Let's Start Fresh

The best way to start a new Windows install is to wipe the drive completely and start from scratch. This ensures that there are no remnants of old installs and that the system is as clean as possible. I try and do this at least once per year.

Activation

Warning Make sure you install Windows 11 Profession version.

The Home version lacks some basic features like the ability to pause feature updates indefinitely.

Odds are, your Windows should be activated. If not, don't go and purchase a key. I'll show you how to get an official key from Massgrave, an open-source Windows and Office HWID activator.

Right-click Windows start menu and select PowerShell or Terminal (NOT CMD).

1. Copy and paste the following command into PowerShell and press Enter.

   irm https://massgrave.dev/get | iex
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• A GUI will pop-up and you will see the activation options. Follow the on-screen instructions.
• Make sure you're attempting to activate the same version of Windows that you installed. If you don't know, hit the Windows key and type "About your PC" and press Enter.

Mass Installation of Programs

Now you could search and download each program one-by-one, but let's use another open-source tool to install our programs in bulk from the command line.

Warning This section assumes you have WinGet installed.

To install WinGet, open Microsoft Store and search for App Installer by Microsoft Corporation, and install it.

Now let's run the Chris Titus Ultimate Windows Utility.

1. From an Elevated (Run as Administrator) PowerShell prompt

   iwr -useb https://christitus.com/win | iex
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• There are four parts of this utility: Install, Debloat, a section for legacy windows panels, and another section to pause updates.

• Installs recommended by me

  1. Shell (Expanded Context Menu): Menu tool that allows extra functionality and customization options to the context menu.
  2. 7-zip: Zip extractor and open source file-archiver utility

Select anything else you'll need and then click the Install Selected button to install everything at once. You should be greeted by a bunch of new icons on your desktop if the install was successful.

Later on down the line if you want to save this command to upgrade all your installs at once

winget upgrade --all
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• Tweaks

  1. This section is easy, from the Recommended Selections section, either Desktop or Laptop. This will select the options for you.
  2. If you installed Shell (Expanded Context Menu) from the Installs section, you'll want to also select "Set Classic Right-Click Menu" from the Advanced Tweaks section.
  3. Now just click Run Tweaks and let it do its thing.

• Config

  1. Just a bunch of legacy windows panels from older versions. I don't use this section but it is nice to know that there are options for windows fixes later on down the line.

• Updates

  1. Again, another easy section. You could probably tell which one to select. You're going to want the "Recommended" one.

Customization

These are optional extras that I chose to do. You can skip this section if you want.

• Show Hidden Files

  1. Open File Explorer
  2. Click on the View tab
  3. Check the box for Hidden Items

• Show Seconds in System Tray

  1. Open Registry Editor by hitting the Windows key and typing regedit and pressing Enter
  2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
  3. Right-click in the right pane and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value
  4. Name the new value ShowSecondsInSystemClock
  5. Double-click the new value and set the value to 1
  6. Click OK and restart your computer to get the change