WinRice v0.4 - August 2021 Release

[pratyakshm]

Last edited on 20th June, 14:44 IST

Fixes

• Windows 11: Fixed Windows Update policies not configured.
• Windows 11: Fixed incorrect OS detection.
• Windows 11: More misc. issues I don't intend to recall and list.
• Fixed an issue where sometimes optional features might not uninstall.

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Changelog

General

CleanWin is now WinRice! ❤️

• Added support for PowerShell 7.

• Added PE (pre-execution environment) where the program checks if updated criteria is met. If one or more of it aren't met, WinRice will exit.

• Update code logic (conditions, etc.).

• Improved code quality.

• RiceWin is a lot more faster now.

• Declare absolute location of HKEY_USERS globally.

• Make major tasks optional.

  List (tap to show/hide)

  • Uninstalling inbox apps
    • App Uninstaller type to run - read more
  • Uninstalling optional features
  • Enabling dotNET 3.5
  • Installing Windows Subsystem for Linux
  • Installing Windows Sandbox
  • Using Winstall
  • Using winget import

• Remove unused functions.

  List (tap to show/hide)

  • DisableBrowserRestoreAd,
  • EnableBrowserRestoreAd,
  • DisableM365OnValueBanner,
  • RevertM365OnValueBanner,
  • DisableSuggestions,
  • EnableSuggestions

Apps & Features

WinGet

• Enable all experimental features in WinGet.
• Always install the latest available release of WinGet.
• Added support for winget import.

Winstall

• Add support to include friendly app names (like vscode or Visual Studio Code INSTEAD of Microsoft.VisualStudioCode)
• If no Winstall text file is found in current directory, open file picker window for user to select the file.

App uninstallation

• Add new uninstaller types - App Uninstaller GUI and App Uninstaller List
  Read more.
• Do not remove Camera app on laptops.
• No longer remove Xbox apps like Xbox Game Bar, Xbox Identity Provider, etc.

Feature (un)installation

• No longer uninstall Quick Assist.
• Check if features are in their intended state before forcefully changing state.
• Windows 11: Do not uninstall Snipping Tool since its bound to Snip & Sketch app.
• Windows Subsystem for Linux: Use Microsoft's updated method to enable the feature - read more.

Miscellaneous

• Unpin Microsoft Edge from taskbar.
• Windows 11: If older versions of Microsoft Store and Widgets are installed, update them.

Privacy and Security

• Turn off Suggested content in Settings.
• Turn off silent installation of suggested apps.
• Windows 10: Turn off Suggested content from Start.

Tasks and Services

• Turn off Hibernation on desktops.

• Turn off Delivery Optimization.

• Do not run EnablePowerdownOnShutdown by default since they might cause bugchecks on some devices [uninvestigated].

• No longer disable some services because Windows 11 and 10 only run them on demand, not always. Disabling these services might as well result in reduced functionality and / or features.

  List (tap to show/hide)

  • DMWAppPushService
  • RetailDemo
  • DiagnosticsHub.StandardCollector.Service
  • MapsBroker
  • NetTcpPortSharing
  • RemoteRegistry
  • SharedAccess
  • TrkWks

Windows Explorer

• Turn off Chat from taskbar.
• Turn off Widgets from taskbar.
• Hide Recent files in Quick Access.
   

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Known issues

• Windows 11: Apps are not unpinned from start menu. Tracker for currently known issues #16 (comment)

Release notes

• GUI version has been deprecated and is now in its archived state. Hence, it will now no longer ship with WinRice releases.

Credits

• Thanks to @YaAlex3 for rewriting the entire pre-execution environment when it was under development with better code.
• Also thanks to @YaAlex3 for the second time for forcing me to update code logic and cleanup code.
• Also thanks to @YaAlex3 for suggesting WinRice as the new name for this project.
• Thanks to @vancelmusic for forcing me to deprecate GUI variant.

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This discussion was created from the release WinRice v0.4 - August 2021 Release.