Just found out about this on a tech-news website (written in French but I posted the english source as well don't worry).
Could be useful to try in a test environment first.

French link: https://korben.info/comment-suspendre-un-jeu-ou-un-gros-traitement-linux-windows.html
English link: https://nyrna.merritt.codes/

Technically, it's not a process "kill" but more of a process "halt" in fact.

 

If it is an offline PC, I'd suggest doing a custom win10 installation image, and doing it cleanly from the start.

This is how I have done it:
1. install Win10 (the official image from MS)
2. install all the drivers and all the software you intend to use
3. disable all the "known" services that you think will not be needed (see titus and a few provided links at the beginning of the thread)
4. test if everything is working
5. disable some more services that you don't know what they are fore
6. test for a few days
7. make a few screenshots of the services for later reference
8. dive in and do a custom windows install image that suits your hardware, software and your needs
(...here a guide on how to do it:

)
9. reformat your drive and do a clean job
...there is an incredible amount of crap that can be omitted from the installation if you are 100% positive that no internet is needed on that machine.

It will take a few days to test everything before doing a custom image, but it is worth in my opinion

 

Win10Tweaker

 

O&O ShutUp10++ Das kostenlose Antispy-Tool für Windows 10 und 11 www.oo-software.com/de/shutup10
Ultimate Windows Tweaker - Windows 10 optimieren https://winfuture.de/downloadvorschalt,3593.html

 

Last edited: Apr 18, 2022

I'm on 20H2 and I use a combination of ShutUp10, WindowsSpyBlocker (available on github), some manual deleting/disabling of services and a Pi-Hole attached to my router that also has the blocklist from WindowsSpyBlocker, just to be sure. I'm also using TinyWall in whitelist mode which means every new app that wants to connect to the internet has to be whitelisted first. It's not a strict offline machine, I've just disabled all telemetry and updates.

 

Yes, site in Russian language. But in the Program you can change language

 

Not only that you're wasting your time but you have to remember it after re-installation of Windows which is going to happen sooner or later. And doing it again without a shred of evidence that you're actually doing anything.

 

Reinstallation? That's what happens when you screw up your Windows. I rarely have to reinstall my "lite" versions of Windows, like every 4-5 years, generally when I buy a new PC.

Installing Windows with all the audio apps and plugins is a couple of days of nightmare for me. However, doing all the tweaking in one go is better than having to do it all the time. Meaning I turn into a computer expert for a couple of days and then I just enjoy doing music for several years.

p.s. it is what I'm used to as when I get a new computer order I have to do it all in a couple of days, but I learned that it's worth it, especially if you have ADHD or similar [it annoys me a lot when I have computer problems while making music].

 

And if you use a special string when renaming, you can find every file in your system that you renamed...

 

I dont know if it was posted but here is one ; h++ps://github.com/hellzerg/optimizer/releases

 

This one is also excellent:

https://github.com/jebofponderworthy/windows-tools

 

Soon I have to update an to my first NVME disk from scratch, what version of 21H1 oprekin do you recommend? never use one but I saw good comments
Thanks

 

If memory serves Oprekin went payware a couple years ago. That's why the free modded Windows 10 "ghost lite" is so popular these days.
Also, both Windows 10 and 11 have a 21H2 version (fuck me if I understand it)

 

Yes, I've also runned Wins for a few years and then some complicated problem pops up. Investigation leads to some driver or kernel error which can't be fixed with safe-mode removal and reistallation.
It happens for sure. Just a matter of time.
The case might be different when you have a dedicated maschine for the work you do and stick to the Win version as long as you could.
But even then, you'll have to upgrade at some point and that's the opportunity for problems. Upgrading to major versions has never been risk free.

Have you ever seen someone demonstrating those tricks actually work?

I, kind of resonate with you for different reasons. I can't resist to tweaking since WinXP. I'm horrified when I see a bunch of stuff I don't need running on my system. Especially apps which require internet connection. Even if those apps never connected to the internet, It wouldn't make a difference in my feelings. I want them out as soon as possible.

 

Yes, it became paid, but I was able to download an ISO (Win10Pro_2104.1165_LitePlus)
I haven't installed it yet because I have to do the disk merge
but I think it's a good version to use

 

Generally speaking - and I'm sure this has been mentioned before but I didn't notice - is Github safe? I ask because people reference it a lot and it does contain software that circumvents popular software like Windows.

 

I've been tweaking and minimising Windows installations since XP and the amount of services and some hidden dependencies due to secondary functionality of some services have made it inevitable to integrate all tweaks into batch or wsh scripts so I can start from scratch anytime.
I also like to do everything inside virtual machines because it's easier to try several changes simultaneously and stay mostly independent from hardware configs until I've found a halfway clean system.
It also drastically reduces the time to do a "fresh install".
Thanks for all the links guys, it's always great to find good alternatives

 

When it comes to tweak Windows is "use at your own risk". So my recommendation, a bit like happens with cr*cks: use the ones that are popular so many people have used them. Look for projects that have many stars and read the risks explained in the page.

 

Last edited: Jun 22, 2022