Worried about Windows 10's death? Don't fret – Tiny11 is a lightweight version of Windows 11 that cuts bloatware and can run on older hardware

• A custom Windows 11 build, Tiny11 builder, removes bloatware and is available to install on older hardware
• Microsoft's Windows 10 will reach its end on October 14, with no more official support
• Tiny11 is available via a script on GitHub

It's almost the end of the road for Windows 10, with Microsoft removing support for the popular OS in favor of Windows 11 from October 14. That's no good for systems that don't meet Windows 11 requirements, but there is a solution.

As reported by our friends at Tom's Hardware, a custom lightweight Windows 11 build (via a script), Tiny11 builder, is available on GitHub by ntdevlabs, designed for older and less powerful hardware (regardless of system requirements), with its latest release eliminating a significant portion of Windows 11's bloatware, ready for Windows 11 25H2.

Features and applications such as OneDrive, Office Hub, Edge, and Outlook are all removed under 'tiny11maker', which is the regular recommended script, as you can see in SurfsharkAcademy's YouTube video below.

The new release also introduces 'tiny11coremaker', described as a "quick and dirty development testbed" which removes a wider extent of bloatware, but without the ability to update or add features after creation.

Tiny11 is awesome - YouTube

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This is a huge benefit for current Windows 11 users like myself, due to the frustrating experience of background processes spoiling game performance, and also for users migrating from Windows 10. Your laptop or PC don't need to meet Windows 11's system requirements to run Tiny11, so it's a great option before Windows 10's demise.

It's also arrived at an ideal time ahead of the new 'full-screen experience' via the Xbox app, set to launch alongside the ROG Xbox Ally, later coming to other devices in 2026. The Xbox app is indeed removed by Tiny11 builder, but it seems to be easy to reinstall on the tiny11maker script.

Analysis: This sounds perfect for my desktop rig

I can't count how many pre-installed apps and features there are on my Windows 11 gaming PC that I don't use or hardly even remember are present – and that alone tells me that Windows 11 has a significant amount of unnecessary bloat.

Tiny11 seems like the one-way ticket to resolve that, and is something I'm considering using. Don't get me wrong, I'd switch over to Bazzite in a heartbeat if there was better Nvidia GPU functionality, but as it stands, removing unnecessary background processes seems like the sensible measure to take in optimizing Windows 11.

Tiny11 should also be ready and functional for Windows 11's new 25H2 update, and here's hoping that doesn't come with a bundle of issues like 24H2 did.

It's great to see alternatives like this, and I hope the new full-screen Xbox experience that Microsoft is about to deliver follows in Tiny11's footsteps.

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