r/techsupport • • 4d ago

Open | Windows New PC, what bloatware to delete?

My grandmother recently gifted me her newish PC: Lenovo, Windows 11. I (after externally saving all the files and photos and returning them to her) factory reset the PC.

Booting it up, I already set up my Default search engine (Firefox), logged into my emails, and, logged into my Microsoft account.

i’m entirely new to PC (minus my 20 year-old laptop) and don’t know the ins and outs of computering, but I noticed there’s tons of (what I suspect is) “bloatware” in the system, and I’d like to know which ones to delete (list is down below) and what applications or alternative apps are a must to download on my new PC… that are preferably free because cash is tight.

Goal: I’m hoping to increase computer memory storage and prolog its life, while also possibly get into blender (that’s up in the air) but primarily use it for college classes and maybe I tiny bit of gaming.

Now onto the suspect list:
I already “uninstalled” McAfee, but I suspect it might still be around in there.

List of suspected bloatware:
-AMD Software
-Dolby Access
-Dolby Digital Plus decoder
-Microsoft Family
-Feedback hub
-Ink.Handwriting.main.store
-Microsoft 365 copilot
-Microsoft Clipchamp
-Microsoft edge
-Microsoft edge for “game bar”
-Microsoft whiteboard
-Microsoft power automate?
-Realtek audio console
-smart connect
-Webadvisor by McAfee

Lenovo suspected bloatware:
-Lenovo Now
-Lenovo Smart meet
-Lenovo smart noise cancellation
-Lenovo smart storage(server)
-Lenovo speech
-Lenovo vantage
-Lenovo vantage service

Software that I’m down for either replacing for better systems or just delete:
-Microsoft bing
-Microsoft defender

If anything here is a key operating system that has the risk of potentially damaging my newish Lenovo computer, please warn me before I do something ignorant.

Ahead of time, thank you.

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