Making Win10 look and act like Win7

GEWB said:

I might downgrade to Win10 if your "disable" entries were actually "uninstall."

Uninstall is possible for most things but I did not include those steps because its not part of winaero tweaker. I really just wanted to outline the quick and easy route for people and so just focused on using the three freeware programs. But the same guys who wrote winaero tweaker also have over 500 scripts you can download, such as UninstallCortana.cmd and UninstallEdge.cmd.

Downloads / Other / Uninstall Cortana for Windows 10
Downloads / Other / Uninstall Edge browser for Windows 10

Its worth noting that as long as programs never run the only annoyance is they take up space, and win10 takes up significantly less space than win7 even if you do not uninstall anything, so its not really a big deal either way.

ian50 said:

Your post, apart from minor (!) glitches, is very helpful.

Let me know the glitches and I'll fix them

Stardock Start 10 is the best Start Menu solution. It's paid,. but I don't think it costs that much, last I checked it was 10 bucks. That's where you start. Next, you gotta get your ICONS onto the desktop, that's in the new POS "Immersive" settings panel... Somewhere. There are other things you can do to make it more like Win 7, you can activate the Windows 7 style "Preview" context item so that you can look at images without having to open Photoshop. There is also a way to get the AERO effects happening too. I have the files backed up on my PC. But there is a program that activates it. I forget the name of it. Works well though, Also, GadgetPack will add Gadgets to your Desktop, I like to use speedometers and tachometers hehe. I can File-mail some of this stuff as long as someone downloads it, you want it? It'll take me a while to find it.

PS: Between Classic Explorer and Start10, you want START!0! It's MUCH better than Classic Explorer. And, you gotta pay for that, I can't give it to you.

johnhoh said:

Uninstall is possible for most things but I did not include those steps because its not part of winaero tweaker. I really just wanted to outline the quick and easy route for people and so just focused on using the three freeware programs. But the same guys who wrote winaero tweaker also have over 500 scripts you can download, such as UninstallCortana.cmd and UninstallEdge.cmd.

Downloads / Other / Uninstall Cortana for Windows 10
Downloads / Other / Uninstall Edge browser for Windows 10

Its worth noting that as long as programs never run the only annoyance is they take up space, and win10 takes up significantly less space than win7 even if you do not uninstall anything, so its not really a big deal either way.

The Green Graphs are true ONLY if you leave the Update Installer files in your /Windows/SoftwareDistribution/ folder intact - Normally, after an install is applied, you don't need the installer files anymore, you can delete the $&#! outta 'em. You can do this with "Start Menu - All Programs - Accessories - System Tools - Disk Cleanup utility". There are also 3rd party tools that can excise what's left. As long as you know you don't need to uninstall a Windows Update, cos you do need the installer files to do THAT. But then again, if you create system restore points every 3 days or so, you should be able to restore to a point before any updates were installed.

johnhoh said:

Let me know the glitches and I'll fix them

There's a plethora of bewildering jargon. For example, I have no idea at all what "defcon 1, 3 ... whatever" means or its' relevance.


All sorts of caveats suddenly appear on the horizon. As I understand your initial post, installing Sledgehammer into a Win10 setup allows a cmd file to be run that blocks intrusive MS upgrades unless you permit them. Sounds great and simple ... but then:


we have defcon, askwoody, green graphs. What on earth ?


And interestingly, Google finds the Sledgehammer 2.6.0 in search and lists a few links, including Softpedia. Yet the Softpedia search box itself comes up empty. So Google accurately lists the download screen for Softpedia, yet Softpedia itself insists it cannot find it. Clearly MS dislikes Sledgehammer a lot.

ian50 said:

There's a plethora of bewildering jargon. For example, I have no idea at all what "defcon 1, 3 ... whatever" means or its' relevance....we have defcon, askwoody, green graphs

I make all my posts assuming that google will come to the rescue if anyone is not familiar with something.

If you google MS-DEFCON the very first hit takes you to an internet website called askwoody, where in the first paragraph the site author says he has developed a system he calls "MS-DEFCON" which tells users how much risk they are taking on by installing the latest windows updates.

If you google sledgehammer 2.6.0 the first two hits take you to a majorgeeks download link that works. The third google hit takes you to a softpedia download link that works. But I checked and you are correct, if you simply go directly to softpedia then do a search on the word sledgehammer, nothing comes up. Note though that I never advised doing that.

As for green graphs? That is not a term that appears in my post at all.

> "If you google MS-DEFCON the very first hit takes you to an internet website called askwoody, where in the first paragraph the site author says he has developed a system he calls "MS-DEFCON" which tells users how much risk they are taking on by installing the latest windows updates."


So, nothing to do with the actual application of Sledgehammer. Good ...


Installing Win10 now has a little more practicality over the next few years. Thank you for the post.

Maybe a dumb question, but.... has anyone ever thought about creating piece of software entitled "Make Win10 Look and Act Like Win7" that does all the mods, tweaks, and refinements, mentioned above and create a disk that will simply load up and do the magic? Run the disk in Win10, let it do its thing, re-boot, and now you have a Win7 cocoon around Win10. I bet MSFT would be ticked and get the lawyers involved but it probably would be legal, eh? Maybe not. Just a thought, and if I thought of it I'm sure MANY others have also.