5 Ways To Uninstall Bloatware In Windows 11

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Bloatware is the extra software found in an operating system that slows down your PC, consumes space on the hard drive, and is of no use whatsoever. If this is true, then removing such software will only improve your system’s performance. With advancements…

Uninstall Bloatware Windows 11Uninstall Bloatware Windows 11

Bloatware is the extra software found in an operating system that slows down your PC, consumes space on the hard drive, and is of no use whatsoever. If this is true, then removing such software will only improve your system’s performance.

With advancements and new features in the Windows 11 OS, Microsoft is adding more apps and tools for user convenience. However, the average user rarely uses much of the software found within the OS.

With that, you can remove the bloatware on your Windows PC. There are several methods for doing so, all of which are discussed in this post. But before we dig into that, let us discuss what can and cannot be removed.

Is it Safe to Remove Bloatware?

Bloatware is defined as software which you do not need but is present on your system anyway. Although some of the additional applications may be necessary, such as Calculator, Calendar, etc., you still may never use them and are only slowing down your system while running processes in the background.

You can uninstall such applications as long as they are removed using the correct methods, and the apps are not required for system-critical tasks. For example, applications such as the Task Scheduler are needed by the OS to run tasks automatically. However, removing this app will prevent all such tasks from executing.

That said, the methods discussed below to remove any bloatware are completely safe for the operating system and should not compromise the integrity of any data.

Windows 11 Bloatware List

Although you may consider many apps useless and consider them bloatware, it may not be correct to remove them. An example of this is Microsoft Edge. Although many of us use other web browsers, Microsoft Edge is integrated with the operating system and is required to perform critical system tasks, thus removing it is not recommended.

Learn how to uninstall Microsoft Edge from Windows 11.

That said, we believe that the following list of software is safe to remove and would impact the OS negatively:

  • Mail and Calendar
  • Your Phone
  • Xbox Console Companion
  • Paint 3D
  • Mixed Reality Portal
  • Microsoft People
  • Movies & TV
  • Get Help
  • Solitaire Collection
  • Sticky Notes
  • Windows Terminal
  • Skype
  • Xbox Game Bar
  • Power Automate Desktop
  • OneNote
  • OneDrive
  • Calculator
  • Feedback Hub
  • Ink Draft
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Media Player
  • Microsoft Update Health Tools
  • Notepad
  • Paint
  • Snipping Tool
  • Voice Recorder

Remove Windows 11 Bloatware

From Control Panel

One of the methods to remove bloatware from your Windows 11 PC is through the Programs and Features option in the Control Panel. This method is the same as uninstalling any regular application.

Follow these steps to uninstall bloatware using the Control Panel:

  1. Open Programs and Features by typing in appwiz.cpl in the Run Command box.

    appwiz
    Open Programs and Features
  2. Double-click on the app that you want to remove.

    Double click app to remove
    Double-click app to remove
  3. When asked for a confirmation, click Yes.

    Click Yes to confirm
    Click Yes to confirm

The uninstallation wizard will now run and remove the bloatware.

From Settings App

Another method to remove any unwanted bloatware is through the Settings application in Windows 11. This is the method you would most likely prefer since it shows most of the preinstalled UWP applications that can be removed.

  1. Navigate to the following:

    Settings app >> Apps >> Apps & features
  2. Here, scroll down to the list under “App list,” then click on the ellipses (3 dots) in front of the bloatware that you want to remove.

    Click the dots to expand
    Click on the dots to expand
  3. From the expanded menu, click Uninstall.

    Click Uninstall
    Click Uninstall
  4. When asked for a confirmation, click Uninstall again.

    Confirm uninstallation
    Confirm uninstallation

The software will now be removed successfully.

Using Windows PowerShell

If you’d rather use the Windows Command Line Interface (CLI), you can use any bloatware directly from Windows PowerShell. This method is recommended especially if you want to remove more than one software, as it is relatively quick.

  1. Launch PowerShell with administrative rights.

  2. Now use the respective cmdlet given in the table below to remove the software from your Windows PC.

    Application NameCommand to Uninstall
    3D Builderget-appxpackage *3dbuilder* | remove-appxpackage
    Alarms & Clockget-appxpackage *windowsalarms* | remove-appxpackage
    App Connectorget-appxpackage *appinstaller* | remove-appxpackage
    Calendar and Mail togetherget-appxpackage *communicationsapps* | remove-appxpackage
    Calculatorget-appxpackage *calculator* | remove-appxpackage
    Cameraget-appxpackage *camera* | remove-appxpackage
    Feedback Hubget-appxpackage *feedback* | remove-appxpackage
    Officeget-appxpackage *officehub* | remove-appxpackage
    Get Started or Tipsget-appxpackage *getstarted* | remove-appxpackage
    Skypeget-appxpackage *skypeapp* | remove-appxpackage
    Groove Musicget-appxpackage *zunemusic* | remove-appxpackage
    Groove Music and Movies & TV togetherget-appxpackage Microsoft.Zune* | remove-appxpackage
    Mapsget-appxpackage *maps* | remove-appxpackage
    Messaging and Skype Video togetherget-appxpackage *messaging* | remove-appxpackage
    Solitaire Collectionget-appxpackage *solitaire* | remove-appxpackage
    Microsoft Walletget-appxpackage wallet | remove-appxpackage
    Microsoft Wi-Figet-appxpackage connectivitystore | remove-appxpackage
    Moneyget-appxpackage bingfinance | remove-appxpackage
    Money, News, Sports, and Weather togetherget-appxpackage bing | remove-appxpackage
    Newsget-appxpackage *bingnews* | remove-appxpackage
    OneNoteget-appxpackage *onenote* | remove-appxpackage
    Paid Wi-Fi & Cellularget-appxpackage *oneconnect* | remove-appxpackage
    Paint 3Dget-appxpackage *mspaint* | remove-appxpackage
    Peopleget-appxpackage people | remove-appxpackage
    Phoneget-appxpackage *commsphone* | remove-appxpackage
    Phone Companionget-appxpackage *windowsphone* | remove-appxpackage
    Phone and Phone Companion togetherget-appxpackage *phone* | remove-appxpackage
    Photosget-appxpackage *photos* | remove-appxpackage
    Sportsget-appxpackage *bingsports* | remove-appxpackage
    Sticky Notesget-appxpackage *sticky* | remove-appxpackage
    Swayget-appxpackage *sway* | remove-appxpackage
    View 3Dget-appxpackage *3d* | remove-appxpackage
    Voice Recorderget-appxpackage *soundrecorder* | remove-appxpackage
    Weatherget-appxpackage *bingweather* | remove-appxpackage
    Windows Holographicget-appxpackage *holographic* | remove-appxpackage
    Windows Storeget-appxpackage *windowsstore* | remove-appxpackage
    Xboxget-appxpackage *xbox* | remove-appxpackage
    Cmdlet to uninstall specific app

Remove All Windows 11 Bloatware

The PowerShell method stated above is relatively quicker to remove bloatware. However, you still need to put in one cmdlet after the other to uninstall the software one by one. You can also remove all bloatware with a single cmdlet. Here is how:

  1. Open Windows PowerShell with elevated privileges.

  2. Now run the following command to uninstall all bloatware mentioned in the bloatware list given at the beginning of this post above.

    get-AppxPackage | Remove-AppxPackage
    Remove all bloatware
    Remove all bloatware

    Note that you may see a lot of red lines and errors, which is completely normal. It appears because some apps might not exist on your system, but the ones that do will be removed.

Using Third-party Software

If you are not comfortable using the methods discussed above, you can also opt to use a third-party software specifically designed to remove Windows Bloatware (as well as perform some other tasks). These programs provide a GUI to remove all the bloatware on your PC.

We recommend using either of the following bloatware removal tools:

Closing Words

Removing bloatware from your new computer or a fresh installation of Windows 11 will certainly free up space on your hard drive for other important data. Not only that, it speeds up your boot time and makes your system run better.

You can also remove Windows components from Windows 11 ISO before making a clean install so that there is no bloatware to begin with.

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