An opportunity disguised as a catastrophe
We hacked 'em for all we were worth, mad with power over our 300 baud connections.
And then it kind of faded out over the years.
But now, thanks to the marvelous impetus of Win10, we're all returning to our basements with a gleam in our eyes, hatchets in our hands, and malice toward Microsoft in our hearts.
I'm keyslapping here on my Win10 test box, having a grand old time of it, butchering the OS for all I'm worth, blowing it clear to hell, reinstalling it (no Nancy VM for me, I lay things down directly on the platter as god and Charles Babbage intended) with DAZzling aplomb, and pressing diligently onward armed with Unlocker, Regedit, and an experienced eye for Nasty Things that lurk beneath the surface.
This incarnation of things that I'm using right now seems to have settled down into a quite stable mode, and the butcherments which it has endured do not seem to have interfered with what I think an OS should be doing for me in the slightest.
Threw every last one of the goddamned switches to Fuck You mode, and still Cortana glared at me from the task manager. Open File Location: SystemApps\Cortanablubblubblub\SearchUI.exe
Attacked the machine with W10Privacy.exe http://www.winprivacy.de/english-home/ (really good program, recommend it highly), including the bit of arcana invoking PsExec.exe to show and murder all "system apps" (along with everything else I could kill, and of that there was more than plenty) and on the reboot, Cortana's running process smiled sweetly at me and kept right on humming along in the task manager.
Next up DWS_Lite.exe ver. 1.6.716.0 https://github.com/Nummer/Destroy-Windows-10-Spying/releases/tag/1.6.716 (another two thumbs up on this one), same deal, murder everything in sight, reboot, and still SarchUI.exe rolled onward.
Ok, fine. How 'bout a nice rinse with Toggle Tweaker.bat, hmm? http://www.tenforums.com/customization/15753-cool-windows-10-toggle-tweaker-v1-0-official-thread.html (yet another excellent toolkit but this time you'll need to log in with an active account to get the download link), and there's yards and yards of switches to throw, and throw them I did, and yet when all was done and the dawning of the reboot came, SearchUI.exe did there remain.
Pshit.
Ok, fine. I know where this crap lives (Windows\SystemApps...) so mayhaps we might want to pay that little area a visit. Lotsa fun things in there. The Unlocker (mind where you download it from and mind how you install it, 'cause the guy has associated himself with some quite unsavory types in his quest to continue putting food on his plate) will sort things out, won't it?
It will.
One at a time.
What remains is as follows, all else having been extirpated:
Microsoft.AAD.BrokerPlugin_cw5n1h2txyewy
Microsoft.AccountsControl_cw5n1h2txyewy
Microsoft.BioEnrollment_cw5n1h2txyewy
Microsoft.LockApp_cw5n1h2txyewy
Microsoft.Windows.AssignedAccessLockApp_cw5n1h2txyewy
Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy
Microsoft.Windows.SecondaryTileExperience_cw5n1h2txyewy
ShellExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy
I'm sure a few of these survivors would tolerate a good bayoneting, but I'm feeling benevolent, for the nonce, anyway, and so they remain. Provisionally, of course.
That not being enough to slake my bloodthirst, I then went farther with things.
Time to break out the heavy artillery with SuperCMD.exe https://github.com/Raymai97/SuperCMD (this one is worth its weight in gold and then some, and I do hope that at least a few of you will flip a few coins in Raymai97's direction), and run regedit with SYSTEM privileges. Muahahahaha!!
Regedit run in this mode brooks no backtalk, and destroys all in its path.
And so, feeling a bit vindictive, I went after KEYS ONLY, leaving Values and Data alone for the most part (owing to laziness, as opposed to charitable feelings in my heart), attacking first Cortana, thence to Edge, thonce to Onedrive, and yonder to Clouddrive, just for good measure. My vorpal blade went snickersnack, and although I certainly was not perfectly thorough, it would appear as if I was sufficiently thorough, and that's good enough for me.
SearchUI.exe would appear to be gone for good (with a lot of other disreputable company, too), and numerous updatings and reboots can't seem to bring it back.
The only thing different is that the logoff/restart background color for the string of pearls went from light blue to light green. Have no idea whatsoever what, if anything, might be behind that one.
But I really don't care.
Glee has returned to my heart, and fun is at hand, every time I sit down at this thing, and I give it all away to you for exactly what it cost me, which is nothing at all.
Keep it up Microsoft, our blades are growing ever-sharper hewing through your bones and sinew, and some of us like it far more than you might imagine.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
