# win-mute: an open-source switch for Windows AI, telemetry, and bloatware (Windows 10/11)

> Source: <https://dev.to/brenoalvim/win-mute-an-open-source-switch-for-windows-ai-telemetry-and-bloatware-windows-1011-1oil>
> Published: 2026-09-11 18:50:07+00:00

I'm tired of Windows shipping things I never asked for: AI features turned on by default, telemetry I can't fully see, bloatware I uninstall every time I set up a new machine. So I built a PowerShell toolkit that shuts all of it off in one place, on both Windows 10 and 11.

**win-mute** ships 72 tweaks across 6 categories:

| Category | Covers | 
|---|---|
| AI | Copilot, Recall, Click To Do, Cortana, Bing web search, generative fill, Search Highlights, clipboard Suggested Actions | 
| Telemetry | Diagnostic data level, DiagTrack, advertising ID, activity history, CEIP, error reporting | 
| Services | Retail Demo, Maps broker, Fax, Windows Search indexing, Remote Registry, Xbox services | 
| ScheduledTasks | CEIP, Application Experience, feedback prompts, autochk telemetry, WER queue | 
| Bloatware | 25 inbox Appx apps (Xbox apps, Bing Weather/News, Solitaire, Skype, Teams consumer, etc.) | 
| Privacy | Start/lock screen ads, "Recommended" section, classic right-click menu, taskbar Chat icon, Widgets, OneDrive nags, sponsored app auto-install, and more | 

Each tweak is a plain PowerShell object with `Apply`, `Revert`, and `Test` script blocks, touching the same levers those closed-source tools use: Group Policy registry keys, service startup types, scheduled tasks, Appx package removal. Nothing hidden, `modules/*.ps1` reads like a list of ingredients.

Instead of guessing which toggles matter, I searched Reddit and tech-press roundups for real Windows 10/11 complaints (2025-2026) and matched each one to a confirmed registry fix before it went into the code:

No version picker. `Get-WindowsMajor` checks the build number, and tweaks that only exist on one OS (Copilot, Recall, the classic context menu fix, Widgets) disappear automatically on the other. 64 of the 72 tweaks apply on Windows 10, 70 on Windows 11.

```
# Interactive picker
.\Invoke-WinMute.ps1

# No prompts, one or more categories
.\Invoke-WinMute.ps1 -Categories AI,Telemetry -All

# Only the tweaks with zero functional downside
.\Invoke-WinMute.ps1 -All -SafeOnly

# Full rollback
.\Invoke-WinMute.ps1 -Undo
```

For anyone who doesn't want to touch PowerShell, `START-GUI.bat` opens a WPF window that self-elevates, shows one big "Apply now" button for the recommended safe tweaks, and tucks the full checklist behind "Customize". It switches between English and Portuguese with one click, no restart needed.

I went back through all 72 tweaks specifically checking for that. None of them touch personal files, they only flip registry values, service startup type, or scheduled task state, or uninstall a Store app (which removes that app's own local cache, never your Documents or photos). Found one real gap in the audit: forcing "let apps run in background" off globally can stop mail/chat apps from showing live notifications, so I reclassified that one from Safe to Moderate instead of leaving it in the one-click bucket. A System Restore point gets created by default before any change, as a second safety net.

One thing left alone on purpose: forced Windows Update and auto-restart behavior. Turning that off trades a UX annoyance for unpatched security holes, and that trade isn't worth it even under `-All`.

```
git clone https://github.com/obrenoalvim/win-mute
```

MIT licensed, PowerShell only, no external dependency. Repo: [https://github.com/obrenoalvim/win-mute](https://github.com/obrenoalvim/win-mute)

What's the Windows "feature" you'd disable first if you could?

Ps: I'm building BloodLink, a free platform connecting blood donors to donation campaigns.