One of the oldest programs that we can find in Windows is Paint. This is a very basic drawing software, nothing to do with Gimp or Photoshop, designed more than to modify photos as a tool to pass the time. Or, at best, make some minor tweaks on photos in “shabby plan”. With the arrival of Windows 10, Microsoft wanted to give a second life to this program by launching a new software known as ” Paint 3D “.
Paint 3D was looking for two things. The first one, to provide Windows with a more complete editing software than the classic program that had been part of the operating system for decades. A program with which to make simpler edits, with basic tools, but with layers, and even design our own 3D objects. And secondly, do away with the old original program .
Such were Microsoft’s attempts to replace this program that with the launch of the Creators Update, the original Paint was not available, only the 3D version. The company reconsidered and included the program again in future versions, and thus, to this day, both tools continue to coexist. But the most probable thing is that, if we already use Paint little, the 3D edition of the program will use it much less. We may not even have opened it once. And, therefore, it is better to uninstall it from the PC.
How to uninstall Paint 3D
Paint 3D is a UWP program like any other installed on your computer. Therefore, if we want to delete it, we can do it in the same way that we can uninstall any other program from our computer.
From the start menu
The first of the ways that we can use to uninstall this Windows software is to do it from the start menu. Like the other installed programs, this one will appear in the list of tools, inside the “P”. Once located, we will right-click on it and select the “Uninstall” option to delete this program from our PC.
After deleting it, it will no longer be available.
Using the Windows search engine
Windows 10 brought a complete search engine for files and programs from the PC from which we can find practically anything in an instant. Of course, from here, in addition to opening the programs, we will be able to execute certain actions on them. For example, uninstall them.
All you have to do is search for the program from the search engine, select it, and choose the uninstall option to delete it from your computer.
From add or remove programs
In addition, we will also be able to uninstall it from the Settings menu itself . Within applications> Applications and features, we can see a list with all the software that we have installed on the computer. We will search for Paint 3D using the search engine that appears at the top of the list, and we can also uninstall the program by selecting that option.
With PowerShell
If we are one of those who like to use the Microsoft console, then we will also be able to do it directly from PowerShell. To do this, we will open a window of this software, with Administrator permissions, and we will execute the following command in it:
Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.MSPaint | Remove-AppxPackage
When it finishes its execution, the program will have been removed from the operating system successfully, and it will no longer bother us.
Reinstall Paint 3D
What if we regret it and want to reinstall this application on our computer? Microsoft offers us a very simple way to do it: downloading it from the Microsoft Store .
This app, like most programs that come pre-installed in Windows, is available in the Microsoft software store. Therefore, we can easily download it again at any time from it. In addition, of course, it is completely free, so we will not have to pay anything for it.
Install the old Paint
Despite the numerous rumors that Paint will disappear from Windows 10, the drawing program is still installed by default even in the latest versions of Windows 10. Of course, this program is now an optional feature of Windows, so we can install it, or uninstall it, as such.
Within the Configuration menu > Applications> Applications and features> Optional features we can find a list with all the optional software that is installed on our PC. Paint should appear here. If not, we’ll click “Add a feature” and look for it in the list.
From here we will be able to install Windows 10 Paint and be able to use it as we have always been able to do.
Install Windows XP Paint
With the arrival of Windows 7, Paint underwent a complete facelift. This software received a large number of options and tools, and changed its general appearance to adopt the typical Ribbon toolbars, so characteristic in Windows interfaces. This new interface has been kept until Windows 10, but what if we want to use the classic Paint, the original?
In that case, what we have to do is find a copy of this program and download it to our computer. We can find this copy on any PC that has Windows XP installed, or an earlier version, or download it ourselves from this link .
Once downloaded, we execute it and we can see how we have the classic program, the same as always.
Hide Paint 3D and set the classic as the default program
As with the Creators Update, Microsoft may again try to take the classic program off the table so that users can start using the 3D version of the program. If this happens, then with a simple change in the Windows registry we will be able to completely hide the 3D version and show the classic program.
To do this, we must open the Windows registry editor (remember, by typing “regedit” in the search engine) and we will move to the following directory:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>SOFTWARE>Microsoft>Windows>CurrentVersion>Applets>Paint>Settings
If the “Settings” key does not exist, we create it with the right button and choosing New> Key.
In this path, we will use the right button to create a new 32-bit DWORD value. We will call this “DisableModernPaintBootstrap”, and we will give it the value “1” by double clicking on it.
Ready. Now, when we look for Paint in our Windows 10, we will automatically see the classic application instead of the new 3D.