The 11 Microsoft apps I ditch on every new Windows install – and the 11 I keep

Every installation of Windows 11 includes a very long list of preinstalled apps. Some are there because they’re necessary for the operating system to do what it does. Others are there to help Microsoft make more money, because every Windows PC is valuable for its ability to bundle and promote Microsoft’s collection of paid services, including Microsoft 365, OneDrive, Xbox, and Copilot.

Also: How to upgrade your ‘incompatible’ Windows 10 PC to Windows 11 in 2025

Want to see the entire collection? On a brand new PC, go to Settings > Apps > Installed Apps and scroll through the list. If you’ve already installed a bunch of third-party apps, type Microsoft in the search box at the top of the page to filter the list. When I tried that on a brand new installation of Windows 11 version 24H2 just now, that list included 37 apps, some essential and others completely unnecessary.

Thanks to a 2023 decision by European regulators, you can now uninstall most of those apps. But should you? These built-in apps take up very little disk space and use no CPU or graphics power unless you choose to run them. The real issue is simple: If you don’t want an app on your PC, you have the right to remove it.

Also: 6 things I always do after setting up Windows 11

I’ve done exactly that on the systems I use day in and day out for productivity. Some apps earn a place of honor, pinned to Start, or to the taskbar, or to both. Others get uninstalled completely because I know I have no use for them. And then there’s a third group, representing apps that I don’t want cluttering up the Start menu but keep available in the All Apps list, just in case.

Here’s a rundown on how I decided which apps to keep and which to toss. This list is based on the current contents of Windows 11 version 24H2.

The apps I keep

A handful of apps get top billing on my PCs.

1. Microsoft Store

You won’t find this one in the Installed Apps list, but I am including it here anyway. Do not attempt to uninstall this app, even if you find the instructions to do so. The Store app is necessary for updating many of the built-in system apps, and thanks to changes in the Store’s design, it’s also a great way to find and install conventional desktop apps from a secure source.

2. Microsoft Edge

Microsoft’s default browser for Windows is a definite keeper for me. Because it’s based on the open-source Chromium engine, it doesn’t suffer from the serious compatibility problems that plagued its predecessor (which had the same name, confusingly). It’s even compatible with extensions from the Google Chrome store. And it has tracking protection features that eliminate the need to install an ad-blocking extension.

Also: How to tighten your security in Microsoft Edge

Edge has its share of annoyances, especially its insistence on showing coupons for shopping sites and its hard-to-customize home page. But I still consider it a keeper. If you prefer an alternative browser, feel free to remove its shortcut from Start and replace it with your choice. But I recommend that you keep it as a perfectly capable backup browser.

3. Snipping Tool

I absolutely love this little utility, which lets you capture all or part of your screen with a click. You can save the result as a PNG or JPEG file or paste a snip directly into an email message or social media post. You can also create a video recording, which is a great way to create instructional videos. It hasn’t replaced SnagIt, which is still my go-to program for capturing screenshots for work, but it’s good enough for everyday tasks. 

Also: How to screen record in Windows 10 or Windows 11

Amazingly, Microsoft’s developers keep adding features to this product that actually make it better, like the addition of the ability to extract text from a capture.

This one is worth memorizing the keyboard shortcut: Windows + Shift + S.

4. Terminal

If you’ve never learned how to use PowerShell, here’s your chance. Terminal combines a modern command shell (sorry, MS-DOS) with a powerful scripting language, and you can use it for just about any imaginable task in Windows. Terminal is where you work with PowerShell interactively. The Terminal environment is customizable and supports multiple tabs, including that legacy MS-DOS Command Prompt, if you need it.

One of the first things I do with a new installation of Windows is to replace the built-in Windows PowerShell (a 10-year-old app) with the newer PowerShell 7. Open a Terminal window as an administrator, then use this command to install the newer version:

winget install –id Microsoft.PowerShell –source winget

Need help with PowerShell? You’ll find an unexpected source of help later in this list.

5. Quick Assist

Every once in a while, a friend or family member calls me to complain that their Windows PC is doing something wonky and can I please help them fix it? As any ad hoc support person knows, those can be extremely frustrating interactions, because the person on the other end of the call doesn’t always know how to describe what they’re seeing. And trying to get them to run troubleshooting calls can be painful.

That’s where the Quick Assist application comes in handy. The tool allows you to connect directly to another PC, using remote control software that means you can see the other person’s screen and even make configuration changes — with their permission, of course.

Because it’s all built into Windows, you don’t need to instruct your poor lost soul on how to download a third-party utility. This tool makes short work of those exasperating support calls.

6. The classic utilities: Notepad, Paint, Calculator, and Windows Clock

I’ve tossed these throwback utilities into a single listing, even though each one arguably deserves a place of its own. These four apps have all been around since the earliest days of Windows and are still in active development, and they all support modern UX standards.

Also: How to do a clean install of Windows 11: See which option is best for you and why

Notepad now does multiple tabs and auto-saves your work. Paint can do format conversions with minimal effort and is useful for marking up screenshots captured with the Snipping Tool. Good old Calculator can do much more than numbers, including unit conversions and date calculations. It can even produce graphs! And Windows Clock includes stopwatch, timer, and alarm features, as well as a Focus Sessions button that you can use to mute notifications and other distractions.

7. Microsoft OneDrive

I have a Microsoft 365 Family subscription and a Microsoft 365 Business subscription, each with 1 TB of online storage, and I use them regularly. Even if you don’t use the Office apps included with Microsoft 365, though, the 5 GB of storage included with a free Microsoft account is useful for quickly transferring files between devices and is accessible even if you sign in with a local account.

I don’t recommend deleting this app, but I do suggest paying close attention to a confusing feature called OneDrive Backup. If you’re not paying close attention, you might find that all of the files in your Documents, Pictures, and Desktop folders are being backed up to the cloud. For details, including instructions on how to undo this change, see: Is OneDrive moving all your files? How to take back control of your Windows storage.

8. Copilot

I admit I am skeptical about the utility of generative AI tools like Copilot. But I also confess that this app can be tremendously fun to use, and it’s evolving very quickly. Copilot will be much more useful when Microsoft realizes its dream of enabling it to help you interact with apps, adjust Windows settings, and do other drudgery without having to dig through settings dialogs.

9. Sticky Notes

The Sticky Notes app for Windows should feel familiar. Apps that let you stick a virtual Post-it® note on your PC display have been around as long as I can remember. This one, which is built into Windows 10 and 11, retains the simplicity of the original. Its killer feature is that you can also create sticky notes on a smartphone and sync them with your Windows PC. I’ve got the corresponding widgets installed on my Android phone and my iPhone (where it syncs seamlessly with Apple’s own Notes app!), making it pretty easy to jot a quick note to myself and find it later.

10. Solitaire & Casual Games

This one’s my guilty pleasure. I even pay the $10 a year to remove ads, which are otherwise too annoying for me to play.

11. Microsoft Teams

Microsoft finally got around to unifying its work and home Teams clients into a single app, and it actually works pretty well. I get enough Teams meeting requests from outside businesses to justify keeping it, and I even have some friends for whom it’s the preferred alternative to Zoom.

The apps I replace

For as long as I can remember, Microsoft has tried to cover every app category in Windows. The result is a wildly inconsistent collection of apps for fairly common functions. Some are marginally useful but, for the most part, the apps in this group are placeholders. You can do better.

1. Media Player

Microsoft is infamous for assigning confusing names to its apps, and it should get extra credit for this one. The Media Player app in Windows 11 is not the same as Windows Media Player, which has been part of Windows for more than three decades and is still available in Windows 11 (with the word Legacy tacked on) for no apparent reason. The new app with the old name is the successor to the ill-fated Groove app from Windows 10, which in turn can trace its lineage back to the ill-fated Zune app.

Anyway, this is a perfectly good option for playing back random audio and video files. I recommend leaving it installed but replacing it with your favorite alternative media player. (For me, that’s MediaMonkey.)

2. Microsoft Photos

Microsoft Photos is more than competent as a way to view your photo library and do minor edits. You probably have a preferred alternative, so consider doing as I do: Leave this app installed but remove its shortcut from the Start menu and replace it with your favorite photo editing app.

3. Microsoft Clipchamp

Maybe this video editor is good for working with short video clips, but there are dozens of those tools out there, and the real point of this one seems to be to try to convince you to pay $12 a month for a premium subscription. Thanks, but no.

4. Outlook (new)

This is Microsoft’s replacement for the Mail, Calendar, and People apps that were previously included with Windows 10 and later. 

Also: Can you still get a Windows 10 upgrade for free?

Every review I’ve read lines up with my opinion that this is a half-baked effort and worth replacing with anything else. Me, I’m sticking with Outlook Classic for as long as possible.

The apps I dump

I mean no disrespect to the apps on this list, but several are already deprecated and others might as well be, given how little attention they’ve received in recent years. If you’re a fan of any of these apps, feel free to keep using them. The rest of us can cheerfully right-click the Uninstall option and move on.

1. Microsoft To Do

This tool makes a simple task list overly complicated. If you like the idea of syncing those tasks with the classic Outlook desktop app, then maybe it’s for you. Otherwise, consider something like Todoist instead.

2. Microsoft 365 Copilot

This might be the most confusing name in the current lineup of Microsoft apps, and that’s saying something. This tool has nothing to do with the Copilot app that’s now part of Windows. Instead, it’s the old Microsoft Office app, which opens the Office … sorry, Microsoft 365 website in a dedicated browser window. If you click any of the app shortcuts there, it opens in your default browser, and if you actually use these apps from the web, you’ll do just as well bookmarking a shortcut to office.com.

3. Movies & TV

This app is mostly a front end to protected video content you buy or rent from the Microsoft Store, where you can also find content from Amazon Prime Video. I replace it with VLC Media Player.

4. Maps

Back when Microsoft had a mobile strategy, it made sense to have an app that would work with your GPS. Today, if you want to find a location on your Windows PC, you open your browser and use Google Maps or Bing Maps. I suspect this app will be gone when the next major version of Windows is released.

5. News and Weather

It’s a mystery why these two apps are still available in Windows. They haven’t been updated in years and Microsoft’s current strategy is to cram news into Windows 11 Widgets and the default home page for Edge.

6. Cortana

This app is officially deprecated. If you try to run it, you get a message telling you so. Cortana is not installed with currently supported Windows 11 versions, and if you find it hanging around, you should get rid of it.

7. Sound Recorder

I have never, ever used this app and can’t imagine that I ever will. If I want to create an audio note, I use my phone. Doesn’t everyone?

The apps you shouldn’t touch

There are a handful of apps that are installed with Windows for purposes that aren’t immediately obvious. Everything on the System Components list under Settings > Apps falls into this category, as do a few features that have been implemented as apps, like Ink.Handwriting.Main.Store and Web Media Extensions. You might be tempted to uninstall them, thinking you’ll never use them. I recommend against it.

The most prominent entry on this list is the Microsoft Bing app, which powers the search functions on the Windows taskbar and Start menu. If you don’t want to use it, remove the search icon from the taskbar.

Also: The best Windows laptops: Expert tested and reviewed

The Camera app seems like another candidate for removal. But it’s actually useful as a way to check the functioning of your camera and to adjust some camera settings. It’s a keeper, even if you never need to use it.

And finally, there’s the Feedback Hub. The next time you find something annoying in Windows, maybe you can file a bug against it — or, better yet, find that thousands of other people have experienced the same issue and you can upvote an existing report. That kind of feedback is surprisingly effective.