Nowadays with high speed USB connections and external SSD drives installing Windows has become relatively painless. It is the activities needed to customize Windows after the installation that now consume so much of our time. Since most of us only perform (re)installs infrequently we must refamiliarize ourselves with all of the things we did to get Windows exactly like we want it to be. In my case I typically do a fresh install every 2-3 years and need to set aside 4-5 days to get Windows back where I want it. With this small (only three windows) tool it now takes at most a couple of hours.
CustomizeMyWindows automates tedious tasks which must be performed after a Clean/Fresh/New Windows install in order to create your preferred working environment. The tool must be run from an Administrator account.
Pre-install (if a reinstall)
- Save enabled Group Policy setting
- Save Start Menu pinned item tiles layout
Post-install
- Automate application installation with “silent install” support
- Perform Registry modifications using .reg files
- Run batch files
- Create UAC notification message avoidance for your trusted apps which must run as Administrator
- If a reinstall a. update Group Policy using saved settings b. update preferred start tile layout using saved settings