How to Remove Windows 10 and 11 Bloatware Without Third-Party Software (PowerShell, 2026)

To remove Windows 10 or 11 bloatware without third-party software, open Settings > Apps > Installed apps for the easy stuff, then use PowerShell Get-AppxPackage … | Remove-AppxPackage for the system apps that don’t show an Uninstall button. To strip Edge outside the EU, enable Digital Markets Act mode through a registry edit and a tweak to IntegratedServicesRegionPolicySet.json, then uninstall Edge normally.

Applies to: Windows 10 (22H2) and Windows 11 (23H2, 24H2, 25H2) | Last updated: May 4, 2026

Key Takeaways

• Most Windows bloatware can be removed with PowerShell using Get-AppxPackage … | Remove-AppxPackage — no third-party debloater required, no SmartScreen warnings, no antivirus false positives
• Microsoft Edge can be uninstalled outside the EU by enabling Digital Markets Act mode through a registry change and editing IntegratedServicesRegionPolicySet.json in System32
• Removing apps for current user vs all users matters — add -AllUsers to the Get-AppxPackage and Remove-AppxPackage commands on Windows 11 to strip bloatware system-wide (Windows 10 has limitations)
• Use Get-AppxProvisionedPackage / Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage to stop bloatware from coming back when new user accounts are created
• Most accidentally removed apps can be reinstalled from the Microsoft Store, and the Store itself can be reinstalled with wsreset -i if you remove it

Quick Steps:

1. Open Settings > Apps > Installed apps and uninstall whatever shows the three-dot menu with an Uninstall option
2. For system apps that don’t expose Uninstall, open Terminal (Admin) and run Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers to list everything
3. Remove a single app with Get-AppxPackage -Name "Microsoft.AppName" | Remove-AppxPackage
4. Remove a curated batch with the array command in Method 2
5. To uninstall Edge outside the EU, follow the registry + JSON edit in Method 3
6. Run Get-AppxProvisionedPackage -Online | … | Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage to stop the apps coming back for new user accounts

In This Guide

• Method 1: Settings > Installed Apps
• Method 2: PowerShell AppX Package Removal
• Method 3: Uninstalling Microsoft Edge (Non-EU)
• Method 4: DISM for Provisioned Packages
• How to Reinstall Apps You Removed by Mistake

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Why Use the Built-in Method Instead of a Debloater?

I built Winhance specifically because doing this by hand is fiddly. So I’m not going to pretend the manual route is more convenient — it isn’t. But it does have real advantages:

• No SmartScreen or antivirus false positives — you’re running Microsoft’s own commands
• Full control — you decide exactly which AppX package goes, one at a time if you want
• Officially supported — Microsoft documents Remove-AppxPackage as the right way to do this on a single machine
• Works on locked-down machines where you can’t install third-party software

If you want the convenience of a one-click tool with safe defaults, Winhance wraps the same PowerShell commands behind a UI. If you want to learn what’s actually happening or you can’t install software, the manual method below is the right one.

Heads up: Removing these apps mostly cleans up your Start menu — it doesn’t meaningfully speed up the system. Modern AppX apps barely use resources when they aren’t running. The benefit is a less-cluttered, less-distracting Windows experience.

Method 1: Uninstall Bloatware from Settings

Start with the built-in uninstaller. It handles a lot more apps than people realize, especially on Windows 11 25H2.

1. Right-click the Start button and select Installed apps (Windows 11) or Apps and Features (Windows 10)
2. Find an unwanted app, click the three-dot menu next to it, and choose Uninstall
3. Confirm the prompt — most pre-installed apps remove cleanly this way

You’ll quickly notice a wall, though. Apps marked as system apps don’t expose an Uninstall button — Microsoft Store, Xbox Game Bar, Get Help, Phone Link, and (outside the EU) Microsoft Edge all fall into this bucket. For those, you need PowerShell.

Method 2: Remove System Apps with PowerShell

PowerShell exposes the AppX package management cmdlets, which can remove the system apps the GUI won’t touch. These are Microsoft’s own commands — no third-party tools, no security warnings.

Open PowerShell as Administrator

Right-click the Start button and select Terminal (Admin) on Windows 11, or search for Windows PowerShell on Windows 10 and choose Run as administrator. Approve the UAC prompt.

Important: These commands need PowerShell, not Command Prompt. If you’re in Terminal, make sure the dropdown at the top says PowerShell, not Command Prompt.

List Installed AppX Packages

To see every modern app installed for your current user:

Get-AppxPackage

To see packages installed for all users on the machine (you’ll need this if you want to strip an app for everyone, not just yourself):

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers

Each entry has a Name field — that’s the value you’ll feed into the remove command.

Remove a Single AppX Package

The basic pattern is:

Get-AppxPackage -Name "PackageName" | Remove-AppxPackage

For example, to remove Microsoft Store for the current user:

Get-AppxPackage -Name "Microsoft.WindowsStore" | Remove-AppxPackage

To remove it for every user on the system, use -AllUsers on both ends:

Get-AppxPackage -Name "Microsoft.WindowsStore" -AllUsers | Remove-AppxPackage -AllUsers

Remove Multiple Apps in One Command

For batch removal, an array combined with ForEach-Object is the most reliable approach. Here’s the curated list I personally use as a starting point — it strips most of the obvious bloat while keeping Calculator, Notepad, Paint, Snipping Tool, and Terminal:

@(
    "Microsoft.WindowsStore", "Microsoft.GetHelp", "Microsoft.Copilot",
    "Microsoft.Windows.Ai.Copilot.Provider", "Microsoft.Copilot_8wekyb3d8bbwe",
    "Microsoft.XboxGamingOverlay", "Microsoft.YourPhone", "Microsoft.XboxIdentityProvider",
    "Microsoft.XboxSpeechToTextOverlay", "Microsoft.Windows.DevHome",
    "Microsoft.MicrosoftOfficeHub", "MicrosoftCorporationII.QuickAssist", "MSTeams",
    "Microsoft.OutlookForWindows", "Microsoft.Edge.GameAssist",
    "Microsoft.WidgetsPlatformRuntime", "Microsoft.Xbox.TCUI",
    "Microsoft.MicrosoftStickyNotes", "Microsoft.BingWeather", "Microsoft.WindowsAlarms",
    "Microsoft.Windows.Photos", "Microsoft.Todos",
    "Microsoft.MicrosoftSolitaireCollection", "Microsoft.WindowsSoundRecorder",
    "Microsoft.PowerAutomateDesktop", "Microsoft.GamingApp", "Clipchamp.Clipchamp",
    "Microsoft.BingNews", "Microsoft.BingSearch", "Microsoft.WindowsCamera",
    "Microsoft.ZuneMusic", "Microsoft.WindowsFeedbackHub", "Microsoft.XboxApp",
    "Microsoft.MixedReality.Portal", "Microsoft.Office.OneNote", "Microsoft.People",
    "Microsoft.Getstarted", "Microsoft.549981C3F5F10", "Microsoft.SkypeApp",
    "Microsoft.ZuneVideo", "Microsoft.Microsoft3DViewer", "Microsoft.MSPaint",
    "Microsoft.WindowsCommunicationsApps", "Microsoft.WindowsMaps"
) | ForEach-Object { Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers -Name $_ | Remove-AppxPackage }

Important caveats about -AllUsers:

• It removes apps for every existing user on the machine, but does NOT prevent newly created users from getting them — you need DISM provisioned-package removal for that (see Method 4)
• -AllUsers is reliable on Windows 11 but can throw permission errors on Windows 10 — if it fails, drop the flag and run the command per user account
• “Get Started” (Microsoft.Getstarted) is removable on Windows 10 but NOT removable on Windows 11 — Windows 11 will silently refuse

Apps I Keep — and What Each Package Name Maps To

I deliberately keep these because I use them daily — add them to the array if you don’t want them:

• Calculator — Microsoft.WindowsCalculator
• Notepad — Microsoft.WindowsNotepad
• Paint — Microsoft.Paint
• Snipping Tool — Microsoft.ScreenSketch
• Windows Terminal — Microsoft.WindowsTerminal

Conversely, here’s what’s in the array above and what each one is for, so you can confidently leave items in or pull them out:

• Microsoft.WindowsStore — Microsoft Store (only remove if you don’t use Store apps)
• Microsoft.Copilot, Microsoft.Windows.Ai.Copilot.Provider, Microsoft.Copilot_8wekyb3d8bbwe — all three Copilot packages
• Microsoft.XboxGamingOverlay, Microsoft.GamingApp, Microsoft.XboxApp, Microsoft.Xbox.TCUI, Microsoft.XboxIdentityProvider, Microsoft.XboxSpeechToTextOverlay — Xbox stack (skip if you use Game Bar or Game Pass)
• Microsoft.YourPhone — Phone Link
• Microsoft.GetHelp, MicrosoftCorporationII.QuickAssist — Get Help and Quick Assist
• Microsoft.Windows.DevHome, Microsoft.MicrosoftOfficeHub, Microsoft.Windows.Photos, Microsoft.WindowsCamera, Microsoft.WindowsAlarms, Microsoft.MicrosoftStickyNotes, Microsoft.WindowsSoundRecorder, Microsoft.WindowsMaps, Microsoft.WindowsCommunicationsApps (Mail and Calendar) — pre-installed Microsoft apps you can swap out for desktop alternatives
• Microsoft.BingWeather, Microsoft.BingNews, Microsoft.BingSearch — Bing-powered apps that mostly serve content discovery
• Microsoft.ZuneMusic (Groove Music), Microsoft.ZuneVideo (Movies & TV), Clipchamp.Clipchamp, Microsoft.Microsoft3DViewer, Microsoft.MSPaint (Paint 3D), Microsoft.MixedReality.Portal — media and 3D apps
• Microsoft.MicrosoftSolitaireCollection, Microsoft.SkypeApp, MSTeams, Microsoft.OutlookForWindows, Microsoft.Edge.GameAssist, Microsoft.WidgetsPlatformRuntime, Microsoft.Todos, Microsoft.PowerAutomateDesktop, Microsoft.Office.OneNote, Microsoft.People, Microsoft.Getstarted (Tips, Win10), Microsoft.549981C3F5F10 (Cortana), Microsoft.WindowsFeedbackHub — the rest of the default-install bloat

Method 3: Uninstall Microsoft Edge (Outside the EU)

If you live in the EU, Microsoft Edge already has an Uninstall button thanks to the Digital Markets Act. For everyone else, you can flip the same DMA mode on manually with two registry edits and a tweak to one JSON file in System32.

Warning: Install an alternative browser (Chrome, Firefox, Brave) before you remove Edge. Some Windows components fall back to Edge for HTML rendering — without an alternative, you’ll have a hard time downloading anything if Edge breaks something else.

Step 1: Enable DMA Mode in the Registry

Open Terminal (Admin) — PowerShell or Command Prompt both work — and run these two commands:

reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\CapabilityAccessManager\ConsentStore\location\MicrosoftWindows.Client.WebExperience_cw5n1h2txyewy" /v "LastUsedTimeStop" /t REG_BINARY /d 27CF23D880D0DB01 /f

reg add "HKLM\Software\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Microsoft Edge" /v "NoRemove" /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

The first one tells Windows your machine should be treated as DMA-eligible. The second flips Edge’s NoRemove flag from “1” (locked) to “0” (uninstallable).

Step 2: Edit IntegratedServicesRegionPolicySet.json

The registry alone isn’t enough — Windows also checks a JSON policy file in System32. Navigate to C:\Windows\System32 in File Explorer and find IntegratedServicesRegionPolicySet.json.

1. Right-click the file, choose Copy, and paste a backup onto your Desktop
2. Take ownership of the original: right-click > Properties > Security > Advanced, click Change next to the owner, type your username, click Check Names, then OK
3. Back in the Security tab, click Edit, select Administrators, check Full Control, click Apply
4. Rename the original file to IntegratedServicesRegionPolicySet.json.bak
5. Open the Desktop copy in Notepad, find the entry that says "Edge is uninstallable." and change its "defaultState" from "disabled" to "enabled"
6. Save the file and copy it back into C:\Windows\System32 with the original name (without .bak)

Step 3: Uninstall Edge from Settings

Now open Settings > Apps > Installed apps, find Microsoft Edge, click the three-dot menu, and choose Uninstall. The button is there now thanks to the registry + JSON changes you just made.

Optional Cleanup

If you’d rather not leave the registry edits in place after Edge is gone:

reg delete "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\CapabilityAccessManager\ConsentStore\location\MicrosoftWindows.Client.WebExperience_cw5n1h2txyewy" /v "LastUsedTimeStop" /f

reg delete "HKLM\Software\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Microsoft Edge" /v "NoRemove" /f

Leaving them won’t cause problems — they just hang around as no-op flags.

Method 4: Stop Bloatware Returning for New Users (DISM)

Removing apps with Remove-AppxPackage -AllUsers only handles users that already exist. The first time you create a new user account, Windows will install the same bloatware fresh from its provisioned-package store. To stop that, you also need to remove the provisioned packages.

List all provisioned packages:

Get-AppxProvisionedPackage -Online

Remove a single one by name (note the slightly different field name — DisplayName instead of Name):

Get-AppxProvisionedPackage -Online | Where-Object { $_.DisplayName -eq "Microsoft.BingNews" } | Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage -Online

To match the same curated array used in Method 2:

$apps = @("Microsoft.BingNews","Microsoft.BingWeather","Microsoft.GetHelp","Microsoft.YourPhone","Microsoft.MicrosoftOfficeHub","Microsoft.Office.OneNote","Microsoft.MicrosoftSolitaireCollection","Microsoft.SkypeApp","Microsoft.WindowsAlarms","Microsoft.WindowsCamera","Microsoft.WindowsFeedbackHub","Microsoft.WindowsMaps","Microsoft.WindowsSoundRecorder","Microsoft.ZuneMusic","Microsoft.ZuneVideo","Microsoft.Microsoft3DViewer","Microsoft.MixedReality.Portal","Microsoft.People","Microsoft.MSPaint","Clipchamp.Clipchamp","Microsoft.Todos","MSTeams")
Get-AppxProvisionedPackage -Online | Where-Object { $_.DisplayName -in $apps } | Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage -Online

Combine Methods 2 and 4 and your machine is bloatware-free for current users and any future ones — closest you can get to an LTSC-style Windows 11 install without third-party tools.

How to Reinstall Apps You Removed by Mistake

Mistakes happen. Almost every AppX package you can remove this way can also be reinstalled.

Reinstall from the Microsoft Store

The simplest way: search for the app’s name on the Microsoft Store website and click Get in Store app. If you removed Calculator, search “Windows Calculator” and reinstall — same for Photos, Camera, and the rest.

Reinstall the Microsoft Store Itself

If you removed the Store, run this in Terminal (Admin):

wsreset -i

The reinstall happens silently in the background — you’ll get a notification a few minutes later when the Store comes back. Make sure you’re online when you run it.

If wsreset -i doesn’t do the job, I have two follow-up guides: install the missing Microsoft Store using winget and Winhance, and an alternative-method walkthrough for installing Microsoft Store on Windows 10 and 11.

Bonus: Tidy Up the Taskbar and Start Menu

Removing apps is half the job. The other half is the visible UI. Right-click the taskbar, choose Taskbar settings, and turn off:

• Task view button
• Widgets
• Search (or change it to a small icon)
• And under Taskbar behaviors, set alignment to Left for a more Windows 10-like look

Combined with the AppX cleanup above, this gets you very close to the LTSC-style Windows 11 experience that most people want when they think about debloating.

Windows 10-Specific Notes

The PowerShell commands above are written with Windows 11 25H2 in mind, but they also work on Windows 10 22H2 with three caveats:

• -AllUsers on Remove-AppxPackage can fail with permission errors on Windows 10 — drop the flag and run the command per user account if it does
• Some package names differ — the Xbox app is Microsoft.XboxApp on Windows 10 and Microsoft.GamingApp on Windows 11; both are in the array above so it’s covered
• The Edge removal method requires a fully patched Windows 10 22H2 — older builds don’t recognize the DMA flag

If you’re already on Windows 10 and want to debloat ahead of moving to Windows 11, my UnattendedWinstall answer-file project does most of this debloating before you even reach the desktop on a fresh install — much cleaner than removing things post-install.

If You’d Rather Click a Button

Doing all of this by hand is exactly why I built Winhance. It runs the same officially-supported PowerShell commands, but with a UI, sane defaults, undo support, and one-click toggles. If the manual route is too much friction for you, that’s the point of Winhance.

Either way, you end up at the same place: a cleaner Windows install with the Microsoft cruft removed and your daily-driver apps left intact.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Will removing bloatware actually speed up my computer?

Not significantly. Modern AppX apps barely use resources when they’re not running, so removing them mostly cleans up your Start menu and reduces background notifications. If you want a real speed gain, look at startup apps in Task Manager and at optimizing Windows 11 for low-end PCs instead.

Is it safe to remove every AppX package?

No — definitely not. Several AppX packages are required for Windows itself to function (anything starting with Microsoft.NET, Microsoft.VCLibs, Microsoft.UI.Xaml, Microsoft.Services.Store.Engagement, and similar). Stick to the curated list above, or research each name before removing it. The runtime libraries and frameworks Windows needs to run are not what people mean by “bloatware”.

Can I really uninstall Microsoft Edge completely?

Yes, with the registry + JSON method in Method 3. Make sure you have an alternative browser installed first — Chrome, Firefox, or Brave — because some Windows components (Help, Widgets, certain Settings panels) try to fall back to Edge for HTML rendering. With an alternative installed and set as default, removing Edge works cleanly.

What if I accidentally remove an app I need?

Most apps can be reinstalled from the Microsoft Store. If you removed the Store itself, run wsreset -i in PowerShell (Admin) to bring it back. The only exception is critical Windows components, which the commands in this guide can’t reach in the first place — meaning if it removed cleanly, it’s safe to reinstall.

Do I have to repeat this after every Windows update?

Sometimes. Major feature updates (24H2, 25H2) can reinstall a few apps, particularly Copilot and the promotional ones. Check Settings > Apps > Installed apps after each big update and re-run the array command if needed. Edge removal usually persists. To prevent feature updates from re-adding apps for new user accounts, run the DISM provisioned-package step in Method 4.