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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?"
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.
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?
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.
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)
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.
A lot of people aren't paying for it. Loads of gamer types who build their own PC are using unactivated Windows 10, something they would have had to use hacks to be able to do with XP.
So MS have loosened up the rules on paying for the OS but at the same time monetized app auto installs. Consider. If you buy a PC it comes with a load of crapware preinstalled - Norton Internet Security, Anti virus and so on. Most of those are trials - after a month or so they prompt you for a credit card to get a subscription. Now some percentage of PC users will dumbly hand over their credit card, and some percentage will work out they can uninstall it and use Windows Defender instead.
So each machine with trial software on it will generate a certain amount of revenue for the software vendor. Which means the software vendor can pay PC vendors to install trial software.
People have argued that the price of the trial ware knocked off a significant percentage of the cost of a Windows licence in volume. The problem from MS's perspective is that all the cash went to the vendor and WIndows got poor reputation for performance because things like Norton Internet Security absolutely killed performance.
Now with WIndows 10 and push installs MS have a chance to get in on the act. Some software vendor can do a deal where they pay MS to push install their software.
PC vendors probably won't get to install Windows for free though - there's no reason for MS to allow that and it would kill their revenue. However people building their own machines will probably get to use unactivated windows for free. Possibly MS will segregate things so that unactivated windows will get software pushed while corporate machines where the company pays a per seat license will not. I.e. 'free' windows can be monetized in a way that doesn't require the users pay a fee.
Or maybe they'll sell Microsoft Insecticide
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
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.
If you are referring to Windows I'll just point out that Windows NT is the newest among common consumer operating systems.
Mac OS - evolved from Nextstep - 1988 release.
Linux - 1991 release.
Windows NT - 1993 release.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CloudContent]
"DisableWindowsConsumerFeatures"=dword:00000001
Blame the customer for not doing enough to compensate for the companies shitty practices. Then wonder why the practices get shittier and shittier. Its the customer's fault, of course, after all, they could have ......
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.
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 can't believe you have been marked insightful. The simple fact is that Windows is the dominant operating system for desktop computers. Apple's OS X is good but it has no where near the market share because is only available on proprietary hardware at a premium price and it has no where near the application base. And, don't even bring up Linux on the Desktop, which is just a joke.
If you are still saying things like "f you are still using Microsoft Windows... I feel sorry for you.", you are nothing but a troll.
There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
It does seem incongruous that MS has tried everything possible to get people to move from Windows 7 down to Windows 10, but then they do things like this which degrade the customer experience.
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.
So far, I can still get computers that will run Windows 7. Thanks to GPU improvements, and Intel being a bit weak in the upgrades department these days, even a seven year old computer (that isn't from Apple) is still relevant! I just got an Optiplex 790 i5 for $25 (with 12GB of RAM in it too, couldn't refuse that), and put a $110 graphics card into it. Runs OEM Windows 7 x64 Pro with no trouble, and that's what's on the license sticker.
I'm still not sure what OS I'll be playing games on in a few years, but at least the one main game I play has a Linux version because it uses Unity.
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
Primarily? No. But I enjoy gaming. And my privacy. What now?
Your privacy? That was pretty much gone loooong ago. Now they've come to take away ANY control you may have left over your computing experience, so they can subject you to constant propaganda-laced exhortations to conform, to consume, to rent-to-not-own, and to trust your entire to the Cloud and the corporations. In general, they're doing everything possible to get you to give up your autonomy and your ability to think critically. They haven't achieved that goal yet, but they are getting ever closer, and the writing's on the wall. But go on ahead and enjoy those games! Or, alternatively, you might consider that having to use Windows makes those games cost WAY more than the sticker price. Like, maybe, your soul ...
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
"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.
Only if you call Linux (and Mac!) "Directly stolen from AT&T, 1972". NT has some security model concepts from VMS, but I used VMS in my college days, and NT is definitely not VMS.
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
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.
No, you will die of malnutrition or a heart attack in three to four weeks at the most. Granted, you'll probably look like you died of old age after eating nothing but No-Doze for a month without sleeping.
Indeed. When the observable behaviour of your legitimate software is becoming indistinguishable from the observable behaviour of malware, at some point you have to look in the mirror and say maybe you're the problem.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
Malware exploits for profit. Windows 10 exploits for profit and charges for the privilege. Malware writers, take note.
maybe you're the problem.
No, you're the product.
No offense to your point, but you got a really good deal there. a core i5-2500 (just the CPU) is still selling on the used market for at least 50 bucks. Because as you noted, its performance has held fast and will actually be faster than some 6th gen core i3...
one of those core i5 optiplex 790s around here on craigslist would easily sell for at least $100-200. And my son has a 2nd gen core i5 and it plays all modern games fine (with appropriate video card and ram of course). The 2nd gen core chips are legendary for how they have held performance for like 6 or 7 years now. a 2600k still sells for $120 USD for just the cpu and they sell reliably like hotcakes at any price under that.
As a potential lottery winner, I totally support tax cuts for the wealthy
This type of thing is exactly why Microsoft did everything possible to get people to move to Win10. They intended to monetize it in other ways that would give them a steadier/larger stream of income going forward.
As operating systems get more stable there are fewer reasons for the consumer to upgrade while Microsoft still has the task of keeping up security updates, etc. Eventually this would lead to declining revenues and the inability to support future development, not to mention allow Linux to make inroads. By restructuring to a walled garden where they're in control of your system they can monetize the hell out of you, EULA away your privacy rights, and be laughing well into the future.
If Linux development can ever get it's head out of it's ass and focus on how to make it easier for users to recover from problems without resetting everything they'd probably have a shot at taking away a big chunk of users who don't want to deal with MS' new direction.
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."
Most all those users have all been taken away already, by Apple.
Sure, theirs is also a walled garden, but at least the experience is user-friendly and not user-hostile.
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.
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
Most all those users have all been taken away already, by Apple.
Sure, theirs is also a walled garden, but at least the experience is user-friendly and not user-hostile.
Microsoft is not aiming for the Apple market. Apple charges a premium and it's customers are the people who buy their products. Apple still does some lock in by making Apple products work best with other Apple products but the purchasers of its hardware are still its primary customer. Microsoft is aiming for a completely different market. Microsoft is trying to change to the android/facebook/google business model where it gives its product away for free. The end user is no longer their customer. Their customer is the advertisers, the developers, and the purchasers of things like Office 360. They have decided that there is not enough profit margin on the OS to bother charging for it and it's better to get the money from businesses than cash strapped consumers.
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
Yes. Not only is the behavior of Microsoftware just as unacceptable as the more typical malware, but it also teaches ordinary users to just click through and accept malware because it acts just like Microsoftware does. Microsoft is training users that malware behavior is normal.
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.
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.
Apple's products are pricey, but in many cases no pricier than equivalent alternatives. Just because a Lexus RC-F is expensive doesn't mean it's priced at a premium compared to a Honda. If all you're looking to do is fulfill a set of requirements met by the Honda, then the Lexus isn't targeted at you and would seem to be priced at a premium.
Except it's actually a Honda with a Lexus logo on it. The gas and brake pedals and other controls have been swapped. The built-in stereo only plays music you subscribe to from the manufacturer. The industry standard butt interface (seat) has been courageously removed. You can buy an adapter or a wireless seat that doesn't attach. Each model year is a little bit thinner, so it's hard to get into it, and the gas tank gets smaller, so it can't go very far.
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).
Most windows users think Sudo is a precursor for making meth. They've never seen a command line and think the recycle bin is just as good a place to store stuff as "My Documents."
The typical windows user doesn't know what a "Web Browser" actually is, they just think they get on "The Internet" by using "The Winderz" and think it's normal for their stack of toolbars to extend halfway down the screen.
The typical mac user doesn't know much more than that either but they feel smarter because they paid more to get on "The Internet."
Flappinbooger isn't my real name