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Disassembler0 / Win10-Initial-Setup-Script

PowerShell script for automation of routine tasks done after fresh installations of Windows 10 / Server 2016 / Server 2019
MIT License
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UI and privacy updates (beta) #159

Closed ghost closed 5 years ago

ghost commented 6 years ago

I tested all of these tweaks in Windows 10 Pro 1809. I named the title "beta" as there are some questions left.

1) EnableClearRecentFiles / DisableClearRecentFiles GPO to enable clearing of 'Recent files' list (shortcuts of recently used files).

2) HideMostUsedApps / ShowMostUsedApps GPO to disable 'Most used' list in the start menu. Makes 'Show most used apps' switch greyed out even if 'Let Windows track apps...' is enabled. There was a mention in #110 about NoStartMenuMFUprogramsList was no longer valid in 1803, but I tried in 1809 and it seems to work fine.

3) HideRecentFiles / ShowRecentFiles Similar (overlapping) to HideRecentShortcuts, except this is only for recently used files (not frequently used folders), but it's a GPO setting. Makes 'Show recently used files...' checkbox unchecked. Users can check the checkbox, but it has no effect and after reopening 'Folder Options' window the checkbox is unchecked again. I didn't touch the HideRecentShortcuts tweak, I'll rather wait what you'll think about all of this stuff. ;)

Cosmetic: I added "the" before "Start menu" to ShowRecentlyAddedApps tweak as I saw it in gpedit's description.

Disassembler0 commented 5 years ago

I'm confused. What exactly do the EnableClearRecentFiles and HideRecentFiles do? Where can I see the difference?

Because we already have tweaks like HideRecentJumplists and HideRecentShortcuts which seem to do the same thing. Also the UI checkbox here is correctly set to disabled with HideRecentJumplists.

Disassembler0 commented 5 years ago

Also HideMostUsedApps shows no difference in behavior from what was described in https://github.com/Disassembler0/Win10-Initial-Setup-Script/issues/110#issuecomment-419662180.

Try to replicate as follows:

  1. Go to Settings -> Personalization -> Start
  2. Manually enable Show most used apps (On 1809 it's disabled by default, so no tweak is even required)
  3. Close Settings and check the Start Menu, you should see most used apps.
  4. Apply your HideMostUsedApps tweak.
  5. Check the start menu again, you will still see most used apps.
  6. Go back to Settings -> Personalization -> Start. You will see Show most used apps greyed out but still enabled.

//Edit: Show most used apps is disabled by default since 1703. It took me 20 minutes to find out. I want them back :D

ghost commented 5 years ago

1) EnableClearRecentFiles = recent stuff is normally working during session, but it's just cleared on logoff.

2) Worked for me last time I checked, but if it didn't for you, maybe it's unreliable or something. Forget this tweak then. If I remember well, that was probably an effort to use the GPO instead of HKCU tweak, as you mentioned you generally prefer using GPO.

3) That was an another effort to use the GPO instead of HKCU tweak. But it just covers only half of HideRecentShortcuts tweak, as it actually combines two HKCU tweaks together. So either split the tweak to two - one for disabling files using GPO and second for disabling folders using HKCU, or forget it (until GPO for folders is available/known, if ever), if you feel it would be messy.

Disassembler0 commented 5 years ago

All right, thanks for clarification. After some proper sleep and proper coffee, I took another stab into this and few things became clearer.

HideRecentFiles¹ is a GPO variant for HideRecentJumplists² and HideRecentShortcuts² combined. The GPO description says it covers pretty much all bases, so this seems to be the way to go.

If you enable this setting, the system and Windows programs do not create shortcuts to documents opened while the setting is in effect. Also, they retain but do not display existing document shortcuts. The system empties the Recent Items menu on the Start menu, and Windows programs do not display shortcuts at the bottom of the File menu. In addition, the Jump Lists off of programs in the Start Menu and Taskbar do not show lists of recently or frequently used files, folders, or websites.

HideRecentJumplists² and HideRecentShortcuts² are purely UI tweaks which hide the items form view but the MRU items are still created. HideRecentFiles¹ on the other hand also stops MRU items from being created but doesn't remove any items created up to that point. To actually clear MRU lists, the EnableClearRecentFiles¹ tweak needs to be used.

To summarize:

Provided I have write access to your branch (which is the default GitHub setting), I'll take care of the changes. Unless you want to do it yourself.

Did I get it right this time? :) Any additional remarks or objections?

¹ - Tweaks added by this PR ² - Tweaks already existing in Win10.psm1

Disassembler0 commented 5 years ago

Rebased, renamed, restructured and merged. Thanks again.

FYI, a colleague of mine has opened a Microsoft Premier Support case on my behalf regarding the problem with broken NoStartMenuMFUprogramsList, Start_TrackProgs and overall way of customizing Most used Start Menu items via GPO. Last week their Premier Field Engineer claimed there's indeed a bug and apparently it has been previously reported and even escalated, but there is still no solution.

ghost commented 5 years ago

Sorry for no response to the previous comment, I kinda missed it. Anyway thanks for taking care of this PR and finalizing it.

PS: That's an interesting thing. Keep me updated how the support case turns out... Thx