Windows needs an option to remove apps from your library

Martin Brinkmann
Apr 22, 2016
Windows
|
23

Whenever you install a Windows Store application on a device running Windows 8 or 10, that application gets associated with your Microsoft Account.

One of the ideas of this is that it makes it easier to get those apps or games on other devices you own, to improve re-installation on the same device, and to keep track of your purchases.

You can manage all apps or games that you bought or installed on the Library page that is part of the Windows Store application.

There you find listed all apps or games that you have installed or purchased in the past. This includes applications from other devices and even other versions of Windows.

You can browse the selection or use search to find apps and games again, and install them on the current device.

That is handy as well even though you need to do so for each app or game individually.

Probably the biggest issue right now is that apps or games that you have installed or purchased previously are associated with the account permanently.

This includes free apps and trial versions, and even apps that are not compatible with the device you are running.

Here is why that is bad

  1. The apps and games library listing gets filled with items that you may have no use for anymore. Maybe you installed a trial version of an application only to find out that it is not what you need. Even if you have plans never to install it again, it is listed on the library page.
  2. The sheer number of applications or games may cause loading issues. The library pages load only every second time or so on my fast Windows 10 PC due to the large number associated with my account. While I cannot say that it is caused by the number of apps associated to the account, it seems plausible.
  3. It becomes harder to find apps or games that you want to reinstall. While you can use search, you may not always know the correct name of the application anymore so that you need to resort to browsing.

I test dozens of Windows 10 applications each week for my weekly series over at Betanews, and all of those apps and games that I test remain linked to the Microsoft Account permanently with no option to disassociate them from it.

This means that I have hundreds of apps and games listed in the library sections in Windows Store, and even quite a few apps that are not even compatible with Windows 10, the only operating system that I use that supports apps (I no longer run a Windows 8 device and have removed all devices linked to the account as a consequence).

The apps section alone lists about 100 apps that are not compatible with Windows 10, and hundreds more that are compatible but won't be installed on the machine ever again.

Neither the Windows Store application nor your Microsoft Account control panel on the Internet provide options to remove obsolete apps from your account.

Additionally, I noticed that I cannot remove some apps completely anymore from the system. They show up with a loading indicator in the start menu but won't update and cannot be removed as the remove option is missing from the right-click menu.

cannot remove apps

I don't know if the issue is related or not, could also be a bug but it is quite problematic considering that I cannot remove those apps from the system anymore at this point in time.

Solution

I would like to see an option to remove applications from Microsoft Accounts. This should improve the usability quite a bit for users who install lots of apps or games, and users who like to keep their library as clean as possible.

Summary
Windows needs an option to remove apps from your library
Article Name
Windows needs an option to remove apps from your library
Description
Find out why Windows 8 and Windows 10 need a built-in option to remove (disassociate) installed apps or games from your Microsoft Account.
Author
Publisher
Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. Dan Donx said on January 15, 2023 at 10:29 am
    Reply

    What mental age of reader are you targeting with the first sentence? 10?

    Why not write an article on how to *avoid* upgrading from W10 to W11. Analogous to those like me who avoided upgrading from 7 to 10 for as long as possible.

    If your paymaster Microsoft permits it, of course.

  2. Dexter said on January 15, 2023 at 11:14 am
    Reply

    5. Rufus
    6. Ventoy

    PS. I hate reading these “SEO optimized” articles.

    1. cdr said on January 15, 2023 at 3:32 pm
      Reply

      I used Rufus to create an installer for a 6th gen intel i5 that had MBR. It upgraded using Setup. No issues except for Win 11 always prompting me to replace my local account. Still using Win 10 Pro on all my other PCs to avoid the bullying.

  3. sv said on January 15, 2023 at 6:40 pm
    Reply

    bit pointless to upgrade for the sake of upgrading as you never know when you’ll get locked out because ms might suddenly not provide updates to unsupported systems.

    ps…. time travelling?
    written. Jan 15, 2023
    Updated • Jan 13, 2023

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on January 16, 2023 at 5:49 am
      Reply

      This happens when you schedule a post in WordPress and update it before setting the publication date.

  4. Anonymous said on January 16, 2023 at 8:24 am
    Reply

    Anyone willing to downgrade to this awful OS must like inflicting themselves with harm.

  5. basingstoke said on January 16, 2023 at 11:18 am
    Reply

    I have become convinced now that anybody who has no qualms with using Windows 11/10 must fit into one of the following brackets:

    1) Too young to remember a time before W10 and W11 (doesn’t know better)

    2) Wants to play the latest games on their PC above anything else (or deeply needs some software which already dropped W7 support)

    3) Doesn’t know too much about how computers work, worried that they’d be absolutely lost and in trouble without the “”latest security””

    4) Microsoft apologist that tries to justify that the latest “features” and “changes” are actually a good thing, that improve Windows

    5) Uses their computer to do a bare minimum of like 3 different things, browse web, check emails, etc, so really doesn’t fuss

    Obviously that doesn’t cover everyone, there’s also the category that:

    6) Actually liked W7 more than 10, and held out as long as possible before switching, begrudgingly uses 10 now

    Have I missed any group off this list?

    1. Heinz Strunk said on September 19, 2023 at 3:57 pm
      Reply

      You have missed in this group just about any professional user that uses business software like CAD programs or ERP Programs which are 99% of all professional users from this list.

      Linux doesn’t help anyone who is not a linux kid and apple is just a fancy facebook machine.

  6. ilev said on August 24, 2023 at 7:34 pm
    Reply

    Microsoft has removed KB5029351 update

    1. EP said on August 24, 2023 at 9:21 pm
      Reply

      only from windows update though
      KB5029351 is still available from the ms update catalog site

  7. Anonymous said on August 24, 2023 at 11:05 pm
    Reply

    1. This update is labaled as PREVIEW if it causes issues to unintelligent people, then they shouldn’t have allowed Preview updates ot install.

    2. I have installed it in a 11 years old computer, and no problems at all.

    3. Making a big drama over a bluescreen for an updated labeled as preview is ridiculous.

    This is probably another BS internet drama where people ran programs and scripts that modified the registry until they broke Windows, just for removing stuff that they weren’t even using just for the sake of it.
    Maybe people should stop playing geeks and actually either use Windows 10 or Windows 11, but don’t try to modify things just for the sake of it.

    Sometimes removing or stopping things (like defender is a perfect example) only need intelligence, not scripts or 3rd party programs that might mess with windows.

  8. john said on August 24, 2023 at 11:17 pm
    Reply

    Windows 11 was a pointless release, it was just created because some of the Windows team wanted to boost sales with some sort of new and improved Windows 10. Instead, Microsoft cannot support one version well let alone two.

    1. John G. said on August 25, 2023 at 12:08 pm
      Reply

      Windows 11 is the worst ugly shame by Microsoft ever. They should release with every new W11 version a complete free version of Starallback inside just to make this sh** OS functionally again.

  9. EP said on August 25, 2023 at 3:10 pm
    Reply

    motherboard maker MSI has recently released a statement regarding the “unsupported processor” blue screen error for their boards using Intel 600/700 series chipsets & to avoid the KB5029351 Win11 update:
    https://www.msi.com/news/detail/MSI-On–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–Error-Message-of-Windows-11-Update-KB5029351-Preview-142215

  10. EP said on August 29, 2023 at 7:32 pm
    Reply

    check out the following recent articles:

    Neowin – Microsoft puts little blame on its Windows update after UNSUPPORTED PROCESSOR BSOD bug:
    https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-puts-little-blame-on-its-windows-update-after-unsupported-processor-bsod-bug/

    BleepingComputer – Microsoft blames ‘unsupported processor’ blue screens on OEM vendors:
    https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-blames-unsupported-processor-blue-screens-on-oem-vendors/

  11. Leonard Britvolli said on August 30, 2023 at 10:33 pm
    Reply

    While there may be changes or updates to the Windows 10 Store for Business and Education in the future, it is premature to conclude that it will be discontinued based solely on rumors.

  12. sembrador said on September 5, 2023 at 9:32 pm
    Reply

    My advice, I left win 15 years ago. Now I’m a happy linux user (linuxmint) but there is Centos, Fedora, Ubuntu depending on your needs.

  13. EP said on September 6, 2023 at 11:55 am
    Reply

    motherboard maker MSI has recently released new BIOS/firmware updates for their Intel 600 & 700 series motherboards to fix the “UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR” problem (Sept. 6):

    https://www.msi.com/news/detail/Updated-BIOS-fixes-Error-Message–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–caused-BSOD-on-MSI-s-Intel-700-and-600-Series-Motherboards-142277

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