Initial Workstation configuration with MS Windows 10 20H2 (part 3) - Other settings, App settings

In this third part, we will make adjustments to other settings as well as application-specific selections and settings.

Previously during the first part, we have tackled the first steps of our Windows 10 20H2 installation. In the second part, we configured the settings needed for our system in the “Modern” Settings application. Finally, part 4 is for more hard-to-reach settings that need group policy, command line, and registry tinkering.

So here’s part 3 of a 4-part series:

Other Settings

Configure Remote Desktop

Configure Remote Desktop

Mouse scheme

In Control Panel -> Mouse -> Pointers -> switch to None (default: Windows Default (system scheme))

Performance - Visual Effects

In Control Panel -> System -> Advanced System Settings -> Advanced -> Performance -> Settings

• Switch to Custom
  • Uncheck:
    • Animate controls and elements inside windows
    • Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing
    • Animations in the taskbar
    • Enable Peek
    • Fade or slide menus into view
    • Fade or slide Tooltips into view
    • Fade out menu items after clicking
    • Slide open combo boxes

Start Menu

Go to All Apps and:

• Uninstall - all uninstallable default Windows apps
• Unpin - all but Store and Microsoft Edge
• Pin
  • Internet Explorer (from All apps->Windows Accessories)
• Resize
  • Microsoft Edge (Small)
  • Internet Explorer (Small)
  • Store (Small)
• Rename all group names to blank

Taskbar

• Right-click Taskbar -> Search -> Click Hidden
• Uncheck Show Task View button
• Uncheck Show Cortana button
• Unpin “Store” from the Taskbar

Desktop

• Right click Desktop -> select View -> Select Small Icons

Windows Explorer

• Quick access
  • Unpin Downloads, Documents, Pictures, Videos, etc.

Recycle Bin

Right-click Recycle Bin and click on Properties. Tick the Display delete confirmation dialog

Add/Remove features

Go to Control Panel > Programs & Features > Turn Windows features on or off

• Add:
  • Hyper-V
  • Virtual Machine Platform
  • Windows Hypervisor Platform
  • Windows Sandbox
  • Windows Subsystem for Linux

Windows Subsystem for Linux

To enable WSL2 as default type in a Powershell: wsl –set-default-version 2

To install, go to Microsoft Store and search for Ubuntu. Click Get and wait for the installation. Once the download has completed, select “Launch”. This will open a console window. Wait for the installation to complete then you will be prompted to create your UNIX user account.

To reset the subsystem remove the app from the store, and reinstall.

If applications seem to hang and need “Enter” to continue the command line interface goes into “Select” mode. If you don’t like this behavior right-click the main window bar, choose Defaults and disable Quick Edit mode.

Install needed applications in Windows Linux Subsystem: sudo apt-get install python3-dev python3-pip clamav clamtk tmux lftp screenfetch scrot curl ffmpeg sudo -H pip3 install –upgrade pip

If you need persistent alias entries, add them to .bashrc with: nano .bashrc

Hyper-V

In Action-> Hyper-V Settings change Virtual Hard Disks and Virtual Machines default location

Enable God Mode

Create God Mode folder on the root of C: with name: God Mode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

File Explorer Options

• Open File Explorer to: This PC
• Privacy
  • Show frequently used folders in Quick access - uncheck
• View
  • Enable Display the full path in the title bar
  • Show Hidden files, folders, and drives
  • Disable “Hide Extensions for known file types”
  • Disable “Show preview handlers in preview pane”
  • Disable “Show sync provider notifications”
  • Disable “Use Sharing Wizard”

Also open up My Computer in C:. Drag Size column to be after the Name column. Go to Organize-> Folder Options-> View-> click on Apply to Folders

Region

• In Format: change to Greek (Greece)
  • Short time: HH:mm
  • Long time: HH:mm:ss
• In “Administrative” click on “Copy Settings” then Check “Welcome screen and system accounts” and “New user accounts”
• In “Administrative” click on “Change system locale…” to Greek (Greece)

Security And Maintenance

• Change User Account Control settings: Turn off This is not recommended to anyone.

Sound

• Change system sounds: “No Sounds” In Recording disable Microphone as well

System

• View advanced system settings: Settings in “Startup and recovery”: Disable “Automatically restart” on System failure

App Settings

Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based)

In the Settings cog:

• Page layout: Custom
  • Show quick links: Off
  • Image of the day: Off
  • Content: Content off
• In advanced -> New tab tips: Off

See your favorites, passwords, history, and more on any device: Off Help us make Microsoft experiences more useful to you: Off

Settings:

• Profiles: Sign out of profile
  • Passwords:
    • Offer to save passwords: Off
    • Sign in automatically: Off
  • Payment info:
    • Save and fill payment info: Off
  • Addresses and more:
    • Save and fill addresses: Off
• Privacy and services:
  • Tracking prevention: On - Strict
  • Clear browsing data -> Choose what to clear every time you close the browser: Turn all On
  • Privacy:
    • Send “Do not track” requests: On
    • Allow sites to check if you have payment methods saved: Off
  • Help improve Microsoft Edge:
    • Improve Microsoft products by sending data about how you use the browser: Off
    • Make searches and Microsoft products better by sending info about websites you visit in Microsoft Edge: Off
  • Personalize your web experience:
    • Improve your web experience by allowing Microsoft to use your browsing history from this account for personalizing advertising, search, news and other Microsoft services: Off
  • Services:
    • Use a web service to help resolve navigation errors: Off
    • Suggest similar sites when a website can’t be found: Off
    • Microsoft Defender SmartScreen: Off
    • Address bar:
      • Show me search and site suggestions using my typed characters: Off
      • Search engine used in the address bar: DuckDuckGo
      • Manage search engines: Delete all but DuckDuckGo
• Appearance:
  • Theme: System default
  • Show favorites bar: Never
  • Show favorites button: Off
  • Show Collections button: Off
• On startup:
  • Open a specific page or pages: add about:blank
• New tab page:
  • Customize your new tab page layout and content:
    • Page Layout (by clicking the cog in a new page): Custom
      • Show quick links: Off
      • Image of the dat: Off
      • Content: Content off
• Site permissions:
  • Cookies and site data:
    • Block third-party cookies: On
  • Location: Blocked
  • Camera: Blocked
  • Microphone: Blocked
  • Motion or light sensors: Blocked
  • Notifications: Blocked
  • Javascript: Allowed
  • Adobe Flash: Always block flash (recommended)
  • Images: Show all
  • Pop-ups and redirects: Blocked
  • Ads: Blocked
  • Background sync: Off
  • Automatic downloads: Off
  • Unsandboxed plugin access: Off
  • Handlers: Allowed
  • MIDI devices: Off
  • USB devices: Off
  • Protected content:
    • Allow identifiers for protected content: Off
    • Allow identifiers for protected content (computer restart may be required): Off
  • Clipboard: Off
  • Payment handlers: Off
  • Media Autoplay: Limit
• Downloads
  • Location: Desktop
• System:
  • Continue running background apps when Microsoft Edge is closed: Off

Start always in private mode

Right-click Start menu icon, and click More and Go to file location. Right-click Microsoft Edge -> Properties and add -inprivate at the end of Target:

Extensions

To install Chrome extensions, visit the Chrome Web Store. Edge should display a banner at the top that provides you with an option to allow extension installations from that store. Might need to enable javascript on this site.

Add:

• HTTPS Everywhere
• uBlock Origin

Configure as per normal. - Allow in Private

To remove the icons from the MS Edge bar, right-click the icon and select Move to menu

Internet Explorer Options

• Change your homepage: Use new tab and about:blank
• Delete browsing history on exit: Enable

Advice: Start IE once to get over any setting screens - choose “Don’t use recommended settings”.

• In Settings -> Advanced -> Security -> Check if Enable Windows Defender SmartScreen is OFF
• In Settings -> Advanced -> Security -> Enable Empty Temporary Files folder when browser closes
• In Settings -> Advanced -> Browsing -> Enable Hide the option to Open with Microsoft Edge in the right-click menu
• In Settings -> Advanced -> Browsing -> Disable Use inline AutoComplete in the Internet Explorer Address Bar and Open dialog
• In Settings -> Programs -> Manage add-ons -> Go to Search providers -> Click on Find more search providers... and select Google Search -> Untick Search suggestions and click Add. Then close all windows, and go to Settings -> Programs -> Manage add-ons -> Go to Search providers -> and Enable Google as default & Remove Bing.
• In Settings -> General -> Tabs, select A blank page in When a new tab is opened, open:
• In Settings -> Content -> Autocomplete -> Settings -> Remove all checkmarks and Delete AutoComplete history
• Change Downloads location by using Ctrl-J
• Remove everything from Favourites bar and Enable “Show” Favorites bar. Also remove Microsoft Websites, MSN Websites & Windows Live bookmarks

Start always in private mode

• Right-click Start menu icon, and click More and Go to file location. Right-click Internet Explorer -> Properties and add -private at the end of Target:

Photos App

in Settings: * Remove folders from Sources * Linked duplicates: Off * Mouse wheel: Zoom in and out * Albums: Off * Video: Off * Notifications: Off

Maps App

in Settings:

• Remember what I search for: Off

Store App

in Settings:

• Update apps automatically: Off
• Show products on tile: Off
• Video Autoplay: Off
• Xbox App -> Show a message when redirected to the Xbox App: Off

This concludes the third part of the setup guide. Continue on part 4

Thank you for reading! Be sure to share this post if you found it helpful and don’t hesitate to chat with me about it!

This post was first published on Stathis’ log book by Stathis Athanasiadis aka StatAth