Hi, the safest method is to start with a Microsoft ISO and make the tweaks yourself. slimdown is very easy to understand because of the editable batch, to start making your Windows. nothing is dangerous and you can refine the telemetry with a batch or an .xml file
Yes I got that part, I was just trying to explore WHICH tweaks were best to do literally to the ISO itself/modifying the installer, because they either can't be done afterwards as well, or possibly at all. And to figure out what other choices may exist. Plus I know I can tweak to my heart's content AFTER it's installed and I plan to. Yet the most fundamentally important things of the setup would be common to any/every windows 10 install I ever do in the future - low hassle/easier (integrating things like more drivers, service packs, service patches, direct X upgrades, hotfixes, all those "absolute system essential goodies" you otherwise can spend HOURS on windows update even tracking down or remembering half the time) but also removing the things i'm 100% i will NEVER EVER EVER want or need to have existing, ever - the Telemetry garbage most obviously, but since i'm not a win10 expert was there anything besides Telemetry that I should be aware of to also disable 100% of the time? I want a system that ideally installs with everything needed to just start adding software to without having to update anything, and no telemetry, but i'm less sure if avoiding things like microsoft edge are as essential. I guess I viewed things like that as something I just wouldn't open on my own or a waste of space? And I fear creating problems by disabling stupid crap - I remember back in the days of 98lite you could remove the IE integration from the windows explorer and use the 95 shell. I then discovered this BROKE software that expected it to be there and just created more of a hassle than it solved sometimes. Yes, Slimdown10 is what i'm looking at doing - i'm just wondering, should I also be considering any other projects as alternatives? Anything else do it's same job in addition to other things? Should anything else absolutely be run in addition to it which you run in addition to slimdown to integrate patches hotfixes optional drivers and stuff. I'd rather just have an "everything works" install with lots of extra drivers and no disabled integration that software needs (telemetry isnt something that software needs that i've ever heard and if it was I wouldnt use that software) - i'm not worried about hard drive space minimized installs yet. Or if MS included stuff is on there that i'd just delete the icon to and never use like the store. Starting with other versions like Windows Server also isn't off the table after someone put that idea in my head on the win8 board - I just dont know if anything works less well. (if Slimdown10 works identically, if activation is the same, etc) How do you build your own best ISOs and do you start with Enterprise, Server, LTSC, IoT, or something else and why?