One “simple trick” and your next Windows install will be blissfully free of bloatware.

Basically, install Windows as you normally would, but when asked for Time and Currency format, select English (World) instead of your country.

Then let the installer do its thing. Eventually, you will see a window with an ice cream cone on the floor with the words “Something went wrong” and the error message “OOBEREGION.” This cryptic message means that the “out of box experience” (OOBE) didn’t launch because it didn’t know which region to launch.

Click Skip, though, and Windows will install just fine. You won’t be prompted to buy Microsoft 365, you won’t be prompted to pay for a OneDrive subscription, and your Start menu won’t be cluttered with apps.

  • @whynotzoidbergEnglish
    2•1 year ago

    Not until Gen Z gets old enough and numerous enough to start pushing workplaces to adopt Apple, and that’s an even worse direction.

    Elder millennial here. This was said of us, too. I remember main framers sometimes noting this direction and poking fun.

    Yet here I am and the world keeps chugging along in similar ways.