features.md

All Zoicware Features

Table of Contents

• Registry Tweaks
• Group Policy Tweaks
  • Disable Updates
  • Disable Defender
  • Disable Telemetry
• Disable Services
  • Services Disabled
• Remove Scheduled Tasks
• Debloat
  • Debloat Presets
  • Features
  • Custom Debloat
  • Remove Extras
    • Remove Win32 Apps
    • Remove Miscellaneous Apps
  • Remove Optional Features
  • zUninstaller
• Power Tweaks
  • Import Plan
  • Remove Plans
  • Enable Hidden Plans
  • USB Power Tweaks
• Optional Tweaks
  • General
  • Ultimate Context Menu
    • Add to Menu
    • Remove from Menu
• Windows 11 Tweaks
  • Patch Explorer
  • Windows 10 Restore Tweaks
  • Misc Tweaks
• Install Packages
• Install Browsers
• Install Nvidia Driver
  • Features
  • Post Install Tweaks
    • General
    • Monitor
• Install Network Driver
• Ultimate Cleanup
  • Features
• Activate Windows
• Import and Export Config
  • Features
• Restore Tweaks
  • Enable Updates
  • Enable Defender
  • Enable Services
  • Install Microsoft Store
  • Revert Registry Tweaks
  • Unpause Updates
• Install Other Scripts

Registry Tweaks

• Apply the registry tweaks to automate most Windows quality-of-life and performance settings.
• A registry file will be created on the desktop containing all the registry keys, including a comment describing the function of each.
• Use the Change Mode button to either remove tweaks from the full list of tweaks that ran or select only specific tweaks to be applied.

Registry Tweaks List

Group Policy Tweaks

Disable Updates

• This tweak will disable automatic Windows updates and the related services.

Disable Defender

• This tweak will disable Windows Defender and all related services.

Caution

Disabling Windows Defender will leave you vulnerable to malicious attacks!

Disable Telemetry

• This tweak will disable telemetry via Group Policy; however, this only applies to Server and Enterprise builds.
• Adds telemetry domains to be blocked via the hosts file, gathered from official Microsoft sources.

Note

Other telemetry services and settings are disabled as well.

Disable Services

• This tweak will disable some unwanted services.

Services Disabled

• All Bluetooth Services
• Fax
• Printer Services
• Shared PC
• Remote Registry
• Phone
• Defrag
• Delivery Optimization
• Radio Management
• Windows Insider
• Tablet Input
• diagsvc
• DPS
• WdiServiceHost
• WdiSystemHost
• AssignedAccessManagerSvc
• MapsBroker
• lfsvc
• Netlogon
• WpcMonSvc
• SCardSvr
• ScDeviceEnum
• SCPolicySvc
• WbioSrvc
• WalletService
• Windows Health and Optimized Experiences (whesvc)
• WSAIFabricSvc
• Microsoft Usage and Quality Insights (wuqisvc)

Remove Scheduled Tasks

• This tweak will remove all scheduled tasks except for SvcRestart and CtfMonitor, to avoid issues.

Debloat

• This tweak will allow you to debloat all Windows appx packages and other preinstalled apps.

Debloat Presets

• Debloat All
• Keep Store, Xbox and Edge
• Keep Store and Xbox
• Keep Edge
• Keep Store

Features

• Removes all bloat appx packages, Edge, Teams, OneDrive, Remote Desktop, Health Update Tools, etc.

Note

All debloat presets will clean the Start Menu pinned icons and remove outdated versions of newly installed packages.

Custom Debloat

• Choose specific appx packages, including locked packages.

Caution

Locked packages are locked for a reason; be careful when removing these.

Remove Optional Features

• Uninstall Windows capabilities, optional features and Windows packages.

Remove Extras

Remove Win32 Apps

• Speech App
• Live Captions
• Magnifier
• Narrator
• On-Screen Keyboard
• Voice Access
• Steps Recorder
• Quick Assist
• Math Input Panel

Remove Miscellaneous Apps

• Microsoft Edge
• Edge WebView
• Teams and OneDrive
• Windows Update Tools
• Remote Desktop Connection
• Clean Start Menu Icons
• Clean Outdated Store Apps
• Remove Backup App and Get Started

zUninstaller

• Remove installed apps with additional brute-force cleaning of leftovers.
  • The script will search for leftover files and folders after the app's uninstaller has run. Since the script could potentially find items that aren't related to the app, a popup will appear with the found items, allowing for manual selection.
  • If an item cannot be removed with brute-force methods, a script will run upon the next reboot to remove the file.

Power Tweaks

Import Plan

• Custom power plan for removing power-saving features and core parking.

Remove Plans

• A list of current power plans will allow you to remove any and prevent Windows from switching back to Balanced or other recommended plans.

Enable Hidden Plans

• There are three hidden power plans in Windows: Ultimate Performance, High Performance Overlay and Max Performance Overlay.
• This tweak will allow you to enable any of these to try out.

USB Power Tweaks

• This section will display the USB hubs and devices connected.
• Choose any or all devices to disable power saving.

Optional Tweaks

General

• Black Theme - Applies a black color to the taskbar and Start Menu, as well as a dark user picture and black-themed cursors.
• Transparent Taskbar - Makes the taskbar transparent using TranslucentTB.
• Remove Network Icon From File Explorer - Removes the network icon from the File Explorer navigation pane.
• Remove Recycle Bin Name - Removes the "Recycle Bin" label from the icon.
• Remove Mouse and Sound Schemes - Sets the pointer and sound schemes to None; this will disable all Windows sound effects and use the original Windows XP cursor scheme.
• Hide User Tile In Start Menu - Hides the user icon in the bottom left of the Start Menu.
• Modern Cursor Scheme - Adds the Fluent cursor design from Rectify11.
• Enable Dark Accents - Fixes the default blue accents in Win32 app controls to match your theme color.
• Enable Classic Accents - Applies the classic Windows XP/2000 navy blue to Win32 app controls like menus, highlights and hover states.
• Do Not Include Drivers in Windows Update - Prevents drivers from being downloaded when checking for updates.
• Security Updates Only - Defers feature updates for 365 days and optional updates for 30 days [MAX].
• Pause Updates for 1 Year - Pauses updates for a year as a good alternative to disabling updates completely.
• Prevent OS Upgrade - Prevents Windows Update from upgrading your Windows version such as 24H2 -> 25H2.
• Remove Open File Security Warning - When disabling SmartScreen, Windows will default to the old file security warning when opening files from another PC.
• Block Razer and ASUS Download Servers - Adds all Razer and ASUS servers to the hosts file to prevent the download of their bloat software.

Note

The hosts file is located at C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts

• Apply PBO Curve on Startup - Prompts you to enter your PBO curve OC and applies it when your PC starts up, using PBO Tuner.
• Disable PowerShell Logging - By default, everything entered into the PowerShell console is saved to a file in your AppData directory; this will disable that "feature".
• Enable No GUI Boot - Enables No GUI Boot in msconfig, disabling the boot logo, spinning logo and boot messages.
• Create Shortcut to Start Menu Locations - Creates a shortcut in the Start Menu that lets you access both Start Menu shortcut folders directly, to customize the apps listed in the Start Menu.
• Disable Game Bar Popup - When uninstalling Xbox apps, plugging in an Xbox controller triggers an annoying popup; this tweak disables that [Credit: @AveYo].
• Enable Fast Shutdown/Restart - Decreases the delay before services and apps are killed to shut down or restart, as well as auto-ending open foreground apps without asking.
• Use More Accurate Time Server for System Clock - Sets the w32tm service to use https://www.pool.ntp.org/ as its time server instead of the default one.
• No Mouse Accel on Desktop - Removes mouse acceleration on the desktop when using scaling above 100% [Credit: @MarkC].
• Disable Device Encryption - Disables BitLocker and prevents device encryption from being re-enabled.
• Cleanup Third-Party App Start Menu Shortcuts - Takes third-party app shortcuts out of their folders in the Start Menu and leaves only the shortcut directly.

Ultimate Context Menu

Add to Menu

• Additional Files to New Menu - Adds the ability to create new registry files, PowerShell scripts and batch files.
• Additional ps1 Options - Opens PowerShell files with PowerShell or PowerShell ISE as admin.
• Snipping Tool - Adds a shortcut to open the Snipping Tool or instantly take a snip.
• Shutdown - Adds a Shutdown button to turn off your PC.
• Run as Admin for ps1, bat, vbs files - Adds the ability to run listed scripts as admin.
• PowerShell and CMD - Adds the option to open a PowerShell or CMD prompt.
• Kill Not Responding Tasks - Adds an option to kill any not-responding tasks.
• Delete Permanently - Skips the Recycle Bin and deletes files directly (only works on some files).
• Take Ownership - Allows full access to any folder or file that has locked permissions.
• Legacy Control Panel Settings - Adds a Legacy settings flyout to the desktop context menu with quick access to classic Control Panel applets [Credit: @iFryno].

Remove from Menu

• Add to Favorites - Removes the Add to Favorites option for files and folders.
• Customize this Folder - Removes the Customize this Folder option when right-clicking in some folders.
• Give Access to - Removes the Give access to option from files and folders.
• Open in Terminal - Removes the Open in Terminal option when right-clicking the desktop.
• Restore to Previous Versions - Removes the Restore Previous Versions option after editing a file.
• Print - Removes the Print option when right-clicking some files.
• Send to - Removes the Send to option for files and folders.
• Share - Removes the Share option when right-clicking some files.
• Personalize - Removes the Personalize option when right-clicking the desktop.
• Display - Removes the Display settings option when right-clicking the desktop.
• Extract All for Archive Files - Removes the Extract all option when right-clicking archive files such as .zip.
• Troubleshoot Compatibility - Removes the Troubleshoot compatibility option when right-clicking executable files.
• Include in Library - Removes the Include in Library option when right-clicking folders.
• Scan with Defender - Removes the Scan with Microsoft Defender option for downloaded files.

Windows 11 Tweaks

Patch Explorer

• Remove Rounded Edges - Removes rounded edges using toggle-rounded-corners and runs at startup.
• Enable Windows 10 Taskbar and Start Menu - Runs ExplorerPatcher and automatically applies settings for the Windows 10 taskbar and Start Menu.
• Enable Windows 10 File Explorer - This will use some registry hacks to enable the old Windows 10 File Explorer ribbon; when combined with Enable Windows 10 Icons, the full Windows 10 File Explorer look can be restored without a third-party app.
• Replace Start Menu and Search with OpenShell - This tweak will disable Windows Search and indexing to replace it with OpenShell and import a custom config for a minimal black Start Menu; any current pinned shortcuts will be moved to the OpenShell pinned directory.

Windows 10 Restore Tweaks

• Restore Windows 10 Recycle Bin Icon - This tweak will replace the Windows 11 Recycle Bin icon with the old Windows 10 icon.
• Restore Windows 10 Snipping Tool - Removes the UWP Snipping Tool (Screen Sketch) and enables the Windows 10 Snipping Tool.
• Restore Windows 10 Task Manager - This will create a fake taskmgr.exe that runs Task Manager with the -d command, disabling the new UI.

Tip

This tweak works best with UAC disabled, since the fake wrapper needs to be run as admin.

• Restore Windows 10 Notepad - This will enable the legacy Windows 10 Notepad via the optional feature and automatically set it as the default.
• Restore Windows 10 Icons - This tweak will replace all the Windows 11 icons in File Explorer with Windows 10 icons; this tweak works best with the Windows 10 File Explorer, making it look exactly like Windows 10 without using a third-party app.
• Restore Windows 10 Sounds - Replaces the Windows 11 sound scheme with the old Windows 10 sounds.

Misc Tweaks

• Set all Services to Manual - This tweak sets the startup type to Manual for non-essential Windows services.
  • Services Skipped:
    • AudioEndpointBuilder
    • Audiosrv
    • EventLog
    • SysMain
    • Themes
    • WSearch
    • NVDisplay.ContainerLocalSystem
    • WlanSvc
• Show all Taskbar Tray Icons - Windows 11 makes it difficult to show all taskbar tray icons; with this tweak, all current apps will be shown and new apps will be enabled automatically after a restart following installation.

Note

This tweak uses a scheduled task to update the registry key responsible for showing the app in the taskbar.

• Dark Winver - This will replace winver.exe with a dark-themed version. View it here -> Dark Winver
• Remove Quick Settings Tiles - This tweak removes the additional options in the Quick Settings menu on the taskbar and leaves just the volume slider.
• Disable Notepad Tabs and Rewrite - This will disable the annoying Continue previous session and Rewrite features from the modern Notepad, making it feel more like the legacy one.
• Hide Ads in Settings - This tweak removes the useless tiles in the Settings app.
• Small Taskbar Icons - Makes the icons on the taskbar smaller.
• Set Background Mouse Throttle to 50hz - By default, Windows 11 throttles the polling rate for background listeners to 125hz to reduce unnecessary CPU overhead; this tweak lowers that throttle further, to 50hz.
• Enable New Start Menu - This will enable the new Start Menu layout that has been added to 26200 (25H2) builds.
• Revert New Start Menu - This restores the old 24H2 Start Menu layout for those who want to revert the tweak above or simply prefer to use the old layout on 25H2.

Install Packages

• This will download the latest DirectX and C++ packages from their source.
  • Included Packages
    • DirectX
    • All Visual C++ Redistributables and Runtimes
    • .NET 3.5 from the bootable media used to install Windows
• After they finish, Ngen.exe is run to clean up outdated assemblies, speeding up some apps' launch times.

Install Browsers

• Lets you install a web browser such as Chrome, Firefox or Brave.
• This installer will also apply policies to pre-configure recommended browser settings.

Note

These policies can be removed by running their associated command below in PowerShell.

Reg.exe delete 'HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Chrome' /f

Reg.exe delete 'HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox' /f

Reg.exe delete 'HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\BraveSoftware\Brave' /f

Install Nvidia Driver

Features

• The script will get the four latest Nvidia drivers to choose from.
• Install older drivers by typing in the version number.

Note

Add hf at the end if it's a hotfix driver.

• Alternatively, you can choose an already downloaded driver file.
• Strip Driver - Removes the Nvidia app and all other bloat, leaving only the bare driver.
• Disable Telemetry - This tweak runs automatically, deleting DLL files to prevent telemetry to Nvidia's servers and reduce memory usage.

Note

Only applies to the Strip Driver setting, as this file will break the Nvidia app.

Post Install Tweaks

General

• Import optimized Nvidia Control Panel settings and optionally enable G-Sync, Resizable BAR and/or override DLSS models with the recommended presets.

Note

You can also choose your own NIP file to import.

• Replace the modern Image Scaling option with the much more useful Image Sharpening.
• Enable MSI Mode to switch supported devices from legacy line-based interrupts to Message Signaled Interrupts (MSI).
• Disable GPU Idle States. Recommended only for users who know they need this tweak.
• Disable High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection.

Monitor

• Apply Digital Vibrance - A slider will let you set digital vibrance for all your monitors. This tweak will apply after restarting.
• Disable Monitor Speakers.
• Enable Nvidia colors to ensure your monitor(s) are running at the highest color depth.

Install Network Driver

• The script will check for an internet connection.
  • If there is, the script will search Google for your network adapter's driver.
  • If there's no internet, the script will use local drivers:
    • Realtek Lan
    • Intel Lan
    • Killer Lan
    • Intel Wifi
• After installing the driver, a popup will ask if you want to enable QoS for upload; this tweak will enable some network settings to attempt to prioritize game network traffic, along with some other network tweaks to help with bufferbloat [Credit: @AveYo].

Note

This can be reverted in Revert Tweaks if needed.

Ultimate Cleanup

• Cleans temp files and event logs.

Features

• Clears all Event Viewer logs.
• Force deletes files in both temp directories.
• Clears all Windows logs in places that Disk Cleanup misses.
• Clears Nvidia driver shader cache.
• Removes the windows.old folder, sometimes taking up quite a bit of storage.
• Removes old duplicate drivers.
• Runs the Windows Disk Cleanup utility on all drives.
  • Items Cleaned
    • Active Setup Temp Folders
    • Thumbnail Cache
    • Delivery Optimization Files
    • D3D Shader Cache
    • Downloaded Program Files
    • Internet Cache Files
    • Setup Log Files
    • Temporary Files
    • Windows Error Reporting Files
    • Offline Pages Files
    • Recycle Bin
    • Temporary Setup Files
    • Update Cleanup
    • Upgrade Discarded Files
    • Windows Defender
    • Windows ESD installation files
    • Windows Reset Log Files
    • Windows Upgrade Log Files
    • Previous Installations
    • Old ChkDsk Files
    • Feedback Hub Archive log files
    • Diagnostic Data Viewer database files
    • Device Driver Packages

Activate Windows

• Activates Windows with a generic Pro key and a public KMS server, for 180 days.

Tip

Use Microsoft Activation Scripts (MAS) for permanent activation.

Import and Export Config

• Upon launching the script for the first time, a file named ZCONFIG.cfg will be created in [C:\Users\Username\].

Features

• Build custom config with selected tweaks.
• All tweaks will be updated in the config upon selection.
• Export the config for automated use.
• Import configs and run tweaks automatically with no prompts.

Restore Tweaks

Enable Updates

• Reverts the Disable Updates tweak and enables all registry keys and services.

Enable Defender

• Enables all disabled registry keys and services.

Enable Services

• Enables services disabled by the Disable Services tweak.

Install Microsoft Store

• Installs the Windows 10 Store; for Windows 11, use wsreset -i.

Revert Registry Tweaks

• This will revert most registry tweaks.

Note

Not all registry tweaks can/should be reverted.

Unpause Updates

• Resumes Windows updates and re-enables driver updates.

Tip

To resume updates but keep driver updates disabled, use Resume updates in Windows Update settings instead.

Install Other Scripts

• Creates a desktop shortcut to some of my other useful scripts for Windows tweaking and management.
• This shortcut will run the code directly from GitHub, so it will always be up to date.