I messed up.

[Gat Pelsinger]

I was doing a very deep cleaning in Windows. Just debloating the file system. I went into WindowsApps, and saw a lot of folders of programs that I had already installed. And I accidently deleted Zune video, which I thought I do not have installed, but it came up to be the Windows Media player, and I kind of need to have it installed, except that I broke it. And now, an even worse part is that Microsoft Store is also broken for whatever reason. Is there anything I can do instead of re-install?

 

I will not go over the furious rage I have on all these programs shitting out files and folders and never cleaning it up even after being deleted. It really sucks. Computing in 21st century is garbage. Back in 19s when every single CPU cycle, every single byte of memory, every single I/O, and every single file/folder mattered.

 

Edit - Oh yeah, the reason I wrote the second paragraph is to get a recommendation on a software that keeps a record of program installs and uninstalls so I can use that to completely uninstall a program. Thanks.

[NinJake]

Have you tried a "sfc /scannow"? Otherwise you'll have to look up powershell commands for the apps in question and install the apps back via powershell.

[BitGhost]

You can install a lot of those default programs with the CMD, just look up the commands. If you want to fix this issue permanently and need to reinstall anyway take a look at Ghost Spectre https://www.youtube.com/@GHOSTSPECTRE

[Gat Pelsinger]

@NinJake It found corrupted files and repaired them, and I also ran DISM command, but still stuff is broken. Also please read my original post that I edited.

[Needfuldoer]

14 minutes ago, Gat Pelsinger said:

Oh yeah, the reason I wrote the second paragraph is to get a recommendation on a software that keeps a record of program installs and uninstalls so I can use that to completely uninstall a program.

That's what the Programs and Features control panel is for.

[Gat Pelsinger]

@Needfuldoer

 

Not like that. You uninstall a program through its uninstaller, it will leave a lot of junk files. There are certain programs which keep track of which program writes files at which locations. And when we uninstall them through that program, ALL of the files get removed. 

[Needfuldoer]

3 minutes ago, Gat Pelsinger said:

Not like that. You uninstall a program through its uninstaller, it will leave a lot of junk files.

So? It's not 1994, it doesn't matter if it leaves behind a few megs worth of files in folders you're not supposed to be poking around in to begin with.

 

You can use a program like CCleaner to "clean up" orphaned files, but as you found out that can do more harm than good.

[Gat Pelsinger]

@Needfuldoer

 

You are kind of right but does bother me a lot there is unwanted junk on my PC. You know what I mean right?

[Needfuldoer]

Just now, Gat Pelsinger said:

@Needfuldoer

 

You are kind of right but does bother me a lot there is unwanted junk on my PC. You know what I mean right?

I understand what you mean, but worrying about inconsequential things like that isn't worth the mental bandwidth. I wish I had been able to work past that many years before I actually did...

[Gat Pelsinger]

@Needfuldoer @BitGhost @NinJake

 

Okay, so I have made my mind to re-install Windows. But now that I am committing to it, I really want to do a clean install. But the problem is, this laptop that I am using is also sometimes used by my family and if something goes wrong, I am kind of screwed. Now, I have installed Windows a lot of times, but I am worried about stuff like Microsoft Office not working or something. I mean, maybe I get into some product key scandal or something. What is a safe way to handle this? Dual booting? Will that lead to limiting my "cleanliness" of my OS install after I delete the old instance? Also, I have data on the other partitions, and I hope nothing happens to that.

[Needfuldoer]

27 minutes ago, Gat Pelsinger said:

Okay, so I have made my mind to re-install Windows. But now that I am committing to it, I really want to do a clean install. But the problem is, this laptop that I am using is also sometimes used by my family and if something goes wrong, I am kind of screwed. Now, I have installed Windows a lot of times, but I am worried about stuff like Microsoft Office not working or something. I mean, maybe I get into some product key scandal or something. What is a safe way to handle this? Dual booting? Will that lead to limiting my "cleanliness" of my OS install after I delete the old instance? Also, I have data on the other partitions, and I hope nothing happens to that.

Try running System Restore to roll back to the a restore point before you started poking things.

 

The absolute safest way to clean install would be to get a new (blank) SSD and start fresh on that.

 

In the future, if it's in the C:\Program Files, C:\Program Files (x86), or C:\Windows directories, leave it alone.

[NinJake]

@Gat Pelsinger Do you have a perpetual license for Office or do you sign into office via a microsoft account or similar? If it's a perpetual license, you may need to reinstall Office and then enter in the license key, if you have a subscription to office, that's handled all via the internet and you would just download the software and sign back in with your credentials. Upon doing so you'll have Office re-activated.

 

If a system restore doesn't work like @Needfuldoer said, I'd highly recommend finding a blank USB and grabbing the latest installer from Microsoft -- https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/create-installation-media-for-windows-99a58364-8c02-206f-aa6f-40c3b507420d

 

A clean install will for sure sort all your issues out, and as others said, stop worrying so much about the small things in the OS or at the very least create a clean image of your machine after it's "all set" (installing all necessary programs/creating user accounts etc) and then start screwing with it, that way when you inevitably break something you can just restore to that clean slate without having to go through all the other steps of getting your necessary software installed.

 

After you've done that, look into tools such as the Windows Decrapifier script (I'm not sure if there's an updated one offhand for W11, but I've used one for W10 in the past and it got rid of a lot of the bloat you may be referring to, however more recently I just leave the bloat in as microsoft likes to push new crap out, baked into windows updates)

[BitGhost]

On 2/6/2024 at 11:39 AM, Gat Pelsinger said:

@Needfuldoer @BitGhost @NinJake

 

Okay, so I have made my mind to re-install Windows. But now that I am committing to it, I really want to do a clean install. But the problem is, this laptop that I am using is also sometimes used by my family and if something goes wrong, I am kind of screwed. Now, I have installed Windows a lot of times, but I am worried about stuff like Microsoft Office not working or something. I mean, maybe I get into some product key scandal or something. What is a safe way to handle this? Dual booting? Will that lead to limiting my "cleanliness" of my OS install after I delete the old instance? Also, I have data on the other partitions, and I hope nothing happens to that.

Try https://www.easyuefi.com/disk-clone/disk-clone-home.html to make a 1 to 1 copy of the C: drive onto something external. You can boot and restore it if something goes bad.