What actually ships on a new PC
Manufacturer images pile up the same suspects: a McAfee or Norton trial with its helper processes, WildTangent games, registration and update assistants, browser-toolbar offers, and a Start menu dotted with promoted pins — Candy Crush-style games, streaming apps and shortcuts to apps that are not even installed yet. Windows itself contributes a few Store suggestions, and the taskbar Chat button on builds that still have it is another common target.
Not everything third-party is bloat. Some OEM utilities manage the fan curve, battery charging limits or function keys, and removing them changes how the hardware behaves; vendor update tools often deliver firmware that Windows Update does not. The rule of the day: remove what you can name and do not use, keep what you cannot replace, and check each unknown name in a search engine before deleting.
- Antivirus trials (McAfee, Norton) with their background agents and renewal pop-ups
- WildTangent games and other game-portal preinstalls
- OEM registration, support and update assistants
- Promoted Start pins for apps that are not installed — unpinning does not uninstall
- Microsoft 365 or game-subscription trials preinstalled by the vendor
Uninstalling in the right order
Start with a restore point: type Create a restore point in Start, open System Protection and click Create — a five-minute safety net before the bulk session. Then open Settings → Apps → Installed apps, sort by size or install date, and uninstall the trials and helpers one by one; anything machine-wide asks for an admin password. Unpinning Start tiles is a separate story: right-click the tile → Unpin from Start, and for fewer suggestions switch off the recommendations in Settings → Personalization → Start.
Repeat removals go faster in a terminal: winget list shows everything installed, winget uninstall --id <id> removes each item, and stubborn inbox apps answer to PowerShell's Remove-AppxPackage. Once the trial antivirus is gone, protection passes back to Windows Security, which re-enables automatically — no gap in coverage. After the sweep, open Task Manager → Startup apps and disable the helpers that survived their hosts.
What to skip and what comes next
Skip the community one-click debloat scripts. They remove dozens of packages by pattern, including Store and security dependencies; their effects shift with every Windows feature update, and troubleshooting a PC broken by a script you ran once is a bad trade for a saved hour of manual work. Windows 11 already ships lean — targeted uninstalls do the same job without collateral damage.
Once the list is clean, finish with the leftovers: trial software leaves folders and caches in %APPDATA% and %LOCALAPPDATA%, and a cleanup pass — manual or via a tool like Kleaner PRO — collects the megabytes the uninstallers skipped. Set a reminder to check Installed apps again after the next big Windows feature update: some promoted apps come back with it.
Questions and Answers
Is it safe to remove preinstalled apps from a new PC?
Yes, for trials, game portals and registration helpers — Windows keeps working. Check the name of each OEM tool first: some manage fans, battery or function keys.
Do I need PowerShell to clean bloatware from Windows 11?
No. Settings handles most apps, winget uninstall speeds up repeated removals, and Remove-AppxPackage is only needed for stubborn inbox apps. One-click debloat scripts are best avoided.
Will removing bloatware speed up my PC?
Somewhat — fewer autostarting helpers mean a slightly faster boot and a calmer taskbar. The real wins come from trimming startup apps and the antivirus trial, not from deleting every Store app.
Know what is included before you buy.
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