by popular (1 person) request, a tutorial on how to make windows 10 sane via group policies
you will need at minimum windows 10 pro, ideally enterprise (ltsc or not) or education, windows 10 home is known to ignore some policies set here. o&o shutup10 is also nice, but this should be the bulk of it
| Category | Policy | Setting |
|---|---|---|
| System | Display highly detailed status messages | Enabled |
| System/OS Policies | Allow upload of User Activities | Disabled |
| System/User Profiles | Turn off the advertising ID | Enabled |
| Windows Components/Cloud Content | Configure Windows spotlight on lock screen | Disabled |
| Windows Components/Cloud Content | Do not suggest third-party content in Windows spotlight | Enabled |
| Windows Components/Cloud Content | Do not use diagnostic data for tailored experiences | Enabled |
| Windows Components/Cloud Content | Turn off all Windows spotlight features | Enabled |
| Windows Components/Cloud Content | Turn off Spotlight collection on Desktop | Enabled |
| Windows Components/Cloud Content | Turn off Windows Spotlight on Action Center | Enabled |
| Windows Components/Cloud Content | Turn off Windows Spotlight on Settings | Enabled |
| Windows Components/Cloud Content | Turn off cloud consumer account state content | Enabled |
| Windows Components/Cloud Content | Turn off cloud optimized content | Enabled |
| Windows Components/Cloud Content | Turn off Microsoft consumer experiences | Enabled |
| Windows Components/Data Collection and Preview Builds | Allow Telemetry | 0 - Security [Enterprise Only] |
| Windows Components/IME | Turn on Live Sticker | Disabled |
| Windows Components/Microsoft Edge | Allow Microsoft Edge to pre-launch at startup... | Prevent pre-launching |
| Windows Components/News and interests | Enable news and interests on the taskbar | Disabled |
| Windows Components/Search | Allow Cloud Search | Disable Cloud Search |
| Windows Components/Search | Allow Cortana | Disabled |
| Windows Components/Search | Allow Cortana above lock screen | Disabled |
| Windows Components/Search | Do not allow web search | Enabled |
| Windows Components/Windows Copilot | Turn off Windows Copilot | Enabled |
| Windows Components/Windows Update for Business | Select the target Feature Update version | Windows 10 / 22H2 |