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Windows 10 Pro v1709 Tweaks

By: Romel Vera - @RomelSan - http://www.github.com/RomelSan
Creation Date: April 7 2017
Update Date: October 11 2017 (For Windows 10 Pro v1709 build: 16299.15)

Instructions and notes:

Feel free to use this guide thoroughly or partly on your PC.

To check your Windows version and build:

1. Press “Windows” key or click “Start menu”

2. Type “about” or if you are old school use command “winver”
3. Press Enter

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Contents
Show File Extensions ................................................................................................................................. 3
Remove Recent Files in Windows Explorer............................................................................................... 4
Disable provider notifications (SkyDrive ads) ........................................................................................... 4
Change System Settings ............................................................................................................................ 5
Disable System Protection .................................................................................................................... 5
Disable Remote Connection.................................................................................................................. 6
Modify Startup and Recovery ............................................................................................................... 7
Adjust Virtual Memory .......................................................................................................................... 8
Disable Automatic Driver Installation ....................................................................................................... 9
Set Windows Updates to Notify Only ..................................................................................................... 10
Disable Windows Defender Antivirus ..................................................................................................... 11
Set Windows Updates to LAN only (Prevent Sharing updates to people on internet) ........................... 12
Protect your Privacy ................................................................................................................................ 13
Disable Windows SmartScreen ............................................................................................................... 14
Check Other System Settings .................................................................................................................. 15
Enable Delete Confirmation Dialog......................................................................................................... 15
Disable AutoPlay ..................................................................................................................................... 16
Always show icons in the notification area............................................................................................. 17
Hide Search Bar and People .................................................................................................................... 17
Disable Hibernation (Note: It will disable fast start up) ......................................................................... 18
Disable Cortana and Web Search............................................................................................................ 18
Disable Cortana ....................................................................................................................................... 19
Edit Windows Notifications..................................................................................................................... 20
How to Turn Off Recent Items and Frequent Places in Windows 10...................................................... 21
Clean Temporary Files............................................................................................................................. 22
Clean Disk ................................................................................................................................................ 22
Adding support for other languages ....................................................................................................... 23
Turn off Offline Maps .............................................................................................................................. 24
Disable WPAD to Stay Safe on Public Wi-Fi Networks ............................................................................ 25

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Show File Extensions

1. Open This PC
2. Click View Tab
3. Click Options
4. Click “Change Folder and Search Options”

5. Click View Tab

6. Click “Show hidden files, folders and drive”
7. Uncheck “Hide Empty Drives”
8. Uncheck “Hide Extensions for known file types”
9. Uncheck “Hide Protected Operating System Files”

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Remove Recent Files in Windows Explorer

1. Open File Explorer
2. Go to the View section from the top bar
3. Click on Options
4. Look for the “Open File Explorer to” dropdown
5. Click on the drop-down and change “Quick Access” to “This PC” and click on OK

Disable provider notifications (SkyDrive ads)

1. Open This PC
2. Click View Tab
3. Click Options
4. Click “Change Folder and Search Options”
5. Click View Tab
6. Uncheck “Show sync provider notifications”

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Change System Settings

Disable System Protection
1. Press Win+X
2. Click “System”
3. Type “System Info”
4. Click “System Protection”
5. Click “Configure”
6. Click “Disable System Protection”

Note: You can leave at least 10Gb on Drive C: just in case some Windows Update goes crazy, so you can
roll back if the system crashes.

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Disable Remote Connection

1. Press Win+X
2. Click “System”
3. Type “System Info”
4. Click “Remote Settings”
5. Disable Remote Assistance
6. Select “Don’t Allow Remote Connections to this computer”

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Modify Startup and Recovery

1. Press Win+X
2. Click “System”
3. Type “System Info”
4. Click “Advanced System Settings”
5. Click Startup and Recovery “Settings”
6. Uncheck “Automatically Restart”
7. Select “Small Memory Dump”

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Adjust Virtual Memory

1. Press Win+X
2. Click “System”
3. Type “System Info”
4. Click “Advanced System Settings”
5. Click Performance “Settings”
6. Click Advanced Tab
7. Click Virtual Memory “Change”
8. Set Custom Size:
a. Minimum: 200
b. Maximum: 1024 (if you have 8gb or less RAM then set this to 2048)
9. Click Set, Then OK

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Disable Automatic Driver Installation

1. Press Win+X
2. Click System
3. Type “System Info”
4. Click “Advanced System Settings”
5. Click Hardware Tab
6. Click “Device Installation Settings”
7. Click “No”

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Set Windows Updates to Notify Only

1. Press Win key
2. Type “gpedit.msc” then press enter
3. Navigate To: “Computer Configuration”\”Administrative Templates”\”Windows
Components”\”Windows Update”
4. Select “Configure Automatic Updates”
5. Click “Enabled”
6. From Options, select “2 – Notify for Download and auto install”
7. Optional you can ccheck “Install updates for other Microsoft products”
8. Click OK

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Disable Windows Defender Antivirus

1. Press Win key
2. Type “gpedit.msc” then press enter
3. Navigate To: “Computer Configuration”\”Administrative Templates”\”Windows
Components”\”Windows Defender Antivirus”
4. Click “Turn off Windows Defender”
5. Click “Enable”
6. Click OK (On next boot the tray icon should disappear)

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Set Windows Updates to LAN only (Prevent Sharing updates to people on internet)
1. Press Win Key
2. Click “Settings” (the button above the power icon)
3. Click “Update and Security”
4. Click “Windows Update” then “Advanced Options”
5. Click “Delivery Optimization”
6. Click “Choose How Updates Are Delivered”
7. Check “PCs on my Local Network”

You can also check “Advanced options” and adjust bandwidth usage.

And you can check the consumption on “Activity monitor”

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Protect your Privacy

1. Press Win Key
2. Click “Settings”
3. Click “Privacy”
4. Turn OFF every option and do it for every privacy subpanel

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Disable Windows SmartScreen

1. Open the Start menu, type “smartscreen” click “App & browser control”
2. Select “Off” for all the options

Don’t touch “Exploit protection settings” unless you know about it.

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Check Other System Settings

1. Press Win Key
2. Click “Settings”
3. Click “System”
a. From Here you can customize the “Display”
b. Customize Notifications and Actions
c. Rename The PC
d. Etc.

Enable Delete Confirmation Dialog

1. On the Desktop, right Click the “Recycle Bin”
2. Click “properties”
3. Check “Display delete confirmation dialog”
4. Click OK

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Disable AutoPlay
1. Press Win+X
2. Click “Settings”
3. Click Devices
4. Click Autoplay
5. Turn it off

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Always show icons in the notification area

1. Press Win Key
2. Click “Settings”
3. Click “Personalization”
4. Click “Taskbar”
5. Click “Select Which icons appear on the taskbar”
6. Check “Always show all icons in the notification area”

Hide Search Bar and People

1. Right click the taskbar
2. Select “Cortana”
3. Click “Hidden”
4. Uncheck “Show People button”

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Disable Hibernation (Note: It will disable fast start up)

1. Press Win+X
2. Click “Command Prompt (Admin)” or “Windows Powershell (Admin)”
3. Type “POWERCFG /HIBERNATE OFF ”
4. Press Enter

Disable Cortana and Web Search

1. Press Win
2. Type “Cortana” and click “Cortana & Search settings”
3. Turn off everything.

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Disable Cortana
1. Press Win key
2. Type “gpedit.msc” then press enter
3. Navigate To: “Computer Configuration”\”Administrative Templates”\”Windows
Components”\”Search”
4. Select “Allow Cortana”
5. Click “Disabled” to turn off Cortana
6. If you want do the same with “Allow Cortana above the lock screen” and “Allow Cloud Search”

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Edit Windows Notifications

1. Press Win Key
2. Click “Settings”
3. Search for, type: “security and Maintenance” and click it.
4. Click “Change Security and Maintenance Settings”
5. Customize to your liking

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How to Turn Off Recent Items and Frequent Places in Windows 10

1. Press Win key
2. Click “Settings”
3. Click on the Personalization icon

Alternative: Turn Off Recent Items Through Group Policy Editor

Search in “User Configuration” \ “Administrative Templates” \ “Start Menu and Taskbar”
Enable the rule “Do not keep history of recently opened documents”

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Clean Temporary Files

1. Press Win key
2. Click Settings
3. Click System
4. Click Storage
5. Click the icon “This PC”
6. Click label “Temporary Files”
7. Check the stuff you want cleaned
8. Click “Remove Files”

Clean Disk
1. Press Win Key
2. Type “Disk Cleanup” or type “cleanmgr”
3. Follow Instructions on screen and select what you want.

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Adding support for other languages

1. Press Win key
2. Click Settings
3. Select Apps
4. Select “Apps & Features”
5. Select “Manage optional features”
6. Select “Add a feature”
7. Select any optional font feature from the list, for example: Chinese, Japanese, Korean

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Turn off Offline Maps

1. Press Win key
2. Click Settings
3. Select Apps
4. Select “Offline maps”
5. Turn off everything

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Disable WPAD to Stay Safe on Public Wi-Fi Networks

Web Proxy Auto-Discovery (WPAD) gives organizations a way to automatically configure a proxy server
on your system. WPAD is really useful when an organization like your company or school needs to
configure a proxy server for your connection to their network. It saves you from having to set things up
yourself. However, WPAD can cause problems should you connect to a malicious public Wi-Fi network.

1. Press Win key

2. Click Settings
3. Network & Internet
4. Select “Proxy”
5. Turn Off “Automatically detect settings”

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