Homepage
@ NoelC and others,
Maybe this free program can help you strip Windows down even more, or get in touch with the Dev. to share ideals and technics. Works on Windows Vista, 7, 8/8.1, 10 (Home/Pro/Ent). Maybe your interested - maybe your not, as I searched the forum - it wasn't listed or talked of. Now you know of it. I've played with it some. I lost my pictures thumbnails and wrote to the Dev. about it this was his answer: Blackbird disables folder cache rebuilding. While this speeds up Explorer considerably it may also cause picture thumbnails to no longer show up.
You can run Blackbird in Recovery mode (blackbird -r) then you can run Blackbird without applying speed tweaks (blackbird -nospeed).
This will keep your privacy secure while also allowing you to see thumbnails normally.
I found this (your) thread most interesting, why, to me I don't understand MS not keeping a desktop version instead of all the C_aP with the direction it has taken, I applaud your efforts and research here...
""So we took Windows apart, piece by piece, analyzed web traffic, system calls, file changes, etc., compared different configurations, designed and built a stand-alone tool and spent hundreds of hours on beta testing so anyone can use it and it gets the job done right. ""
Blackbird is just a fancy script packed inside an exe. OR
You can also run Blackbird from CMD with the following command-line switches available:
NOTE: You can run up to 9 different switches at once, excluding -R, -STD & -SCAN which can only be executed one at a time.
blackbird -v = Verbose Mode. Displays additional information on all changes as they're being made.
blackbird -s = Silent Mode. No additional user interaction required, good for scripts
blackbird -r = Recovery Mode. Restores all values changed by Blackbird to default Microsoft values.
blackbird -std = Run Blackbird SpyTask Destroyer (see below).
blackbird -scan = A full privacy scan of your system.
blackbird -kc = Kill Cortana completely (prevent searchUI.exe from loading) / can be unkilled using Blackbird Recovery mode.
blackbird -ke = Kill Edge browser.
blackbird -kf = Kill Feedback/ContactSupport.
blackbird -noupdate = Skip blacklisted Windows update removal.
blackbird -nohost = Skip host blocking.
blackbird -nospeed = Skip system optimizations.
blackbird -f = Show frequently used programs in Start menu.
blackbird -o = Enable OneDrive.
blackbird -x = Enable Xbox Live services.
blackbird -t = Enable Sensors / Auto-screen rotation on tablets.
blackbird -b = Disable Runtime Broker (will cause most UWP/Metro apps to not work).
blackbird -d = Disable Windows Defender.
blackbird -h = Disable Hibernation (deletes hiberfil.sys file from root).
blackbird -u = Disable automatic installation of updates / Sets to manual download and install only.
blackbird -m = Disable automatic installation of Malicious Removal Tool updates.
blackbird -n = Remove Blackbird network blocks.
blackbird -? = Displays help information.
"SpyTask Destroyer" can be used to force removal of specific Windows scheduled tasks that for some reason cannot be disabled by running Blackbird normally.
Should STD find any such tasks it will first attempt to end and disable it. Only should it fail to do so will STD force removal of the task.
A signature engine is used so STD only removes pre-configured tasks that can be safely disabled and are known data-collectors.
Any tasks explicitly deleted by SpyTask Destroyer CANNOT BE RESTORED without Windows reinstallation/recovery/factory defaults.
What Blackbird Does-
- Disables OneDrive
- Disables Cortana
- Disables Bing-integration
- Disables Wi-Fi Sense
- Disables system-wide Windows/Office Telemetry on any Windows version
- Disables all Diagnostic-tracking / CEIP / Telemetry / Compatibility services, tasks and agents
- Disables web content evaluation / URL check-in ("SmartScreen")
- Disables Windows Media Online DRM
- Disables Windows P2P Update sharing
- Disables all AutoLoggers
- Disables Start menu ads
- Disables Windows Error Reporting
- Disables Xbox Live services
- Prevents cross-device synchronization
- Prevents all location/contacts/handwritting/password sharing
- Prevents device meta-data collection
- Patches various data-leaks (IE/EDGE/Defender/Explorer/MRT)
- Removes Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA)
- Removes your unique Ad-ID tracking token and disables further Windows advertising profiling
- Removes GWX and all Windows 10 Upgrade triggers, icons, messages and other nagging
- Removes Windows 10 Upgrade setup files on Windows 7/8
- Removes a bunch of Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 telemetry updates
- Blocks 150+ different tracking/telemetry/ad servers (supports IPv6/IPv4, Wifi/Eth, custom lists)
- Bonus blocks (some) Youtube, Skype, Facebook ads
Hope this really helps some of you,
Gass