[SunlitCat]

I’m generally skeptical of Windows optimization tools because they tend to change a lot of low-level settings and make troubleshooting harder later on. When someone already has a broken system, it’s often difficult to figure out what’s wrong once a tool like this has touched everything.

This one looks more like a PowerShell automation and debloating script for power users than a classic one-click optimizer, but it still requires knowing exactly what each tweak does. Used without that understanding, tools like this can easily create confusing problems.

[wiseowise]

With Windows you don't troubleshoot issues. You nuke the system, and run the optimizations again.

[sweBers]

Don't forget to test the drive and memory before you really get started.

[yread]

Oh am I doing it wrong by having an 8yr old w10 install that ive moved over 3 computers?

[ragequittah]

That's actually amazing. First I shudder to think of all the cruft in that install. Leftover registry settings from 2015 on. But second kudos for being able to do that. I've tried and failed about 5 times in my life at moving a windows install to another computer since Windows 95 days. I didn't think it was at all possible.

[drekipus]

This is what I learnt back in like 2004.

Glad to see it's still in use.

[II2II]

It was more-or-less true with Windows 3.1 (and likely earlier). Some people could correct some problems by modifying the various configuration files, but most didn't. One of the ironies is that I, as a rabid OS/2 user, managed to get a job managing Windows 3.1 systems since I was one of the few candidates who understood how to do so.

When Windows 95 entered the picture, such wipe-and-reinstall antics were pretty much standard for all but trivial problems. Even then people would usually live with those problems, though a handful of people would be able to go in and fix them. Of course, Microsoft has introduced some functionality over the years to mitigate such drastic measures, but they tend to be variations of the same theme (e.g. restore points rolling back changes, rather than going in to fix what is broken).

[fa3556]

Tweaks are divided into essential and advanced. The essential ones shouldn't have any negative impact on the system. They also document the changes each tweak makes (so you can undo them): https://winutil.christitus.com/dev/.

[keyringlight]

I think the issue is a bit out of the author's control, where tools like this are word of mouth advertised as 'one simple trick' by geeks to a broad audience to fix what they see as wrong with windows. People love convenience and adding "oh by the way, make sure you read/understand the docs first" rarely happens. I think it's part of the move for computing to being appliances that ongoing maintenance isn't seen as needed

[Doches]

> When someone already has a broken system...

To be fair, this tool doesn't claim to fix a broken system; as near as I can tell it doesn't actually remove the underlying Windows installation, so the core problem will remain.

[6510]

Sounds like a fun fan fiction crowd sourcing project. Have some coding agent rewrite windows from scratch. We can all throw some money/tokens at it periodically to keep it going. It should have a live video stream where it narrates and visualizes the state of affairs. Like a soap opera for nerds. In the end a single exe comes out.

[taikahessu]

Oh man, we need also incorporate a lean and agile iterative approach, where everyone need to participate in sprint planning. Imagine having to fit in all the necessary sprint items and how to choose between them!

And in the end of each sprint a single exe comes out. Or multiple. Like a soap opera for product managers.

[6510]

Little computer people was awesome[0]. Upscale it to a full size microsoft office[3]. Give agents neck bearded avatars with green hair named after real employees except from legal, there everyone is a pirate. Make it so that one can zoom in on everything and follow the cringe worthy dialog in overloaded sprint-planners that some~how work out. Take style pointers from KRAZAM Microservices[12] and gar1t's "Nodejs is bad ass rockstar tech"[44]

[0] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkTgX1mGmDg

[3] - https://officesnapshots.com/2014/11/18/microsoft-redmond-bui...

[12] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8OnoxKotPQ

[44] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzkRVzciAZg

[mycall]

Start with ReactOS and go from there.

[fuzzfactor]

You really hit the nail on the head.

in conclusion:

>still requires knowing exactly what each tweak does. Used without that understanding, tools like this can easily create confusing problems.

Which I have always taken as extreme encouragement to use performance-improving setting configuations, and therefore gain the understanding to do so effectively.

If I can do it, anybody can, I'm no engineer.

With this approach in mind it makes the Titus offerings show a remarkable amount of superiority.

As another commenter has noted, 2022 is just when his Utility was beginning to get noticed.

It is being kept up-to-date with Windows 11 as it evolves.

[II2II]

Even though he is sending mixed messages, it is clearly stated that misuse may break the system. The other nice thing about going the PowerShell automation route is the ability to see what was done and reverse particular changes (assuming you can track down which change broke things). That's in start contrast to the binary-only utilities I've seen in the past, where you're pretty much stuck trusting the vendor's claims.

[phoronixrly]

> troubleshooting

I tried that. The advice was to reinstall. Then I remembered that this is the convention with Windows -- when it stops working, reinstall...

[alimbada]

I guess I'm in the minority. I haven't reinstalled on my desktop machine since 2014 according to the install dates of some of my apps. According to the Windows Registry I've gone from 7 Pro -> 8.1 Pro -> 10 Pro. Both upgrades happened in 2015 and since then I've just stayed up to date with the latest 10 Pro build.

I will be switching to Linux before the ESU program expires though. I use my desktop mostly for gaming and have been planning to evaluate a few distros and desktop environments. I have my own Proxmox/TrueNAS/Debian homelab and use macOS daily for work so I'm fine with the CLI and tinkering but I'd rather everything Just Works™ for my gaming machine. I did a lot of dual booting back in the Fedora[ Core] 6-12 days but ultimately it got too tedious.

[bigstrat2003]

I would say that the reason Windows issues are commonly treated as "reinstall it" is because most Windows installs are on corporate PCs. Most of the time, it's not worth spending the time trying to troubleshoot someone's gnarly OS issue when you can fix it in an hour by reimaging. There are exceptions, of course, but most of the time the business just wants that employee back to work ASAP, rather than doing the troubleshooting work.

[fuzzfactor]

Yes, before corporate even had a widespread imaging approach, it could be seen this was the way to go.

For decades I clean install Windows to a new PC one time, and that's about it for true "installs".

Then don't get in a hurry, it's my personal computer and I plan to be using it smoothly for a number of years to come.

So spend "a few" hours tweaking and adjusting settings, and this always takes ridiculously longer with each Windows version, but that's table stakes if you want to participate in a mainstream way without all the mainstream drawbacks.

Ideally of course without ever going on the internet, and then comprehensively back up the system before doing anything else.

Any valuable data is also never allowed to be routinely stored on the C: volume, that's what other partitions are for besides merely multibooting.

What's on C: should always be a minimal number of gigabytes, you have to take some kind of action or the defaults will work against you, massively. People can be misled that no attention is required and C: will be fine.

C: is best restricted to a highly-replaceable OS, containing in addition any programs you decide to install afterward, but none of the user data which is very worth the effort to carefully direct elsewhere at every opportunity.

So after I finish installing and configuring the desired programs, then another comprehensive backup is made.

Before it has even handled any valuable user data yet.

This is Windows, you can't take any chances :\

Then later, in situations when others would best re-install but with the typical hesitation, I boot to a different partition, zero the volume formerly known as C: while it is then dormant, followed by recovery of the (tweaked) bare OS backup, or using the image from when the apps and settings were also completely like I wanted.

Obviously programs that are not robust enough to withstand offline recovery from backup are too garbagey to include in a well-crafted backup image. You can't usually find this out without testing your backups in advance. It would be good before the backups are desperately needed if an emergency were to arise.

With basically minimal disaster preparation (but careful hours by necessity), you may never actually need to do a true "re-install" ever again, just recover from backup instead, and without hardly any hesitation at all. Sometimes more than once a day, in minutes. Rather than hours, which with Windows 11 the hours can now really add up and are sometimes best spread over more than one session :\

In that case it would be nice if calendar days were not required to manually get it like you could do with Windows 95 in minutes. I'm not even talking about gaming.

After all that effort I know how tiring it can be. Even more reason to back up your work before doing anything else, and test the backups routinely. Which is another whole session or two. I know it's the complete opposite of mainstream behavior, but it can really allow you to participate a lot more effectively in the long run.

I know, I know, who tests their backups anyway and why would they start now?

For consumers, routine rapid recovery has been effectively de-emphasized for decades since plenty of users respond to Windows failure by purchasing a new PC, which is crafted to be a more simplified and familiar procedure as long as they can afford it.

And it's really not the worst tragedy if they think they screwed up their own computer so bad they needed a new one, if it makes them be more careful next time ;)

[hu3]

To bem fair I do the same with Linux.