AtlasOS Review 

Website Article: christitus.com/atlasos-review/ Referenced LTT Video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dc7CIkZcWYE.html Please note: I do NOT review Custom Windows ISOs. If it requires you to download an ISO from a shady file sharing site or torrent... IT SHOULD NEVER BE USED!

Hey, main atlas dev here :). Thanks for all suggestions, and we are happy to be featured here.

Thank you so much for making this video!

AtlasOS is for people who use Linux as daily driver but still need a windows virtual machine for some proprietary apps and gaming. This is the best use case for AtlasOS in my opinion. And I think Chris did a great job of explaining why people can't use AtlasOS as main operating system the main reason being some of Windows security features are disabled by the AtlasOS team. and i guess everyone knows how good is the relationship between windows and viruses. :)

This is why i look at LTT as an entertainment channel, not a HOWTO channel. I like seeing what they do, but i dont ever take any advice from them.

Thanks. After I've seen that LTT video, I wanted to know your opinion. I'm glad that I didn't wait long.

So glad to see you did a video on this. Just learned about it because of the LTT video and was wondering how safe it is. Writing this comment before I actually watch the video admittedly, I installed it on a spare laptop I have and the only complaint I have about it is it seems like they really stripped the OS down to the point where you can't even add stuff like group policy editor into windows home like you normally would. I'm sure your video will shed some more light on everything for me though.

This is my thoughts on this Chris and yes I watched the LTT video, I can see myself maybe using this in a duel boot situation possibly running this as a Gaming only OS and then duel booting a more secure OS for anything else. I definitely think Atlas has hit a homerun with this in terms of creating a better suited OS for gaming, but I'm in agreence with you on the holes this leaves in security. I wouldn't do my banking on it lets just put it that way and leave it there. I think I'd duel boot this and use some type of more secure Linux Distro for those sorts of tasks. Cheers

Thanks for the PSA! As it's kind of touted as a gaming OS and most games have to be run online now, not having security features is just asking for trouble.

Thank you Chris! Your videos are truly helpful.

Thanks for this video. I saw LTTs video yesterday and I went to your page looking for a review, lol. I am no gamer so I wouldn't use this, I have been strictly Linux since last year June. But, I always appreciate your honest and unbiased input. Thanks again.

I understand your concerns with AtlasOS, but your concerns are actually the reason why Atlas is attractive to me. You said it perfectly when you said that it can be used as a temporary system just for certain tasks you might want to accomplish. I'm going to go ahead and pick it up and check it out for an offline device.

I was waiting for this video after the LTT one. :) thank you Chris!

Thanks for the video Chris. I was interested to know about the security of this.

It's insane to me that Atlas (and ReviOS) has gotten so much attention recently (mainly due to LTT). It's been around for years, being a custom ISO at first only recently using the playbook / post install method.

I would be curious to see performance difference between something extreme like this, and something more gentler like your decrapify script.

I am currently using base Runit Artix with Hyrpland and very well optimized. I used in the past AtlasOS for about 5 months when they used to post modded ISOs and I can say this team makes neat projects, very polished ones. Glad they're making everything open source.

Might be kind of silly but MSPaint being removed would be a real bummer for me. I don't use it for anything major but I use it for a lot of quick tasks because it's easy to use to accomplish some simple tasks.

Thanks for this video. I was looking at Win 10 Enterprise LTSC before AtlasOS crossed my path. I'm also now aware of debloat options but know next to nothing about them, so I'll be doing research on what's out there. Sadly I'll need to upgrade my OS next year so crunch time is getting close.

So for a completely isolated machine, out of the network, say, not to do any kind of social stuff, browsing the internet etc, this would be great, to use exclusively as a CADD workstation for renderings and dedicated solely to work. sounds too good to be true. Thanks for sharing Chris. (BTW, I find somewhat confusing downloading the OS from their site at least to try it in a VM)

Hopefully they add a way to customize the optimization process. Thanks for giving it a spin and sharing your thoughts. I'll keep on eye on Altus since I like the idea but you're right to much is removed to be put on a daily driver.

Anyone else have the best experience ever asking questions or getting help through the forums it’s a amazing community

And right after i asked brodie Robertson on whether he'd go for atlas or your script, you made a video. Glad to know your opinion on this, i did cringe when i saw the list of removed stuff on the ltt video

This is exactly what I have been wanting! I'm going to install this!

I think installing ReviOS through the ISO is much better than using playbook by an infinite amount of times, because playbook isn't the most stable and it's better to install the drivers you want, not the ones that are automatically installed. ReviOS also has a playbook as well.

I'm copying a comment i left on another atlas video but i really liked your take on it you expanded on some things i was curious about. In my experience so far the performance gains are almost too hard to ignore. It's made a little gateway folding netbook/tablet with a Celeron an 4gb of ram and 60gb of storage a completely usable computer again. it is actually faster to start and run basic stuff than my gaming laptop. I rarely used the computer prior to atlas because it was very slow and then ran out of storage during a windows update. Now the pc is very responsive and performing far beyond what i ever expected from the hardware. Between the responsiveness of the system and the battery life and convenience of folding it to tablet mode I've found it to be my go to pc for anything simple and quick. That all being said i may look into the uac stuff and maybe antivirus but im not logged into anything on it so whatever if it dies i'll wipe it again

Hi Titus, great video! Would you mind looking at new MSMG Toolkit 13.3 for creating custom Windows 10 ISO? I have watched your previous videos but with newer version seems lot of options have been added.

I'm really happy with the choices the Atlas devs made, also the security ones. My usecase is I am a musician, I play vst's on my dedicated laptop in Cantabile, and I don't want any random virus scan starting when I am in a pianosolo. Also, it is always offline. My OS needs a fileexplorer, a startbutton, and that's it.

Just for fun, I decided to install it on an old 4 core/4 thread CPU / DDR2 'puter and with just it and an SSD instead of a spinner, it is VERY snappy! It feels just as fast or faster than my I9 9900K rig, on which I have as stripped down as possible version of Winders' 11. I have more playing with it to go to finish checking it out, but so far, other than the security concerns, it's great.

I was fully expecting this video to just be you dogging on Atlas for 16 minutes, but you brought up a lot of good points and were very constructive about it, nice video.

I'm a software developer and I use Atlas OS as a VM image for testing. So far, I have not come across any problems with things either working or not working that don't also behave the same way when deployed on our own desktop images within the org. Basically, I use it as a sanity check. Once it works on my VM, I give it to IT for deployment testing, with a fair amount of confidence that I'm not wasting their time. For me, the lack of security, small size, and tiny resource footprint are kind of the point. My hope is that the scripts will ultimately be flexible enough to include or exclude security features for those of us who either like to live dangerously or who sandbox it as a testing environment.

Very informative. I'll keep it off my main system, but it could be super neat for fiddling with old systems.

After your video on Tiny11 I was waiting for this one. Glad to hear there are good parts about it. If I was to install it, it would be for an older gaming only PC or my old Surface Pro 2, but I won't bother until they stop removing the security focused applications like Defender. As always Chris, love your content. I've been in the computer industry for around 25 years, but you're never too professional to keep learning new things and I always learn something new from you.

Here is my take on it. The update system of Windows 10 and 11 is extremely aggressive. It downloads updates without your permission and installs them without your permission. Even if you specifically tell Windows 10/11 to stop updating (*turn off automatic updates*), it will STILL update. If you stop the service for automatic updates, another service will start that service again. If you disable ALL services that have anything to do with automatic updates AND you edit the registry to disable it, Windows 10/11 will still find a way to update. I, for example, followed a very complicated RU-vid tutorial on how to disable automatic updates on Windows 10/11 once and for all, which included turning it off, persistently disabling four services, going into the registry and changing many lines there... and I thought it worked... until Windows 10 started updating again... The only way to stop automatic updates on Windows 10/11 without shutting off Internet, is to completely break Windows 10/11. Not disabling some things, but actually destroying it. Cripple it. Cutting off its arms and legs. Make it such that Windows 10/11 simply *cannot* update any more, because all body parts responsible for that are cut off, at the very base. That is the only way to stop automatic updates. So, I hail AtlasOS for doing that! 😀 It's like a robot that keeps walking, despite you having pressed the button 100000 times to stop walking. Then you use the physical switch to remove the connection to its legs, but the robot - somehow - still manages to use those mechanical legs. Then you cut off the wires leading to those legs. The robot now stops walking, but after a while, it starts moving its legs again. Then you physically remove the robot's mechanical legs, so that no matter what, the robot just *can't* walk any more, because the legs are missing. That is the only way to disable automatic updates with Windows 10/11. Not trying to disable things, but remove them. Remove them completely. Completely cut off part of the system. Remove the robot's mechanical legs. Only then, the system stops updating.

Exited to hear about this on the wan show! Hopefully...

Thank you for your in depth review!

This is going to be a long question. I have a Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5. I used to have windows 11 that used Chris's debloating tool. Worked with no issues. But recently something happend (nothing related to the tool) and I had to resort to reinstalling windows 11, but this time the debloater tool is not removing the Edge completly. It's functionality is gone, but its still there. I have been wondering with there custom window ISO, and been seeing Atlas os and Revi os being mentioned alot. Excluding using the tool again on a fresh install of windows 11. Which custom ISO would you recommned for a daily driver use, mostly for python programming, web browsing and docs and stuff.

When it comes to custom Windows isos I would just use one of the ones from Windows X lite because they have option in the installer to have Windows defender or not and I bet all the security features are there and even Windows updates work you just have to resume them. The only negative thing about the isos from Windows x lite is page file/virtual memory is disabled but enabling it is easy to do by clicking on their custom enabler to enable virtual memory.

Chris, if you have an Atlas box and only used something like Steam for games and nothing much else, are there any security concerns? You’re not checking mail or surfing - where is the risk?

its a dedicated task OS, so theres that, as far my experience, IT KICKS ASS !!!! ITS GOOOD if you only want to use 1 apliction, like music making, or video editing, or graphics design, WITHOUT all the BS in the background, soooo good !!!!! i like it a lot !!! I DO RECOMMEND FOR DEDICATED TASKS

Great review, thanks. Answered all of the questions I had after watching the LTT puff piece 🙂

This might be what I need for a specific use case... Input USB 3.0 PTZ camera and run NDI tools to convert the video to NDI. I have a little J4105 computer doing this now with your scripts, but I'm up at 95% CPU and bumping up near 99% too often for comfort. At 99% or 100% the stream glitches which I want to avoid. Your tools got me closer from the default Win10 it shipped with, there might be a few other things I can safely strip out. If they make a security feature version that might give me back that 5% I need to be more stable.

This might be worth a try for an offline Audio Workstation PC to help decrease DPC latency. Latency spikes suck!

It would be cool if you covered the latest Windows X-Lite versions, I would love to hear your opinion on those.

Great video. I think you're right, this isn't for the average user. I don't like AUC, but it is better than nothing. I do run Windows without Edge and any virus controls, but my go to is to reinstall. I also only use it for non-secure things like games. No email, shopping, banking or anything else that is personal goes on anything Microsoft. Thanks for a great video. I might try this on bare metal with only one drive to see how it compares to a bolted Windows install, which is inspired by you video.

I'm actually using Atlas Os and my old secondary computer just for simple and not very powerfull game or coding exercice (as I'm a student in IT) So I'm very happy with Atlas and yup don't use it as your primary and personnal and privacy computer ! Just be aware of that ! Great video !

Nice vid Chris. here is an idea ...how about create a video about PC Recovery tools? I was thinking about using Hirens but then came across MediCat? which would be the best option to go with?

I enjoy your Videos Chris, Atlas sounds exactly like what I want lol. Been doing this for 40 years so I'm no noob here. And frankly, I don't want any of Window's so-called security. I've been running 7 bare metal for a number of years now and I see no reason to re-add any now. But I get where you're coming from for those who don't have a clue what they are doing it's risky. I stopped all Windows updates and neutered Defender when they started putting Windows 10 updates in critical updates. That really pissed me off! But now I'm at the point where most major browsers have stopped updating and I guess I'm forced to move on kicking and screaming :) This should be an interesting experiment.

Im using AtlasOS + deepfreeze in my internet coffe stations, works like charm.

I am happy with the PowerShell script that you made...

Just learnt about this and in my use case this is brilliant. Mac and Linux user but need a Windows VM to run some crap CCTV software - currently using a win 7 VM, but maybe this will be better - maybe in wont, but for a use case like this I think it sounds perfect

How cool, it just so happens I had been thinking of making my own 10 clean. Which I will still do, I slipstreamed XP with the service packs years ago because the updates were so long, I will look at Atlas mistakes and have my own 10 gamer, I run Linux Mint, I have since 2011, but I have an SSD with 10 on it, for a few of my games, and some updates for hardware. Thanks Chris, the timing for me on this was perfect ~Ramburner

Chris how come you don't add the Harden Tools to your iex package? (debloat)

Hopefully can run my 2013 year laptop with this in the future with quiet fans. But definitely need Windows updates and ability to do serious hardening.

We are forgetting what are the operating systems for. They're for: 1. Managing processes, memory, threads, mutexes / semaphores, etc. 2. Managing files and filesystems. 3. To support network (protocols stack, certificates, etc). 4. Managing devices. Current Windows is a huge bloatware. My corporate laptop Windows directory is 43 GB! And it was freshly installed less than a year ago. With time it grows even larger! I'm nostalgic about Windows NT 4.0, which needed a couple of hundreds of megabytes. Yes, now there're cooler filesystems, different hardware, different network protocols. But it shouldn't consume so much disk space! And we do have examples - there're a lot of modern tiny Linux distrtos, consuming less than 1GB of disk space. And they're on a modern kernels, they're secure. I do not need Windows Defender (It never catched any virus in my history), I hate meltdown mitigations. I never used restore points (I always disable them). They rarely helped me in case of problems with Windows and it's pretty easy to re-intall Windows and my set of tools. I'm using Atlas in KVM, it saves a ton of disk space and it's much more responsible.

Hey I just saw Linus's new video and see that you're going to ltx! That's awesome!

Some feature's like UAC and Bluetooth you can enable the strip down includes Atlas folder for enable/disable feature's

Was wondering your opinion on this since Linus' video

what antivirus would you recommend for Atlas considering no windows defender?

Can you suggest an os with more security to run on an extremely slow low powered laptop ?Basically old celeron with 4 gigs of ram.

Hey Chris, this video was very helpful, if you have time to spare could you kindly look into Windows X Lite build ?

Hey Chris, why does removing spectre and meltdown mitigation LOWER performance on more modern CPUs?

good coverage, I wonder if you'd make a video on topic of how much debloating (removal of features) actually helps (apart from seeing lower disk space usage or ram usage, which isn't even a "problem" nowadays with cheap RAM and SSDs) instead of just disabling services people don't need, and another topic - how much security mechanisms and concerns should be leveraged from OS to other components (external backups, firewall in home network, VPNs, behavioral firewall like NetLimiter running on user's PC etc...) because in theory an "almost-offline" machine is much less vulnerable already?

I thought of you when I watched that LTT video. I know it's not "secure" if it stripes out windows defender, but do you think that Atlas itself could come with malware? I thought maybe with the playbook it could be verified, but then I read on their website that they give you an iso. I'm a bit confused by the two distribution strategies

Even a couple of years ago this would have interested me for a gaming VM but with the Nobara distro on the one hand and Titus' toolbox on the other it's not of any practical use to me - though kudos to them for open sourcing the project and it'll be cool if they action some of your suggestions.

Hey new to the channel here, I heard atlas adds reg keys that are perminate on the os (even after reset) that can make anyone that works with atlas tap into peoples computers?

Thanks man. Was wondering about Atlas OS/

I was just thinking of a PalmOS launcher screen for Android. Oh the pre MMU days. I guess waiting for wine to get that good is an option. But linux-arm64-8-core kinda makes it a look see into power budgets. Surely a load programs, execute trace minify, all not needed for marked application set removed. Even going to feature blanks in the apps, for things not used. Automatic resource editor, and new lib triggers.

How do you install this into a virtual machine (VMWare, in my case)? I'm looking at the installation instructions on their website, and it's not exactly leaping out at me. BTW I consider these security considerations to be a red herring, as MS has made a total bloated farce of Windows, but I need to run W10 in a virtual machine still in order to get some work done, and I need every last CPU cycle I can get. I don't click on phishing emails (I wouldn't even use email in this VM) and I have snapshots to roll back to.

If i install the non-iso version on my windows 10 will it still keep my antivirus and my games on my c drive installed, drivers etc? Super curious using an i7 Alienware Alpha R1

Hey Chris, Canonical have said that they will stop supporting Flatpak in favour of Snap. What are your thoughts?

This OS is good if you want to have just an installation that doesn't access the internet, just like a embedded install and forget "server". For a normal gaming and normal usage i would recommend ReviOS with Defender activated.

For gaming, which system would you recomend? Windows 10 or Windows 11?

Hey man this is pure GOLD imagine how many vm's running bots u can do with all this crap stiped out like windows updates uac defender this is pure gold, ty for showcasing it.

Duuudee, are you reading my mind?, I was just looking for a review for this OS, and I know your style.

I really wish that microsoft would make an "advanced installer" where you can select what kind of things you plan to do on your PC and only install the features needed for that, but still have an option to add the other features in the future if it is something that you end up needing. Like for example I have not used a printer in years, and there for I don't need anything related to that on my PC.

This is the second video I've seen about the problems with AtlasOS. I wonder if Linus is going to do an update video about this.

VBS does have performance issue on older CPUs since they don't have dedicated hardware to handle it, so I wouldn't leave it on an older PC. It is also kinda why a lot of old CPUs aren't on the Windows 11 supported list (some should be able to handle it which isn't on the list).

Chris what you think of ReviOS, it seems pretty legit, and it keeps Updates and Defender through a toggle tool, give it a check

thank you When I saw you had a review I stoped the one I was watching

Altlas OS seems interesting, but I wouldn't use it as a daily driver. Most likely in a VM I read on the Atlas website it still needs a windows licence to activate the windows part of it. Is it possible to run it without and un-activated in a VM. Its not like I'd be using windows all the time.

Would you say this is good for maybe in a virtual machine. Like maybe your proxmox gaming servers where you can snapshot the system before install.

Pretty sure WinAero Tweaker can do most if not all of this, but does it piecemeal and explains everything rather nicely.

I was hoping to use Atlas in a VM on linux for the few windows programs I still use. Primarily my CNC software, Daz Studio, and Zbrush. The few games I do play have linux options.

I'm interested as to what antivirus would you recommend other than windows defender?

Hi! I've been using Atlas for a year, and I had 0 problems. I ran into no virus, nothing malfunctioned, and the installation was a piece of cake. I was able to run all games with no problems and a huge FPS boost, and I could even run some games in higher settings with the same FPS I had in normal windows using low settings. I don't recommend it to people who are bad with tech and follow instructions, though.

I use comodo antivirus, brave thanks to you Chris, your scripts are fantastic. Thank you for all your resources.

What is that stock you use?

Love the vids Chris! still don't understand why I need Trim feature on SSDs. Any help there? cheers

Chris, you said you get red flags from downloading an ISO, but you're all cool with tools that inject code into the ISO you're about to install. I mean I do understand what you're saying on the red flag for some modded OS ISO. Make your statement(s) make sense in their comparative please. I know I think too much, that's why I started learning COBOL in 1976 on a Burroughs. I enjoy your channel, thank you. Had to throw you and old school smile of course.

Hi Chris Titus Tech. I have very important questions.(For me is important your answers.) 1. When is new CTT Windows toolbox release? 2. Is it offline? 3. Is it will have Windows Update and Windows Defender delet or shut down permanently options? 4. It will support Windows 10 : a. iot enterprise ltsc 2021 ? b. enterprise ltsc 2021 ? c. pro 2004 and 2009 ? Thank you very much for your time and response.Have a good day.

I use AtlasOS in a VM under VanillaOS (Linux). I don't give that VM internet connection access. It just runs Adobe apps that I need for work daily, any internet related things and gaming I do in the host (VanillaOS). So far running great for months now.

I am a fan of having more resources for my VMs to do what I intend them for.

You can manually reenable UAC btw, it just defaults to off.

Can you make a video about Ghost Spectre Windows OS or Phoenix LiteOS ?

Thank you for your honest opinion

You're so fast, i wanted to ask you about it!!

I thought this was a very good review. I too had been lured in by the recent AtlasOS hype but became wary about installing after reading some of what was removed, or more specifically by what I didn't see in the summary. I didn't have time to deep dive so what you have done is a great summary and very useful. It seems prudent to me, that many such stripped back installs are likely to be attractive to people getting into coding or IoT on a budget. From a naive perspective they will see a performant OS that flies on their low cost or old hardware, but they will be laid bare to the internet in the process. It's not good, so if a group wants to offer his type of OS well and good, but make the warnings overt so that newbies don't find out the harm way!

Atlas seems perfect for an emulation build for launchbox on an old sff dell/hp machine. Atleast an alternative to batocera.

That might be a good image specifically for utility virtual machines.