GHOST SPECTRE

GHOST SPECTRE is something I have been curious about ever since Tiny 11 and X=Lite Optimum has come out. On my old HP ENVY (2017/HDD/unsupported) I have tried any and all of these stripped down Win 11. Just last week I found out about GS and decided to try it, curious as I am, and downloaded the latest. I opened a partition and made a dual boot and installed it. I have discovered two things about it. #1: It's a lot better than X-Lite. X-Lite is way to stripped for me. Got to add a lot of stuff at the end of the instalation I need. #2: A way lot better than Tiny 11. Tiny is too tiny. More than X-Lite.
GS however is just right for me and faster than the rest. It's stripped just right. You can add or remove Defender, MS Store, widets, etc. This is exactly how Win 11 should be.
Anyway, I'm having fun playing with it and thinking of making it my main OS. Let's all try it and give your feedback on this thread.

this is what i am getting from the Ghost Spectre site



so i will give it a miss
best of luck Steve ..

XxXxX said:

this is what i am getting from the Ghost Spectre site

View attachment 179522

so i will give it a miss
best of luck Steve ..

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Read post #575 I think it is and there you will find the correct link.

mecanicogolf said:

New X-Lite Optimum is out!

I really don't know what the differences are between them. Anyone know? I missed V3 too but I have sooo many computers keeping me busy now that it's just not on the radar for me anymore.

www.elevenforum.com

Read post #575 I think it is and there you will find the correct link.

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cheers that one works. i will throw it into VirtualBox to have a look at later.

cheers again, best of luck Steve ..

Thanks @mecanicogolf for finding this.
As you stated, it is just right with the flexibility to add what you need.
And at less that 18GB (with defender) on a VM with 4GB RAM and a 64GB of virtual disk, it's compact and quicker than the others that went before.
I might make it my permanent OS on my older Asus.

OAT said:

Thanks @mecanicogolf for finding this.
As you stated, it is just right with the flexibility to add what you need.
And at less that 18GB (with defender) on a VM with 4GB RAM and a 64GB of virtual disk, it's compact and quicker than the others that went before.
I might make it my permanent OS on my older Asus.

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You'll really enjoy it. It's fast and no bloat. Just add what you want. A lot better than removing afterward. This is what Win 11 should have been in the first place,

From New X-Lite Optimum is out!

What a carry on trying to get to the download link.
Not for me I'm afraid.

A couple of days in on Ghost Spectre 25h2 coming from X-Lite 26h1 and I am a bit ambivalent about the surgery performed to reduce Ghost Spectre compared to X-Lite Is it because 26h1 is leaner to start with? Been on it too long to have a vivid memory to compare the 2 versions side by side.
Finding I am still having to tweak quite a few registry settings, uninstall a lot of apps and find all the nasty hidden settings to turn off to get back to my happy place but time will tell if it is a good choice or not compared to going back to X-Lite 25h2 ver 3 and catching up with all the updates to ready it for 26h2.

jajk said:

uninstall a lot of apps

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Which ones please?
I had none installed by default on mine, not even a browser or MS Store.

OAT said:

Which ones please?
I had none installed by default on mine, not even a browser or MS Store.

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It's all in the toolbox. Just open and wait. No Admin, just wait. Takes a bit.

Just a dumb question.

You that download all this ISO files from different websites. Do you actually know who is making them and what their intentions are?
I create my own custom ISO files and rip out a lot of crap and changes registry and GPO settings in the ISO before it installs i started with this back in windows 7.
But i can easy insert a backdoor or phone home function and then share the ISO to everyone.

So my question as i started..... Do you actually know who is making them... and what their intentions are if they do all that work totally for free?

Naysayers have arrived! Didn't take long.

jajk said:

Naysayers have arrived! Didn't take long.

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do you mean me is a naysayer? .... if so.... then you are wayyy wrong ask anyone in here that have been active for a long time.

mecanicogolf said:

It's all in the toolbox. Just open and wait. No Admin, just wait. Takes a bit.

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I am aware of this but @jajk seems to remark he had to uninstall many apps.
This seems odd as when I chose not to use the toolbox, there was nothing to remove and rightfully so.

OAT said:

Honestly I could not care less. The more I test, the happier I get.
This started with the Timex Sinclair 1000 and a tape recorder for storage many decades ago.
To me, your questions are superfluous and irrelevant , so in a way, you are right, it was a dumb question.

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I dont care either when i test things, even bad things in an controlled environment.
My question is to those that dont have a deep system analytic experience that just install things from the web they dont have a clue about. It is they who get their computer hacked/infected/encrypted/botnet-zombie and then get into problem.
Back in the days when i worked with customer computers we had incoming every day with infected computers and they had no idea of how it happened.. and then they have downloaded a game or a pirated software or clicked a link in an email.

Marie SWE said:

I dont care either when i test things, even bad things in an controlled environment.
My question is to those that dont have a deep system analytic experience that just install things from the web they dont have a clue about. It is they who get their computer hacked/infected/encrypted/botnet-zombie and then get into problem.
Back in the days when i worked with customer computers we had incoming every day with infected computers and they had no idea of how it happened.. and then they have downloaded a game or a pirated software or clicked a link in an email.

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Users do it everyday though. Some learn the hard way, some make mistake but look at it this way, you were employed and paid for their silliness.

Think on this site alone, how many users have merged .reg files to come back later and bitched that now their system showed
'This setting is controlled by your company'? Laughable isn't it?

Time to head on to Mission Beach now for a walk. So long.

OAT said:

Users do it everyday though. Some learn the hard way, some make mistake but look at it this way, you were employed and paid for their silliness.

Think on this site alone, how many users have merged .reg files to come back later and bitched that now their system showed
'This setting is controlled by your company'? Laughable isn't it?

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oh-yeah i agree. ... its hundreds and hundreds of those threads in here and on 10forums (where i was most active until a few months ago).. so yes i have seen them and on really rare occasions i have pitched in when i see they are on their way to lose their personal data or to make something they will badly regret later.... backup is hundred times easier then datarecovery. *LOL*

@Marie SWE I have a problem with so many threads being derailed by naysayers that seem to think that others are idiots and need to be shepherded back to the safety of MS. I have been around I.T for a very long time, as have many here. Not once have I ever been compromised (apart from the built in MS and Google exploits that I try to minimize) and I believe that people that are willing to experiment with things such as Ghost Spectre and X-Lite have their eyes open. Yes, I could take a stock ISO and hack it to suit my own taste, but I am inherently lazy and would rather finish what someone else has started. Is that truly lazy or smart
I have my computers set up to rapidly switch between O.S and sometimes my playing around bricks my systems. No biggy, 10 minutes to fresh load an O.S or 2 mins to restore from a backup. We all learn by our mistakes so watch and assist by all means but don't pollute threads with negativity, holier than thou attitudes or misguided loyalty / obedience to MS - the big corporates business models are not in anyone's best interest....

jajk said:

@Marie SWE I have a problem with so many threads being derailed by naysayers that seem to think that others are idiots and need to be shepherded back to the safety of MS. I have been around I.T for a very long time, as have many here. Not once have I ever been compromised (apart from the built in MS and Google exploits that I try to minimize) and I believe that people that are willing to experiment with things such as Ghost Spectre and X-Lite have their eyes open. Yes, I could take a stock ISO and hack it to suit my own taste, but I am inherently lazy and would rather finish what someone else has started. Is that truly lazy or smart
I have my computers set up to rapidly switch between O.S and sometimes my playing around bricks my systems. No biggy, 10 minutes to fresh load an O.S or 2 mins to restore from a backup. We all learn by our mistakes so watch and assist by all means but don't pollute threads with negativity, holier than thou attitudes or misguided loyalty / obedience to MS - the big corporates business models are not in anyone's best interest....

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'
I made a valid point of security that's all. I have that in my signature too.. think twice before doing stuff.

Some in here know what they are doing and that is totally fine they test it, like OAT above.
The sad part is.... that 95% of people on this website dont know what they are doing and they mess up just because it "sounded" good/cool.

The good question when installing a custom ISO of win11 home/pro.. so what happens when the big version update comes.. does the system stay debloated or is version updated blocked in GPO/Reg??
If it didn't stay debloated/tweaked, then it was a waste of time if they have to reinstall or debloat the system every six months.

I might sound negative, but it is seriously a valid reason for it.
Every person working in IT security all over the world will say one thing in common... dont download proprietary software/ISO's(closed source) from untrusted sources.

One person on Youtube made a really good point on this with custom minimized ISO's.. Chris Titus.. he made a tool to make your own "Tiny11" where you use the ISO you download from Microsoft. The program is 100% opensource and free on Github.
You download the ISO.. you start the program.. you click on a few buttons and out comes a Tiny windows ISO.. zero knowlage is required.
So he said something similar to... why download an ISO from an untrusted source when you can make it yourself, as easy as start Notepad.

It is one thing if the custom ISO's is verified by a well known trusted third party that has the right knowledge and that person can vouch for the person making the custom ISO's/software.

I know Chris mention someone, i dont remember if it was the person behind Tiny11 that made an open source script so you downloaded the ISO from Microsoft yourself and then run the script that remake the ISO.


So is I'm just the evilbitch....... or do i just making a valid point of security, to make people think twice before continuing.
I leave that decision up to you all.