Windows Overhaul Help with Adding Custom Apps or Replacing Window Features

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FireForged

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Hello I have recently been messing around trying to make my laptop reliable with very little to no telemetry on my pc and removal of heavy windows processes. I'm going to remove features that I do not need like all of the stock windows apps and reinstall them myself later on and I thought I might ask people before I finalize my build and install it. How would I add custom apps to the install process like Brave to replace Windows Edge, or go abought changing core UI of my windows system so that I will not deal with windows changing my setting or repairing my system by reinstalling them (Like Windows Does). Is any tips or things I can do to make this smooth as possible? I watched and read a fair bit of information and use https://christitus.com for allot of the stuff I do but at this point I'm sick of windows and I am going to one way or another going to destroy windows and take control of my PC.
 
Part of the reason I'm doing this is because I'm having troubles with accessing my Windows 11 (power settings section) because it keeps crashing when I open it so I'm building/tearing down windows to build my own OS I will be willing to distribute my setting for the OS when I am done. (If requested) Thanks for any help.
 
This guide (link1) is a good starting point. The main issue with "windows changing my setting" is due to Windows Update. What many people do, like myself, is to either remove, disable, or pause it, otherwise it will continue to mess things up. This guide (link2) handles Windows Update.

If you are concerned about security and feel like you need every update, you can always integrate updates into your image first, process that, then proceed to use NTLite to remove components and add tweaks. The order matters for updates, to avoid them overwriting files/settings. What I do is pause updates forever, and then reinstall Windows every year using the latest version (21H2, 22H2, etcetera) with my custom tweaks integrated.
 
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Post your preset, and maybe someone will figure out why Settings crashed.

Just remember: Modding's a marathon, not a race. You don't need to figure everything out in one try. NTLite exists to help you go thru several versions, until you're happy with an image.
 
garlin said:
Post your preset, and maybe someone will figure out why Settings crashed.

Just remember: Modding's a marathon, not a race. You don't need to figure everything out in one try. NTLite exists to help you go thru several versions, until you're happy with an image.
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I have a sneaking suspicion that it may be caused by my registry tweaks because I have used CMD to reinstall my setting and it still persists I'm not really bothered by it much. Thanks for the Support.
 
Hellbovine said:
This thread is a good starting point:
https://www.ntlite.com/community/index.php?threads/faq-choosing-a-preset.3284/

The main issue with "windows changing my setting" is due to Windows update. What many people do, like myself, is to either remove, disable, or pause Windows update (link), otherwise it will continue to mess things up. If you are concerned about security and feel like you need every update, you can always integrate updates into your image *before* you remove components, process that image, then proceed to use NTLite to remove components and add tweaks. The order matters for updates, to avoid them overwriting files/settings. What I personally do is pause updates forever, and then try to reinstall Windows every year using the latest version (21H2, 22H2, etcetera) with my custom tweaks baked in.
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Thank you for the information, Is there anything you can suggest that would help me to change windows components like stock edge to brave or something, and actually I have a particular computer question do I need most of the stock window services that deal with running audio and video if I have another service that does it as well? or is it program specific?
 
FireForged said:
...change windows components like stock edge to brave or something...
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Some people use programs like "chocolatey" for this, while others will use the post-setup silent install through NTLite. In my opinion this is a layer that shouldn't be tackled until the very end, after all your other tweaking is done, and your image is in working order and finalized.

Trying to tackle this aspect, plus other tweaking at the same time is inefficient and will lead to extra problems, so it's best to do things layer by layer and confirm that each layer works before moving onto the next thing. This is what Garlin means by it's a marathon, because the veterans here have seen how many problems it creates when people try to tackle too many layers at once.

For example, work on just component removals until you're satisfied and it's working right, then move onto registry tweaks, then move onto post-setup or unattend after all the previous stuff is finalized, etcetera. When you do get to the end, there's some posts on this forum about chocolatey and post-install of programs in the automated section of the forum (link).

FireForged said:
...do I need most of the stock window services that deal with running audio and video if I have another service that does it as well...
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You can of course use alternative programs, such as VLC instead of Windows Media Player (or whatever else), but there is a consequence to some component removals, which is dependencies, and if you uninstall something that you feel is useless bloat, it could negatively affect some other program. It just takes trial and error to learn what to remove and not remove. NTLite tries to account for this with a "compatibility" option which lets you specify what kind of functionality you require (Wi-Fi, Printing, etcetera) that way it will protect those dependencies.

In that previous example, Windows Media Player is a dependency for many games on the market, and removing it will result in those games failing to load. Another frequent example that comes up all the time is removing Xbox/Cortana/MS Store, which causes various things to break that quite a few gamers find themselves needing. That's why I posted the preset FAQ because it helps point people in a guided manner on what's generally safe to remove and what's not by viewing presets that people have spent time doing all the trial and error on already.

The built-in NTLite templates go in a progressive order, with "Privacy" template removing the least amount, and the "Gaming" template below it removing the same stuff plus more, with the "Lite" template including both the previous ones and additional removals, and so forth. Some enthusiasts on this forum have tried to push it as far as possible, with things like the "GamerOS" preset being an "extreme" removal approach, while still making sure everyone can boot into Windows and most games still work.

You don't have to use any of this obviously, you can create your own presets, I'm only trying to save you time in the long run by urging you to start with some well-tested presets first, then adjust those to your needs, rather than reinvent the wheel.
 
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