Chris Titus WinUtil
Hacker ApprovedRanked 2 of 3 Windows utilities by recommenders
Free open-source PowerShell tool that debloats Windows 10 and 11 and handles common setup tasks. Critics say it is not recommended for beginners.
Free open-source PowerShell tool that debloats Windows 10 and 11 and handles common setup tasks. Critics say it is not recommended for beginners.
17 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 17
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 17 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 8 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Open source, inspectable code
“It's a suite of powershell scripts and tweaks that are open source for inspection frontended by a nifty powershell multi tabbed TUI”
Comment from 2 Dec 2025 in “After Windows Update, Password icon invisible, click where it used to be” “The tool is open-source here: https://github.com/ChrisTitusTech/winutil”
Comment from 25 Jun 2026 in “Windows 10 quietly gets one more year of support and updates” Wraps PowerShell and registry tweaks
“It's a suite of powershell scripts and tweaks that are open source for inspection frontended by a nifty powershell multi tabbed TUI”
Comment from 2 Dec 2025 in “After Windows Update, Password icon invisible, click where it used to be” “I've had good luck with the winutil tool, which is wrapper for a bunch of powershell commands and registry edits”
Comment from 27 Mar 2026 in “People inside Microsoft are fighting to drop mandatory Microsoft Account” Removes bloat and crapware
“I'd recommend Chris Titus' winutil to remove most of the crap.”
Comment from 29 Jan 2026 in “Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux” “I personally use Chris Titus's WinUtil to debloat”
Comment from 3 Dec 2025 in “Ask HN: I haven't had to buy a Windows computer in 20 years”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Not recommended for beginners
“Winutil is definitely a tool I wouldn't recommend for a beginner”
Comment from 12 Apr 2026 in “Windows debloating tools are basically useless”
Other Windows utilities people recommend
The two most recommended other Windows utilities, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft PowerToys | 49 | 15 | 77% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Chris Titus WinUtilThis page | 17 | 0 | 100% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Chris Titus Tech Windows Utility | 9 | 1 | 90% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
15 of the 19 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“You can also run ShutUp10 from winutil”
“For those who could be interested as well”
“The tool is open-source here: https://github.com/ChrisTitusTech/winutil”
“winutil removes hardware checks.”
“The end result is an extremely clean and stable Windows 11 installation.”
“Winutil is definitely a tool I wouldn't recommend for a beginner”
“is fine and does what you need”
“I've had good luck with the winutil tool, which is wrapper for a bunch of powershell commands and registry edits”
“I'd recommend Chris Titus' winutil to remove most of the crap.”
“use Chris Titus tool to setup Winget and other missing bits”
“The essential ones shouldn't have any negative impact on the system.”
“Kept updated for latest Windows 11”
“I personally use Chris Titus's WinUtil to debloat”
“It's a suite of powershell scripts and tweaks that are open source for inspection frontended by a nifty powershell multi tabbed TUI”
“You can use winutil to replace the new start menu with the old one.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.