[muu-g]

I think this is on topic but would something like https://ameliorated.info/index.html be a better idea to get rid of any bloatware and help address any privacy issues?

I haven't personally used it but a friend of recommended it to me.

Anyone else have any experience with AME Windows?

[pixelbath]

I do; I installed on both my personal laptop (2012-ish Alienware 17) and my wife's laptop (2020 Asus Vivobook).

The first thing to note is that Windows Update is completely removed, so unless you have fairly-current Windows 10 drivers, you'll never automatically download drivers. Asus doesn't provide an up-to-date ACPI driver, so my wife's laptop was always running at full throttle (which means constant fans) and couldn't sleep or hibernate, and several devices went unrecognized the entire time. Ultimately, I ended up reinstalling the retail version of Windows 10 that was included with the machine and after a few updates it's back to its initial state. Of note, I also tried Windows 8.1 (no drivers available) and Windows 10 LTSB (no ACPI drivers again).

For myself, I've had absolutely no issues with it. All my devices were recognized and it boots extremely quickly (~8 seconds from cold boot on a SATA SSD). Most of the stuff I didn't like about Windows 10 is ripped out. If you're a fairly technical user who's cautious about what they download and run, it might be ideal. I have no problem wiping my machine occasionally, so running without security updates isn't something I'm too bothered about.

[______-]

> would something like https://ameliorated.info/index.html

I installed this to test it out (in a VM) and got a login prompt asking for a password. I went to their site and found no documentation about this at all, so I just never touched it again. It could be changed and no such prompt appears. I might have to try it again.

[kuroguro]

It's user/malte. Yeah, the docs are lacking. AME/AME Guides Telegram groups have been a good source of info for common problems.