Windows

Pre-Installation - Creating a secure USB Drive for installation

Format / Clear USB Drive using Powershell (no third party utilities)

• List all disks

Get-Disk

• Clear USB Drive after determining disk number
  • Note: These commands assume that X is the disk you want to clear

Either command will bring the same result, but two variations are listed below to show different ways you can format it

Clear-Disk -Number X -RemoveData

Get-Disk X | Clear-Disk -RemoveData

Install Windows to your USB Drive

• Reference the follow links for installation instructions depending on how you need to install Windows.
  • https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2376-create-bootable-usb-flash-drive-install-windows-10-a.html
  • https://decentsecurity.com/#/securing-your-computer/

Post-Installation - Registry Tweaks

disable_win10_foistware.reg

• What it does
  • This tweak will prevent the Windows Store from further installing apps such as Candy Crush Saga, etc.
• Sources
  • Advice from Will Dormann on Twitter https://twitter.com/wdormann/status/947918699754868736
  • Original Gist link https://gist.github.com/wdormann/49f1807431b0d5b5cd151337e6478f20
  • All credit to Will Dormann with this find, this is a just a copy of the same registry tweak copied over here.

Turn_Off_AutoPlay.reg

• What it does
  • Personally I don't trust Windows to do the right thing with Autoplay. I'd prefer to manually browse the contents and run anything as needed. I also don't want someone to insert a USB drive without my permission and have it AutoPlay.
• Local Policy (Alternative to Registry)
  • Can be set as a Local Policy following this guide from HowToGeek http://www.howtogeek.com/236241/how-to-enable-disable-and-customize-autoplay-in-windows-10/
• Sources
  • Registry Tweak from TenForums http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/7119-autoplay-turn-off-windows-10-a.html

UAC_Always_Notify.reg

• Advice from SwiftOnSecurity on Twitter https://decentsecurity.com/#/securing-your-computer/
• Follow these instructions to set UAC to the highest option, "Always notify me." Anything less allows any malware to instantly elevate to administrator level permissions. UAC isn't magic, but it's a layer you want to use.
• Registry Tweak from TenForums https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/3577-change-user-account-control-uac-settings-windows-10-a.html

Disable_OneDrive_Integration.reg

• OneDrive is annoying.
• Can be set as a Local Policy following this guide from HowToGeek https://www.howtogeek.com/225973/how-to-disable-onedrive-and-remove-it-from-file-explorer-on-windows-10/
• Registry Tweak from TenForums https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/16278-enable-disable-onedrive-integration.html

Specify_Ultimate_Performance_power_plan.reg

• Requires Windows 10 build 17083 and above
• Instead of adjusting the High Performance default plan with settings such as Never let Hard Disk sleep and disabling Hibernate, just use the Ultimate Performance plan which solves these things.
• Registry Tweak from TenForums https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/91744-specify-default-active-power-plan-windows-10-a.html

Disable_Automatic_sign-in_after_Windows_Update_reestart.reg

• Requires Windows 10 build 17093 and above
• Prevents apps like Firefox, Chrome, etc from relaunching after a reboot
• Registry Tweak from TenForums https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/49963-use-sign-info-auto-finish-after-update-restart-windows-10-a.html#option4

Linux