Win10 Alternatives Found Here

after last months update, i find my laptops becoming worse. i find it kinda sad how debian and wine can run most stuff better.

i honestly only install barebone requirements like;
7zip, notepad++, qdir, revouninstaller, ramdisk, sandboxie, searcheverything etc and rely on portable stuff in a sandboxed ram. im also a gamer so mmos are the only other installs.

my laptop came with win10 home 64, and was hoping to reinstall a slimmed down version soon. im definitely not going 'pro' as i hated win h8, and i hate win10 even more. sadly my laptop only supports win8/10 or other. and linux gaming is too lacking.

id like to confirm some stuff first. there might be more, i just cant remember them.

- if things are uninstalled, will a future update reinstall them? i uninstalled a bunch with revo only to get hit with them reinstalled.
- will windefender be gone for good? im facing lots of download issues.
- will my EFI boot loaders (F12 key on acer laptops) be fine? fixing the missing OSs is hard.
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bump

also how do factory installed keys work? my friend said theyre installed on our mobo and harddisk, and if you change your hd, you also lose your key, is that true?

 

Welcome to Major Geeks

1. When uninstalling software with programs such as Revo or IoBit Uninstaller - you MUST run their 'Advanced' and 'Powerscan' modes to remove everything, restart your system, and then run a safe cleaner such as CCleaner.
2. Windows Defender cannot be uninstalled and a user should never ever attempt to uninstall it or they will risk crashing their system. When a user installs a third party AV program - as an alternative to WD - it automatically takes over from WD.
3. If a user wishes to slim down Windows 10, and turn off many functions that are not needed, then using an excellent free program such as O&O Shut Up 10 will do that. IoBit Uninstaller is excellent at removing Windows Apps that come pre-installed, but not needed, in Win10

Lastly, you need to explain much more clearly what exactly you want to do.
Also, if your laptop is a branded shop-bought system tell us the exact brand name and model number.
The Windows Product Key is embedded in the system for Windows 8 and 10, so if you change the Motherboard it will be lost. If it is an OEM licence it's likely that changing the hard drive will also invalidate that.

 

One of many interesting articles about this HERE. Best advice I could give is at least to log in to your Microsoft account (or create one if you haven't yet done so) on each Win 10 system you have. This gives each system, providing it is already either activated or has been legally installed, a digital entitlement based on its current hardware configuration. Only Microsoft knows exactly what changes to the hardware configuration would invalidate your licence but from what I'm reading it would almost certainly include the motherboard but not the hard disk.

 

thanks for the replies, i was hoping more win10 modded ISO uers would chime in with their experience.

i did miss the run ccleaner step, as im using revopro with advanced and all settings toggled.

https://www.acer.com/ac/en/MY/content/model/NX.GCNSM.003
the laptop seems region locked as i cant find english discussions on it. i live in indonesia, but prefer english overall as ive lived longer abroad.

in a few months my warranty expires so i was hoping on changing the hd and bumping the ram to max. from the stackexchange forum i too am hoping a simple sign in would work. this laptop is the only win10 i have and im the only user.

its also pretty bad when win10 does a cumulative upgrade as my linux gets wiped off the EFI boot menu.

whats the general consensus on using modded ISOs? should i avoid them and use originals then wipe stuff? im not fully ready to ditch wandows as linux gaming is too lacking.

 

If you want to change the HD and increase the RAM then just do it. But check what hard drives are supported on that hardware and what the maximum ram is supported by the MB.
Your warranty will only apply to broken/damaged parts - not for any upgrade.

As for Linux getting it working as a dual install on a UEFI based system (win 8 and 10) is complicated, not straight forward and is frequently at risk of error. Running it from a USB Linux is far better.

I've no idea what a 'modded ISO user' even is.

 

If you want Linux available on a Win 10 system why install it when you can use a virtual machine, either VirtualBox or VMware Workstation Player? Both are free for home use and work brilliantly.

 

i did ask the cashier and they said the warranty dies if we upgrade stuff most of the time. i might have to dig up the warranty booklet thing first to confirm.

its not really complicated, all you need is to disable the boot straight in to windows, pick others, and disable secure boot. fixing the missing loaders does get annoyingly hard after a big cumulative upgrade (like falls, anniversary, creators etc)

by modded ISOs i meant modified ISOs. i cant find the link but they are here. for example
win10 slim
win10 no bloatware edition
etc
i cant remember their names but ive seen them around from time to time.

because overall its easier to just have another installed OS on a separate partition. debian has been fully installed on to my FD whereas my hangout OS is manjaro. they both run in under 300mb ram and has everything i need besides games. please dont take this the wrong way as preaching linux, but i do prefer more barebone experience so most of my resources go to more important foreground stuff.

 

Really!? Even though you have to partition your disk and reboot every time you want to use it
and it gets wiped next time there's a major Win 10 release?

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I think the members here would probably like to see some links to these 'modded' Win 10s you say are around.

 

A warranty will never ever cover any other hardware than what was installed originally

It is very complicated and if you have ever read about it on Linux forums you would know it is. But it is feasible. I have Linux Mint in dual boot on one of my Win 10 systems but I would never recommend doing it to anyone who wasn't very knowledgable and capable. For most people running it in VM or via a USB is far simpler. If it was so easy you wouldn't be here posting about how Windows keeps losing it on Win 10.

I haven't ever seen dual booting with Win8 or 10 with Linux - even among very experienced Linux users - how 'easy' it is, because it isn't.

 

what i meant wasnt installing nor dual booting. what i meant was fixing the missing boot loader menu found during the post screen (F12 key acer laptop).
after every cumulative upgrade win10 deletes them. hardware loaders are thankfully sa

https://www.canbike.org/public/images/111613/uefi/Acer_AXC-605-ER30_UEFI-Boot-from-DVD-09.jpg

 

So it isn't 'easy' then.
When I first decided to try a dual boot of Linux Mint on a windows 10 system reading all the guides and watching all the You Tube tutorials my head spun. So I got a friend - who is a Linux wizard - to help me through the process to avoid errors that could be catastrophic. It worked and it's approaching 18 months since it was installed and works just fine with no problems when Windows Updates happen. I do have to choose the appropriate loader at each boot, and I do have to restart to change which OS to launch.
But the truth is it would have been far simpler to just run Linux on a USB.

 

They are not deleted, just not set to default anymore.

Always boot Windows via it's "Windows Boot Manager" entry from the firmware boot menu (F8, F11 or something of a kind).
Never use the default bootloader (e.g. selecting the hard drive from the firmware boot menu), as it will alter the boot order.
Also, create a custom Grub entry to boot windows! Remember to change all occurrences of msdos to gpt if you are using a GPT partition table, like all Windows 8 preinstallations do.

Cheers

 

they were deleted and removed from being set as the default loader. systems installed to separate partitions with their own boot loader (like grub) will have their own menu entry from the firmware boot menu. its the readding them in to the menu that gets me. well i do have debian as a backup fully installed on to a FD so running it fully portable works.

well lets get back to the main topic. i find it kind of hard no one whos used a modified ISO chimed in yet.

 

Unless anyone posting on MG has actually used any form of a modified ISO for Windows 10 you wont get the answer you want.
Plus you haven't linked to any that you know of which is unhelpful.
Here is one though that I got in a 2.5 second internet search:
https://fossbytes.com/download-true-bloatware-free-windows-10-without-cortana-tracking-system/
I can do what that above download does in barely 10 minutes. And I've done it already on about 30 of the 37 Win 10 systems I maintain.

This article tells you how to do it manually, even after running O&O Shut Up10.
https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/reclaim-disk-space-windows-10

Mountain out of a molehill is how I'm seeing this issue now.