List of Recommended components to remove for Privacy/Security on Windows 7

K

KaptanJackSparrow

Active Member
I'm aware that removing components and there are many warnings about what not to remove, however is there a list of reasonably safe removals ? Things like indexing, telemetry, windows defender and other such junk that no one really wants ?
 
I wish there were.

Trouble is, it changes with each iteration now. What may have been safe to remove before, might not be so now, and could end up breaking something important. MS have made it harder to see what is tied to what now, and I've found that removing anything other than the 'basics', usually ends up breaking something else down the line.
 
big/major changes came with each new service pack. now its twice yearly at least, gonna be every month/quarter soon(if it isnt already).
i found that even a wrong setting for defender(1809) would break setup.
welcome to paradise.
 
It's getting to the point now, where it's best to just full install as is, then disable the stuff you don't want, rather than remove, O&O for e.g. This way you can enable things back if anything breaks :)
 
i think Live removals and "Can NTlite read or modify windows installations on an adjacent partition" will become popular.
 
I have been doing live removals and have never had a problem unless I do something I shouldn't lol. Got it as lean and mean as I can without breaking what I need day to day right now.Also live helped me with not breaking the install of the operating system.
 
i used to do a lot of live removals on test installs, its a better way of testing than building an iso and seeing what happens.
 
My apologies, I should have been more clear I'm looking for a list for windows 7, windows 10 doesn't exist to me. Why ? well I don't like updates because I don't want a constantly mutating monster, I don't like "services" because someone else is in control and I don't do relationships because in a relationship someone always get shafted and I'd prefer it not be me. So Microsoft can take windows 10 and.... well that's not something we should discuss in polite company ;) .

Since windows 7 is end of life, no more updates, no more support it should become a relatively static "product" which should hypothetically make it easier to remove things without fear of breaking future things. I fully intend to remove defender unless I can find some critically necessary reason to leave it in place. The challenge is building the best most stable and compatible version of windows 7 possible while removing as much of the undesirable junk I can get away with before I break something.
 
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