Windows 10 Annoyance: Apps get re-installed after updates
Windows 10 ships with a truckload of system applications that are installed by default. Most of those are created and maintained by Microsoft. Some replace functionality of legacy programs of previous versions of Windows, others are unique to Windows 10.
If you go through the listing of installed system apps, you may notice one or the other that you don't use. 3D Builder is probably a prime example of this.
Not only is the app only of use if you work with 3D models and 3D printing, it is also one of the first apps listed in the new Windows 10 start menu.
It is easy enough to uninstall most system apps -- all listed in the Start Menu -- by right-clicking on them and selecting uninstall.
This removes the app from the user account but leaves it on the system. In the case of 3D Builder, it makes room above the fold in the start menu for other applications.
Even if you remove them from the system using Powershell, they may come back after feature updates and other big system updates.
Tip: You can add your favorite programs to the very top of the Windows 10 start menu.
Windows 10 Annoyance: Re-installation of apps
You may have noticed that removed apps appear again on a device running Windows 10 after major updates.
If you run Windows 10 Insider Builds on a machine, you may have noticed that this happens quite frequently thanks to new releases being pushed out frequently by Microsoft.
If you have uninstalled 3D Builder or other Windows 10 system apps, they will be installed again after such an update.
While you can go ahead and uninstall them again from the start menu, it is an annoyance to users of the operating system.
If you made the deliberate decision to remove a system app, Microsoft should not push it back to the system after an update.
It is unclear why the company is not honoring user choice in this regard. It makes sense to push new apps the company created to the device, but if a user removes such an app, it should not be installed again on the system, ever.
Side note: Windows 10 Build 14905 ships with three new system apps, Holographic First Run, People Experience Host and Welcome Screen.
Windows 10 users may download and install these apps from the Windows Store if the need arises at a later point in time to restore them.
Microsoft could tie a link to the application's Windows Store page to notifications or functions that rely on these apps to be present, making the re-installation process easier for users.
Closing Words
Microsoft should honor user choice for non-critical Windows 10 system applications like 3D Builder, Mail, People, or Xbox. Some users who uninstall those apps will be annoyed if they come back, while others may grudgingly remove them again from the system when that happens.
Now You: What's your take on system apps on Windows 10?
Windows 7 won’t die so soon.
My thought exactly. Nearly half of all personal computers still run Windows 7. Every time I read an article about Windows 10, on here or elsewhere, it’s almost always one of the following:
1. Windows 10 / MS doing something you don’t like / here’s how to change / disable it.
2. Windows 10 / MS doing something you don’t like / get used to it. (This article)
3. Windows 10 bringing back things that already exist in Windows 7. (like most used program pinning to Start Menu)
Thank you, beemeup4 and Tom Hawack
You actually wrote what I was going to write and I have like nothing too valuable to add now.
Indeed. And Windows 10 always reminds us :
“Henry Frankenstein: Look! It’s moving. It’s alive. It’s alive… It’s alive, it’s moving, it’s alive, it’s alive, it’s alive, it’s alive, IT’S ALIVE!
Victor Moritz: Henry – In the name of God!
Henry Frankenstein: Oh, in the name of God! Now I know what it feels like to be God!”
You bet it’s alive. I strongly believe Cortana is what makes Microsoft believe Win10 is god. No god, only a half pseudo OS. Nearly 13 months Windows 10 was officially launched and even the forceps won’t get the monster out.
This “thing” is an abomination. When will it ever be ready?
Has anyone noticed how quiet all the Win 10 cheer leaders and fan boys/girls have gone since the Anniversary release ?
There have been no posts extolling the “wonders” of Win 10 such as speed, ease of use, super UIs, etc.
Nor have there been any posts using words and phrases such as “Neanderthal” or “Tin Foil Hat Wearers” to describe Win 7 / 8.1 diehards. I really like wearing my tin foil hat :-)
What IS noticeable are the number of Win 10 users asking “How do I re-install Win 7 / 8.1”.
hahhahaha… I laughed so hard that i fell off my chair!! :D *you’re funny!*
Yes, I noticed too. They all have been shut by the shitty anniversary update. Just like between a newly wed couple, the first anniversary is “yay, it’s our anniversary — lavish dinner, outing blah blah…” then later we know how the future anniversaries go… :D Microsoft is in a similar scenario.
You don’t just get to make nonsense up in your head to satisfy your narcissism, that is, unless you’re happy to make a fool of yourself.
So true. Microsoft is ridiculing itself and I have pity for all those trying to find the North with Windows 10. let’s not forget users who didn’t choose MS’ latest OS and are now experiencing what I wouldn’t wish to my worst enemy (maybe the worst, but no less). I’d like to try to avoid hounding an ambulance. Reality speaks for itself, Windows 10 is catastrophic, repeating is is repeating evidence. If I repeat it it’s not because I’d be sadistic but because of what we’ve all endured from the company’s policy since May 2015. Now the time has come for praying. After, free beer at the officers mess.*
*to try to be funny rather than crying.
When windows 7 really dose die Linux or Android will quickly become a major player in the desktop OS world.
Truthfully my money is on Android, Linux is to far behind in usability and growing much slower. Android will become an decent desktop OS before Linux becomes a user-friendly OS.
yeah! let’s use photoshop in android
Yup. When Google does it, it wins everyone’s heart through its SIMPLICITY aspect. Chrome is going to be somewhat similar to a mobile interface — Uncluttered, Flat and Sleek.
Google whips out its product just when every other company is doing wrong or failing in that market. For example, Google Plus, when it was launched, it kinda failed… but if you notice now, you will see how Mr. G has combined the Google Photos + Communities together to create awesome pages for a BRAND(whether it be your brand or your company’s). Flickr will soon be thrown out. Facebook has grown too big to remove all that clutter from its space.
Personally, I haven’t used Chrome, just played with it a bit at BestBuy. I looked pretty sleek though. Even a grandma who never used a computer can use it. I always believe in Simplicity as the key to high adoption rate.
@ infoj ……. Agree. The future is likely Google Fuchsia. M$ Windows will likely die a slow n agonizing death or bankruptcy.
Right because android is a phenominal System that respects users rights?
I pray you are wrong infoJunkie because we actually need a system that gives us the power back and does not treat us like a cow to be milked through whatever means possible.
Artistically I am not impressed with the crayons and finger paint approach to UI developers are taking, I don’t want flat, washed out, big button panels. I am sick and tired of the PC market being treated like an off shoot to consoles and tablets and that is essentially the problem here. Microsoft wants a piece of montization pie that milks its customers of its money through less obvious ways than just outright asking for money.
I recall when windows 10 was in the works and there were a lot of people theorizing that based on past success and failure (hit and miss) of its previous editions of windows that we were in for a good release however I had already seen the working model of failure in windows 8 (still prefer 8 to 10 though).
I’m not saying Linux is the answer just that Android isn’t and as it is I wish we could free ourselves from the shackles of Android on phones and have an OS that respects the users rights to privacy, choice and security.
There are some developers that refuse to code for Linux to protect their work (slysoft/redfox to name one) which means that we don’t have a middle ground unless you count ReactOS which is a pipe dream as far as becoming a main contender in the OS wars.
Microsoft should start running an ad campaign slogan: “Microsoft… Taking the Personal out of Personal Computing”
All that is missing is the Penis enlargement ads/apps to be pre-installed in windows.
I can just see the geniuses at Microsoft now rubbing something as they come up with a slogan to go with it as you are met with an ad at the forced user login Screen… “Feeling Flaccid? Don’t worry because windows 10 is loading and you’re sure to reach new heights with our rich member experience”
All joking aside Microsoft has really cocked this one up (okay I tried) and its hard not join the windows 10 crowd due to certain advancements only being made available to windows 10 such as advanced Scaling options and of course Directx. If you are a gamer then you basically have no choice.
I have a 4k monitor and am running window 7, its horrible as everything is either tiny or large and blurry.
@ Mystique ……. Google is less evil than both M$ n Apple, but is still an evil.
…….Similarly, Trump is less evil than Hillary wrt for the good of America. Hillary is only good for the selfish n criminalistic Blacks, illegal immigrating Hispanics, terroristic Muslims, men-hating n rebellious feminists, immoral LGBTQs, greedy unionized workers, lazy poor, etc.
I agree with Martin that the ongoing return of unwanted apps is more than a little bit annoying. That’s the real issue. Microsoft doesn’t care one little bit about what users want in Windows anymore. Uninstalling a useless app, like 3D builder should be permanent.
I can’t even run most (all?) Win10 AU apps! When I click on one from the Start menu/Apps section I get a msg stating:
================
This app can’t open
Feedback Hub can’t be opened using the Built-in Administrator account. Sign in with a different account and try again.
================
But I am on my own account, NOT the built-in administrator account!
Maybe Win10 doesn’t like that I am running as administrator (as I have done for years and years) or perhaps they don’t like that I use the Classic Start Menu and not that Microsoft terrible start menu?
Whatever [shrug]. Not missing not being able to run Win10 apps or the Win10 Store.
Sounds like you also disabled UAC. UAC needs to be on for the apps to work properly.
It certainly makes me glad I never ‘upgraded’ to windows 10.
Also, when I saw that screen shot of the desktop, I stared at it and thought “what a pile of dingos’ kidneys”.
RichardT
Thanks for posting “what a pile of dingos’ kidneys”. I will be using it in future.
It sounds MUCH more polite and refined than “what a pile of Horse Sh*t” :))
Always better in the bull’s eye than anywhere else :=)
Thanks TJ, but you really need to thank the late, great Douglas Adams, I only borrowed it from him ;)
@ RichardT ……. And Win 10 Version 1607 users can make those pile of dingos’ kidneys turn black or into a pile of horse sheeet by selecting the Dark Theme.
“Microsoft should honor user choice…” Honor and finance are incompatible.
[quote] It is unclear why the company is not honoring user choice in this regard.[/quote]
You still wonder over this ?
Since W8, there is no longer a user choice.
MSFT thinks that ppl like Apple iPhone, because Late Steve could dictate everything he wanted and pll still stood in line to buy it.
Ever since the introduction of the iPhone MSFT is trying to mimic this behaviour and failing at it.
Why ? look at the greatest player on the smarphone market, it ain’t Apple, It’s android , and just like windows (till W8) vs OSX android vs iOS: Apple stand for dictatorship how to run and manage your devices, where as Win7 and Android give user choice.
And now (since W8) MSFT has decided to drop their best feature, customization.
Did you not mention about file associations? Every big updates Microsoft always reset my file associations.. :(
Best computing decision i ever made was moving to linux.
Windows H1B sux
I’ve been a reader of this tech blog for some years now and have built my own Power Shell script that I run for every new Windows 10 installation og after a bigger upgrade as you Martin have discussed in this article.
I put it up on Pastebin and it does the following:
* Remove some built inn apps I don’t use
* Disabling HomeGroup
* Disabling Connected User Experiences and Telemetry
* Disabling Geolocation Service
http://pastebin.com/V4Vs0VnM
What’s the problem with microsoft? Don’t they think anything about the end customer? They just want to force it whatever they want. F$$K. I got limited bandwidth and win 10 eat it like crazy. ;(
I wish I could downgrade my lappy to win 7.
ithehappy.
You can still find Win 7 ISO downloaders.
This is one:
https://www.heidoc.net/joomla/technology-science/microsoft/67-microsoft-windows-iso-download-tool
The app is: Windows ISO Downloader.exe
Does anybody else know other ISO download sites ??
Ummm, they get **paid* per app install. If they install it ten times on your PC because you uninstalled it nine-times, they get paid the full ten times. Greed it is and the customer be damned, rocket science it ain’t.
Even if it is their own apps, they charge that across to the section of the msoft. It’s about juggling profits and losses and the customer be damned.
Why/how do you suppose that apple has more **cash** stored outside the US than our entire National Debt? It certainly wasn’t an Accounting mistake. :) Msoft are on that bandwagon too. It makes the investors happy and keep bums in seats on the Boards. Maybe it is rocket science. LOL
>Why/how do you suppose that apple has more **cash** stored outside the US than our entire National Debt? It certainly wasn’t an Accounting mistake. :) Msoft are on that bandwagon too.
You forget one BIG thing here: Most AAPL users LOVE AAPL products and OS and are willing to wait in line to have it and give their money to Apple..
Most MS W10 users HATE MS and their Half baked OS and even their Half-Baked Surface, so MSFT need to shovel their OS in the mouth of users to have peoples to use it.
They will not make money but lose a lot in the long run.
#2DifferentsBeast
@ithehappy: Windows 10 makes use of user bandwith to deliver Windows Updates. Martin wrote an article about it here: https://www.ghacks.net/2016/08/17/windows-10-update-delivery-optimization/
Try turning the option shown in the first screenshot off to prevent the OS from using your laptop to send bits of updates to other systems.
Also, if you can connect to your router using an Ethernet cable rather than using Wireless and then put the laptop into Aeroplane mode. Ethernet is a lot more stable than Wireless especially if you’re a gamer.
Hehe, Apps are evolving now… just like Microsoft. They want to control your PC, they want to monitor your behaviour, camera, microphone, fingerprints and God knows what… We are slowing going towards the Transcendence age. Great movie by Depp! :)
In the past, an OS and Apps didn’t exchange user-data between eachother, but now, the OS and Apps exchange the data with each other, to get to know you better and deliver products and services accordingly. However, in the past a single entity was responsible for your data, now the same data is shared amongst multiple parties — when things go wrong, it will be difficult to point a finger at someone, because the culprit can now hide behind many faces(just like Arya in Game of Thrones). :D
Also, it uninstalls some older programs and doesn’t reinstall them such as the Windows 7 Games for Windows 8.1/10
Why all the surprise. User choice. Gone. And that is why I’ll never use Win10. It takes over your system and does with it what it will. Who wants to be a slave?
Quote from Martins’ article: “…It makes sense to push new apps the company created to the device…” .
Personally, I feel that even this is unacceptable. IMHO Microsoft, or indeed any company, should **inform the user** that this or that new app is available; but it definitely should not install it without prior consent. But asking for user consent might break the new business model.
“Microsoft should honor user choice for…..”
Martin, I didn’t know you like satire. Honestly, … “Microsoft honoring user choice”. That’s one of the funniest statements I’ve heard within the last decade. :)
It is really simple. Only idiots who do not mind being pwned regularly and trash treated by Microsoft use Windows 10. Intelligent people who value their freedom, choice and have a brain to use their PC use Windows 7 or 8.1 with a Start menu replacement and ignore Windows 10. Yet somehow some idiots seem to believe that Windows 10 is better despite the mountain of evidence presented before them about how it is worse. And then they are the ones who complain about such awful things. Hilarious, isn’t it?
Other than the spying stuff and being free linux on the desktop is still not such a magic solution.
I am not expecting people to agree with this statement but I have been using various distros for years now and of course it has benefits over windows, for example the two big ones I mentioned in my first sentence, but it’s far from perfect.
Linux is not magic or perfect but it works. I made it look the way I want, work the way I want, placed everything where I wanted it (basically as close to my cursor as possible), and I really don’t even think about it any more, just update whatever needs to be updated while I’m using it (a few minutes of background activity). I guess I’m lucky I’m not a gamer and all the work I need done can be done on Linux too. The last time I was trying to help someone with Windows 7 on a PC with nearly the same specs as mine it just brought back bad memories. Everything looked toyish, in your face, non-ergonomic and bloated, and updates took ages. Linux stays out of my way when I’m doing things.
Seems likes Microsoft understands human nature very well. Most people are like sheep, yes there are a few lions
in the bunch, but the money is with the sheep.
If gog would make their whole catalog native linux, no stupid wine shenanigans, I would be done with M$ right now. Instead games are easy to install and there is a huge catalog on windows, vice versa for linux. And to be fair I have not tried steam because I freaking hate drm.
steam works just fine on linux. :)
(obviously not all games are available on linux (ca. 165 of my 480 games), but it’s a start and way better than 2-3 years ago.)
“While you can go ahead and uninstall them again from the start menu, it is an annoyance to users of the operating system.
“If you made the deliberate decision to remove a system app, Microsoft should not push it back to the system after an update.”
“It is unclear why the company is not honoring user choice in this regard. It makes sense to push new apps the company created to the device, but if a user removes such an app, it should not be installed again on the system, ever.”
Poor babies–it’s an “annoyance”; “MS should”; “unclear . . . not honoring.” Deal with the reality–what is. It’s much easier to complain than do what is necessary to stop the problem.
Libya is an annoyance. Iran is not honoring the nuclear deal. We should all live in peace and harmony. Are these true statements based on facts and logic? We “should”? That’s what ISIL is saying. You “should” convert and join the Caliphate.
What a pathetic diatribe filled with every conceivable logical fallacy in the textbook. If one feels like this about Microsoft, why continue using the product?
Martin is at it again for readership–polarize the audience, bait and click.
Speaking of logical fallacies maybe using a false equivalence wasn’t a good idea, or do you think totalitarian states and a group of terrorists are a good comparison to be making with an OS.
Fact is people have invested not only a great deal of time but also a great deal of money in the Win32 ecosystem over the years, something that understandably is going to annoy people if they are faced with the choice of either throwing away all that time and money, or continuing to use an OS from a company that seems to be disregarding what their customers want.
AT LAST !!!!
Thank you, jasray, for posting the first Win 10 Cheer Leader / Fan boy(girl) comment.
Mr. Nadella will be proud of you for protecting Win 10’s (dis)honour and (dis)honesty.
“What a pathetic diatribe filled with every conceivable logical fallacy in the textbook.”
Please give a detailed explanation to prove your assertion.
“If one feels like this about Microsoft, why continue using the product?”
We are using the product BUT we are not using the poorly programmed, error strewn, user data stealing, non user configurable, Beta version called Windows 10. We prefer Win 7 and (possibly) Win 8.1.
“polarize the audience, bait and click.” What do you think Ed Bott does in all his blogs ?
NB what the hell connection do comments about Libya, Iran and Caliphates have to a blog about MS and Win 10.
I don’t see why a consciousness would not express itself on the ground that doing so wouldn’t change anything to facts, even if I prefer the “I” to the “we” which may be indoctrination or at least has this community taste I personally dislike. I take my responsibilities and express my beliefs, hopes, revolts with engaging no one but myself.
There’s no incompatibility between criticizing a product and using it. There is on another hand a pathetic behavior in pointing anyone of doing so without evidence : I don’t know what products Martin prefers, I know he tests them all, it’s his job, and also writes out (never loudly) what most users think in silence.
People were used to quality Microsoft OSs which explains a form of dependency, and both explain harsh feelings on an OS which is bothering everyone, old users as new ones.
I think these useless apps can and will come back even after regular Windows updates, not just major ones like the Anniversary. One of my new, latest W10 maintenance habits is right-clicking the likes of Candy Saga, Netflix, Twitter, Solitaire, Pandora etc. (I might have misspelled and forgot some of them, sorry…). W10 Privacy took care of this in one go, but needs an update for the new cr…apps.
I think the status of these apps (installed or not) is being monitored, so Windows is going to re-install them automatically soon enough.
C’Mon,
Everyone likes Diamond Cave, Yu-gi-oh and the good ol’ PICACHU
What are you, unintelligent men scared of a connected and open society?
I feel w10 is getting worse with each iteration. The more “universal” it turns, the worse, and and it seems that Microsoft is pushing that more and more. And everything that’s new, especially from Microsoft, seems unfinished. The latest w10 with the anniversary update is awful. When I tried it, it constantly asked me whether Firefox was a game or not, I had a Xbox 360 controller plugged in, I guess that’s why. All this new crap they keep adding in is just getting in your way.
Taskbar flickering whenever I move/copy a file or empty the recycle bin bug, which was present in the initial w10, is still present to this day. Apparently bugs are not a priority for them. They just care about pushing more ads, tracking features, and useless gimmicks which might impress someone who is using Windows for the first time, but that’s about it, for everyone else it’s just annoyances and whoever wanted similar features already had them via third party solutions, which more often than not, in the Microsoft land, they are superior to the first party ones.
I don’t know who at Microsoft is using that OS, looking at it, and telling to themselves – yeah, that’s totally the effect that we’re going after.
You’d be thinking that at least the LTSB edition would have been spared of all this nonsense. Nope. The version in cause is actually LTSB 2016. I’m sure organisations throw lan parties each week inside their own buildings, and definitely need Xbox application in their OS.
don’t forget the num lock bug. it could be fixed with workaround but after anniversary update even the fix is not working anymore
FWIW, I have a small Asus Ultrabook laptop running Windows 10 Home x64 AE. If I click on an empty area of the taskbar and click “Show touch keyboard button”, even though I do not have a touch screen, I have numlock function by first clicking the &123 key. I actually do this at rare times when I want to use a numeric keypad layout for entering lots of numbers. This continues to work under AE.
MS has created a situation where an enterprising group of entrepreneurs could make billions by offering an OS that is
simple, works, and people sorely want.
Absolutely. However, it would have to be designed to run applications written for Windows.
If you ask me, this is just a continuation of the “Let’s release KB3035583 again every month, to get it loaded again for those people who went through the trouble of deleting it before.” policy at Microsoft.
Hahaha… you even remember the full code name of that annoying update ðŸ˜
To avoid apps to be re-installed / updated: O&O ShutUp10
Windows Update / Automatic apps updates through Windows Update disabled > on
That won’t work to prevent apps from being reinstalled from a full OS upgrade such as 1511 to 1607.
That’s only prevents updating of installed updates via Windows Update.
I had notice Windows reinstalled the Get Office app even though I have Office 365 installed.
The sad state of MS and their ever unsuccessful browser strategy is that any major Windows 10 update resets the default browser to MS Edge. Even when you’ve previously chosen something else than the MS s*it. Now with the Anniversary Update they added a small twist to it: when you use the “modern” Settings app to change it back to Firefox/Seamonkey/whatever, it asks you are you sure you don’t want to try Edge… Goddammit. First I’ve chosen something else, then it resets it and even has the nerve to ask don’t I really fancy this BS…
I’ve been doing Linux live boot trials to see which distro would fit best my workstation and laptop needs. The problem is that I’m very comfortable with the traditional Windows NT stuff, but now that I no longer can abstain from the “modern” Windows era, having been with Windows 7 happily and avoiding the 8 farse, I see less and less amusement in the way my OS is being dumbed down and the good NT stuff is buried as deep down as possible – even in fricking Pro and Enterprise editions!
@Martin Brinkmann,
For me this was a none issue. I did a Clean Install of Win 10 Pro 64 1607-14393.
The Trick is to Disconnect your Ethernet Cable so that you have no Internet connection when
installing Win 10. After a Quick Install on my SSD…The Start Screen had a lot of Plus sign symbols saying a new app update coming etc. The first thing I did was turn off all live tiles…Then I removed all tiles…then brought the left side in to give me a thin start strip like Win 7.
There is a great & simple way to uninstall all apps except the Connect App.
Just use CCleaner to do this because not all Apps have an uninstall option.
I then Uninstalled OneDrive ( Yes it can be done with an Admin Cmd Prompt).
I installed Classic Shell 4.30. To make a long story short I had my Group Policy, Drivers & Services etc. all set up before connecting to the internet. You can have control of your Computer, just need to know how to lock it down. Group Policy lets you Disable the Store & App Updates, but before I did that I connected to the internet to get the security updates, & not one app was downloaded to my system. Cortana & Web search can also be Disabled. I made an image of my drive, so I will never have to set this up again.
Martin…Take a look at your Control Panel, I now have a Enterprise Feature…Windows To Go,Have the Retail Version of Win 10 Pro & a Workstation Motherboard.
No. If you just have one computer and one user profile, you can just right click and remove the apps.
If it is a business with many PCs that need the unwanted apps removed, that is a huge hassle of hacks that doesn’t scale.