Ten minutes after unboxing a new laptop, before you've opened a single browser tab, Windows 11 has already eaten something like 30 to 60 GB of your drive. Out of the box. No downloads, no photos, no games. Just the factory image and a pile of preinstalled apps nobody asked for.
A friend handed me her new machine last month because it kept throwing "low disk space" warnings on a 256 GB SSD — a drive that should feel roomy for someone who only uses Excel and Netflix. We didn't buy anything. We didn't reinstall Windows. We just removed bloatware and ran a cleanup, and she ended up with 22 GB back. That's the whole trick, and it's less mysterious than the internet makes it sound.
Below is the exact process I use, the mistakes I made learning it, and an honest number for what you can expect to reclaim.
Key Takeaways
- Bloatware is preinstalled software you didn't choose — trial antivirus, game promos, OEM utilities, and Microsoft's own bundled apps.
- Windows 11 typically ships with 30–60 GB used before you install anything; a good cleanup nets most people 15–30 GB.
- PowerShell's
Get-AppxPackageremoves what Settings won't let you touch. - Never delete Microsoft Store itself or core runtime components — you'll break updates.
- Android is a different beast: you can only fully disable, not always uninstall.
- Cleanup gets you space. Startup-app trimming gets you speed. Don't confuse the two.
What actually counts as bloatware
Most guides lump everything together and hand you a "bloatware remover," which is funny — because half those tools are bloatware themselves.
Here's the distinction that matters, and it's the one I wish someone had drawn for me three years ago when I first started poking at this:
- OEM bloatware — the manufacturer's additions. A trial of McAfee or Norton, a "support assistant," a photo tool you'll never open.
- Microsoft's own bundle — Solitaire, Xbox Game Bar, a handful of promo apps. Not dangerous, just dead weight.
- Third-party trials — the sneaky ones, installed by the OEM on the promise of a subscription you'll never buy.
Why does the category matter? Because each one needs a different removal route, and trying to nuke all three with one tool is how people break their sound drivers.
How much space does it really take?
A pristine Windows 11 install runs roughly 20–25 GB. Your average consumer laptop leaves the factory at 30–60 GB used, depending on how aggressive the manufacturer was. That gap — call it 10 to 35 GB — is your target.
On Android, the numbers are smaller but the annoyance is identical. A mid-range phone from a major carrier often carries 4–8 GB of apps you never launched.
How to uninstall bloatware and free up disk space on Windows 11
Start with the boring method, because it removes the most without any risk.
Step 1: Settings > Apps (the safe 80%)
Open Settings > Apps > Installed apps. Sort by size. Anything you don't recognize, search the name before you delete it — genuinely, five seconds of Googling saves a lot of pain. Click the three dots, choose Uninstall.
This alone got my friend about 14 GB, mostly from a games bundle and two antivirus trials that were each sitting on 1–2 GB of definitions and logs.
Step 2: PowerShell for the stubborn ones
Some apps have no uninstall button. Windows hides them. This is where PowerShell earns its keep.
Run PowerShell as administrator, then list what's installed:
Get-AppxPackage | Select Name
To remove one:
Get-AppxPackage bingnews | Remove-AppxPackage
Replace bingnews with the package name you saw in the list. I'll be honest: the first time I tried this I removed a dependency by accident and spent an evening reinstalling a runtime. Now I list, check, then remove — one at a time.
Step 3: winget for clean uninstalls
If you prefer one tool, winget uninstall "App Name" handles most of it and skips the Settings hunt. It won't catch everything OEMs hide, but it's fast and clean.
Step 4: Disk Cleanup and Storage Sense
Bloatware isn't the whole story — Windows accumulates junk on its own. Run Disk Cleanup, and check the box for "Windows Update Cleanup," which routinely frees 3–8 GB that nothing else touches.
Then turn on Storage Sense under Settings > System > Storage. It clears temp files automatically so you don't do this again in six months.
Which method gets you the most space?
| Method | Typical space freed | Risk level | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Settings > Apps | 8–15 GB | Low | 10 min |
| PowerShell Appx removal | 5–12 GB | Medium | 20 min |
| winget uninstall | 4–10 GB | Low | 15 min |
| Disk Cleanup + Storage Sense | 3–8 GB | Very low | 5 min |
| OneDrive "Free up space" | Varies | Low | 2 min |
Combined, a typical machine reclaims 15–30 GB. My friend's 22 GB sits right in that band.
How to remove bloatware on Android
Android is stricter, and there's no honest way around it: carrier and OEM apps often cannot be uninstalled, only disabled. But disabling stops them from running and frees the cache and updates they'd otherwise accumulate.
- Open Settings > Apps, tap the offender, choose Disable.
- For apps with no uninstall option, look for "Remove updates" first — this can cut 200–500 MB.
- Use a file manager to clear leftover folders after disabling.
- Be careful with anything named after your carrier's network services — some handle SMS or VoLTE.
It's less satisfying than Windows, I'll grant you. But disabling a dozen unused apps recovered roughly 2 GB on my own phone, and more importantly it stopped the background drain.
What not to remove — and one mistake I made
Early on I got greedy. I removed a whole batch of Appx packages in one command, proud of myself, and then spent a weekend fixing a system that wouldn't apply updates.
Never remove:
- Microsoft Store itself — it manages updates for many components.
- Anything containing "VCLibs," ".NET," or "Framework" in the name.
- Your display, audio, or touchpad drivers.
- Security software you actually use.
The rule I now follow: if I don't know exactly what it does, it stays. The savings from deleting an unknown package are never worth the repair time.
Questions I get asked a lot
Will removing bloatware speed up my PC?
Only a little, and mostly indirectly. The real speed gain comes from trimming startup apps — Task Manager > Startup — not from deleting things that sit idle. Removing bloatware frees space; managing startup frees speed. I know they feel like the same problem, but they aren't.
Do I need a dedicated bloatware remover tool?
No, and I'd be wary of most of them. The built-in Windows tools plus PowerShell cover everything a third-party cleaner does — and a cleaner that installs itself as a background process is, well, exactly what we're trying to get rid of.
Is this safe on a work laptop?
No. If IT manages the machine, don't touch anything — you'll trip a security policy. Do this on hardware you own and control.
The part nobody mentions
Here's what stays with me after doing this a dozen times: the space you reclaim isn't really the point. The point is that a machine you bought should respond to you, not to a manufacturer's marketing deal. Every app you didn't choose is a small reminder that the default isn't neutral.
So do the cleanup. Get your 20 GB back. But then ask the harder question — the one the "free up disk space" guides never pose: how many other defaults in your digital life did you simply never notice?
