Setting up a new computer is annoying, especially if that computer is running Windows. There are all kinds of frustrating things Microsoft adds to the operating system that you want to remove, and all kinds of apps that you actually want but need to install yourself.
WinUtil is a free and well regarded tool maintained by Chris Titus that does all of this at once. With it, you can install dozens of apps by checking a few boxes and run common tweaks, from uninstalling OneDrive to disabling privacy-invasive telemetry.
There are two ways to get started. The free way is to run Windows PowerShell as an administrator. To do this, right-click the PowerShell in the Start menu and click “Run as administrator.” After that, you need to copy and paste the launch command from the documentation into the shell. If you’d rather avoid that step you can buy an EXE file for $10, supporting the developer in the process.
Either way you will be presented with a window broken into five tabs. The first lets you install a wide range of software in just a couple clicks. Simply check the applications you want and then click the Install/Upgrade Selected button.
Credit: Justin Pot
Now, all of the applications will install without prompting you. There’s a progress bar in the top-right corner, or, if you prefer, you can reopen the PowerShell window to watch the installations happen there.
Credit: Justin Pot
The next tab, Tweaks, lets you make all kinds of adjustments. It’s probably best not to check anything unless you understand how it works—you can click the question mark next to each item for more information. But some of the tweaks that are most useful include bringing back the classic right-click menu, removing the annoying Home and Gallery tabs in Explorer, and disabling Copilot. Check all the tweaks you want, then click Run Tweaks to make those changes.
Credit: Justin Pot
The right panel has a bunch of common Windows preferences you can configure just by clicking. Here, you can do things like enable dark mode, turn off Bing search in the start menu, and show hidden files.
The next tab, Config, lets you install a bunch of common Windows features that aren’t included by default—think things like .NET or the Windows Subsystem for Linux. You’ll find a button for automatically logging into your PC, instead of requiring a password each time, which can be nice for a desktop computer you’re not worried about others accessing. There’s also quick access to settings panels that are somewhat buried in Windows 11, including the traditional Control Panel.
Credit: Justin Pot
Another tab, Updates, lets you quickly configure how often updates are installed. By default, Windows will install updates as soon as they’re available. You can instead delay security updates by four days and feature updates by two years. This might be a good idea if you value stability over access to the latest features. You can choose to disable all updates, but that’s probably not a good idea.
Finally, there’s Microwin, which makes stripped down versions of the Windows installer. You’ll start by downloading a Windows ISO from Microsoft and the tool will remove any features you don’t want.
It’s a lot of features crammed into one little utility. There’s even support for exporting your collection of applications and tweaks, allowing you to run an identical process on other computers. You can learn more about that, and get details about all the tweaks offered, by reading the documentation.