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Hey Microsoft, Stop Installing Apps On My PC Without Asking (howtogeek.com)
Chris Hoffman, writing for How To Geek: I'm getting sick of Windows 10's auto-installing apps. Apps like Facebook are now showing up out of nowhere, and even displaying notifications begging for me to use them. I didn't install the Facebook app, I didn't give it permission to show notifications, and I've never even used it. So why is it bugging me? Windows 10 has always been a little annoying about these apps, but it wasn't always this bad. Microsoft went from "we pinned a few tiles, but the apps aren't installed until you click them" to "the apps are now automatically installed on your PC" to "the automatically installed apps are now sending you notifications." It's ridiculous.
I'm sure its there, in the EULA we don't read.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
If you are still using Microsoft Windows... I feel sorry for you.
The right to offend is far more important than the right not to be offended. (Rowan Atkinson)
Pihole.
I left Microsoft for Ubuntu in 2006. I have never regretted it.
Download - Linux Mint
It UNINSTALLS programs without asking. About 3 months ago an update rolled out that Win10 said Quickbooks "Conflicted" with. So, without user interaction or ANY way short of pulling the plug to stop it, it Uninstalled Quickbooks from the users PC. Then did it to 3 more... Win10 Between the Spying "Metrics" it collects, and the Forced Auto-installs, and now it appears forced Installs, is by far the most "In your way" OS that Microsoft has ever produced. A STARK contrast to Even the Annoyances of Win7 and Win8.1.
But now users are paying for it and crap like this is going on?
Stop installing Facebook on my phone without me agreeing with that.
But you know what? You can uninstall Facebook app from Windows. Hell, you can uninstall Windows altogether from your PC and still have a usable PC. But I can't uninstall Facebook from my Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) and I sure as hell can't uninstall Android from it.
So who's the greater evil?
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
I haven't noticed this behavior yet and don't use any apps on my new machine. (Since it's new, it comes with Win 10. Of course, I'm using Linux for work.)
Do the apps run in the background if I never open them and use Classic menu? Do they show notifications if I turn notifications off?
I have the Pro version of Windows 10 and I haven't seen any apps appearing anywhere as of yet. I would notice if facebook suddenly showed up as I have never used it and never want to use it.
When you install Windows on a computer, it becomes a Microsoft managed computer.
You simply pay for the bandwidth, pay for the hardware, pay for the software, and Microsoft controls 100% of their computer that you simply lease, and use whatever Microsoft gives you permissions to use.
There is a reason Microsoft went from "My Computer" to "Computer", and it wasn't about people getting confused.
Thats why "your" files are in the Microsoft owned cloud, on a Microsoft owned hardware. You are just using a dumb terminal, and granted permission by Microsoft to use it.
The main issue here is that there are few repercussions for Microsoft doing this. With no suitable alternative in the marketplace for running Windows binaries (WINE is very hit or miss, OS/2 eComStation hasn't seen improvements in years), you're stuck eating whatever Microsoft wants to feed you.
We really need to update our consumer protection laws so that we can opt-out of shovelware. Even better, require us to opt-in. I've lost track of how many hours I've spent over the years removing sketchy apps from laptops and smartphones. Not to mention the extraordinary efforts I've sometimes been forced to take to do so.
What a crapshow this OS has become. I'm running enterprise and blocked windows update, but it still sucks. I loved win7, but if you want to play the latest games, and run the latest CPUs youre screwed.
Only apps can app apps, and Appsoft apping apps while apping other apps just makes Appdows 10 even appier! Only LUDDITES hate apps, because they're too stupid to know how to app apps while apping other apps!
Apps!
How do you mean? "Your Computer"?!? You misunderstand, if you run Windows 10 it isn't your computer. It's a machine you may be allowed to use, perhaps, and only the way Microsoft likes it.
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
Minion: "Apple does this thing where they control every aspect about how people can use their stuff."
Microsoft: "We should totally do that!"
Minion: "But Apple controls a minority of the market..."
Microsoft: "Irrelevant! We no longer want people to own the things we sell them. We will control all aspects and collect whatever data we want from them. Apple does it, therefore it's cool."
And this is why I don't use Apple products...
Microsoft appears to be increasingly distancing itself from being a usable and trustworthy user content generation platform
I see this often on facebook when my animator friends lament about an overnight render that was a victim of an auto-reboot
I see this on my new Windows computers that run hot for hours when doing an OS update (are they mining cryptocoin on /my/ hardware?)
I cringe at the insecure risks they are forcing on me when they auto-install third party code -- I no longer log into anything on Windows computers
For a huge portion of Windows 7 users they got this fucking FORCED UPDATE called Windows 10 stealthily downloaded and installed on their PAID FOR machines without consent disregarding whatever settings one explicitly set to prevent this shit. That should have been your first clue! Now live in the bed you've chosen to sleep in...Fuck you for whining and fuck Windows 10 and Microsoft.
Are you complaining that a company that you choose to do business with is abusing you or are you complaining that you want more abuse? It's you, it's your choice to continue the abuse or not. Don't whinge to me about it.
I agree that auto installing or uninstalling apps is completely unacceptable. However, I've been using Windows 10 for about a year now and this has never happened to me once. Is there some hidden "stop being an arsehole" option which needs to be set?
What sort of "geek" is it, that installs Windows in the first place?
And, after they do, "blogs" about it?
And what sort of a "news for nerds" web-site publicizes such nonsense?
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
No.
-Satya
Why are you all so computer illiterate?
Hey ubuntu stop installing apps without my consent!
Uninstall Windows please.
I don't know what arguments you could come up with that would still justify what, if it was a human relationship, would clearly be abuse.
But abuse victims are known to try to justify why they don't leave, even under brutal conditions.
And I do not take any sides here. As a replacement, use whatever gets the job done and does not contain je potential for also becoming abusive in the future.
(Sadly, IMHO, all big DEs of all big OSes have presented such behavior though.)
On the bright side, its still not illegal to uninstall them... For now...
I'm pretty sure Windows7 will be my last. Of course, I said that about XP.
Plebean. Stop buying your own way into slavery.
its not your computer it belongs to Microsoft, if lack of privacy and personal choice bothers you try a free OS...
... have presented signs of similar behavior lately.
And Mozilla and Google have fully adopted it too.
The only ones who don't behave like that, are those who are so obsessed with minimalism, that there simply isn't anything left to be like that. Which clearly is no better.
Sometimes I think there must be some kind of cult meeting where the oligarchy decides shit like this.
Then again, humans don't need to organize, or even be aware of it, for such insanity to emerge.
that you are owned by corporations, that's a fact and it's great that you complain about it but it is also useless.
Corporate goons are programmed to implement this kind of shit and the one's having to deal with complaints fear for their jobs if they miss-behave and criticize what is corporate culture if they are even aware of it.
Often they work out of sweatshop calling centers in far away countries and are not familiar with laws and regulations in "here" countries and need the income to get by.
What would be a fix? Change the school systems to foster critical thinking, but that would cut into the fingers the ruling force.... pretty hopeless that the current trend of increasing abuse would change.
My Windows 10 computer suddenly had all this hard disk activity going on. Didn't seem like it was an scheduled defrag or virus scan. No windows updates were running. What I found out is that it was the Microsoft Store app that was updating itself.
I don't get why there are two separate update mechanisms.
I wondered why Apple acted like their Macs would not be personal computers.
Now I know.
And so are Windows systems. (And everyone else seems to get there too.)
And this time, don't check the "Enable Windows Customer Experience" box without knowing what it does. In fact, don't check any box you don't understand.
Yep, it's 2018 and 2 years and a half after release I still haven't heard or read one bit of info or news story about W10 that makes it seem like a good idea to upgrade.
They are ALL above the treshold of maximum acceptable evilness.
It's like asking of Hitler or Stalin is the greater evil.
Does it matter?
Shoot them both! Done.
Before anyone gets outraged over this, calm down. The truth is that it turns out this crap actually only happens to Windows users. If you upgraded your OS, Microsoft is not still fucking with your computer. So let's all just relax before we fly off the handle and make asses of ourselves.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CloudContent]
"DisableWindowsConsumerFeatures"=dword:00000001
found the libertarian. Windows is not a choice for most people.
I've been using Windows 10 for just over a year now, and Microsoft has NEVER fucking installed ANYTHING on this while I've had it.
Before connecting my new laptop to the wifi, I completely disabled Windows Update, Telemetry, and uninstalled the "Windows Store".
Microsoft being cunts isn't anything new, and if you don't lock down your computer, you only have yourself to blame.
I *give* jobs.
(Not to livestock though. My philosophy is going directly against standard business practice. I only hire full humans.)
And if you use anything Microsoft or Apple or Google in my company, your key will not even work, and you will likely get fired.
"You should start your own cattle farm and slaughtering plant if you don't like antibiotics, growth hormones, rat feces, and rat poison in your meat."
"You should start your own automobile company if you don't like cars designed to fail at 150,000 Km."
"You should start your own pharmaceutical company if you don't like drugs with undisclosed side effects."
"You should start your own power company if you don't like the current rate structure or the polluting generation methods they use."
"You should write your own mobile and desktop OS if you don't like what's on the market today."
Sure, let me dig up a few billion dollars in loose change so I can go out and create those alternatives. Oh wait, I don't have that.
[libertarian-lifeguard-on-duty-swimmers-facedown.jpg]
This has been going on since the release of Win 10. There are various ways to prevent this for Pro and Home versions, but as soon as a service pack is released, BOOM, more ads, apps, and shitty games. (I mean, MS even fucked up solitaire.)
The millennial that doesn't like most of the stuff designed for millennials.
I tried installing Win10 on a blank computer yesterday and the BS mobile app game crap installed at the same time as windows update, there seemed to be an app indexing conflict on the app list, and when I rebooted the start menu wouldn't open. Even the app reset script couldn't fix it. I had to reinstall Windows and it happened again.
I play games all the time and noticed that Linux already has more than a lifetime of games. If you quit your job, eat no-doz for every meal and play games (and do nothing but play games) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, you will die of old age before you finish playing games on Linux. Games are made for Linux faster than you can play them, and Linux isn't even the leading platform yet.
Worse, that's only desktop-style Linux distros, like Ubuntu. If you also have an Android tablet or phone, then you are truly fucked and have absolutely no chance of ever living another free hour of gameless life, ever.
I set a PC up for someone at work a week or two ago, the next day it put an update on and reset the entire Start menu tile configuration I'd spent about 15 minutes sorting out, so I had to set it all up again.
A couple of days later my Dad said "I don't know what happened to this laptop. All my programs have gone and I have to manually search for everything now." Yes, it had deleted all his Start menu, too. What a total F#'#'*&$£ pile of $#!t3. This should be illegal. If I went into someone's house and re-arranged their rooms without asking I'd expect the police to be knocking on my door.
I only moved to Win 7 because of the end of life with XP, but I can't see me moving off Win 7, ever.
Microsoft: You're still using our products in spite of a host of better alternatives, so we're going to cut costs by not buying lube anymore.
dump windows, and use Linux
just as soon as I can get Linux to be stable on this brand new hardware i am wiping windows 10 off and running Linux exclusively, i agree with you on windows, i find myself hating it more & more and especially since it has turned in to a platform to spam you with crap you dont want
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
I have yet to have any 3rd party apps "auto install" on any of my Win10 installs from my daily driver OS to my VM's running insider builds [both Fast and Skip ahead].
My VM's run vanilla installs so those "should" be the ones to get it but my daily driver install is pretty well locked down to minimize telemetry and any other bits from getting in or out without my express consent.
So the support will probably be better than for macOS.
But yeah. Still nowhere close to Windows.
But then again, that is not that bad, given all the demands that would have to be fulfilled, for that to happen.
Like basically Eternal-November-ing Linux. Ruining it for users who aren't clueless and need power and freedom. (See: Ubuntu.)
And like including a full digital restrictions management stack. From the hardware to the kernel to ffmpeg et al to the DE.
Remember that that entire "it is not your computer/device anymore" thing came from and was pushed by the media industry, to keep up the imaginary artificial scarcity monopoly that enables them to basically forever keep raking in their cocaine money without working for it. Even though *we* actually had to work for each of those dollars, and their employees also got paid only once for each hour they put in.
To everyone calling bullshit:
This really happens, but it is assumed that Microsoft is doing some kind of A/B testing, similar to when they roll out updates:
I've never seen it happen on my PC (besides Candy Crush, which I could easily delete), but on two completely fresh / no MS Account Windows 10 Installs at my in-laws. The following games kept getting downloaded and reinstalled. It was really without user intervention on a completely fresh machine.
https://i.redd.it/5uvjgiyc7l50...
It amounted to roughly 1,2GB traffic on a 4mbit connection. Only disabling cloud content via registry allowed this to stop. Uninstall led to reinstall.
Please stop saying that MS is good or bad, or suggesting a switch to macOS or Linux. Itâ(TM)s not helping those who need to, or chose to use Windows. Instead, propose a solution to stop the zuto-upgrades or delete the auto-installed apps. If you donâ(TM)t have a constructive suggestion, please abstain.
"You should start your own cattle farm and slaughtering plant if you don't like antibiotics, growth hormones, rat feces, and rat poison in your meat."
Or buy from a company that doesn't do those things. There are plenty of organic food sellers out there.
"You should start your own automobile company if you don't like cars designed to fail at 150,000 Km."
Or do your research and buy a car that doesn't fail at 150,000 Km.
"You should start your own pharmaceutical company if you don't like drugs with undisclosed side effects."
Or you could just not take the drugs.
"You should start your own power company if you don't like the current rate structure or the polluting generation methods they use."
Or use alternative energy sources like wind & solar.
"You should write your own mobile and desktop OS if you don't like what's on the market today."
Or use a flip phone, or don't have a phone.
Any of these suggestions will yield better results than having the government interfere & probably end up making things worse. I realize though it's easier for some people to get someone else to force others to do what they want.
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
Hello I work in a environment that we use every OS known if still functional.
Long and short I run Linux Mint with wine and VLC, if I need Microsoft I use the web office360. I was experimenting with Lync and wine a while ago I had video issues at the tim,e but time has gone on, my Windows CAD program works well except for the help function, I can still open those files and it I dump time into that feature with links and aliases it would work.
Honestly there is no reason not use Chrome/Linux/Apple/whatever.
The OS lock is gone.
Best regards,
I am literally currently working on automating programming.
Basically, I decided "Hey, I solve a problem by making a program for it. So why don't I make a program that *makes programs*, and solve ALL the problems on a meta level?". Kinda the final compiler.
Frankly, many jobs will live longer than programmers or even researchers.
Things where the automation would basically have to *be* a human, to suit the job.
Especially all social jobs like caring for children, or people in general, doing therapy, etc.
Man, you're an entitled bitch.
Maybe you and yours could organize those things if your government weren't already squandering your resources on nonsense. Think about that.
I just uninstalled the Windows Store in Power Shell and that fixed it for me, but then I had no intention of every use it.
Windows Bonzi Buddy Edition, aka Win10, is a slow-moving corporate suicide by Microsoft.
... I know that games are the natural form of learning. (And the superset of all art, education, entertainment and sports.)
That is why we say: Those who can, do. Those who can't, play.
And yes, you can't learn a thing from any games made by the industry. They completely perverted the concept, jist like they perverted all other art forms by turning them into a "product".
And no, learning games are not what I mean. Because those still imply that learning isn't supposed to be fun, when fun is literally nature's indicator for good learning!
Some players find that particular aspects of some games reduce the player's enjoyment unless and until the game is modded. Of PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4, which PlayStation console supports community-maintained game mods? I wasn't aware of any.
Thing is, the a11y hardware and software I require only runs on Windows.
Try this workaround: Ask an Apple representative what comparable a11y hardware and software is recommended for macOS. If you have done so, what was the reply?
If Apple refuses to accommodate your disability at a price, find a lawyer, as residents of some countries with a disability like yours may have a remedy at law against things like Apple's iOS Developer Program. Disability discrimination regulations vary from country to country. Some have stronger regulations than those of the United States, others weaker.
This is just the start, basically if you run windows 10 you are already owned bro, sorry.
Hell, you can uninstall Windows altogether from your PC and still have a usable PC.
That's true of select PCs. But good luck getting usable suspend on something like a ASUS Transformer Book T100TA after installing a competing operating system. From that page: "Closing the lid triggers automatic suspend to RAM, which causes a full freeze."
Except from M$'s perspective, you being a presumptuous little bastard who re-arranged their rooms.
See, from the moment they said you no longer get to choose when you get updates, M$ has pretty much telegraphed that they no longer deem anyone else qualified to make these decisions. It's not your computer, and you're not allowed to make changes they don't agree with.
Of course, M$ are greedy cocksuckers, so what do you expect?
Or you could just not take the drugs.
That would be tantamount to suicide for many.
Or use alternative energy sources like wind & solar.
And what during a calm night?
Or use a flip phone, or don't have a phone.
The decline of payphone coverage in the United States makes only the former, not the latter, tenable.
Dear MS,
I would really appreciate it if you allow me to choose when to update and restart my PC.
I'm a big boy now.
Thnx!
You'll start reading a lot more stories about upgrading come fourth quarter 2019. Security updates for Windows 7 end on January 14, 2020 (source).
So it is time for sw to root win10? By rooting I mean giving you real administrative privileges, so you the owner decides what happens on the pc you own.
If I ever move beyond Windows 10, this will be one reason why. Is the app store so hard for people to access to download these apps if they really want them? Its not a big deal to uninstall them, no more then the bloatware PC makers install. But should I really have to, and have to do it with every new version release? Does Microsoft realize all these little annoyances add up and make people feel negative about anything Microsoft.
Win 10 Pro on two Surface Books, and I've never seen a game or social media app appear, let alone send me a notification. I see a small handful of preloaded apps, that's it. My apps may have followed me from an older computer, but the OP is saying every new device goes through this, and in the last almost year I've certainly not had any unrequested apps drop in.
Once again I've had big updates like that on my machines. At home I run Windows Pro and at work Windows Education and neither have ever done this. The annoyance for me is if I have left something running in the Windows Linux subsystem the job gets killed if the update reboots the machine. However, it has never installed any new apps or uninstalled old ones. Indeed in my experience the update procedure for Win 10 has been a lot less hassle than it was for my previous mac which would fail the update a good fraction of the time when told to do it at night.
It is called "Suggested Apps", and with one tic inside of settings, it is entirely disabled. Do we need an entire bitchfest for a simple optional OS feature that is easily disabled?
https://www.groovypost.com/how...
Is anyone sure this isn't some kind of worm or virus? has Microsoft admitted to it?
âoeTolerance applies only to persons, but never to truth. Intolerance applies only to truth, but never to persons.
Any of these suggestions will yield better results than having the government interfere & probably end up making things worse. I realize though it's easier for some people to get someone else to force others to do what they want.
Not necessarily. Some of your recommendations can introduce issues of their own. Depending on a person's requirements, location, or income, they might not be feasible choices at all.
I'm sure there were butchers that sold top quality meat in 1905 before Congress and Teddy Roosevelt passed the Meat Inspection Act. But how many of them operated in poor urban neighborhoods? What was the price premium due to their boutique nature and loss of economies of scale? How could you be sure that they sold person X the same product as person Y? The free market is not an infallible system.
There is a workable balance between regulation and free market solutions. It is naive to state that one is automatically inferior to the other. One has to weigh the pros and cons of each. I look to history and some of the crazy stuff that is happening in China to be glad that our regulation system has attained the balance that it has, even if it isn't perfect.
A funny thing is that Windows 10 after the update that destroyed the start menus still thinks those tiles are pinned on there even if they are nowhere to be seen. It might be a real Windows Bug(r), hiding at the plain sight.
Have gnu, will travel.
This has been known since ~2016:
https://winaero.com/blog/fix-w...
TL;DR:
If a vendor wants to promote an app, then they pay Microsoft to push it to all Windows PCs.
Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
I shouldn't have to do this, but I run a powershell script on all of my new Windows 10 PCs to remove the bloatware. I'm sure this isn't a complete list, but it should get the vast majority of it.
(tip, to list all apps, use the powershell command: Get-AppxPackage | Out-File Apps.txt )
Here's what I run to remove obvious bloatware / crapware:
Get-AppxPackage *Minecraft* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *DrawboardPDF* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *FarmVille2CountryEscape* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *Asphalt8Airborne* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *PandoraMediaInc* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *CandyCrushSodaSaga* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *MicrosoftSolitaireCollection* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *Twitter* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *bingsports* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *bingfinance* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *officehub* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *BingNews* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *windowsphone* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *HolographicFirstRun* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *Netflix* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *Microsoft3DViewer* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *ZuneVideo* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *3dbuilder* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *Facebook* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *Microsoft.SkypeApp* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *SkypeApp* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *Appconnector* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *Wallet* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *Office.Sway* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *Zune* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *Viber* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *MusicMakerJam* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *USATODAY* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *Enpass* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *Flipboard* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *TheNewYorkTimes* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *3DBuilder* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *Xbox* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *WindowsFeedbackHub* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *Drawboard* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *king.com* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *MarchofEmpires* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *SurfaceHub* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *SketchBook* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *WinZip* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *WindowsMaps* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *Microsoft3DViewer* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *Print3D* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *Disney* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *PicsArt* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *Spotify* | Remove-AppxPackage
640YB ought to be enough for anybody.
Might be A/B but I suspect that it's just as likely to be a problem with their app store user IDs.
The only real problem with switching away from Windows is that the Linux community is almost as full of c^cksuckers as the men's room at the Republican National Convention.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I'm currently running Windows 7. I'm slowly getting used to using Linux for productivity stuff like LibreOffice documents and spreadsheet. My printer and scanner work in Linux just fine. Windows is better for the games I play but all the day-to-day stuff works fine on both. I'm going to keep getting used to Linux until Win7 isn't viable. At that point I'll go full Linux rather than switch to the mess that is Windows 10.
You might have deleted Candy Crush on your own Windows profile, but if you or anyone else ever creates a new Windows profile on the same PC, it will install itself again. Unless you know the special and absurdly complex command string to type into PowerShell.
I just don't get this. I keep reading (and hearing) people saying all these things that Windows 10 does without permission, like change settings, install Apps, etcetc... WTF are you people doing? Because I've been running Win10 for 2 years now and.. it never does anything I didn't tell it to. Ever. I don't understand, how are people getting it to do weirdness? I'm genuinely curious! Does Microsoft just 'sense' I'm a poweruser by what I have installed and leaves my system alone?
Or you could just not take the drugs.
That would be tantamount to suicide for many.
Aren't you taking your chances either way? If so, don't complain about drug side-effects.
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
EOL Windows 7 RIP
Not necessarily. Some of your recommendations can introduce issues of their own. Depending on a person's requirements, location, or income, they might not be feasible choices at all.
That's always been the case, and always will be. Utopia's not an option. By and large, the market produces more and better options and reacts more quickly to consumer demands than the government.
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
Just think about it, twice a year we'll be getting these new and improved versions that are major O/S upgrades. I'm really done with Win 10, it's time to relegate it to a VM for those things that absolutely require Windows, everything else is on Linux including Host O/S that doesn't necessitate this twice yearly PITA.
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
Regedit:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager
Set SilentInstalledAppsEnabled to 0
Done.
Regedit:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CloudContent
Create a new 32-bit DWORD value named DisableWindowsConsumerFeatures and set its value data to 1
Reboot.
I had spent a bunch of time setting up the tiles for different applications to be organized in the start tiles. A while later, after a windows update, the whole start thing is back to default icons. All the work I did was wasted effort. It is not worth my time to set up the categories and pin the apps back to where I like them if it will all be undone again. At this point I would rather not have the start menu at all if it keeps being reset. I won't ever use the default crap, and stuff I want to use won't stay there after Windows decides to clear it out. So what exactly is the point of these great new features if they are not usable?
-- ssoorrrryy,, dduupplleexx sswwiittcchh oonn.. -Quote found on actual fortune cookie.
Yeah the RINOs are definitely closeted. But which is worse, that, or the Lolita Express with Democrats and their donors getting it on with jail bait.
You decide.
So, when are you moving to South Sudan, the nirvana of no-government?
Get over it, you don't get to control something that you only have a license to barely use.
just stop installing windows , plenty of better OS's out there
I hate to blame the victim... but you did it to yourself by continuing to use Windows after all this time and after all the abuse and after so many warnings. You really need to either stop complaining or switch to an OS that doesn't do crappy things to you like advertise to you on your desktop.
On my list of things to investigate (for some time now...) is the Windows 10 Decrapifier:
https://community.spiceworks.com/scripts/show/3977-windows-10-decrapifier-version-2
I moved to Linux Ubuntu about 8 years ago, and have moved to Linux Mint when Ubuntu tried to force Unity on us.
All rather than suffer through the struggle of who "OWNS" my computer. I Win !!!!
The author is too stupid to uncheck suggested apps in settings.
Open Powershell as Administrator
Then run the best command ever
Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers | Remove-AppxPackage
Normally, I hate to say "I told you so", but in this case I will happily make an exception. You nerds are supposed to be smart, yet you keep trusting Microsoft, over and over again.
Clickbait. I've found that HowToGeek has a lot of misinformation.
This is why MS was giving 10 away for free, often without asking. It's not an OS, but a Spam Engine, with an OS in it.
Table-ized A.I.
Whenever Win7 stops working, MSFT is gone.
Win10 is a virus.
Win10 has been a virus since before launch - remember the 100% keyboard logger?
It was forced onto your systems, like a virus.
It sends data that you don't want sent to somewhere you don't want.
It loads additional programs that you don't want and cannot remove.
Isn't that definition of a virus?
I loaded this script on my only win 10 system the day I built it and I have not had any of this crap you guys are talking about, no unwanted updates, no unwanted anything that I have noticed. I have been running it nightly (laptop connected to 45" tv in bedroom) for about 6 months and so far nothing has hit it. I also use a firewall and so far the system is very clean.
script = https://gist.github.com/alirobe/7f3b34ad89a159e6daa1
firewall = http://download.cnet.com/Privatefirewall/3000-10435_4-10371057.html
One step ahead of them!
Where's the belly laugh smiley when you need it?
No, your children are not the special ones. Nor are your pets.
How is ReactOS these days? I never tried it, but is it better than wine for running windows software? I miss Excel, but that's about it. It would be worth trying ReactOS if it did a great job with Excel. Is ReactOS good enough for the gamers? If so, I'm sure it's fine for everything else.
Some of the easy Linux distros are much simpler to maintain. Even as a clueless MBA, Linux is so much easier to use than it used to be, and definitely easier to use and maintain than Windows. Since converting the whole family over to Linux, my family tech support duties have gone to zero. No one is allowed to bring windows in the house, unless they have a tech support person at work or school who is going to maintain that crap for them, because I'm not doing it anymore.
Seriously, if you're a non-technical person still using windows and too cheap to buay a Mac, Linux is so much easier to use now. Buy your geek neighbor a beer and have him/her install Linux Mint and give you a 3 minute tour. In fact, they'll probably buy you a beer if you let them install Linux, because that means you'll quit asking them about your broken windows computer.
Can anyone definitive say that the EULA for Windows 10 Pro does, or does not, give Microsoft permission to install stuff on your computer?
So move to another OS like Mac, Linux, etc.?
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
I blow them because I like the occasional dick in my throat.
And my habit is more one of getting anally fisted.
Got a problem with that, Catholiban child rapist?
And with my mom ... regarding my parents, there is nothing you could "insult" me with, that is worse than actual reality.
I don't know what they are up to nowadays though. Haven't seen them for 20 years.
Probably founding a cult in some 3rd world country and sucking off American mass-murderers, respectively.
When setting up a fresh install of windows 10 you are asked if you want to get your updates via peer to peer transfers from others nearby who already have them (seems like this is the default option). By force installing certain apps they are effectively seeding the mesh network of windows users and lessening the load on their update/windows store servers. I try to keep background traffic on my network to a minimum so that's why I turn that crap off. I don't want a bunch of randos leeching my bandwidth.
Can't you see that the attitude of "the average user" as a complete moron that needs everything so easy it is an insult to a grade schooler's intelligence, IS what is causing software to become so shit!?
If you can't even write a 3-line script, maybe it is you who's the problem!
Nobody who started out without any prior Windows mental damage does that.
Rebooting and resetting is a Windows thing and always has been.
Linux users don't really reboot unless the kernel got replaced or power was lost.
Resetting the OS to a "factory default" is not even a known concept under Linux!
what I said
nuf sed
Table-ized A.I.
Use Linux.
aaaaaaa
Never, never, ever create a MicroSoft account and never use ever one MicroSoft app. Seems to work.
Spying, data-perv style data theft, auto installing apps. They're pieces of shit scum.
If you are still using Microsoft for your OS vendor in 2018, then you have brought this on yourself.
Can you switch to Linux?
For last 12 years I have been living in a parallel universe where Microsoft exists but not as a developer of an operating system.
Does the farmer ask the cow if it's OK with being milked?
I think you may not understand your role in modern tech. You are not a tech company's customer. You are the resource to be exploited for the benefit of their customers.
Now, your udders look swollen. Best to waddle on over to the milking barn. And, try not to be such a whiny bitch about it this time.
...also, sun rising in the morning and water can make you wet. More at 11!
Let's see, so if a drug is keeping me alive I shouldn't complain about side effects? As in there are only two states, "not dead yet" and "dead", and the only important thing is what state you're in?
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
Is that like a "program?"
I've setup many W10 Pro pcs here at work and seen that happen about a third of the time.
I've tried the things a google search brings up to correct it, but usually just do a system refresh/restore/whatever they call it now and that fixes it.
Sometimes I think it may be better to just do a system restore right off the bat...
BTW, I'd really like to know why the Debian people decided to rename NodeJS to just Node. It took me quite a while to figure out why NodeJS didn't exist after having installed the package. Renaming the main executable for no damn reason will do that!
The Node.js folks also call the executable node, so, um, maybe they use Debian too?
Everyone dies eventually.
Stop asking people to bend over backwards to help those who won't help themselves. All choices are feasible, it's simply a question of what someone is willing to trade. If someone can't afford something, they can always work harder to be able to afford it.
Stop using microsoft crapware.
Now, why is it I haven't upgraded to Windows 10? Oh, yeah, stuff like this.
There's no time like the present. Well, the past used to be.
Actually the reason you can't really control Windows is because Windows is proprietary software. No amount of registry changes, config file changes, or changing one's practices with Windows will place Windows under the user's control. That's the same for any variant of Windows no matter how much one pays or if the software bears the name "enterprise".
Microsoft has a universal backdoor in Windows. Even disconnecting the Windows computer from the network won't place that computer under the owner's control. What the article complains about isn't new: tricking and forcibly pushing users into switching to Windows 10, privacy controls that ignore the user's settings and rat on the user regardless, and dropping support for processors Microsoft doesn't want to support instead of letting the users do the work are all part of the same theme—this is what non-free software can do.
Digital Citizen
In the 2000's, my memory is that most slashdot articles about Microsoft were criticisms about spreading FUD. Fear, uncertainty and doubt. Basically, lying or misleading statements about Linux to try to convince enterprises to not use Linux. Now I see Linux fans all over the internet using the same tactics against Microsoft. As someone who uses Windows 10, including trying out Insider Builds in a VM, I see people online complaining about things I know are wrong, or in cases like this article, I've never experienced myself so I don't trust.
So basically, it appears to me that the Linux community online has become exactly what the Linux community 10-15 years ago hated so much. Obviously it's not necessarily the same people, but still funny to see.
How do we judge when particular websites become fake-news echo-chambers?
We're not asking for the justification: NO MEANS NO.
What the fuck? Are you fucking serious?
Is that supposed to be viable option? Seriously?
Thanks. I was wondering how long it would be until one of the c^cksuckers I was talking about put in an appearance. You sure didn't disappoint!
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
i hate when these companies just go ahead and "decide" to do to you whatever they want. Anything to make a buck. Farcebook is just as bad...