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Windows 11 versions beyond Home/Pro, to combat undesired advertising, bloat & espionage

Allan Tépper
Windows-11

Many people are under the mistaken impression that the only versions of Windows 11 are Home and Pro, but there are more. Spoiler Alert: If you are still compelled to use Windows in 2026, you really need to understand the additional versions, since Windows 11 Home and Pro are both intentionally limited and infested compared to the superior versions, which makes Home and Pro much more difficult to manipulate to reduce or eliminate advertising, bloatware & spyware from returning after manual removal—without your knowledge or consent—after a monthly Windows update. Ahead, I’ll clarify the differences among different superior versions. I’ll also clarify when you may directly upgrade in place from Home or Pro to one of the one of the more desirable versions, without having to reformat, both officially and unofficially. I’ll also supply links where you can purchase legal licenses at extremely low prices, or—in some cases—you’ll be able to get the legal license completely free for one of them.

Purpose of this article in May 2026

We are in an age when major and popular operating systems (Windows), browsers (Chrome and Edge), office suites (Microsoft Office 365) and email clients (Outlook) are filled with advertising, bloat and espionage based upon AI. In the specific case of the most widely known versions of Microsoft Windows 11, some of those infestations include:

Although many of these can indeed be removed manually, many of them return automatically during the next Windows Update, which is usually monthly. This happens without your consent or knowledge. While Microsoft products and services are in the continuing process of abandonment, beginning in Germany and France, Microsoft Windows is still the largest operating system in use, which is why I bother to investigate, write and publish about it. It is also the reason why I recently lauched my first «app» for Windows, after creating a similar one last year for Mac.

The upcoming sections are about the less-publicized yet superior versions of Windows 11, how they compare in general and with the capability of reducing or eliminating three undesired elements: advertising, bloat and espionage coming directly from Microsoft. (Last year, I covered the remaining Wiindows 10 versions which still receive free security updates until 2027 or 2032, respectively.)

It should be noted that due to popular complaints, Microsoft recently removed the Copilot emblem from the still-infested Notepad and MS Paint. In other words, Microsoft simply hid the problem, without removing it, so we still need to eliminate the problem ourselves.

Some superior versions of Windows 11, beyond 11 Home and Pro

Beyond versions Home and Pro, we have the following superior versions:

All of the above superior options have the advantage of not forcing the use of a Microsoft Account Login during installation, which is now forced during that process with Home and Pro (unless you perform a hack, which goes beyond the scope of this article). Having a local login instead of a Microsoft Account Login has advantages. We can certainly have online Microsoft services, with a manual login for the specific login, not the whole Windows login.

NOTE: For simplicity, I am skipping Windows sub-editions with the «N”» suffix (available in Europe) and «KN» suffix (available in Korea), which are sub versions of the operating systems that lack pre-installed media-related technologies like Windows Media Player, and certain built-in audio/video apps. Everything I wrote below is the same, with or without the «N» or «KN» versions.

Here are the pros and cons of these superior Windows 11 versions, compared with Home and Pro:

Windows 11 Education (not Pro Education)

Advantages:

Comparative disadvantages:

Windows 11 LTSC Enterprise

Advantages:

Comparative disadvantages:

Windows 11 IoT Enterprise

Advantages:

Comparative disadvantages:

      1. The Windows 11 IoT ISO only exists in US English, so after installation, we can later download the language pack in the desired language and then click it to be the UI (user interface) language.
      2. Then, we must change the Administrative language to be that one and restart the computer to have it appear in Administrative settings such as the welcome screen, system accounts, and non-Unicode programs.

Everything you ever wanted to know about Microsoft Group Policy, but were afraid to ask

Microsoft Group Policy is a built-in Windows feature—in some versions—that allows administrators to manage and enforce configurations, security policies, and operational settings for users and computers. The Group Policy was first born way back with Windows NT, which was first released in 1993. It continued with certain newer versions, including Windows 10 and Windows 11. However, it is not available on the Home versions and—although officially available on Pro—, it has been more recently limited in Pro, which is the major reasons I prefer the superior Windows versions described above, since they all of the full-featured Microsoft Group Policy, not a limited one.

How does the full-featured Microsoft Group Policy help in preventing the return of previously-removed advertising, bloatware and spyware?

Our goal is to remove undesired advertising, bloatware and spyware in Windows and prevent its return during any upcoming Windows Update session.

Certain advertising, bloatware and spyware can me removed either manually or automatically using my current favorite automated script-app, which I plan to review soon. Even though my current favorite automated script-app can fortunately facilitate eliminating the undesired advertising, bloatware and spyware, and even constantly monitor for their potential return after each reboot and automatically remove it again (if it returned during a Windows update), I would like to have more than that. I would prefer to have its reinstallation prevented during Windows Update sessions. This is another case of the term preventive Affirmative Defense, which I covered recently—in a different context— in my Commercial music in podcasts under Fair Use, with a pre-published DMCA policy & procedure.

That’s where the full-featured Microsoft Group Policy can help. We can set specific policies there, which will prevent Windows Update from re-downloading and re-installing the undesired elements, all chosen specifically by the user or the Administrator. That’s why, in my upcoming article, I’ll cover the Dynamic duo of the full-featured Microsoft Group Policy together with my current favorite automated script-app. In that article, I’ll document the specific policies, while clarifying that they are not available in Windows 11 Home or Windows 11 Pro, but only in the superior ones covered in this article:

Conclusions

It is heartbreaking that Windows 11 has become so infested with undesired advertising, bloatware and spyware. It is sad that we must go to such lenghts to combat it. Part of the solution is knowing which versions of Windows 11 are much better to permit combatting than the standard Home and Pro versions. I hope this information is valuable for you. Please stay subscribed using one of the methods shown below to get the upcoming articles and reviews.

Followup article:

Tame Windows 11 with Winhance + Group Policy as your preventive Affirmative Defense against undesired advertising, bloat and espionage

Lee este artículo en buen castellano

Las versiones de Windows 11 más allá de Home y Pro, para combatir el espionaje, publicidad y relleno indeseado

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Most of my current books are at books.AllanTepper.com, and also visit AllanTepper.com and radio.AllanTepper.com.

FTC disclosure

None of the listed individuals or companies mentioned above has paid for this article. Some of the manufacturers listed above have contracted Tépper and/or TecnoTur LLC to carry out consulting and/or translations/localizations/transcreations. So far, none of the manufacturers listed above is/are sponsors of the TecnoTur, BeyondPodcasting, CapicúaFM or TuSaludSecreta programs, although they are welcome to do so, and some are, may be (or may have been) sponsors of ProVideo Coalition magazine. Some links to third parties listed in this article and/or on this web page may indirectly benefit TecnoTur LLC via affiliate programs. Allan Tépper’s opinions are his own. Allan Tépper is not liable for misuse or misunderstanding of information he shares.

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