# Reclaim Windows 10, ten years on

> Reclaim Windows 10 is a 2016 PowerShell gist that turns off Windows 10 telemetry, ads and preinstalled apps; here is what it did, how it spread and which parts still matter on Windows 11.

Source: https://ali.id.au/blog/reclaim-windows-10/ (last edited 2026-10-16)

[Reclaim Windows 10](https://gist.github.com/alirobe/7f3b34ad89a159e6daa1) is a PowerShell script I put in a gist on 23 March 2016 for my own PCs. It was later rolled out more widely. It turns off Windows 10 telemetry, ads and "smart" features, removes the bundled third-party apps, and leaves Defender, the firewall and UAC alone. It does turn off SmartScreen; see below. It has more than 560 forks and 70 comments. The last real update was September 2018; for Windows 11 the gist points elsewhere.

## What it does

Each tweak is a small function with an undo, and a preset at the top picks which run. Changing your mind means moving a `#`:

```powershell
"DisableTelemetry",             # "EnableTelemetry",
"DisableWiFiSense",             # "EnableWiFiSense",
"DisableWebSearch",             # "EnableWebSearch",
```

The default preset turns off diagnostic data and its scheduled tasks, Wi-Fi Sense, web results in Start search, app suggestions and silent installs, activity history, location tracking, the advertising ID, tailored experiences, feedback prompts, Cortana and error reporting. It removes Candy Crush Soda Saga, FarmVille 2, Netflix, Twitter and friends, turns off SMB 1.0, AutoPlay, AutoRun and Windows Update's automatic restart, and shows file extensions.

In the header's words: "a subset focused on safely disabling telemetry, some 'smart' features and 3rd party bloat ... while retaining win10 defaults + security features." Options to turn off Defender, the firewall and UAC are there, commented out.

The odd one out is `DisableSmartScreen`, which turns off the [phishing and download check](https://learn.microsoft.com/windows/security/operating-system-security/virus-and-threat-protection/microsoft-defender-smartscreen/). I turned it off for privacy and performance. That also turned off the reputation check Windows runs on downloaded programs, whatever the browser, and I'd leave it on now. If you run the script today, swap it for `EnableSmartScreen`.

## Where it came from

I didn't write most of it. I found an early version on a pastebin, changed it to suit me and saved it as a gist. That code was an early form of Disassembler0's script, which began as a companion to a Czech article. His [Win10-Initial-Setup-Script](https://github.com/Disassembler0/Win10-Initial-Setup-Script) [went public on GitHub in January 2017](https://github.com/Disassembler0/Win10-Initial-Setup-Script/commit/cda81118fd30366845505355a9212dba5aa14549), ten months after the gist, and I found it later still. From mid-2017 I sent my changes upstream, and the gist became his script with my preset. Disassembler0 did the hard work. The project is archived; its last commit was May 2021.

I kept the gist going so I could read upstream changes before they reached the copy people ran. As I said [in the comments](https://gist.github.com/alirobe/7f3b34ad89a159e6daa1?permalink_comment_id=2305731#gistcomment-2305731): "It's basically a personal gist that I shared with a few people, and it seems to have gotten a bit out of hand."

## How it spread

The day I made it I posted it to r/Windows10 as a "hardening" script, and said in the thread that the name didn't fit: "Probably could have picked a better title TBH... It's almost about reclaiming your data from MS." The version I started from also turned off Defender and removed Windows Media Player; I commented both out first.

In June 2016 a one-line reply linking it got 277 points on r/sysadmin. In August 2016 the Anniversary Update stopped Windows 10 Pro admins turning off some consumer features, and I linked it again. In April 2018 it went on the PowerShell Gallery as `Reclaim-Windows10`. I've since unlisted it.

## On Windows 11

No longer applies:

- Cortana as an app was [retired in 2023](https://learn.microsoft.com/windows/whats-new/deprecated-features), and Windows 11 never had [Timeline](https://learn.microsoft.com/windows/whats-new/deprecated-features).
- SMB 1.0 [isn't installed](https://learn.microsoft.com/windows-server/storage/file-server/troubleshoot/smbv1-not-installed-by-default-in-windows) on a clean install.
- The app list names Windows 10's packages, and HomeGroup went in 1803.

Still holds, with caveats:

- `AllowTelemetry` 0 (off) is [Enterprise only](https://learn.microsoft.com/windows/privacy/manage-connections-from-windows-operating-system-components-to-microsoft-services#how-to-configure-each-setting). Home and Pro bottom out at Required. The same page lists every connection Windows makes to Microsoft and how to turn each off.
- Enterprise and Education can [remove default Store apps by policy](https://learn.microsoft.com/windows/configuration/policy-based-inbox-app-removal/policy-based-inbox-app-removal) from 24H2. Not Pro.
- [Turn off Microsoft consumer experiences](https://learn.microsoft.com/windows/client-management/mdm/policy-csp-experience#allowwindowsconsumerfeatures) is still Enterprise and Education only.

For Windows 11 the gist points to Chris Titus Tech's [winutil](https://github.com/ChrisTitusTech/winutil) and HotCakeX's [Harden Windows Security](https://github.com/HotCakeX/Harden-Windows-Security). I still recommend both. One day I'd like to do a Reclaim Windows 11.