2025-08-07 00:00:00

Windows 11’s consumer editions are ABSOLUTE CRAP. There’s no sugarcoating it. Even Windows 11 Pro is a pile of dogsh*t all around.

But when you delve into the Enterprise, Server, and Education SKUs, man alive, these are just so great. Your GPOs to disable Telemetry and the Web Search on Windows are actually functional.

And I said Windows 11 - because on Windows 10, these GPOs aren’t just as effective for some weird reason.

You can fully disable telemetry on Windows 11 by entering the Group Policy Editor and going to these menus:

Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Data Collection and Preview Builds - Allow Diagnostic Data, set to Enabled, select Diagnostic Data off.
Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Software Protection Platform - Turn off KMS Client Online AVS Validation - set to Enabled (only relevant if you use KMS as an activation method for Windows or Office)
Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Search > Don't search the web or display web results in Search - Enabled
Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Search > Don't search the web or display web results in Search over metered connections - Enabled

Doing so will instantly make Windows more breathable. Really. My search now does it all locally and no longer shows web content. And furthermore I don’t get to see widgets. Out of my way, bloody widgets!

Of course you could use LTSC or Server but these are stupidly expensive. Especially LTSC, requiring you to have a dedicated MSP or something stupid like that.