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How to get rid of Candy Crush Soda Saga and other Windows 10 Start Menu junk for good!

Arthur

By Arthur
in Windows 10

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talksr

talksr

Posted
Posted
For the templates or Windows? :confused:

 

Version usually doesn't matter. It's better to always have the latest and overwrite the existing templates.

 

Templates!!

Ah ok. I will update with latest and then come back in a few weeks and update again for new W10 version.

ADMaster

ADMaster

Posted
Posted

I just deployed 1803 to a VM with all my 1709 settings. The first two items that caught my attention are onedrive and edge.

Edge is an icon on the desktop now. It is on the user desktop and not in public, I also don't see it in the default profile. So I'm not sure where it is coming from. It gets copied over to a redirected desktop too.

 

One Drive is in the start menu,but doesn't appear to be functional.

 

The article linked a few posts up mentions quickassist. I missed that in 1709 so it is there too.

 

And of course mixed reality that we never could remove.

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Arthur

Arthur

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Edge is an icon on the desktop now. It is on the user desktop and not in public, I also don't see it in the default profile. So I'm not sure where it is coming from. It gets copied over to a redirected desktop too.

There's a registry setting to prevent the Edge icon from being created.

 

reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ /v "DisableEdgeDesktopShortcutCreation" /t REG_DWORD /d "1" /f

 

https://blog.gattancha.co.uk/osd-remove-edge-icon-from-windows-10/

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mavhc

mavhc

Posted
Posted
It works, I see kids using Edge because it's on the taskbar by default, and Chrome is blocked from doing the same. Pity they didn't spend as much time making it good.
SWC

SWC

Posted
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Thanks guys, i was able to remove the apps from the .wim file that was created using the dism feature
KevinB

KevinB

Posted
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Have you had any issues with the templates @mrwoberts?

I am getting the following when opening up any policy on my Group Policy.....

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]48969[/ATTACH]

 

This has only started happening since I added the new admx templates to my central store.

 

One of the .adml files has a line missing. I found instructions here which work. Never mind copying files, just make the edit mentioned about half way down the page.

talksr

talksr

Posted
Posted
One of the .adml files has a line missing. I found instructions here which work. Never mind copying files, just make the edit mentioned about half way down the page.

 

 

Thanks, that was helpful.

I have taken a look but it already has the part the guy is suggesting - I have highlighted it in red.

Not sure what-else I can do? I didn't expect it would have all have already been in there.

String.PNG

KevinB

KevinB

Posted
Posted
Thanks, that was helpful.

I have taken a look but it already has the part the guy is suggesting - I have highlighted it in red.

Not sure what-else I can do? I didn't expect it would have all have already been in there.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]48977[/ATTACH]

 

Do you have any other language folders in you repository, like en-GB, en-US etc? It may be looking for an adml in there if you have regional settings applied.

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mrwoberts

mrwoberts

Posted
Posted (edited)
Have you had any issues with the templates @mrwoberts?

I am getting the following when opening up any policy on my Group Policy.....

This has only started happening since I added the new admx templates to my central store.

 

I haven't used the 1803 templates yet, simply because I'm not interested in 1803 at the moment, I'm barely keeping my sanity with 1709.

 

However, the problems with using the latest templates can arise when you simply copy and paste over the existing central store templates, and in some ways you may have a mix-n-match.

 

A better method is to backup (rename or move) the existing central store, and then use the new templates exclusively, into a new (empty folder) central store, along with the matching locale subfolders (en-us, en-gb...)

 

OPTIONAL It might also be worth refreshing the servers policy definitions folder (C:\Windows\Policy Definitions) with Server 2016, for example. Again, backup the existing folder and paste definitions from 2016 - you'll probably have to nab them from a .wim file or running installation.

 

EDIT: Here's a script I occasionally use to see if I have any missing .adml files - note you'll need to adjust the locale, which is currently only looking in en-us subfolder.

 

@for /f %%G in ('dir /b %windir%\PolicyDefinitions\*.admx') do @if not exist "%windir%\PolicyDefinitions\en-us\%%~nG.adml" echo %%G

Edited by mrwoberts
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chrisakak9

chrisakak9

Posted
Posted
I thought I would post this since I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere else on this forum.

 

One of the most annoying 'features' of Windows 10 are the tiles that are automatically added to your Start Menu for apps such as Candy Crush Soda Saga, Twitter, Minecraft, Flipboard etc. Since the apps aren't installed until a user clicks on the tile you can't run the usual PowerShell commands to uninstall them since they aren't present in Microsoft's Windows 10 images.

 

Thankfully there is a surprisingly simple solution to prevent these tiles from appearing in the first place. In the group policy templates for build 10586 (a.k.a. 1511) there is a new policy called "Turn off Microsoft consumer experiences". After the policy has been enabled the aforementioned tiles will no longer appear (unless of course you have intentionally installed Candy Crush or any of the other apps). :)

 

[b]Computer Configuration » Administrative Templates » Windows Components » Cloud Content » [color=#FF0000]Turn off Microsoft consumer experiences[/color][/b]

 

k6osnp.png

 

Before

 

w56aye.png

 

After

 

jyArrR.png

 

To prevent the tiles from appearing without using group policy add the registry value below.

 

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CloudContent]
"DisableWindowsConsumerFeatures"=dword:00000001

 

or

 

REG ADD "HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CloudContent" /v DisableWindowsConsumerFeatures /d 1 /t REG_DWORD /f

 

or

 

   Disable consumer features (Candy Crush etc.)
   1
   REG ADD HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CloudContent /v DisableWindowsConsumerFeatures /d 1 /t REG_DWORD /f

Hi I done this, used the scripts to uninstall apps, disabled the store, disabled tile notifications, deployed custom start layout and more but I'm still getting the tiles.

does anyone who i have to kill at Microsoft?

Arthur

Arthur

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Hi I done this, used the scripts to uninstall apps, disabled the store, disabled tile notifications, deployed custom start layout and more but I'm still getting the tiles.

Which edition and version of Windows 10 do you have?

 

Do you also have the following registry values set in your default user profile or via GPP?

 

# Disable the installation of unwanted Windows Store apps (like Candy Crush) for new user profiles
REG ADD "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager" /v OemPreInstalledAppsEnabled /d 0 /t REG_DWORD /f
REG ADD "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager" /v PreInstalledAppsEnabled /d 0 /t REG_DWORD /f

# Turn Off Automatic Installation of Suggested Apps (Candy Crush etc.)
REG ADD "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager" /v SilentInstalledAppsEnabled /d 0 /t REG_DWORD /f

# Disable suggested app ads on the Start Menu
REG ADD "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager" /v SystemPaneSuggestionsEnabled /d 0 /t REG_DWORD /f

 

Are you able to post a screenshot?

  • Thanks 1
talksr

talksr

Posted
Posted
Do you have any other language folders in you repository, like en-GB, en-US etc? It may be looking for an adml in there if you have regional settings applied.

 

 

Yes I do have other language folders, I think there is a GB one for Chrome. Would this be a problem?

I haven't used the 1803 templates yet, simply because I'm not interested in 1803 at the moment, I'm barely keeping my sanity with 1709.

 

However, the problems with using the latest templates can arise when you simply copy and paste over the existing central store templates, and in some ways you may have a mix-n-match.

 

A better method is to backup (rename or move) the existing central store, and then use the new templates exclusively, into a new (empty folder) central store, along with the matching locale subfolders (en-us, en-gb...)

 

OPTIONAL It might also be worth refreshing the servers policy definitions folder (C:\Windows\Policy Definitions) with Server 2016, for example. Again, backup the existing folder and paste definitions from 2016 - you'll probably have to nab them from a .wim file or running installation.

 

EDIT: Here's a script I occasionally use to see if I have any missing .adml files - note you'll need to adjust the locale, which is currently only looking in en-us subfolder.

 

@for /f %%G in ('dir /b %windir%\PolicyDefinitions\*.admx') do @if not exist "%windir%\PolicyDefinitions\en-us\%%~nG.adml" echo %%G

 

 

 

I tried what you said re taking the Policy Definitions folder from a working 2016 server and putting it on this faulting one, but it just kept refusing saying there were permission issues, even though I am on as administrator.

Not sure what else I can do to get around it.

talksr

talksr

Posted
Posted

Also, the error I get when I open Group Policy seems to have changed. I only get it if I open up a policy and browse to either Administrative Templates folder:

PolError.PNG

PolError.PNG

chrisakak9

chrisakak9

Posted
Posted (edited)
Which edition and version of Windows 10 do you have?

 

Do you also have the following registry values set in your default user profile or via GPP?

 

# Disable the installation of unwanted Windows Store apps (like Candy Crush) for new user profiles
REG ADD "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager" /v OemPreInstalledAppsEnabled /d 0 /t REG_DWORD /f
REG ADD "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager" /v PreInstalledAppsEnabled /d 0 /t REG_DWORD /f

# Turn Off Automatic Installation of Suggested Apps (Candy Crush etc.)
REG ADD "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager" /v SilentInstalledAppsEnabled /d 0 /t REG_DWORD /f

# Disable suggested app ads on the Start Menu
REG ADD "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager" /v SystemPaneSuggestionsEnabled /d 0 /t REG_DWORD /f

 

Are you able to post a screenshot?

 

Windows 10 Edu (upgraded from pro install via MAK key)

Build: 14393 (in the process up update but need to clear space as its a tablet pc)

Reg keys pushed via GPP and confirmed manually

GPO templates: 1803

 

Win 10 Start Menu.jpg

Edited by chrisakak9

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