How to Uninstall Pre-loaded Apps in Windows 10

After installing Windows 10, some apps get installed by default. However, unlike usual apps, the pre-installed apps do not have an easy point-and-click way to uninstall. These pre-loaded apps consume unnecessary space, andit is recommended to get rid of them if your computer experiences lag or freezes. In this step by step tutorial,you will learn the most efficient ways ofhow to uninstall the bundled software installed and licensed by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM).

Note: Most of the pre-loaded apps can be removed, but there are some that cannot be uninstalled. These apps include Photos, Cortana, Camera, Support, etc.

Prerequisites

To safely follow along with this tutorial, you need to:

Manually create a Restore Point so that you can roll back in case anything goes wrong.

1. Open ‘Control Panel’
2. Select ‘Recovery’ then click on ‘Configure System Restore.’
3. Under ‘System Protection tab’, create a new restore point

Method #1: Uninstall through the settings

This is the easiest way to get rid of your pre-loaded bundle of software from Microsoft. This method is also useful to uninstall third-party applications such as Facebook and Skype.

Step 1

You need to open Windows Settings by hitting the ‘Windows Key’ and selecting settings among the list of available applications. Select the ‘Apps’ option as shown in the illustration below:

Step 2

You now just need to select anapplication you want to remove the hit ‘Uninstall’ as shown in the image below:

Note: Some pre-installed software may not allow you to uninstall using this method. You should use the second method which is the mosteffective.

Method #2: Uninstall individual applications using PowerShell

 PowerShell is a tool that can be used to uninstall apps from Windows 10. This is the best method if you want to uninstall a specific pre-loaded application.

Step 1

Double press ‘Windows Key + X’ then choose ‘Command Prompt (Admin)’ as shown below

Step 2

Type ‘start powershell’ on the command line and hit enter as shown below:

Step 3

Copy and paste the code below onto PowerShell then hit ‘Enter’ to show all the installed applications in the computer:

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers | ft Name, PackageFullName -AutoSize

Step 4

For instance, if you want to remove the Xbox app, then you need to find it in the list as illustrated below:

Step 5

You now need to paste the code below onto the command line and hit ‘ENTER’ as shown below:

Get-AppxPackage *Xbox app* | Remove-AppxPackage

Note: You don’t nee the full name! You can use part of the name along with wildcards as shown in the image below. You obviously should replace the phrase ‘Xbox app’ with the application you wish to remove.

Method #3: Uninstall the whole pre-installed software bundle at once

This method is mostly useful when you want to boost your PC’s speed and performance by freeing space.

Step 1

Open PowerShell as shown in Method #2. You now need to copy and paste the code below then hit ‘Enter to save the changes.

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers | Remove-AppxPackage

You have successfully uninstalled all the pre-installed applications!

Step 2

To ensure that when you create a new user, the pre-loaded application does not get installed, you need to copy and paste the code below:

Get-AppXProvisionedPackage -online | Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage –online

Conclusion

You now know how to uninstall pre-installed applications in Windows 10. Was this article useful? Please let us know in the comment section below.