Windows 11 Cleanup Guide: Remove Bloatware, Disable Bing Search and Trim Startup Apps

Below is the cleanup plan with each step checked against Microsoft's own documentation, plus notes on where the advice goes further than the evidence supports.

Why a clean install isn't clean​

Aguilar's explanation of where the clutter comes from holds up. Windows sets up inbox apps in two stages. Packages are first provisioned at the system level, then registered for each user when that user signs in. Microsoft's deployment documentation says the same thing: provisioned apps are staged in the image and installed for every user at first sign-in, or at the next sign-in if the account already exists.

That two-stage design explains why removing an app can feel like it didn't work. Uninstalling an app from your account and stopping Windows from installing it for future accounts are two separate operations, done with two different tools.

Aguilar's other targets are:

• Start menu promotions and pinned placeholder apps
• Web-connected search that sends what you type to Bing
• "Suggested content" cards in Settings that promote services like Microsoft 365 and OneDrive
• Third-party and OEM startup entries that add work at sign-in

Section summary: The clutter sits in several separate layers, so no single switch removes all of it.

Layer 1: Uninstall from Settings (current user only)​

The easy first step is Settings > Apps > Installed apps. Sort by size or install date to find apps you don't use. Aguilar's examples include Microsoft News, Clipchamp, Solitaire and OEM trial software. Treat that list as illustration rather than instructions. If you edit videos in Clipchamp, keep it.

Two caveats:

1. Some built-in apps can't be uninstalled from Settings at all. That's by design.
2. Uninstalling here removes the app from your account. The provisioned copy stays in the system image, ready to install for the next new user.

Layer 2: PowerShell for future accounts (and what it doesn't do)​

To keep a removed app from appearing for new accounts, open an elevated PowerShell window and list what's staged:

Get-AppxProvisionedPackage -Online

Then remove the provisioning for a specific package:

Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage -Online -PackageName <PackageName>

Microsoft's DISM cmdlet documentation is clear about the limits. After you remove provisioning, the package won't be installed when new user accounts are created, but it is not removed from existing accounts. For those, Microsoft points you to Remove-AppxPackage. That cmdlet removes a package for the current user by default. With the -AllUsers switch it removes the package for every account on the PC, which requires administrator rights.

A sensible full cleanup for one app looks like this:

1. Find the exact package name with Get-AppxPackage -Name *partialname*.
2. Check the output for the NonRemovable attribute. Microsoft's troubleshooting guidance says some packages, such as system apps, can't be removed, and that this attribute tells you which ones.
3. Remove it for existing users with Remove-AppxPackage -Package '<package_name>' -AllUsers (elevated).
4. Remove the provisioning with Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage -Online -PackageName <PackageName>.

Microsoft warns that removing an Appx package can be irreversible, so check that you're working in the correct user context and on the correct package. Removing the Microsoft Store app isn't supported at all.

On the reinstall claim: Aguilar says that if you skip deprovisioning, the next major Windows update will stage the app again and register it for every user. Reinstalled inbox apps after feature updates are a common complaint, but none of the Microsoft documentation reviewed here says this happens every time. Expect to recheck after major updates rather than counting on a specific outcome.

What not to remove​

Aguilar's do-not-touch list is reasonable: the Edge WebView2 runtime, Microsoft Defender, Windows Security (Microsoft.SecHealthUI), the Microsoft Store (Microsoft.WindowsStore) and App Installer (Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller). His conclusion, "leave these alone and go after everything else", goes too far. Remove only packages you can identify and know you don't need.

Section summary: Settings handles your own account, Remove-AppxPackage -AllUsers handles existing accounts, and deprovisioning handles future accounts. You need all three for a full removal.

Layer 3: Turn off recommendations and offers​

For Start, go to Settings > Personalization > Start and turn off recommendations for tips, shortcuts and new apps, plus recently added and recently opened items.

Then go to Settings > Privacy & security > Recommendations & offers. Labels vary by build, which Aguilar also found. Microsoft's support page lists these controls there:

• Let apps show my personalized ads by using my advertising ID
• Let Windows improve Start and search results by tracking app launches
• Show me suggested content in the Settings app

Personalized offers has its own entry under Privacy & security.

Keep expectations in check. Microsoft says plainly that turning off the advertising ID won't reduce the number of ads you see. The ads may just be less relevant. The setting covers only apps that use the Windows advertising identifier, not cookies or other ad methods.

For managed fleets, Microsoft publishes Start policy settings, including Hide recently added apps and Hide recommended section, which can be set through Group Policy or CSP. These change what users see. They aren't performance settings.

Layer 4: Turn off Bing results in search​

Windows Central notes that Windows 11 has no Settings toggle for web results in search. You must use Group Policy (Pro editions) or the Registry (Home and Pro). Aguilar's registry method is the one used across the tech press:

1. Press Win + R, type regedit, and press Enter.
2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows.
3. If there's no Explorer key, create one.
4. Inside it, create a DWORD (32-bit) Value named DisableSearchBoxSuggestions and set it to 1.
5. Sign out and back in, or restart.

What success looks like: web suggestions stop appearing when you type into Start or taskbar search, and results come only from your PC. Windows Central adds that the change will also turn off search highlights, the web suggestions you see when opening the Windows Search home. The Show search highlights toggle in Search settings will appear greyed out. That greyed-out toggle is a handy way to confirm the policy took effect.

To undo it: delete the value, or set it to 0, and sign in again.

One correction. Aguilar says this change stops Windows from sending your searches to Bing. No Microsoft documentation reviewed here confirms that it blocks the network request itself. The best-supported description is that it removes web suggestions from the search interface. WindowsForum's earlier coverage made the same distinction: the value suppresses the search suggestion UI that surfaces web suggestions, while a separate policy, "Don't search the web or display web results in Search", maps to ConnectedSearchUseWeb under the Windows Search policy key. If keeping queries off the network is your goal, rather than a tidier search box, check this on your own build.

If it doesn't work:

• Make sure the value is in Explorer under Policies\Microsoft\Windows, not in the similarly named non-policy Explorer key.
• Make sure it's a DWORD, not a string.
• Sign out completely. Locking the screen isn't enough.

Layer 5: Trim startup apps, using the correct thresholds​

Open Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc) and select Startup apps, or use Settings > Apps > Startup. Both list the same apps registered to start automatically. Task Manager also shows each app's startup impact.

Aguilar's impact thresholds are close to Microsoft's but not exact. According to Microsoft Support:

The low/medium boundary is 292 KB, not the round 300 KB Aguilar gives. That difference won't change any decision, but it's what the gauge actually measures.

More importantly, the rating describes sign-in cost only. A "High" app isn't necessarily using much RAM all day, and disabling it won't necessarily make everyday work faster.

Aguilar suggests disabling update checkers, background chat clients and browser preloaders, and keeping security software and hardware utilities such as audio, graphics and touchpad tools. That's a reasonable starting point. Some vendor panels are just control panels you can open when needed, but others provide functions you rely on, such as hotkeys or gestures. Disable one at a time, restart, and check that everything still works.

Does this make Windows faster?​

This is where the headline outpaces the evidence. Aguilar says cleaning up will noticeably speed up an older machine, especially one with limited RAM or slow eMMC storage. That's plausible. Fewer startup programs mean less work at sign-in, and removing apps frees disk space. But no benchmarks or before-and-after measurements back the claim. A fast NVMe desktop might notice almost nothing, while a 4 GB budget laptop could see a real difference.

Several of these layers are about clutter and privacy, not speed. Hiding Start recommendations or removing web suggestions makes Windows calmer to use. It doesn't make it faster in any measurable way.

The bottom line​

• Settings uninstall: removes the app from your account only.
• Remove-AppxPackage -AllUsers: removes it from existing accounts.
• Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage -Online: keeps it off future accounts.
• Recommendations & offers toggles: reduce personalization, not necessarily the number of ads.
• DisableSearchBoxSuggestions: removes Bing suggestions from the search interface.
• Startup apps: reduce work at sign-in. Change one at a time and test.

Expect to repeat some of this after major updates. That's annoying, but most of the work is a one-time 20-minute session.