WinTamer is a control panel for Windows 11 that gathers into a single window all the things Windows does on its own and turns them into entries with a toggle:

• reinstalled drivers
• promotional apps
• telemetry
• advertising
• artificial intelligence
• standby
• automatic restarts
• widgets

Each entry describes what Windows is doing today:

• ACTIVE (red): it is doing it.
• BLOCKED (green): it no longer does it.
• NOT PRESENT (grey): that component does not exist on this PC.

At the top right a counter shows how many entries are still ACTIVE; when everything is blocked "All blocked" appears.

The program requires administrator rights: the elevation prompt appears automatically at startup.

On first launch WinTamer takes a picture of the system (snapshot) and records the Windows build; then it reads the state of all entries. The window sizes itself automatically on the monitor where it opens.

YOUR PC

Shows the machine's data:

• motherboard
• processor
• graphics card with driver version (real cards only: the Windows basic display driver, Remote Desktop adapters and virtual drivers are not shown)
• installed RAM as the sum of the physical modules (e.g. 64 GB, 2 × 32 GB)
• BIOS version and date
• Windows edition and build

Below there are the links:

• BIOS PAGE / MOTHERBOARD SUPPORT: for ASUS, ASRock, Gigabyte and MSI the manufacturer's search opens already filled in with the model; for Lenovo, Dell and HP the support page; otherwise a web search.
• GRAPHICS CARD DRIVER: AMD, Nvidia or Intel depending on the card.
• CHIPSET DRIVER: AMD or Intel depending on the processor.

An amber warning reminds you not to install the newest BIOS blindly.

THIS COMPUTER

13 entries about the PC in use:

• automatic driver search from the internet
• drivers inside updates
• device manufacturers' apps
• promotional apps (for all users and for the profile)
• Smart App Control
• SmartScreen on downloaded files
• RGB lighting control
• idle standby
• USB selective suspend
• network adapter power saving
• hibernation and fast startup
• ultimate performance power plan

WINDOWS CLEANUP

47 entries in five categories.

Updates:

• Store apps
• automatic restarts
• reactivation of paused updates
• scheduled wake timers
• update sharing with other PCs
• newly released features

Artificial intelligence:

• Copilot
• Recall
• AI service
• AI features in Microsoft apps
• cloud reinstall
• re-enabling of the features that capture the screen

System:

• automatic disk cleanup
• automatic BitLocker
• reserved storage
• nightly maintenance
• reopening apps at sign-in
• memory preloading
• error reports to Microsoft
• Remote Assistance

Telemetry and privacy:

• data collection
• diagnostic service
• carrier messages
• inventory of installed programs
• statistics program
• feedback requests
• activity history
• input personalization
• online speech recognition
• location
• Find my device
• account synchronization
• background apps
• clipboard suggestions

Advertising and clutter:

• advertising ID
• tailored content
• Spotlight lock screen
• "finish setting up" suggestions
• Bing in the Start menu
• content in the search box
• widgets and news
• recommendations in the Start menu
• OneDrive at sign-in
• game recording
• fullscreen optimizations
• Edge preloading
• account type in use

AMD

5 entries for AMD PCs:

• MPO video technique
• chipset service that reinstalls drivers
• Ryzen Master task at startup
• FreeSync reminder
• Adrenalin recommended settings

The last two are informational: if AMD Software is installed, the OPEN AMD SOFTWARE button opens it directly. On a PC without AMD hardware the entries show as NOT PRESENT, with no errors.

PERSONALIZATION

7 reversible entries about the look:

• classic right-click menu
• file extensions always visible
• File Explorer opening on This PC
• search box in the taskbar
• Task View button
• Widgets button
• hidden files and folders

For the tweaks that only take effect after restarting File Explorer, the message says so and offers the "Restart File Explorer" button.

MY ENTRIES

The entries created by the user (see point 7).

Each entry has a toggle: on = BLOCKED.

• Before the first change of the day WinTamer tries to create a system restore point (Windows accepts one every 24 hours).
• Every registry write is read back and confirmed: if Windows refuses an operation, a clear sentence appears in the user's language (for example which scheduled tasks or which network adapters refused the setting) and the full technical text goes into the log file.
• Entries marked IRREVERSIBLE (Smart App Control) require an explicit confirmation: once turned off it cannot be turned back on without reinstalling Windows, and the toggle stays off on purpose.
• The Widgets entry removes the app package for the current user: unblocking registers it again from the files left on the disk and, if they are missing, the program suggests the Microsoft Store page.

SAVE MY CONFIGURATION

Immediately saves, with no questions asked, the list of entries BLOCKED at that moment plus the custom entries into a JSON file in %APPDATA%\WinTamer\configurazioni, with date and time in the name; the message offers "Open folder". "Save as…" asks where to save.

RESTORE MY CONFIGURATION

You pick a saved file (the dialog opens in the saves folder on the most recent file) and it shows a preview:

• entries that will be BLOCKED
• entries already BLOCKED
• entries NOT PRESENT on this PC
• custom entries that will be added

It is applied only on confirmation; it never unblocks anything; an error on one entry does not stop the others. After the restore the snapshot is retaken automatically and becomes the new reference.

PRESETS

Four combinable groups:

• PRIVACY
• FEWER DISTRACTIONS
• LONG JOBS
• AMD

Ticking the groups brings up the list of what would be blocked, with no duplicates, and the entries already blocked or not present marked separately; individual entries can be removed and nothing is applied without confirmation. Irreversible entries are never part of it.

REFRESH STATE

Re-reads the real state of all entries from the system.

EXPORT

Saves a text file with the state of all entries, tab by tab, plus the custom entries in re-importable JSON.

HELP

For each entry it explains in plain words what Windows does, what changes if you block it and what happens if you leave it alone.

SETTINGS

• language (Italian, English, German, French, Spanish)
• theme (Dark, Light, Follow Windows)
• Start with Windows

The ⓘ button opens the program information with the author's signature.

Entries that became active again

At every startup WinTamer compares the state of the entries with the last known state: entries that were BLOCKED and became ACTIVE again on their own appear in a yellow banner and in a Windows notification. The check is repeated every 2 minutes while the window is open and every 30 minutes while the app sits in the notification area.

Clicking the banner, the notification or the "Windows changed N settings" line in the icon menu takes you to the right tab, scrolls to the entry and highlights it; with several entries there are arrows to move from one to the next.

The highlight fades on its own once the entry has been seen, and as soon as an entry goes back to BLOCKED it leaves the alert.

Windows build change

If the Windows build has changed (even a monthly patch) the comparison with the snapshot starts: a banner shows the old and new builds and the panel entries that changed. DETAILS opens the full list of what changed:

• services
• scheduled tasks
• drivers
• packages (with AI/Copilot packages highlighted)
• registry values

With ADD ENTRY you create a personal entry with:

• name
• description
• action type (PowerShell command, reg add command or .reg file, which can also be picked from the disk)
• block action
• optional unblock action
• state check

The check can be:

• a registry value (HKLM/HKCU root, path, value name, data expected when BLOCKED);
• a service (name and expected start type, 4 = disabled);
• none: in that case the entry is "action only" and has the RUN button instead of the toggle.

Without an unblock action the entry is declared non-reversible by the panel. Every entry can be edited or deleted; "Export entries" and "Import entries" exchange a JSON file with all the custom entries, the same one included in the configuration save.

The window's X does not close the program: it minimizes it to the notification area, where it keeps monitoring. Clicking the icon reopens the window; the menu has "Open WinTamer" and "Exit".

With Start with Windows enabled, an elevated scheduled task is registered at logon and the program starts minimized in the notification area, with no UAC prompt. When Windows has changed something that was blocked, the icon gets a warning mark.

Everything is in %APPDATA%\WinTamer:

• settings.json (language, theme)
• custom_entries.json (custom entries)
• snapshot.json
• last_states.json
• wintamer.log (log file with date, entry, previous and new value)
• the configurazioni folder with the saves