24/04/2025

[Windows 11] Uninstall widgets app

If you do not need the widgets functionality on your Windows machine, you can disable it from settings or completely remove it with:

winget uninstall "windows web experience pack"

[Windows] Hash a file

Windows offers a builtin tool to compute the hash of a file (example MD5):

CertUtil -hashfile FILENAME MD5

To view the list of supported options and hash algorithms:

CertUtil -hashfile -?

23/04/2025

[Windows 11] Disable telemetry and diagnostic data

Windows 11 collects some data and allows some configuration under Settings > Privacy & Security > Diagnostics & Feedback however you are not allowed to completely disable it. If you wanted to do so, you could apply a policy using the Local Group Policy Editor app (gpedit).

Find the Local Computer Policy > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Data Collection and Preview Builds > Allow Diagnostic Data

Click to modify it, enable it and set it to "Diagnostic data off"

You can then logout and login again or run from a terminal the command to force reload policies:

gpupdate /force

[Windows 11] Remove PhoneLink app

Removing the PhoneLink app on Windows, is as easy as running (from administrator shell):

Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.YourPhone -AllUsers | Remove-AppxPackage