Chris Titus Tech Debloat May 2026

The fans spun up when he opened Chrome. A notification for Candy Crush appeared in the Start Menu. Another for Spotify . Then a pop-up begged him to try Microsoft 365. In the background, 87 background processes he’d never heard of— Phone Link, Xbox App Service, OneDrive Setup, Realtek Audio Console —were having a loud party inside his RAM.

He tried the old tricks. He went into Settings. He turned off startup apps. He uninstalled three “helper” utilities. But an hour later, the bloatware was back. Windows Update had re-installed them as “recommended drivers.” chris titus tech debloat

Leo smiled, closed the laptop, and whispered to the empty room: "Thanks, Chris." The fans spun up when he opened Chrome

The Ghost in the Machine