Let’s be honest, how many of you actually use the native applications pre-installed in Windows 8? Sure, Calculator and a few others may be useful, but many of them have no purpose. I’m looking at you Reading List, Reminders, Maps, Camera, and Travel.
If you’re running out of disk space (or just want to unclutter your Metro UI), then removing the pre-installed programs can be a good idea. You can now completely uninstall these built-in apps by executing a command in the elevated prompt, uninstall them one by one, or even delete them from the Windows 8 installation process.
Note: We suggest you close all running apps before trying to uninstall them. Apps that are uninstalled using the following method can again be installed from the official Store by following the instructions mentioned below on how to reinstall native apps in windows 8.
Remove pre-installed programs from Windows 8
1. Switch to the Start screen.
2. Type “PowerShell” and then press “Ctrl + Shift + Enter” to open Windows PowerShell as administrator.
3. In the elevated PowerShell, type the following command to completely remove all pre-installed apps from your current user account:
Now all native apps should be removed.
Remove Single Apps From Metro UI
If you just want to delete a few apps from the Metro UI at a time, then you can use this method.
1. At the Metro UI menu screen, right-click on an app.
2. You’ll notice the app box is framed in a border with a checkmark located in the upper right-hand corner of the border, and in the lower right-hand corner of the screen are three options.
3. Click on “Unpin” to remove the app from your Metro UI.
Unpinning the app effectively deletes the app.
And Just in Case, This is How You Add Them Back In
1. At the Metro UI screen, start typing out the name of the app. For example if you want to install Notepad, you would type “notepad”.
2. When the Notepad icon and label appear on the screen, right-click it. You’ll notice the app box is framed in a border with a checkmark located in the upper right-hand corner of the border. In the lower right-hand corner of the screen are two options.
3. Click “Pin” in the lower right-hand corner.
4. Press the Windows key to go back to the main Metro UI menu, and you will see Notepad added on the far right.
Or You Could Delete Apps Before You Install Windows 8
Windows 8 users who are looking for a better method to remove native apps from Windows 8 installation can now download a free utility called Windows 8 App Remover. With Windows 8 App Remover, you can remove native apps from Windows 8, as well as Windows 8 installation. This means that you can remove Metro UI apps from the Windows 8 setup file even before installing Windows 8 on your PC.
Windows 8 App Remover lets you remove almost all the apps that ship with Windows 8 including Finance, Maps, News, Sports, Bing Travel, Weather, Search, Camera, SkyDrive, PDF Reader, Communication, Photos, XBOX Live Games, Zune Music and Zune Video apps. You can either remove specific apps or all apps.
Conclusion
Now enjoy your Windows 8 Metro UI without any of the clutter. Were you really going to use the Finance app anyway?
