the background (or could be
scheduled) to check that an update or other cause shoved the unwanted
apps back onto your computer. I really don't want to set a reminder in
my calendar to manually run the tool to periodically check the unwanted
apps are still uninstalled, or have to remember after every Windows
update to do a manual check. For example, I remember when Microsoft was
pushing the GWX update (to slyly get users to move to Windows 10) that
there was the GWX Control Panel that would monitor if the changes the
user made got undone or to block the GWX update itself (for any version
of it since Microsoft kept changing its version to make sure it would
show up again).

After using uBlock Origin (instead of Ghostery), so the site would block
access with it bitching about me using an adblocker, nope, this tool is
entirely manual. It says to do a system restore (to recover if their
tool screws up) and then run the tool yourself. YOU have to
occasionally rerun this tool either when you notice an app came back or
as a precaution after an update. It doesn't even have a CLI (command-
line interface) to run it from a command line, like as a startup program
or a scheduled event, like a logon event. Still, it is better than
having nothing.

The article is dated back to September 2015. It looked familiar, so I
checked by Downloads folder for Windows 10 and, yep, I have it already.
Someone probably mentioned it over 3 years ago and I grabbed a copy.
The web page doesn't cite a version. The download file doesn't include
a version number. I downloaded the .zip file and looked inside, but
nothing there about the version. Don't know if the program has been
updated since my old download back on 3/8/2017.

VanguardLH wrote:

While I mentioned that I use an adblocker, you did not indicate if you
use one at all.

I wouldn't have considered it worth replying to say it didn't nag me for
not using an adblocker ... uBO.

On 29/03/2019 08.53, Andy Burns wrote:
VanguardLH wrote:

slate_leeper wrote:

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/10appsmanager-windows-10

Too bad it is yet another site that blocks anyone using an adblocker.

Didn't nag or block me.

It does me.

Uh Oh...Adblocker detected!
Please support us by whitelisting our site in your Adblocking software.
Apart from your browser adblocker, you may have to whitelist us in your
browser's Tracking Protection settings & VPN/Security software's
adblockers as well. Once done, press CTRL+F5 to refresh this web page.
We bring Windows tutorials, tips & freeware without any cost to you and
we display only basic type of display/text ads.


I refuse to comply.

--
Cheers, Carlos.

On 3/29/2019 12:44 PM, Carlos E.R. wrote:

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/10appsmanager-windows-10

Uh Oh...Adblocker detected!
Please support us by whitelisting our site...

I refuse to comply.

In Firefox (W10) I use an add-on called "JavaScript Toggle On and Off".
With JavaScript toggled off the site doesn't complain...

Carlos E.R. wrote:

On 29/03/2019 08.53, Andy Burns wrote:
VanguardLH wrote:

slate_leeper wrote:

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/10appsmanager-windows-10

Too bad it is yet another site that blocks anyone using an adblocker.

Didn't nag or block me.

It does me.

Uh Oh...Adblocker detected!
Please support us by whitelisting our site in your Adblocking software.
Apart from your browser adblocker, you may have to whitelist us in your
browser's Tracking Protection settings & VPN/Security software's
adblockers as well. Once done, press CTRL+F5 to refresh this web page.
We bring Windows tutorials, tips & freeware without any cost to you and
we display only basic type of display/text ads.

I refuse to comply.

As noted in my reply to Andy, I tried both Ghostery and uBlock Origin
(uBO). With Ghostery, got the site bitching about me using an adblocker
unless I disabled Ghostery's Enhanced Ad Blocking feature. With uBO,
the site wouldn't bitch, so you and I must have uBO configured
differently.

In uBO, I selected all the blacklists except the hosts files, which a
- Dan Pollock's hosts file
- hpHosts' ad and tracking servers
- MVPS hosts
- Peter Lowe's ad and tracking server list

I've found the hosts files are overly aggressive and not updated as
often as, say, the EasyList blacklist. When I go into the blacklists in
uBO, EasyList was last updated today (29 Mar 2019) while the hosts files
had last updates of (click on the hosts file blacklist to see its
listing which should include its update datestamp):

- Dan Pollock: 27 Mar 2019
- hpHosts: unknown (no update datestamp)
- MVPS hosts: 08 Mar 2019
- Peter Lowe's: 23 Jan 2019

You get the site bitching about using uBO. I don't when using uBO. So,
are configurations differ for uBO. Even when I added all 4 of the hosts
file blacklists, the site still didn't bitch about me using an
adblocker. Something else is configured differently between your setup
of uBO and my uBO, or maybe you are using some rules under uBO's "My
filters" or "My rules", or some additional blocking other than just uBO.

When I first visit that site with uBO enabled and with my config of it,
uBO reports that it blocked 19 resources, but then it updates to 22
blocked resources, then 31, then 43, and the count keeps going up. I
waited over 7 minutes without clicking anything on the web page, and the
block count was up to 94, and still growing. Don't you just "love"
dynamic web pages.

You + uBO: site nags.
Me + uBO: no nag.
Something different between us in uBO's config or something else for you
with additional blocking.