Win11Debloat vs WinUtil

#Side by side

#Where WinUtil does more

• Installing software. Its Install tab lists 239 programs and installs them through WinGet or Chocolatey. Win11Debloat does not install anything.
• Reinstalling removed apps from the same place. WinUtil can reinstall any of its 34 Store apps from its own list. With Win11Debloat you reinstall from the Microsoft Store or with WinGet; our app list gives the command for each app.
• An exit code you can trust in scripts. In headless mode WinUtil exits with 1 when a step failed or timed out, and 2 when nothing was selected. Win11Debloat exits with 0 even when some apps or tweaks failed, so in a deployment you have to read its log. See automation.
• Things beyond debloating. DNS settings, the Ultimate Performance power plan, IPv6 and Teredo, verbose sign-in and crash screens, a Windows Update tab, and a creator for custom Windows ISOs.

#Where Win11Debloat does more

• Apps. 141 apps, each rated safe, optional or not recommended, with 84 in Default mode. That includes HP, Samsung, Acer, ASUS and other OEM apps that WinUtil does not list. See the full list.
• Fine-grained settings. 95 tweaks, with separate switches for Start menu sections, taskbar buttons and grouping, File Explorer's navigation pane, Alt+Tab, and the AI in Edge, Paint and Notepad.
• Other accounts and new accounts. -User applies changes to another account and -Sysprep to the default profile, so accounts created later start clean. WinUtil changes the account it runs in.
• A restore point by default. Default mode makes one first, and turns System Protection on if it is off. In WinUtil it is a tweak you tick; its Standard preset ticks it.
• Undo files you can read. Every Win11Debloat tweak is a .reg file, and so is its undo. We applied and undid each one on Windows 11 25H2: see each tweak tested.
• Windows 10. Win11Debloat still runs on Windows 10 22H2. WinUtil's FAQ says Windows 10 is no longer supported.

#What WinUtil's defaults do that you might not expect

• Its default app selection removes Calculator, along with Clock, Sticky Notes, Sound Recorder, Quick Assist, Weather and 12 others: 18 apps in all. Win11Debloat's Default mode keeps Calculator; it rates it optional.
• Its Services tweak disables three services: DiagTrack (telemetry), CscService (Offline Files) and SharedAccess (Internet Connection Sharing). It sets two more, MapsBroker and StorSvc, to Manual. The Standard preset includes it. If you use Offline Files or share your connection, untick it.
• “BitLocker - Disable” decrypts your system drive. It runs Disable-BitLocker on C:. Win11Debloat's BitLocker tweak only stops Windows from encrypting the drive automatically, and leaves an already encrypted drive alone.
• Edge and OneDrive removal are in its Advanced tweaks, which WinUtil labels CAUTION. In Win11Debloat, OneDrive is rated optional and Edge not recommended, and neither is in Default mode.

#The same aim in both tools

Many tweaks have the same goal. They do not always write the same registry values, so do not assume that undoing one in either tool undoes the other.

#Using both on one PC

Some people run WinUtil to install their apps and Win11Debloat to clean up. That works, and it is what Talon does automatically. Two things to know:

• Each tool's undo only knows its own changes. Where both changed the same setting, undo it in both.
• Win11Debloat's wizard detects tweaks from the registry, so it may show a tweak as already applied because WinUtil set the same value.

#Running each one

& ([scriptblock]::Create((irm "https://debloat.raphi.re/")))

irm "https://christitus.com/win" | iex

Each command fetches the tool from its developer's own domain. Copies from other sites are not the real thing. See our download page for the official Win11Debloat sources and hashes.

#Questions

Something wrong or out of date? Email hello@win11debloat.dev and we will fix it.