I had a Disney+ icon as well and the irony is that the service is not even available in my region. I am not sure the apps are actually installed, I thought they were just placeholders that install on first run.

Yes, they're there and installed on first login. Some will auto install a bit later.

The shortcuts are what you're seeing on a naked windows install, not the applications themselves.

This can be proven by when you go into uninstall it look at the space used. It will be tiny.

Part of the reason those shortcuts are there are on consumer editions because a) lots of people have no clue how to do anything and need a helping hand b) the vendors pay to have that installed as marketing, which helps lower the cost of the windows license

I mean thats the same "reason" OEMs do it. Unwanted shitware polluting the start menu is ok because... it doesn't take up megabytes of space?

I think there is a difference between coming pre-intalled and not installed, but annoying shortcuts.

The process for removing either is exactly the same.

I think the difference of a program installed and not is big.

Personally I don’t even look at the whole mess of a start menu when I’m in Windows.

Weird, last windows install I did was like 4 months ago and I didn't get that, DL from Microsoft ...

I wonder if it depends on the image.