How to Remove Bloatware From a New Windows Laptop

What bloatware means on a new Windows laptop

A new Windows laptop ships with the operating system plus a layer added by the maker: a support app, driver utilities, and a collection of programs you never chose. The extras often include trial office software, media players, game launchers, cloud-storage prompts and apps that exist mainly to push another service. None of that is part of a programming setup.

A useful target state has four groups of software: Windows itself and its updates; drivers and hardware utilities; your editor, terminal, browser and SDKs; and local systems you run intentionally, such as a database, containers or a virtual machine. Everything outside those groups is a candidate for removal. The steps below work whether you remove a few extras or start over with a clean image.

For contrast, the daily toolchain is small. Visual Studio Code's requirements page lists a download under 200 MB, a disk footprint under 500 MB, and recommends a 1.6 GHz processor with 1 GB of RAM. The items that ship on a new Windows laptop are not what you will measure the machine by; they are what you remove before you begin.

• It is a trial, an ad-supported player or a game launcher you did not install.
• No project or workflow references it.
• It adds a startup entry but has no setting you use.
• The maker or a partner installed it during the first boot.

Keep the software that keeps the laptop working

Before uninstalling anything, separate app bloat from system software. Drivers and chipset utilities should stay; they are how Windows talks to the hardware. The manufacturer's support app is also worth keeping because it is usually where firmware and BIOS updates are delivered. Removing it to save storage can make driver updates harder later. The update drivers and BIOS guide explains what belongs in that workflow.

Windows Security is the built-in baseline. If the laptop came with a trial security suite, uninstall the trial and keep Windows Security; two layers of protection only add background work. The Windows Security guide shows how to confirm the basic protections before you install an SDK or clone a repository.

• Hardware drivers and chipset utilities
• The manufacturer support app for firmware and warranty checks
• Windows Security as the protection baseline
• Any app you actually plan to use

Uninstall desktop programs from Settings

Programs that install the traditional way have an uninstall entry under Settings, then Apps, then Installed apps. Select an entry, choose Uninstall and follow the uninstaller. This is the path for trial suites, bundled desktop utilities and anything that registered itself during first boot.

If an uninstaller asks you to keep the program or open a web page before it finishes, close those prompts; the uninstall still completes. When a program has no uninstall entry, use the manufacturer's official removal tool or the package-manager route below.

Do this cleanup before you follow the new-laptop setup routine, so your real tools are not mixed with the defaults.

List and remove per-user apps with PowerShell

Many preinstalled apps in Windows are per-user apps from the built-in Store. They may not show a matching uninstall entry under Installed apps, but PowerShell can list and remove them. Get-AppxPackage returns packages for the current user; pipe it to Select-Object Name, PackageFullName so you can read exact identities before you remove anything.

To remove one package, use Remove-AppxPackage and pass the full package name from that list. Work one app at a time. If an app comes back when you create a new user profile, the package is provisioned for every new user; removing a provisioned package takes an elevated PowerShell session and a package-management cmdlet, so start with the per-user removal and only escalate when you need to.

Use the Windows Package Manager for cleanup and setup

The Windows Package Manager, winget, gives you a single command line for installed software. winget list shows desktop programs, and winget uninstall --id <identifier> removes many of them without menu clicking. Winget is also the more durable habit: after the cleanup, install your editor, runtimes and tools from one set of commands instead of separate installers.

Use winget for programs with an install or uninstall record, and use the PowerShell route for per-user Store apps. The two approaches work together: list everything with winget and PowerShell, remove what you do not need, then add your own stack through winget. The winget guide covers the commands in detail, and the Windows Terminal guide makes the workflow more pleasant.

Check startup apps and background behavior

Removing files is only half the cleanup. Programs you keep can register startup entries, which means they consume CPU and RAM at every sign-in before you open them. Open Task Manager, Startup apps, or Settings, Apps, Startup, and disable anything that is not part of your daily flow. Updaters, telemetry helpers and launchers are the usual examples. The startup apps guide walks through the list.

Revisit startup apps after Windows updates. Updates sometimes re-enable disabled entries or add a first-run prompt; a monthly pass keeps the machine close to the state you created. Remember the difference: disabling stops an app from launching at sign-in, uninstalling removes it entirely.

If an update adds an app you never asked for, the Windows update guide explains how to control update settings without turning off security patches.

When a clean install is the better answer

If bundled apps are persistent and manual removal is tedious, a clean install of Windows is the most direct route. It replaces the maker's image with Windows after setup, your drivers and the tools you install. Before you start, create a recovery drive and back up any files you made; the factory reset guide shows the reset options.

If the cleanup makes you notice the hardware itself is the limit, stop removing apps and start comparing processors. Intel's processor-numbers page explains the laptop suffixes such as H and U, and the processor guide connects those names to programming work.

For programmers who would rather skip the Windows app layer entirely, a MacBook Air is a common alternative. Apple's specifications page lists the base memory and storage, and macOS does not carry the same stack of maker trials. If you also plan to build iOS or macOS apps, the Xcode requirements page confirms that Xcode needs a supported macOS version, which means Apple hardware. The iOS and macOS development guide is the matching buying guide.

If you keep Windows because your daily work runs in Docker containers, Docker's official Windows install documentation is the reference for setting up Docker Desktop; app cleanup and container setup are separate jobs. The container and VM guide helps you choose the hardware for that workflow.

What to pick for your work

Questions

Will removing bloatware make my laptop faster?

It can help in two ways: fewer programs load at sign-in and more storage is free. It will not change how fast code compiles or how many containers you can run, because those depend on the CPU, RAM, storage and GPU. Cleanup is a habit, not a performance upgrade.

Which preinstalled apps should I keep?

Keep the drivers, the chipset utilities, the manufacturer support app for firmware and BIOS updates, and Windows Security. Keep any app you actually use. Remove trials, game launchers and apps that only run at startup.

Can I remove every preinstalled app?

Most user-facing apps can be removed, but some are parts of Windows or the hardware and have no safe uninstall path. If an app looks like a system component or the manufacturer warns that it is required, leave it. For the most thorough start, reinstall Windows from a recovery drive instead.

What is the difference between uninstalling and disabling a startup app?

Uninstalling deletes the program and its files. Disabling a startup entry stops it from opening at sign-in but keeps the program installed. For apps you might use later, disable the entry; for apps you will never use, uninstall them.

How can I undo a removal if something breaks?

Several routes help: use the Windows Security guide to verify protections, update drivers from the manufacturer support app, or restore from a system restore point if you created one before cleanup. Create a restore point before a large cleanup so you have a safe fallback.

Is macOS free of preinstalled third-party apps?

Apple hardware ships with macOS and Apple's own apps, not a layer of trial software from a laptop maker. If avoiding that layer matters, a MacBook Air is a possible choice; Apple's specifications page lists the base configurations. It is also the path for building iOS and macOS apps, since Xcode requires a supported macOS version.