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Windows 10 Now Showing Full Screen Ads On Lock Screen (consumerist.com)
Striek writes: Several media outlets are reporting that Windows 10 has now started showing full screen ads on users' lock screens. They can be turned off, but how many people will actually bother with this? "Tips site How-To Geek discovered that Windows Spotlight, which normally rotates between a selection of photographs, was being used to display an ad for Square Enix's Rise of the Tomb Raider. Understandably, most people probably don't want to be hit in the face with a full-screen ad for a video game before they even unlock their computer. If you want to make sure you're not hit with these ads, follow these steps to disable Windows Spotlight:
Open the Start Menu and search for "Lock Screen Settings."; Under "Background," select either Picture or Slideshow, instead of Windows Spotlight.; Scroll down to "Get fun facts, tips, tricks, and more on your lock screen" and this toggle." Apparently the "and more" is where Microsoft hid the advertisements.
... it begins.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
This is the price of "free" MS upgrades.
Are you still being paid enough to shill for Windows 10, even in the face of something like this? Honestly, how much more of this do you think people are going to put up with before they say 'enough is enough'? Doesn't matter if you can turn them off or not -- they shouldn't be there in the first place! There's no excuse for this, none whatsoever.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
Why does an operating system need to show ads?
I just get pretty pictures.
The annoying part isn't that Microsoft would try to advertise on your own lock screen. No, the moment we heard that Windows 10 was announced as a free upgrade, we all knew they'd eventually stoop to this level. The annoying part is how they refer to it in their settings.
"Get fun facts, tips, tricks, and more"!? Go piss up a rope, you insincere, weasel-mouthed, marketing stooges. You've already hidden the option to turn the ads off behind a labyrinth of menus, you could at least give us the courtesy of not bullshitting us any further than that.
Who the fuck stares at their screen AFTER THEY ARE DONE USING IT?
They do the same thing on my Kindle. It shows ads after I am done using it.
I couldn't give a shit if they put "You are a giant tool." on the screen after I am done using it.
Well I guess I won't have any ads on my lock screen until the next update restores Windows Spotlight as default...
@cyberrecce
Hee, advertisement companies. Still wondering why people hate advertisements so much? Because these days it's really being overdone!! Flashy, beeping and screaming shit at places where you don't want them. Advertisements in the lockscreen of my own fucking PC is not only crossing the line, it's first spitting and taking a big dump on it before crossing it. It might even be going back, jumping on your own shit to make it extra messy and crossing it again!
It doesn't have to be like this. All we need to do is make sure we keep talking.
Reeks of desperation. What's bizarre is that MSFT is finally beating the S&P. How long does that last though? The analysts might like this shit, but customers won't and in the end that's what matters. We can't get rid of Nadella soon enough. He's an insider with no vision.
How much would it cost to get a Linux ad placed there?
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
Enjoy your advanced gpu and play some computer games. :)
After that turn Microsoft off and return to any other real OS. No need to go deep into settings on a real OS to get basic users rights back.
Its always your computer
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
to get into the MS ad network and display gape porn on their network...
If you were me, you'd be good lookin'. - six string samurai
3 BSODs within 2 days of taking it out of the box. Tablet mode is unusable, They sell it on the strength of using existing Windows apps, like firefox but clicking on the text boxes inside firefox (or older windows apps that don't use the stock windows edit boxes) don't bring up the on-screen keyboard. Power saving modes like you find on android or iOS devices are an after thought. Microsoft still treats this thing as a PC so coming out of sleep mode is not fast.
Basically it's an overpriced but nice ultrabook.
So I reached the level of acceptance as it, still, barely, serves the purpose I bought it for.
Last night I wanted to order a pizza - something stupidly easy to do on android or my iPhone with an app - So I went to the microsoft store and searched for a papa johns app for a lark.
No apps found.
No apps found?! WTF?!
Fine, how about Dominos.
Here's one... for India. That's nice except I live in the United States.
OMG...Here I am trying to at least "live" in the Microsoft eco-system and it's like a bunch of Paklids running the joint - "We have Microsoft App Store! We are Smart!"
And now... NOW they're forcing ads onto the lock screen?!
Microsoft is dead. I've got everyone in my friends and family holding onto Windows 7 (and have disabled windows update) and while I'm forced on my surface to use Windows 10 - Well, this is where I leave you.
Why doesn't MS offer a "normal" edition and a "spam and snoop" edition ("Windows 10 SSE" *). The normal version would cost more. At least you'd know what you are getting and can avoid junk by paying more.
* Or Godwin it: "SS"
Table-ized A.I.
Can't we sue them for loss of traffic, electricity used, and using your device as an ad board?
- Microsoft makes software, lots of it
- Microsoft makes things... phones, tablets, games consoles
and probably other stuff too...
But like most companies, the most important thing to make is....
MONEY
The employees, the shareholders, the tax people want it... there's charities, plaintiffs, and lots of other people who want it. So ads make all of these people happy, at your expense. I use Linux.
Who shouts into the front door of a bar he was just thrown out of to "JUST FUCK ME IN THE ASS" over and over. That's me. To Microsoft.
And thank you! Microsoft. May I have another!
Up to this point I wasn't really put off by Microsoft's spying - and I know I was very much in the minority there (but I'm not a Windows user so I guess that was purely a hypothetical opinion anyway).
I was under the assumption it was there for usage statistics to make a better product. I've work on a paid iPhone app where we recorded anonymous usage statistics so we can see how people are interacting with the product and it was super useful for making a better product - note that users were informed of this tracking and had to opt in.
With advertising, Microsoft poison that argument, now they spy on you for the same reason as every other company.
It's turtles all the way down.
If you want to make sure you're not hit with these ads, follow these steps to disable Windows...
Stephan
About half of my family is running Linux instead of Windows. We're geekier than the average, but I can tell you that non-geeks in my family have no problem at all running a Linux desktop. (And I've installed Windows and Linux, and overall it's easier to do a Linux install.)
It has never been easier to junk Windows and switch to Linux. Many people just use email, a web browser, and Facebook; those all Just Work on Linux. Video, sound, it's all fine.
And desktop is getting less important all the time; people are using mobile devices more and more. And Microsoft missed the boat on mobile.
So even as the "network" that makes Windows important is crumbling ("network" as in "network effect"), even as Microsoft's actual power to push people is waning, they keep finding new ways to punish people who stick with them. Hey, nobody will mind if we monitor them a bunch, right? Make it almost impossible to figure out whether it's enabled or not. (If it's even possible to disable it... maybe it isn't!) And start pushing ads, because nobody hates having full-screen ads in their faces.
Is Microsoft actually trying to achieve Windows 8 levels of hatred for Windows 10? Does Linus Torvalds have sleeper agents inside Microsoft trying to make Windows crumble from inside?
Keep this up, MIcrosoft, and we may yet see the Year of Linux on the Desktop.
P.S. I haven't bothered to keep up with all the settings one must change to disable all the bad behaviors in Windows 10. I just checked to see if there's a tool for it... there's a bunch and it's not obvious which one(s) to use. Is there a clear favorite tool to fix the Windows 10 settings?
http://www.ghacks.net/2015/08/14/comparison-of-windows-10-privacy-tools/
Hmm... maybe this one: Spybot Anti-Beacon
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
WINDOWS IS DEAD.
Oh, I was going to get that game, but I guess I won't now since they paid for that sort of obnoxious advertising.
If you want to make sure you're not hit with these ads, follow these steps to disable Windows Spotlight: buy a Mac (or install Linux!)
FTFY.
Yaz
Windows is the only consumer operating system which is not free as in beer. Upgrades to OSX, iOS and Android are always available for free. Android is also free to OEMs. This disadvantage can not be competitive long term. Since Microsoft doesn't sell much hardware, they have to make money on advertisement, cloud services or Windows store commissions.
Now could be a good time to make some serious headway with Apple and Microsoft being such overt douches.
Most computer sales now are tablets and UEFI only,secure boot crap with onboard wireless(BT etc)... I have 4+ x86 tablets in the family I'd love to run Linux on; but theres no distribution that works 'fully'(mostly BT, wireless, but also odd uefi boot configs)... Heck I'd pay for full functioning linux; is there a bounty site still around to encourage development?
Winbook TW-700, TW-802, Acer Transformer TA-100's, so many more...
intel Baytrail systems/chips.. .
"And more" now may include UFIA. http://www.urbandictionary.com...
which a judge has found is perfectly legal.
Kindles have always had two prices. The lower price with ads is the advertised price. You can pay a higher price for the one without ads on the lock screen.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Another reason to move to either Linux or Mac O/S. Games are the only reason to stay with Microsoft unfortunately
Best thing is they're probably gonna be served directly from Microsoft servers, making it impossible to block through host blacklisting without losing anything actually useful, like security patches. But oh, well, the setting does exist. The wider problem here is the amount of people who they will reach out of the fact they simply aren't savvy enough to disable them, much like most Google opt outs. Either that or the setting itself filled with WARNING screens saying how much they lose disabling it, pretty much mitigating the soul count turning that crap off out of fear. It's mesmerizing the lenght companies will go instilling the notion that ads are good for all of us. Get a fukin clue
Ubuntu is way ahead of the curve.
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/...
When will Apple catch up?
./ readers jacking off with this "news"
Now we just sit back and wait for infected ad servers to deliver 0-day malware....
Ads are great I cannot lie. Some other brothers might deny. But when they're late I... ummm... miss a chance at buying the next.... ummm. Ads suck I cannot lie!
If I put this story in a bottle (along with enough context to make it meaningful), and put the bottle into a time machine, and set my former self as the recipient, I'd have to dial all the way back to cow-pasture Iowa 80386 (circa 1986) before my former self would do much more than go "oh my god, that's awful, but not actually all that hard to envision—if mass society remains dumber than trees for another three entire decades".
Then my former self would think, "wow, the generation gap is truly smaller than it first appears" and then "shit, I was kind of hoping the enter key would be gone by then" and soon I'd be in my cups and on my way to rent a copy of WarGames so as to even more earnestly root on the WOPR.
I'll contact Microsoft right now and see what the process is of downgrading this license to Windows 7. After today I don't think anyone will buy this product.
How much would it cost to get a Linux ad placed there?
You could ask amazon? they use Linux to run their kindles which have ads. You could buy a Linux ad from amazon.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
With this, interest in Linux and *BSDs just got a little bit stronger. More users means more potential developers and advocates.
Till the first bit of malvertising that uses this as it's infection vector? Is someone taking bets?
A thousand pounds of wood moving at 300 feet per minute. Don't get in the way.
That doesn't matter, with free software if enough people don't like it, they can fork it. If you can't, it's not free software (that's why GPL is better).
With the huge, and growing, place of computers in our life, it's madness to let a corporation control your computer.
And remember, kindle fires run *nix. So it was free software not Microsoft that went their first. Likewise ChromeOS forces you to have a google account just to log in or update so everything you browse is know to google. The ads you see on that browser are derived from your history. Again ChromeOS is *nix.
only apple seems to be the hold out on this. So it hardly seems fair to pillory microsoft for this, especially on Slashdot.
It wasn't "free software that went there first". It was a massive multi-international organization using "free" software to go there.
Dont try to place the blame on *nix.
You know those telemetry updates you can't turn off? It'll be reporting back to Microsoft exactly what your lock screen setting is.
In a week or two, a group of MBA fuckwits will be poring over a report entitled, "Percentage of users to disable Spotlight in period 2/24 to 3/9" and reaching conclusions from it.
If it's low, expect this shit to ramp up in intensity. If not, expect a pukeworthy "We've listened to our valued customers decided the time in not right to bring exciting and engaging content tailored to your interests"
How's it feel to be monetized until the pips squeak, calculated with exquisite perfection?
This is one of the really great things about Windows, how it introduces features to people that they really want and need. Having Windows constantly context aware insert product placements directly into peoples lives will really help them be aware of the things they need to spend money on.
Ads are great and anyone who doesn't like this won't know what they are missing. I want to thank Microsoft for introducing this feature to computers. Anyone who doesn't like these features in windows is probably just really stupid.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
Those of us who have had a couple of rounds on the tech sphere already know this fact --- you just have to be a jerk to survive the Microsoft corporate culture
In fact, the more jerk one happened to be the hire the Microsoft corporate ladder that individual gonna attained
I suppose guns kill people too?
"No, sir. I didn't kill that fellow! It was the gun that did it, I simply pulled the trigger."
When you see something like this, you know that the Product development group has taken a back seat to the commercial / sales groups at a company.
No self-respecting product designer / owner at a company would allow such a fundamental, first impression of the product to be tainted by advertising as they designed the thing. What product manager would say, during the design process, "wouldn't it be great if we could show ads all over the home screen of people's phones!"
No. Only after the filter had been applied by the marketing / sales department and commercial officers to say, "well, we need to raise more revenue to make our shitty product line seem good" would the product team reluctantly agree to allow ads to make their way into this.
All respect lost.
I won't upgrade then - seems to click this little popup on the lower right corner boasting millions of idiots are using it off, is the lower pain....
This is no longer true. It is possible to download open source iOS apps, and build and install them into your iOS device. That whole $$$ required to get a developer certificate quietly went away a while back.
To be sure, you do need an apple account to get the now free device cert, and so this doesn't quite qualify as 'opening up their devices', but at least it no longer costs cash. That said, there are few iOS open source apps, since the vast majority of people don't seem to mind paying a bit of money for an app. They also don't mind that they're being 'tracked', whatever that might mean in the context of installing applications. If I visit a website, I am constantly bombarded by ads from that site until I go and delete the tracking cookies. If I install an iOS app, this doesn't happen (of course). So while they know I've installed an app - a good thing, by the way, since the purchase can be restored if you lose the device, and even installed on what appears to be an unlimited number of additional iOS devices - they don't appear to do anything with that information.
For OSX of course, there has never been any restriction beyond having to turn off gatekeeper. The dialog that pops up and complains that you're trying to run unsigned software even directs you to the appropriate place in the system settings.
What Amazon,Google OS version is out for me to get for my PC please?
Jack of all trades,master of none
... it begins.
... ECTION)
And so it ends. Hooray for the impending death of Microsoft!
And remember, kindle fires run *nix. So it was free software not Microsoft that went their first. Likewise ChromeOS forces you to have a google account just to log in or update so everything you browse is know to google. The ads you see on that browser are derived from your history. Again ChromeOS is *nix.
only apple seems to be the hold out on this. So it hardly seems fair to pillory microsoft for this, especially on Slashdot.
That's an incredible stretch, Mr. Incredible! It's also completely WRONG.
IF they'd based the Kindle's OS on UNIX, it STILL wouldn't MAKE IT a UNIX, any more than if I yanked the engine out of a BMW, put it in something I had built, would make THAT a BMW!
HOWEVER, it's not. It's based on ANDROID which itself is based on LINUX*, which is a re-implementation of UNIX sharing NO CODE WHATSOEVER with ANY OF THE UNIX OPERATING SYSTEMS. You can't even blame the GNU guys, since the point of Android was to use the Linux KERNEL without the GNU (read, "GPL-encumbered") utilities. Know how some people insist you call your Linux OS on your computer, "GNU/Linux?" Well, the part of Linux that is actually LINUX is the kernel, and that's about it, (or at least it was, things may be different now though I doubt it,) the entire rest of the OS (all the utilities, etc.,) are GNU. In the case of Android, though they don't bother with the formalities, if Linux (as you see it installed on the typical desktop PC,) must be called, "GNU/Linux," then Android should be called, "Android/Linux". And NONE of ANY of that is UNIX, in any way, shape or form. Similar, yes. interoperable? Sometimes.
Directly related or sharing code? NO.
Incidentally, know what OS actually IS a UNIX and has been so for about a decade? Apple's Mac OS X. (Underneath all the pretty, it's based on one of the BSD's, still has a lot of that code, and this is why it's as robust as it is, and successful. It is certified by the OpenGroup as a UNIX, so there. (Ref: http://arstechnica.com/apple/2007/08/mac-os-x-leopard-receives-unix-03-certification/)
If you doubt, open a terminal on a modern Mac running OS X, type "man ls" and see what it says. The 'ls' command lists files in the active directory, and the first line of the MAN-Page reads:
LS(1) BSD General Commands Manual LS(1)
BSD as in Berkeley Software Distribution... of UNIX. If you still doubt, scroll to near the bottom where it says, " An ls command appeared in Version 1 AT&T UNIX."
Or look it up and actually read about it.
Impugning UNIX or its creators for the actions of ONE or MORE groups of people who took the freely available sources of something ELSE that was SIMILAR, makes as much sense as SOLELY crediting them with the successes of any others. For example:
Not only is OS X UNIX-based, but so are iOS, and probably WatchOS, though they've gone further astray from their roots to become specialized for their specific purpose. So I guess Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie deserve credit for creating the iMac?
Of course not. Could it be you just want people not to feel how they should about Microsoft, perhaps maybe you're on their payroll?
Microsoft SUCKS. Always has, always will. Fuck 'em.
* (Android being based around Linux is a bit inaccurate. Android is built on TOP of Linux, just as a GNU/Linux installation or distro is)
I wish MS had been more upfront about the fact that Windows 10 is advertising/personal data collection-supported software. Between the automatically installed Candy Crush Saga, the Get Office and Get Skype ads which reinsert themselves with every Windows update, and of course the keylogger, Microsoft should be paying the end users substantial sums of money to run Windows 10.
Sent from my iPhone
I could hardly imagine a business system where full screen commercials keep popping up.
No business that I have worked for would put up with that.
I would love to see Anonymous, Lizard Squad or whoever are the latest "hacktivists" poison the Ad servers to push out ads for Apple, Ubuntu, heck even Haiku or ReactOS. I think it would be somewhat poetic!
Samsung is starting to pull similar sleazy shit on their TVs... the newer ones will show advertisements at the bottom of the screen when you bring up the menu... guess I won't be getting another Samsung TV, that's for sure.
i believe that railing against marketing is ultimately a losing battle. just keep your head down and your ad-blockers hot.
I feel bad people have to deal with this nonsense. I am very happy to have moved on to OS X.
I'm not completely ignorant when it comes to computers, but I got Win 8.1 shortly before Win 10 came out and it's been a nightmare.
Win7 was working fine for me, but I needed a new laptop. First, I have to figure out how to disable the constant Win10 upgrade nagging. I did that, but in doing so I completely fucked my Windows updates. I just don't get them anymore - it doesn't even tell me there available. I can go into Windows update and select which ones I want so I guess that's okay.
But for some reason, Windows 8.1 spontaneously reboots sometimes. I haven't figured this out yet, but if I even go downstairs to get another beer I'm no longer surprised if my laptop has rebooted for no apparent reason. WTF, Microsoft? I was doing something. Now I have to spend 5 minutes getting everything back up and running and restoring files that were closed by the reboot without having been saved.
I've tried switching to Linux. It works great in a VM although it's a bit slow, but otherwise works just great. But before wiping Windows out completely I've tried booting Linux from a USB flash-drive. It starts out okay, but within 5 minutes or so the whole thing is just unresponsive and completely fucked. This has been the case for several Linux flavors.
As far as we've come I sometimes long for the old days - the early '80s when all I had was an Apple ][ with a CPM card, 2 floppy drives, a joystick and a couple of game paddles and a 1200 baud modem.
Life was simple then. Sure, I couldn't stream porn although I did print a few ASCII art centerfolds on my printer but I knew what was going on with my machine.
Now, it's just a fucking mess.
Windows 10 = adware = malware... Now we are starting to see why MS was trying to force windows 10 upgrades on us.
Time to start complaining to local regulators, at least in those countries with consumer protection laws.
Please, tell me again how I can't fork projects under a BSD license.
For the pirated copies I've installed I kinda feel like I owe them this one...
In fact, I would support this for free windows copies to be honest!
The above product advertisement from an AC is actually on topic and the sort of thing that could be used in this situation so should not have been modded down.
https://pi-hole.net/
In the off world colonies. A chance to start again....
In your face advertising brought to you by Microsoft, the advertising device manufacturer of the future.
This was first reported last May.
Perhaps belongs in the "history for nerds" section, cause its not news.
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsoft-Brings-Ads-in-Windows-10-But-You-Can-Block-All-of-Them-480745.shtml
The moment the ad servers are infected is the moment when the Windows Store is infected. Tomb Raider became available in the Store which has by default the right to show "notifications", apparently now at the lock screen as well. *goes reviewing the lock screen notifications settings*
Even if APK's solution would be appropriate and on-topic, he has lost any goodwill from this community by his incessant spamming.
I agree with Dave Gorman's assessment of "fun facts". They are almost universally neither fun, nor facts.
Not surprisingly /.ers are irate, but it won't matter a jot to MS.
Leaving the corporate world aside, most domestic Windows users aren't those in the know. They're families, students and old ladies who don't know how to turn off updates, don't know how to turn of ads, but more importantly, have been conditioned into thinking that Windows is the only option if you want a home computer.
Back in the 1970s/80s, people in the UK actually bought Austin Allegros, which were an unmitigated fiasco of a car, but your average car buyer never really went through the process of thinking maybe there was something better out there.
Now that free anti-virus programs are the rule, security software vendors should shift from protecting users from threats against their Windows machines to protecting them directly against their Windows machines.
A new nasty move from Microsoft? Update regularly the anti-nasty-move-from-Microsoft software that we sell, which also works in previous versions of Windows, and you'll be safe.
What do you need a lock screen for? All it's there for is to make you hit a key to make it go away. Utterly useless. So get rid of it! Regedit, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows, create a Personalization key if there isn't one, make a DWORD (32-bit) Value of NoLockScreen and set it to 1. Reboot and it's gone.
Now we just sit back and wait for infected ad servers to deliver 0-day malware....
Yup, I was thinking the same thing.
Especially since the lock screen runs as "system".
I know this, because I use a little trick to give myself admin rights on my locked down corporate computer that way...
Adblockplus for windows 10 lockscreen when?
No, he's a pretty cool guy
Unlike Microsoft, Canonical actually listened to its users. Unity 8 will have the Amazon thing as opt-in instead of opt-out.
Besides which, there are other Linux options out there besides Ubuntu, and there are other desktop options besides Unity.
Opt-out is the standard excuse of spammers, scammers, and assorted miscreants.
Oh, no! You have walked into the slavering fangs of a lurking grue!
Is it April 1st yet?
I'm not having an operating system that inserts advertising into my most private device in my home.
SURELY NOT!!!!!
If the spying wasn't bad enough,now ads ON YOUR HOME COMPUTER? NO MORE,Micro$oft -get off my machine
Geek Hillbilly
"note that users were informed of this tracking and had to opt in."
This one thing that has me irritated. Why should I have to OPT OUT of M$ bull... They should be required to leave it OFF by default unless someone wants to opt in.
The better multi-function printers and copiers support a few different options for transferring scans, such as sending to email or FTP or a Samba share. Again, if you buy cheap crap, then you get what you paid for.
And then sometimes you have bad surprises.
We've bought a network connected Cannon i-SENSYS mf8550Cdw Laserprinter/Scanner multifunction. (with support for Google Print and Air Print)
In my opinion Cannon is supposed to be a more or less reliable brandname.
Big surprise:
the thing doesn't speak Postscript.
It only speaks UFR (an obscure proprietary format of Cannon) for which the drivers are a bit PITA to get to compile (cannon provides a mixed binary and source-code components)
and PCL - for which luckily there's a driver, requiring only to manually craft a PPD (sorry, no links yet).
Note that, Mac OS X is similarily left in the dust (the official Canon driver fails to install, I can't get pxlcolor to work), luckily at leat AirPrint seems to work (and let the printer's firmware rasterize the PDF documents).
Google Print still doesn't function - the steps described in the manual just fail.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
I would be lying if I didn't say that it gets annoying to learn on this site about all the crappy shit MS has been pulling with Windows 10 since it's release. If my laptop hadn't fried over a month ago I don't think I would have to worry about this as much but since I needed a replacement device asap and most of us still have that one program that only runs on windows (for now, anyways), I had to bite the bullet. Thankfully there are some dedicated to finding this crap and letting the rest of us know.
the ad wars have.
Yet another reason to switch to Linux...
We can thank Google for the perversion of how people are now approaching software.
Their model of offering everything (mostly) for free puts the pressure onto the revenues of ads for revenue stream.... which apparently works fine for them because they are making a gazillion of revenues from this approach to software/service offering. However, this has shift the tight equilibrium of how "much" ads is shoved into the user experience. From slight to overwhelmingly excessive, and thus more and more user will eventually try to remove those ads from their environment (ad-blocker) and even ISP are starting to embark on the add blocking. True, ads have always been in the landscape, from cable distributor to newspaper to radio etc, ads was always part of the landscape, even if we paid for some of those services. But since the user was paying a fee for the content, I'm pretty sure that there was more thought being put into the placement/size/amount of ads that were added to the paid content.
Now the regular user seems to no longer want to pay for content. Be it software (games, app), musical, news articles, etc... Every time I see an article coming down on Microsoft on their "bad" practice on how they are adapting to the landscape of services and how to provide them to the end user, I always think to myself that Google is probably overwhelming worst on what metrics they are harvesting from their end-user base. Be it from using the android OS, chrome OS or the chrome browser, gmail, etc... It must be huge. Everything they do I'm sure that behind all software development and service development, they have a number of ways to introduce adds down the road, or use the user metrics to their needs for later servicing ads in other places the user might venture too. And yet, since this was how they started up, no one really cares as they have agreed to using something for free, from the get-go.
So back to the initial story, Microsoft is being slapped on the hand for possibly (I have not witness this) putting ads on the unlock screen to those who apparently are using a "free" version of windows (http://appleinsider.com/articles/16/02/24/users-of-microsofts-free-windows-10-find-unexpected-ads-on-lock-screen). The problem is not the ad, nor is the possibility of having a free full fledge OS, the problem is in the execution. So the reality now is that someone who decides to use something free should no longer be surprised of being served up advertisement down the road, this is the current context of the software ecosystem that we are in. You want free, they will feed you ads. So yes, Microsoft might have pushed the ad servicing too far by putting it onto the unlock screen, they are a mature company, a mature company should have found a better way to insert ad into their product if that is what they are looking to do. I can understand that for example on android, that a free game or free app will force ads in a mater that is obtrusive
Now the only company right now that seems to be staying away from that trend is Apple... and the only reason they can allow that to happen is because they are making another gazillion of money from selling expensive hardware and have established a trusted ecosystem with their app store, making another gazillion money.... for now.
Very reminiscent of the UBUNTU and amazon ads in search.
http://www.howtogeek.com/126995/how-to-disable-the-amazon-search-ads-in-ubuntus-unity-dash/
Everyone is complaining about the ads themselves. What about the bandwidth thievery happening? All you whippersnappers on FIOS may not mind a little stolen bandwidth, but for all of us who are rural dwellers and have to rely on satellite, I say FUCK YOU WITH A SLEDGEHAMMER, MICROSOFT! My satellite provider only gives me 10 gigs/month before I get throttled. I don't want even more advertising hogging my limited bandwidth!
This is what we get for needing to have fancy clocks, slide shows, weather updates, and all other kinds of garbage cluttering up our PC experience. To me this is kind of like the sound scheme, just another thing to turn off. Who the heck even wants to hear beep-boop every time they click on anything? And who the heck even wants tips, photos, or anything else on the lock screen? The same sort of idiot who walks on my lawn I assume.
This posting is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise.
Are there any good apps yet that disable all the Microsoft-designed malware in Win10?
I did a Google search, but I only came up with long lists of system settings to change.
At some point, we'll need an app that makes all the changes at once.
Another thing I'm interested in: I'll be running Win10 only in a VMware guest under Linux, so I'll be interested in any configuration I can do in Linux or VMware that will block all the "phone home" attempts from the Win10 guest.
What bothers me is Windows 10 computers for kids. Micro$oft will be showing ads to them as well? I think in Quebec, that my friend Micro$oft, is a bad move as advertising directly to minors is prohibited. I think I'll just sit back and watch this one explode on Micro$oft in a most spectacular way.
Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things. - Peter F. Drucker
If I had mod points, APK, I'd toss you a +1 this time - unfortunately, it is trivial for MS to get around your Hosts (as well as all adblocks) as they can hardcode IPs at a more base level. Only proper way to do this is at the router level now*.
* Ok, maybe always, but before now** it still worked the other way.
**now ==current version of Windows, my Win7 still behaving itself (though I have a very modified hostfile and adblocks).
"If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear." - Every fascist, ever
Bill Gates.
Hardened heart.
Buy Linux in Hell.
http://drbo.org/x/d?b=drb&bk=47&ch=19&l=24#x
Global Mother Fucking Spyware.
I haven't seen innovation like this since PointCast(?) screen saver. circa 1995
Now it's built into the OS.
I call BS on this. They showed a screenshot of the game, and I'm assuming that one of the links told you what the game was.
If you're going to call that an ad then I'm going to call all of those pictures of exotic locations ads as well. How dare they try to get me to travel!
APK will NEVER get a +1 from me, no spammer should ever be rewarded even if they're correct.
http://marsandmore.com - Posters of space, spacecraft, and astronomy.
I view the merits of the posts individually. In theory, receiving +1's when appropriate could encourage good behaviour. In practice ... maybe not, but even chronic trolls like Sexconker say something good every now and then & I don't think it's fair to judge the message by the messenger (and he has been down-modded to -1 - I'm not saying he deserves a +5, but a +1 would not be inappropriate).
"If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear." - Every fascist, ever
Cool guys don't spend all day spamming and trolling.
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
Several years ago, I wrote a haiku:
Thunderstorms outside
Microsoft software inside
It's safer out there
Now that I've started using Windows 10, please substitute "Hurricane" for "Thunderstorms".
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
Hmm maybe you didnt tell the last sideloaded application that i recieved for some of my users. The thing had some sort of code in it that expired and had to be re-sideloaded every year or something like that. Im not a developer but the error that came up was something along the lines of "Untrusted Enterprise Developer..." and the application soon stopped running at all with NO error message (thanks for the troubleshooting help there apple!).
Whereas a trivially rooted android device is beyond trivial to sideload things 100% effectively for all time.
As a potential lottery winner, I totally support tax cuts for the wealthy
I do have a Kindle. As a matter of fact, I have one of the ad supported ones... but I knew that when I bought it. It was advertised up front. Unlike *free* Windows 10 which I don't recall ever advertising that it has ads. That's the problem... and Microsoft knows it. Why do you think they waited to turn this feature on? I bet a ton of people wouldn't have done the *free* upgrade if they knew they were going to ads right off the bat. Imagine the ads there from day one... how do you think that would look? Crappy, of course. :P
What?
This is what you have to look forward to, if you're stupid enough to keep using Windows.
APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ SR-4 32/64-bit http://www.start64.com/index.p...
Gets data for blocking ads, trackers + known bad sites via 10 reputable security community sites.
* Better on power/cpu/ram+ other IO resource use vs. local DNS servers & certainly less security issues vs. DNS servers + routers for years now too - Blocks all ads + known bad sites, all the time (not like "AlmostALLAdsBlocked" bribed by google to let ads through)
APK
P.S.=> Does more for speed (hardcoded favorites + adblocking), security (adblocking + blocking known bad sites/servers & dns issues avoiding DNS), reliability (vs. downed or dns poisoned dns), & anonymity (avoids dns request logs) vs. ANY other SINGLE "so-called -solution'" out there, bar-none using what you already natively have. Unlike Adblock\UBlock\Ghostery it's also not detectable & blockable by ClarityRay/BlockIQ + it uses FAR LESS RESOURCES yet does far more (especially vs. DNS security issues)
... apk
If you've set your system up to automatically receive new wallpapers/lock-screens from Bing/Microsoft --- then you gave up your control of your desktop to this service. The Tomb Raider 'advertisement' showed up as an image of Lara Croft climbing a wall or something (it was a few weeks back when I saw it come across). I don't recall being particularly offended though I did think it was 'odd' in that it wasn't a real world image like most Bing images that are used. It was no more advertisement than a backdrop for a beach resort.
If you manually set your own background/lock-screen ... it never changes. If you choose to let Bing/Microsoft set it according to the theme of the day, then you accept that the theme might be "Final Fantasy XXVI".
This whole argument is kind of about nothing.
"APK is totally right on this count. Adblock Plus on Firefox mobile is a dog on older, or lower end, phones. A hostfile based adblocker makes for a much better experience in this context" - by chihowa (366380)
"I find your hosts file admirable." - by vel-ex-tech (4337079)
"I've never tried to belittle (APK's) work, I've flat out said it's good" - by BronsCon (927697)
"I support APK's stand on the hosts file and can't see why it's not used more than it is." by Trax3001BBS (2368736)
See subject - How'd they taste? Like your foot in your mouth??
APK
See subject: I hate to say it but I have to - they've been messing w/ the hosts file for YEARS now, VISTA onward & MS' VP of the Windows Client PERFORMANCE division had to agree with me on it no less here, RIGHT HERE ON /. no less -> http://slashdot.org/comments.p...
* They're doing the WRONG THINGS, & that's 1 of them!
They're driving users away from more recent version of Windows (or don't the sales figures prove that for me?)
Everyone's TRYING to be Google - & google, oddly enough, KNOWS the advertising model's dying & diversifying away (purchasing Boston Dynamics showed me that, as an "example proof thereof")
APK
P.S.=> They get around it for Windows update (this is ok, that assures protection vs. a bushwhacked hosts file which can't happen when my program's resident protecting it & I've tried corrupting it myself then, couldn't do it - I protect it beyond WFP/SFP protecting it too)... apk
See subject: He's "speaking for everyone" in absolutes & I put up 10++ users disagreeing with him - JazzLad + you do the rest putting HIM to rest, easily.
* You're a reflection of "the unsilent majority" along with sales figures of Win7 & its usage vs. more modern versions of Windows which MS has messed up bigtime & continues to do so, rather stupidly...
(You can't SELL PEOPLE what they DO NOT WANT!)
APK
P.S.=> MS is f'ing up large man - especially TRYING to be Google & failing by cutting their cash-cow mainstay fundamental product's throat (or don't VISTA onward sales prove it for me?) & on hosts? TAKE A READ-> http://mobile.slashdot.org/com... be enlightened... apk
See subject & a FREE program of mine doing a job better vs. ANY other single "so-called 'solution'" http://mobile.slashdot.org/com... out there!
(For more speed, security, reliability, & anonymity DOING FAR MORE for FAR LESS for ALL OF THE ABOVE noted benefits + from a single file output (& single multithreaded portable exe I built for it no less))
It's the best on tons of fronts (especially abilities & efficiency) - bar none!
* When you can show us you've done more, better, & EARLIER than I have on this front? THEN, you can talk, blowhard...
APK
P.S.=> Now, here's the BEST part - I know DAMN WELL you haven't & can't show that, lol... so guess what? I am LAUGHING @ YOU + you can bank on it anyone else is reading this... apk
"his hosts program is actually pretty good" - by xenotransplant (4179011)
"his hosts tool is actually useful for those cases in which one does indeed want to locally block stuff outright while consuming minimum system resources" by alexgieg (948359)
"I like your host file system." - by Karmashock (2415832)
"No complaints from me, I like APK's spam. Reminds me to use a host file. Also, his stuff is free." - by aaaaaaargh! (1150173)
"APK is kinda right... I've given up on JS based adblocking and gone to blackholing in /etc/hosts, just like it was back in the 90s. The computational load has gotten intolerable for any ad-blocking using JS. I've tried his hosts file generating software. It works." - by bmo (77928)
* See subject!
(Want more? Ask! I've got 'em - & I have 100's more - JazzLad & dbill BOTH put YOU IN YOUR PLACE too here)
APK
P.S.=> Downmods to HIDE it here http://mobile.slashdot.org/com... ? You made my point for me - you FAIL!
... apk
Your post history shows you troll apk starting trouble with him. You're not cool amicusnycl. Get over your butthurt and do something useful like apk with his free program instead of being a mediocre trolling loser.
So out of the 25+ PCs I deal with in a day with all manor of versions of 10 installed I have yet to see this problem. Sure sounds like 3rd part malware has snuck in and is posing as a Microsoft "feature". Posting as AC due to all the raging neckbeards.
Um, and how much did you pay for Windows 10?
See subject: Routers = lousy security & I prove it to Ash-Fox here w/ 225++ instances of router exploits http://slashdot.org/comments.p...
* The ONLY thing Windows overrides hosts on is Windows Update (which is NOT necessarily a bad thing in case of hosts being hijacked - which CANNOT HAPPEN from usermode while my program is resident (I've tried to break thru its protection myself & couldn't) above & beyond WFP/SFP protections via ACL protecting hosts too...)
APK
P.S.=> Hosts do the job on more levels for LESS by far vs. ANY single other "so-called 'solution'" out there with less risk as well by far, no questions asked... apk
Maybe they'll activate your camera to see your reactions to ads next as is being done with some billboards.