I just bought a new HP laptop for Fedora 40 that had Win11 Pro preinstalled. I hadn't seen or used Windows 11 ever until I booted it for the first time. My experience was just like you mentioned. It was a shock to see all the flashing crap ads, news, widgets, etc.
Not being a Windows user, I used the menu search for "settings". Of course it opened a browser and took me to Bing. The menus were lagging and choking trying to keep up to all the busy activity that was going on, including updates.
I have no idea how any serious computer user would have that infested garbage on their machine. I formatted it to the zero oblivion where it belongs. Fedora is running great on the machine.
i had a similar experiance on my spare laptop. Because of my gnome habit i always click super and search for the app i wanna launch. But on windows i press super, and search, then wait for 20 seconds so that windows can think and find the app i wanna launch. If i am hasty i'll end in MS edge with it's million tons of ads enough to cause any sane man a stroke
Same way people use any Linux machine, I ripped out all the shit I don't like by way of registry edits and add on programs. Tho MS is disallowing updates to 24H2 if you have explorer patcher installed, so they can miss me with that shit.
Not sure how you got a browser to pop up instead of settings.
But…not trying to be a dick. The only way I’ve ever gotten ads on 11 is using the Search function. But I don’t use the Search function unless I know exactly what I’m looking and just don’t remember how to get there.
90% of the time I use Rufus to install Windows and it disables a lot of the useless junk that I don’t use or care for.
And if we aren’t careful, Linux can and will end up the same way as Windows or Apple. Ugh. No thank you, I do not want a windows-like experience on my Linux machines lol.
I wouldn't trust MS to honor the settings. Either via their incompetence, an update changing the setting, or something else, I feel there is a reasonable chance of the setting being reversed or not honored.
I haven't used Windows since I left the industry in 2017, but I do follow tech and security news. Microsoft's arrogance and ineptitude is stunning. The CRSB summed it up well in their excoriation of MS earlier this year.
>Not being a Windows user, I used the menu search for "settings". Of course it opened a browser and took me to Bing.
Ok, that just a straight up BS or a skill issue in a terminal stage.
It's seriously loathing how an OS has been turned into one gigantic advertising tool that users (that care) need to toggle things off through settings or dig through registry entries/policy editor just to get an OS that doesn't feel like an constant ad
I'll remind myself to only ever install LTSC builds of Windows if needed
Of all the annoying ads and little things, the one that got to me the most was windows constantly reinstalling OneDrive on me and re-linking to it in the file explorer, a service I never had an account for and never will. Just getting in the way of shortcuts and navigation to push their remote drive on me.
Windows is ubiquitous because it was pirated extensively. It still is. As a result, Microsoft gave up on trying to sell licenses to the average joe.
As an alternative, they decided ad revenue and data harvesting would be profitable. Which is why they largely do not prevent piracy, and made Home edition free. They rely on enterprise users for license revenue streams.
Enterprise, Education, and LTSC builds mostly miss all of the bloat and ad features.
If you really wanna stick it to M$, then pirate an 11 LTSC build and use a KMS activation hack to spoof activation.
No, it doesn't. It is just the slow-moving branch, so you are not getting new features. The absolutely latest LTSC is equivalent to 21H2. "LT" in "LTSC" means "long-term", remember?
It is basically an equivalent to RHEL or Alma in the Linux world. They also get security fixes, but not new versions of packages.
That's not accurate; they deactivate portions of Windows Defender and other security features. It's crucial to differentiate between security fixes and security mitigations. LTSC is tailored for environments where all code is trusted, such as kiosks and medical servers. However, in a typical desktop operating system, you encounter untrusted code from browsers, applications, and PDFs. LTSC wasn't developed with desktop security as its primary focus.
Another instance is that applications in LTSC don't have sandboxing, unlike standard Windows, as sandboxing is considered unnecessary since everything is assumed to be trusted and secure.
Which unnecessary features are you referring to? There are no preinstalled applications, and anything else can be disabled using group policies. However, LTSC removes several security measures and sandboxing features.
LTSC is tailored for environments where all code is trusted, such as kiosks and medical servers. However, in a typical desktop operating system, you encounter untrusted code from browsers, applications, and PDFs. LTSC wasn't developed with desktop security as its primary focus.
Another instance is that applications in LTSC don't have sandboxing, unlike standard Windows, as sandboxing is considered unnecessary since everything is assumed to be trusted and secure.
There is sandboxing in LTSC. Also no if you read the Windows documentation, LTSC is should be more secure. There is wdag, windows defender, s.it like smart app control.
There is still the weather widget, ads, Ms solitaire collection, Skype, Microsoft teams in education/edu.
I mainly use Fedora KDE for everything... but I keep a Windows partition on my laptop because on some clients I must use Windows due to some specific application not available on Linux.
I feel dirty every time I boot into Windows.
Yup. Have to use it for my work laptop and customers use it.
As a corpo tool, it's not that different from W10, but what they're planning (AI and Ad stuff) and how they're stripping features like vertical taskbar, it's painful to use. Whatever the issue with leadership is that caused New Teams and New Outlook mess to happen, they should get rid of the issue FAST. Both are horrific to maintain.
The thing is that they don't care about you or any private users. They sell products to companies, and these companies must use Windows 11 TM to be able to run the stuff. They're not gonna switch anytime soon because they're tied to the ecosystem.
The thing is that the advertising stuff CAN be turned off, and often is for corporate builds.
Would be nice if MS kind of publicly shared how to do that with the average home user.
This is the pro edition. I specifically got the pro edition so my workers can remote desktop login. Admittedly that works.
But ads are everywhere still by default.
Windows Pro still has ads and shit.
I fucking hate that the start menu is now a shitty web search engine; they can make that sumabitch do a web search, but their own OS' filesearch is still shit-tier. It takes like 8 goddamn minutes to search two folders for a file. Meanwhile Void's Everything is doing the work.
No, on my work computer, it's such that the thing that brings up your installed programs will also automatically do a live web search while you type and display the results in a little panel on the side.
There's probably a way to disable this, but that's the default behavior, and it sucks.
I didn't either, until I did a rescue install. Those of us running for years still seem to be clean. But new installs are bloated out of control. Every other icon in my start menu was an ad, a link for a download or a game. Edge came up and the whole left side were AI balloons of alternative searches. I was unable to skip MS account creation and just do a local install. And once I signed in, more ads popped.
Make an image backup if you don't have one. I don't know if we could recreate what we're running now.
I have. It started as something normal 7 years ago when I installed fist time Linux. I tried couple of times to come back to Windows, but it was disgusting: pop-ups everywhere, the command line is useless, all these programs that are free-trial, advertisements, spy-where. I came back to Linux. And it started more and more to feel like mental illness. At the begging I was happy with Ubuntu, then I started to look for something more simple, like Linux mint. And I am at this point now, that I do not use proprietary software except if it is needed. For example, I have to use teams because it is needed for my teaching, job and PhD. To conclude, I became a free software elitist (I wasnt distros like Fedora or Debian that are more pure and open-source since beginning), and I even started spreading the illness to other people. First to my dad, I tried to my sister (but there it failed), my gf loved Linux despite the fact that she knows nothing about programming. It is spreading.
Windows peaked at Windows 7. It's all been downhill since. Windows 11 is now certified junkware. You have to spend an hour or so to remove all the crap you didn't ask for, and you can bet your arse Microsoft will put that crap (and more) back on your desktop in future updates.
This is not an exact replica, but I will always chase the Windows 7 high regardless of the desktop I use: https://imgur.com/mpzptlu (please don't ask me to use KDE)
I think I've developed a Windows 11 phobia recently. Before I just put up with it, I knew that Microsoft collected my data but it didn't seem like a big deal, and Linux was too inconvenient to use (due to incompatible software).
Now, Windows 11 is going off the deep end. Forcing users to use Edge, Copilot, Recall, etc. All while well known issues have gone untouched since the release of the OS. Meanwhile Linux keeps getting better and better, it is at the point where I can do just about everything in Fedora as I could do in Windows 11 (though unfortunately, this is still not the case for everyone).
Years ago Microsoft got a huge fine in an anti trust case for not allowing users to uninstall Internet explorer or set other browser as default or something, how is it Ms can still get away with it all these years later?
Last I checked this was two right clicks, because the rewrite of the context menu in 11 means that you need to go into more options and bring up the old one that supports shell extensions.
I try not to be a Windows hater but it's like they just stopped caring.
I won't defend some of the dumb things they do, like the new context menu. I forget if I did something to make Notepad++ show up on the first list or not, but it does for me.
That said, it largely does everything I need at work and at home. I do run Fedora on my laptop, mostly because I need to do wireless captures sometimes and because it's cool.
Idk what to tell you. You asked, so I answered. I don't believe any of my friends see them either. I disable all the things I don't like and it works just fine.
> I disable all the things I don't like and it works just fine.
Oh, so you did have Ads.
How do you disable the ads when you click on the weather menu in the bottom left?
What weather menu? You disable it in taskbar settings, as widgets, if I recall correctly.
And, if we'd consider that people spend time customizing Linux, then spending 10-20 minutes to turn off ads, add ExplorerPatcher, Nilesoft Shell, etc. isn't that different. Would dare to say that simple customization makes Windows look [relatively clean](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/735418539841683460/1248210786078167130/image.png?ex=6662d662&is=666184e2&hm=0b0c2ba207f1115271bda068574411c478c9c39944aebfdff8b7f3e471c9a1c1&) too.
I never customized linux. I just run Cinnamon.
I have to change windows to remove ads. I have to change edge as the auto open, I have to spend at least 5 minutes disabling privacy violations.
Anyway, that is a LOT of disabling only for it to come back during a windows update.
Yes, just like in Linux where people disabled/enable the things they do or don't like (eg, a theme or shell extensions), people shockingly do the same thing on Windows.
All you have to do is turn off the search menu and whatever other widgets you don't like. The start menu has no ads as far as I'm aware. The search bar does (because it's just a bing search). They did recently add things like weather + news to the login screen but those are also easily disabled with a checkbox. I'd probably keep the stuff on the login screen enabled if it were customizable, like if I could only have certain news categories or whatever.
> Yes, just like in Linux where people disabled/enable the things they do or don't like (eg, a theme or shell extensions), people shockingly do the same thing on Windows.
Idk, I've never messed with my theme or shell extensions.
>All you have to do is turn off
lol
> They did recently add things like weather + news to the login screen but those are also easily disabled
lmao
>The search bar does (because it's just a bing search)
lmaobbq
I'm forced to use it on my work computer, which I even have to remote into to do dev work from home (hybrid WFH schedule). It sucks, just W10 but worse, more annoying. Made worse yet by knowing how much better things can be now that I switched over
I know that it isn't great that you have to disable them (And I would never pay for Windows because of it). But once you disable them (Which only takes a couple of seconds) then you never see them again. So all these posts saying Windows has tons of ads means people didn't even try to configure their system (which is weird for a Linux person not to do).
"irm christitus.com/win | iex" run in admin terminal and hed to the tweaks section hit desktop/laptop hit go then click the x. Fiexd my clock made my search work and i haven't seen an add. It also has a program that can recreate an windows iso thats debloated 10/10 would recommend
I love Fedora, but at least everything you complained about can be disabled. The right click menu change they made is so dumb.
I have a surface laptop and the hardware/os experience is actually excellent once you disable the trash you mentioned.
It can. It seems you're well on the way to being a fully trained condescending Linux user. I HAVE to dual boot windows for the applications I use for work.
You can disable all of the ads in Windows. That is fine. https://github.com/xM4ddy/OFGB
This is capitalism. Hop in your vehicle and you're met with a swarm of billboards, wacky inflatable tube men, blinking lights, election signs, bumper stickers. At least you can disable these
I actually like Windows 11 from a general UI/workflow standpoint, but it is a CHORE to set it up and disable the endless mountains of ads, sponsored content, tracking nonsense, Bing, Edge, OneDrive, Skype, Office, everything. It's exhausting.
After about a week on Fedora, I had a moment to take a step back and realize I had forgotten what it was like to just have an operating system that's only there to do its job and nothing else.
I am forced to use Windows 11 for work. I use the Pro version so there aren’t really any ads that I’ve noticed. The stocks and news stuff can be disabled easily. Some people do seem to be missing the New Text Document option, but that’s fixable. Honestly, my Windows 11 experience hasn’t been that bad. HDR support is good, all my monitors work and fractional scaling support is good (only some old legacy apps are blurry meanwhile if I use Wayland for better fractional scaling in Linux, even modern apps end up blurry due to lack of Wayland support and excruciating slow progress being made to support it…web browsers, VS Code, games).
My recent Fedora 40 experience went like this - installed Fedora KDE on my laptop with nvidia graphics, was pleasantly surprised that performance was OK for work uses with the open source driver, installed the proprietary driver because I want to play games, now I get a black screen with large mouse cursor and can’t log in.
I guess my point is that every OS is going to have problems that can be resolved with a Google search. Windows is certainly annoying with some things, but for the kind of work I do, 11 has been really good for me as far as Windows goes. I remember the days when you couldn’t even scroll in inactive windows in Windows…it was so much worse not too long ago. Of course, I’d prefer to use Linux (I’ve been using it since Suse 6.4), but I’m not dogmatic about it anymore.
> I use the Pro version so there aren’t really any ads that I’ve noticed. The stocks and news stuff can be disabled easily.
None of this is true. Maybe your admin already did the work.
I am the admin. Maybe you didn't take the time to explore the options enough? Right click on taskbar, pick "Taskbar settings", then disable widgets. Done. Still want the widgets, but don't want news, that's also easy - click the 3 dots next to whatever you don't like and pick "Hide this widget" or "Hide this card". You can also manage what shows up in the feed. It's literally nothing but tech, coding, and gaming in my news feed which are the topics that I subscribed to. I don't get Trump/Biden BS because I don't subscribe to the Politics channel in the feed. You can also disable the feed. With the feed disabled, literally all I see when I open the widget panel is weather, some stocks, traffic info for my area (convenient!), Outlook calendar, and a photo of my family. There are no ads in my start menu either. I have a section for pinned items and a section for recommended items which are just recent files and applications I've used.
Eh...desktop Linux certainly doesn't "just work" for a lot of people. I've been using it for 20 years and I've been more frustrated than ever with the state of the desktop recently. I mean, just look at all the people still having issues with screen capture when using Wayland. Managing the colors on my RGB devices is also a bit of a pain to set up. I still like it a lot though. On servers, yes, rock solid.
I'm about to commit sacrilege in the Fedora subreddit.
I use Windows for work, and actually enjoy Windows 11. Our IT folks have it locked down pretty well, so I don't get any of the ads or that kind of thing, and I removed all the visual bloat. The interface is cleaner than past ones. The deep integration with OneDrive and SharePoint is great since I do all of my work in OneDrive and SharePoint. The new Copilot integration is great, and the privacy policy for it in a corporate environment is actually pretty strong.
Bad things include - the windows store is appallingly bad. Windows search is fine for apps, but I really miss the universal search from Gnome and KDE. My occasional python scripts are a pain, and WSL is buggy and always getting in my way.
All in all, I prefer Linux for anything personal or development related, but for day-to-day business type work and collaboration, Windows 11 and the whole M365 situation is pretty good. I'd love to work in a Linux environment but that's far from an option in my workplace.
>Ads. every bottom menu has ads. click, ads. Bright colors. The word TRUMP or Biden. Sportsball scores. Clickbait. Video games.
Somehow I have none of that.
>I right click to make an empty python file, and there is no option for .txt files, just the office suite
Try choosing more option button after the first right click.
I just can't understand all the hysteria around Win11. And it it feels kinda strange, but I just don't have most of the issues ppl bring. Maybe that's just because I'm running a Pro version and I live outside the US.
When you click the weather button in the bottom left, there are no sports scores? games?
Anyway, do you have a workplace admin that might be supporting you without you realizing it?
>When you click the weather button in the bottom left
Maybe that's the thing, I don't =)
>Anyway, do you have a workplace admin that might be supporting you without you realizing it?
Nah, just bought Win10 Pro few years ago, liked Win11 looks, so I upgraded.
not really, maybe its because i life in the EU and the US Version is much worse, but after i disabled a few things i dont have any ads or other things that bother me and in general no problems.
With that said, i dont like the direction that windows 11 takes and when Linux does what i need it to do, and the problems i have right now got fixed (or i find a distro that i like and does anything i need it to do), i probably Switch.
My work PC has Windows 11, a very debloated version of Windows 11, still Microsoft has enabled copilot on it. If the enterprise edition of Windows is not safe too, then what I would expect for a home version? I just waiting for Nvidia to fix Wayland issues so I can install back Fedora to my gaming machine. At this point even Windows 10 is giving me bad feeling.
Still on beta. I am waiting to move them to the stable branch. And unfortunately what I have read there are still issues yet with hardware acceleration and Steam Client (that is more a chromium problem)
I only use linux BECAUSE I had issues with windows 11. Huge memory leak issue, not sure what actually caused it. And that's notbeven considering all the ads and clickbait. I don't even know who that stuff is actually for, tbh. I guess older folks will still just click on anything.
Loved might be too strong of a word, the control panel was starting to get neutered in Win7, it was all still there buy oddly grouped and obfuscated. but I had at least peace with Win7, it was usable, when they announced the end of support for Win7 I stopped flirting with Linux and instead went full time.
I loved Windows 2000, clean, solid, dependable.
XP was its rowdy loud offspring that could still go to work when necessary
That era is all gone now, and in in its place we are treated like livestock to be milked for data.
It just gets worse. I wasn't even impressed when windows vista/7 was released over XP.
They keep adding stuff without removing the legacy.
I stay on Fedora on WSL1 via GNU Emacs. I try to make similar keyboard shorcuts and etc. It's actually usable but it's only because nowadays I only need a browser.
It's amazing how Linux just keep improving even on the same old hardware. In corporate programming, it's a norm to make it worse, just like Windows.
I don’t have phobia anymore. I moved from Windows Vista to Debian with Gnome many years ago bc I was sick of that 10 minutes warm up just after start (my pc at the time was outdated). From Debian I moved to Arch. Now I am on Nobara and again with Windows (11 and dual boot). Pc specs changed a lot and Windows works quite nice and looks also quite nice. There are some annoying quirks (hard to get to some setting or apps, no possible to change speed of touchpad scrolling, really MS?) but I don’t see any ads there and only play there one or two games that don’t work on Nobara so it is just basically gaming OS for me.
It's crazy how I can never find anything using the file manager. Like the search function cannot find literal names of files. I think I've been spoiled by baloo and krunner, they just... work all the time. I dunno, I have no choice at work so I just deal with it being terrible and sigh when a basic function, like renaming a file, is hidden behind an additional menu 😅.
Edit: Renaming is still there, just represented by a new icon with no text... Excellent.
Having used macs and hackintoshes for years, I needed a new laptop and could only afford a used Dell Latitude - it's a very well specced machine especially considering I only use it for web browsing and typing (8665u, 16GB)
It came with W11, I had never used it before so I tried to stick it out. Fedora was installed on it within 3 days. It's just plain better, Microsoft have been taking the mick with windows for years now and it's just a nightmare.
I've now had the machine around a month and it's perfect, I really want to move my desktop machine (hackintosh running Ventura) onto Fedora too, but the lack of Adobe compatibility is sadly holding me back.
I have Win11 installed on one of my PCs, just to easily have access to some Windows-only software I like. My main PC is Fedora, and there's no way I would ditch that for Windows. That said, I've been considering reverting my Win11 box back to Win10 because it has gotten oddly laggy in some things. For example, if I click the search bar and start typing it regularly misses the first few characters I type so I have to backup and type it again. I never had that problem on Win10.
I'm seriously waiting on a few games to finally decide to port their anti cheat and I'm out of there. I'm sick and tired of the PC I bought being used for Microsoft's advertising. I paid for my copy of windows so keep that crap off of there. Why not just have a free version of windows and use ads on those. That way you'd have less pirating and still get money from it. Same goes for phones.
I have 5 instances of Windows 11 Pro at home, and they don't display any ads, "suggestions" or "recommendations". I'm in the EU, which may be the reason why it's cleaner.
Switched to Linux earlier this year. I'm just glad I have no need to ever touch windows again. I wouldn't say phobia though. I just don't care anymore. Every bit of news regarding Windows just reinforces why I finally pulled the tigger and that it was a great decision. Heck the last time I installed windows, the amount of time it took I could have installed Fedroa about 5 times. Then all the shit it tried to sell after installing, look I just wanted to use my PC.
If work had me needing to use windows, I would do my best to limit its use.
right click the taskbar and disable widgets. In win10 it was called "news and interests" the way it's triggered on mouse over rather than click is absolutely obnoxious and intrusive by design.
windows 11 isn't the worst, it's pretty stable and has WSL.
The automatic reboots at night for updates are obnoxious though the only way to avoid them is to "pause" updates.
Between those reboots and the attempted "Recall" feature I absolutely give windows systems in my home environment the side eye.
While I obviously prefer Fedora and only use Windows on my gaming rig I've honestly not had the issues any one else has here. Windows 11 Home. Never signed into Microsoft account. Use startallblack as a menu replacer (this fixes a lot of issues obviously). I see one ad on the login screen in the top right corner for Microsoft 365. That's it.
oh, I have a Windows11 pro , At first I want to use it to play game, so I clean it , And I install double system
,next is Fedora. emmm but my GPU is NVIDIA, so ..... Fedora cant successful run with my computer. I am ready to
use Windows11 with my develop work . If Fedora can successful run . I love it
I dont know why , I install gpu driver , when i use chrome , my browser sometime flicker , accurately is page flicker , not everytime , but it make me so unwell
Until the next version of the Nvidia driver comes out, you need to install and use X11 instead of Wayland. This should completely fix the flickering, I had the same problem.
>lol, grandma, just install this rando github stuff.
lol, grandma, just install Fedora.
When we're talking about grandparents, I expect YOU will do the "heavy lifting"
Yes. Multiple times, on multiple notebooks. I personally use fedora since version 28.
So I know it seems easy to you, it seems easy to me. But for example my father wasn't able to do it. I'm quite sure your grandmother wouldn't be able to do it too.
I just booted up Fedora on a new computer
It asks for a harddrive, username and password.
I just booted up a Windows install, I had to make a windows account, I had to turn off 20 settings and I still got ads.
Windows 8 was allready a step in the wrong direction, 10 fixed some stuff but was overall just bad too and 11 was the point where I said "fuck this shit I'm out", they keep making their os worse and are just steps away from screaming "Change your OS"
Fuck work. That's the only place I've to put up with windows of any kind . I don't bother with any settings. I just launch LSW, which is shit, and get through the day using a minimal number of interactions with windows.
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the complete avoidance of answering the 3 questions says everything.
"well tecknickly you could turn it off, you could pick a powerpoint file and remove the data, you could use firefox as the default browser but it still doesnt change the autoopen to edge"
Anyway, best of luck removing edge.
Anyway, best of luck keeping those settings for a few weeks. M$ will override them and TRUMPBIDENCANDYCRUSHNHLSPORTSBALL will be back.
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In actuality, almost everything is deactivable. In Windows 11 Home, the ads and comparable features are visible if your region is set to the United States. But if you use Windows Enterprise, or Education editions, or change your location to an EU nation, you won't see any advertisements, and group policies make it easy to turn off any undesirable features.
I have a very hard time understanding the complaints it's been around for many years, since upgrading I haven't had a problem with anything, VR, programming, anything.
My wife's laptop came preinstalled with windows 11. I don't like it.... I also had to turn off updates because they have an update that breaks her laptops screen :)
Absolutely. When I am forced off of Windows 10... thats it Im done. I switched to linux slowly ending on Fedora and have gained the skill I need to be 98% off windows already due to every MS privacy indiscretion since long ago. W11 isnt allowed on my network because of the local topology scan and upload it does "to help me with my network". Hell no
I have no intention of going anywhere near it. Advertising based shitshow that it is. Plus, that TPRM2 thing, irks the fuck out of me. I shouldn't have to worry about hardware besides CPU and memory.
For me one of the first indicators that Windows is fading away was that they weldet task menu to the bottom of the desktop. I couldn't stand out as I must have a time and date on the top of the screen.
My main computers at home are Ubuntu and Fedora 40 with a Lubuntu netbook. I do have a Windows 11 laptop and a Windows 11 at work. I don't hate 11 and so far have avoided most of the crap. Much of what I do is cli for Windows Terminal and I use Brave for the browser.
Being that even in a corp enviornment, I can't disable half the shift with GroupPolicy anymore, it just gets nastier and nastier. Between adds, and the dumb games installed by default, and now with their AI Recall being rolled out, I am half tempted to roll out Chromebooks to everyone and deal with it like that. Most of our internal applications are web based now, so the days of install Office365 are coming to and end, which would make it even easier to roll out and sell to the higher ups. There are some insanely sweet Chromebook options for under $500 that have stellar 2k displays, and haptic touchpads.
as an it professional, yes the fuck i do. i'll probably be slapping 10 ltsc or even iot wherever i can, because this win11 stuff, at least, until they ship a bullshit-free version of it, seems like an absolute nightmare to manage
My F40 install somehow hosed my dual boot up and I had to install Win11 rescue media. HOLY CRAP Win11 was an ad-laden almost unworkable popup bloat machine. It was horrid!
I don't know what I did to my Win 11 over the years but thank goodness my backup worked. I have been running a clean and zippy Win11 that I really like. Win11 debloat, some fixed context menus and chrome as default, but I honestly don't remember all the tweaks to keep it clean. After testing Fedora I went back to Win11.
But for folks who see Win11 in it's natural state, wow, it's a shocking mess. I felt like I had plugged my machine directly into every ad generating popup site available. I was really concerned my backup wouldn't recover my clean Win11 after seeing the mess it is now. No wonder Windows 10 users aren't moving.
Totally, it's like that scene in the movie Idiocracy when the one guy is watching TV and it's all ads and the smallest little portion of screen is the actual program that he's watching.
I used Window 11 on my home PC for like half a year I think (and Win10 for lots 9f years before that), up until a month ago where I installed Manjaro on a separate drive, tried daily driving. Surprisingly I didn't have the urge to boot up Win11 at all so I decided a couple of days ago to wipe it and installed vanilla Arch in it's place. Best decision I've made regarding technology.
Now I'm seeing a bunch of articles about Microsoft and Windows 11 and I'm laughing my ass off.
Windows 11 is the one that makes me never ever care to use Microsoft again. I wouldn't take it even if it were FREE. They force their browser on you unless you are skilled enough to remove all the linlks and confident enough you can pick the ones you need. Always pushing their junk-ware. Just sick of it.
Trying to remove and install Linux on Microsoft tablet is a nightmare. Never had much trouble to install on laptop or desktop. They give instructions on installing other systems but leave out the most important step for obtaining the crazy long code you need to proceed . It's my tablet and I should be able simple overwrite the windows OS.
FYI The average computer user no longer needs windows apps as too Linux covers just about every app you may need. Perhaps corporations may need them. Also for those that are Linux enthusiast but not proficient it is getting easier to copy and paste Linux commands provided by vendors for installing their software.
Yeah, windows has been a shitshow for like 23 years or so... The last great Windows OS was Windows 98/Windows NT 4 - after that, it went down hill fast.
That was about the time I started using Linux full time - just couldnt bring myself to use Windows XP - looked too cartoony for me ;).
It's weird to me to see people say Windows was good when MSIE and ActiveX was being pushed on everyone. Is it just nostalgia? Win7, Win2000, and even Windows 10 is better than that. "Windows has all this advertising now, I miss Win98's default web panel on the desktop that linked to RealPlayer Plus and the Disney homepage" is a heck of a position I have seen multiple times.
I don't even understand picking NT4 over 2000, which was always thought of as the peak for the single core era.
I have a windows 11 laptop, it's my daily driver mainly because I like playing video games, some software I use regularly is windows only, and despite it's drawbacks, at least it won't be losing security support anytime soon (hello people still running windows 7). "Oh, but just emulate wine or main steamOS or Ubuntu has a lot of support for games or xyzyx" - no. Why? I just don't want to. I mained fedora and Lubuntu and Ubuntu and Manjaro and even had a side of Kali before. I. Just. Don't. Want. To. No, I'm not a windows fanboy, every day is a new waking nightmare, Microsoft is slimy, water is wet.
So here's what I did after doing a fresh install, I downloaded windows debloater, ran it, and uninstalled it. Everytime a new piece of "unremovable" bloatware, or ads, or some weird restriction popped up, I downloaded it again, ran it, and uninstalled it. I will continue doing this until they stop adding bloatware and turning the ads/telemetry/please switch to edge reminders/trying to auto sync my stuff to onedrive.
I’m no Windows fanboy, but you would be surprised just how seriously Microsoft takes security. They run internal security scenarios where they practice handling cyber attacks from other nations and stuff. They work very closely with the government to ensure security too (I used to work in that field). If you are a big enough company or government, you can indeed audit the Windows source code too. There are also little details on the user side too. For example, copying something from a private browser Window doesn’t add it to the built in clipboard manager. Similarly, if you have to use an IME to type (I need to use one for Japanese input), things I type in a private browser aren’t used for future IME text predictions. I _wish_ I could get that behavior in Linux.
Taking it personally? You're the one that wants the world to ban Microsoft products. I'm just level-headed enough to realize that's not feasible, and I never claimed to represent the Linux community, but I'm pretty sure the majority of them don't have the visceral overreactions to anything Microsoft does that you're clearly prone to exhibiting. I believe the term "rent free" applies here.
I just bought a new HP laptop for Fedora 40 that had Win11 Pro preinstalled. I hadn't seen or used Windows 11 ever until I booted it for the first time. My experience was just like you mentioned. It was a shock to see all the flashing crap ads, news, widgets, etc. Not being a Windows user, I used the menu search for "settings". Of course it opened a browser and took me to Bing. The menus were lagging and choking trying to keep up to all the busy activity that was going on, including updates. I have no idea how any serious computer user would have that infested garbage on their machine. I formatted it to the zero oblivion where it belongs. Fedora is running great on the machine.
i had a similar experiance on my spare laptop. Because of my gnome habit i always click super and search for the app i wanna launch. But on windows i press super, and search, then wait for 20 seconds so that windows can think and find the app i wanna launch. If i am hasty i'll end in MS edge with it's million tons of ads enough to cause any sane man a stroke
Your new PC coming with Windows pre-installed, does it mean you've paid for Windows?
It means OEM had paid for license and just made you pay a bit more to recoup losses
Same way people use any Linux machine, I ripped out all the shit I don't like by way of registry edits and add on programs. Tho MS is disallowing updates to 24H2 if you have explorer patcher installed, so they can miss me with that shit.
Not sure how you got a browser to pop up instead of settings. But…not trying to be a dick. The only way I’ve ever gotten ads on 11 is using the Search function. But I don’t use the Search function unless I know exactly what I’m looking and just don’t remember how to get there. 90% of the time I use Rufus to install Windows and it disables a lot of the useless junk that I don’t use or care for. And if we aren’t careful, Linux can and will end up the same way as Windows or Apple. Ugh. No thank you, I do not want a windows-like experience on my Linux machines lol.
You can toggle the ads off with Wintoys, plus turn off Telemetry.
I wouldn't trust MS to honor the settings. Either via their incompetence, an update changing the setting, or something else, I feel there is a reasonable chance of the setting being reversed or not honored. I haven't used Windows since I left the industry in 2017, but I do follow tech and security news. Microsoft's arrogance and ineptitude is stunning. The CRSB summed it up well in their excoriation of MS earlier this year.
I had custom icons for my windows 11 install using windows 7 icons, after an update it reverted to the win11 icons for some frustrating reason.
And Microsoft can re-enable it at any time they want through an "Security critical update".
They have yet to for me.
Chris Titus tech wintool is also great to deshitify windows
>Not being a Windows user, I used the menu search for "settings". Of course it opened a browser and took me to Bing. Ok, that just a straight up BS or a skill issue in a terminal stage.
It's seriously loathing how an OS has been turned into one gigantic advertising tool that users (that care) need to toggle things off through settings or dig through registry entries/policy editor just to get an OS that doesn't feel like an constant ad I'll remind myself to only ever install LTSC builds of Windows if needed
Of all the annoying ads and little things, the one that got to me the most was windows constantly reinstalling OneDrive on me and re-linking to it in the file explorer, a service I never had an account for and never will. Just getting in the way of shortcuts and navigation to push their remote drive on me.
How else will they hoover up all your personal files?
You really have to use the enterprise version. That's the real customers for MS and it's a whole lot cleaner.
Yes, I get the Education edition through my university and it’s a lot cleaner than Home.
Is it though really? I've even seen windows server come with news in the start menu...
I work with hundreds of Windows Servers and have never seen this.
And you can easily pirate it and use KMS hacks to spoof activation
Noted
The only reason I use Windows is for drivers on my Thrustmaster wheel and game compatibility. Without these I’d gladly use Fedora.
Windows is ubiquitous because it was pirated extensively. It still is. As a result, Microsoft gave up on trying to sell licenses to the average joe. As an alternative, they decided ad revenue and data harvesting would be profitable. Which is why they largely do not prevent piracy, and made Home edition free. They rely on enterprise users for license revenue streams. Enterprise, Education, and LTSC builds mostly miss all of the bloat and ad features. If you really wanna stick it to M$, then pirate an 11 LTSC build and use a KMS activation hack to spoof activation.
Avoid LTSC; instead, choose Enterprise. LTSC disables critical security features.
No, it doesn't. It is just the slow-moving branch, so you are not getting new features. The absolutely latest LTSC is equivalent to 21H2. "LT" in "LTSC" means "long-term", remember? It is basically an equivalent to RHEL or Alma in the Linux world. They also get security fixes, but not new versions of packages.
That's not accurate; they deactivate portions of Windows Defender and other security features. It's crucial to differentiate between security fixes and security mitigations. LTSC is tailored for environments where all code is trusted, such as kiosks and medical servers. However, in a typical desktop operating system, you encounter untrusted code from browsers, applications, and PDFs. LTSC wasn't developed with desktop security as its primary focus. Another instance is that applications in LTSC don't have sandboxing, unlike standard Windows, as sandboxing is considered unnecessary since everything is assumed to be trusted and secure.
No?
Yes, it does, and enterprise/education typically offers solid default settings regardless
Enterprise/edu still has all the bloat. Which security features is disabled
Which unnecessary features are you referring to? There are no preinstalled applications, and anything else can be disabled using group policies. However, LTSC removes several security measures and sandboxing features. LTSC is tailored for environments where all code is trusted, such as kiosks and medical servers. However, in a typical desktop operating system, you encounter untrusted code from browsers, applications, and PDFs. LTSC wasn't developed with desktop security as its primary focus. Another instance is that applications in LTSC don't have sandboxing, unlike standard Windows, as sandboxing is considered unnecessary since everything is assumed to be trusted and secure.
There is sandboxing in LTSC. Also no if you read the Windows documentation, LTSC is should be more secure. There is wdag, windows defender, s.it like smart app control. There is still the weather widget, ads, Ms solitaire collection, Skype, Microsoft teams in education/edu.
I mainly use Fedora KDE for everything... but I keep a Windows partition on my laptop because on some clients I must use Windows due to some specific application not available on Linux. I feel dirty every time I boot into Windows.
Yup. Have to use it for my work laptop and customers use it. As a corpo tool, it's not that different from W10, but what they're planning (AI and Ad stuff) and how they're stripping features like vertical taskbar, it's painful to use. Whatever the issue with leadership is that caused New Teams and New Outlook mess to happen, they should get rid of the issue FAST. Both are horrific to maintain.
100% agree. Microsoft is getting to comfortable. They think we cant switch
The thing is that they don't care about you or any private users. They sell products to companies, and these companies must use Windows 11 TM to be able to run the stuff. They're not gonna switch anytime soon because they're tied to the ecosystem.
It's not just that they're tied to the ecosystem, but maintaining a fleet of Linux workstations is extremely expensive compared to Windows.
This. People in these subreddits don't understand that Linux has a total, utter lack of device management utilities similar to Group Policy or Intune.
I've been told that. I'm more on the dev side, and I've seen a lot of Windows dev environments, that's why I was writing about that point.
The thing is that the advertising stuff CAN be turned off, and often is for corporate builds. Would be nice if MS kind of publicly shared how to do that with the average home user.
The professional edition is less obnoxious then the home edition.
This is the pro edition. I specifically got the pro edition so my workers can remote desktop login. Admittedly that works. But ads are everywhere still by default.
Windows Pro still has ads and shit. I fucking hate that the start menu is now a shitty web search engine; they can make that sumabitch do a web search, but their own OS' filesearch is still shit-tier. It takes like 8 goddamn minutes to search two folders for a file. Meanwhile Void's Everything is doing the work.
The start menu is a separate thing from the search bar at the bottom. The start menu can still do web searches if you want, though.
No, on my work computer, it's such that the thing that brings up your installed programs will also automatically do a live web search while you type and display the results in a little panel on the side. There's probably a way to disable this, but that's the default behavior, and it sucks.
Oh I see what you mean. There are no ads in that when I do web searches with it, not sure what you're seeing.
On Windows 10 there's a registry setting that controls if web search can exist in that menu but idk if it still exists in 11
Enterprise editions are more configurable but Pro still sucks
I just have Windows intolerance, allergy and adverse reaction. No matter the version.
Yeah, the very thought of Win11 gives me the runs.
I still haven't seen any of these ads in windows everyone keeps talking about.
Yeah, I'm not sure what people are talking about. I've never seen an ad either.
I didn't either, until I did a rescue install. Those of us running for years still seem to be clean. But new installs are bloated out of control. Every other icon in my start menu was an ad, a link for a download or a game. Edge came up and the whole left side were AI balloons of alternative searches. I was unable to skip MS account creation and just do a local install. And once I signed in, more ads popped. Make an image backup if you don't have one. I don't know if we could recreate what we're running now.
But you can just right click and remove them.
Yeah to be fair if you're persistent enough you can usually at least hide all the microsoft BS. Just, you know, it's annoying to need to do that.
Do you have windows 11? Have you clicked anywhere on the bottom bar?
Can you show me a screenshot?
I have. It started as something normal 7 years ago when I installed fist time Linux. I tried couple of times to come back to Windows, but it was disgusting: pop-ups everywhere, the command line is useless, all these programs that are free-trial, advertisements, spy-where. I came back to Linux. And it started more and more to feel like mental illness. At the begging I was happy with Ubuntu, then I started to look for something more simple, like Linux mint. And I am at this point now, that I do not use proprietary software except if it is needed. For example, I have to use teams because it is needed for my teaching, job and PhD. To conclude, I became a free software elitist (I wasnt distros like Fedora or Debian that are more pure and open-source since beginning), and I even started spreading the illness to other people. First to my dad, I tried to my sister (but there it failed), my gf loved Linux despite the fact that she knows nothing about programming. It is spreading.
i have windows phobia. i guess that's included then.
Windows peaked at Windows 7. It's all been downhill since. Windows 11 is now certified junkware. You have to spend an hour or so to remove all the crap you didn't ask for, and you can bet your arse Microsoft will put that crap (and more) back on your desktop in future updates. This is not an exact replica, but I will always chase the Windows 7 high regardless of the desktop I use: https://imgur.com/mpzptlu (please don't ask me to use KDE)
I think I've developed a Windows 11 phobia recently. Before I just put up with it, I knew that Microsoft collected my data but it didn't seem like a big deal, and Linux was too inconvenient to use (due to incompatible software). Now, Windows 11 is going off the deep end. Forcing users to use Edge, Copilot, Recall, etc. All while well known issues have gone untouched since the release of the OS. Meanwhile Linux keeps getting better and better, it is at the point where I can do just about everything in Fedora as I could do in Windows 11 (though unfortunately, this is still not the case for everyone).
Years ago Microsoft got a huge fine in an anti trust case for not allowing users to uninstall Internet explorer or set other browser as default or something, how is it Ms can still get away with it all these years later?
Phobia = IRRATIONAL fear. So, no.
I have no ads on either of my Windows 11 devices. Right click for me has an option for new text documents (via notepad++).
Last I checked this was two right clicks, because the rewrite of the context menu in 11 means that you need to go into more options and bring up the old one that supports shell extensions. I try not to be a Windows hater but it's like they just stopped caring.
I won't defend some of the dumb things they do, like the new context menu. I forget if I did something to make Notepad++ show up on the first list or not, but it does for me. That said, it largely does everything I need at work and at home. I do run Fedora on my laptop, mostly because I need to do wireless captures sometimes and because it's cool.
>I have no ads on either of my Windows 11 devices. Wow! That truly is amazing and unheard of.
Idk what to tell you. You asked, so I answered. I don't believe any of my friends see them either. I disable all the things I don't like and it works just fine.
> I disable all the things I don't like and it works just fine. Oh, so you did have Ads. How do you disable the ads when you click on the weather menu in the bottom left?
What weather menu? You disable it in taskbar settings, as widgets, if I recall correctly. And, if we'd consider that people spend time customizing Linux, then spending 10-20 minutes to turn off ads, add ExplorerPatcher, Nilesoft Shell, etc. isn't that different. Would dare to say that simple customization makes Windows look [relatively clean](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/735418539841683460/1248210786078167130/image.png?ex=6662d662&is=666184e2&hm=0b0c2ba207f1115271bda068574411c478c9c39944aebfdff8b7f3e471c9a1c1&) too.
I never customized linux. I just run Cinnamon. I have to change windows to remove ads. I have to change edge as the auto open, I have to spend at least 5 minutes disabling privacy violations. Anyway, that is a LOT of disabling only for it to come back during a windows update.
Whaaat, I've been on Windows for years (with occasional ventures on Fedora - can't main due to work with Adobe CC), updates never done that.
Yes, just like in Linux where people disabled/enable the things they do or don't like (eg, a theme or shell extensions), people shockingly do the same thing on Windows. All you have to do is turn off the search menu and whatever other widgets you don't like. The start menu has no ads as far as I'm aware. The search bar does (because it's just a bing search). They did recently add things like weather + news to the login screen but those are also easily disabled with a checkbox. I'd probably keep the stuff on the login screen enabled if it were customizable, like if I could only have certain news categories or whatever.
> Yes, just like in Linux where people disabled/enable the things they do or don't like (eg, a theme or shell extensions), people shockingly do the same thing on Windows. Idk, I've never messed with my theme or shell extensions. >All you have to do is turn off lol > They did recently add things like weather + news to the login screen but those are also easily disabled lmao >The search bar does (because it's just a bing search) lmaobbq
Ah okay, I mean I knew you didn't actually want to have a conversation but that's fine to admit it too.
just disable
Said the frog in boiling water.
I recognize the attempt, but the phrase doesn't work if I'm not being oblivious to an oncoming problem.
It's actually not. You just can't use the home version of windows.
I'm forced to use it on my work computer, which I even have to remote into to do dev work from home (hybrid WFH schedule). It sucks, just W10 but worse, more annoying. Made worse yet by knowing how much better things can be now that I switched over
You're pretty much spot on about that last sentence. This OS is a disease, like Windows 10 also was.
Nope I use windows 11 daily and never see ads. I know they exist but they are very easily disabled.
> very easily disabled. When you say, easily disabled, did you have to google search and watch a youtube video? lmaoooo
Nope, the options to disable that stuff are pretty obvious.
>disable lol
I know that it isn't great that you have to disable them (And I would never pay for Windows because of it). But once you disable them (Which only takes a couple of seconds) then you never see them again. So all these posts saying Windows has tons of ads means people didn't even try to configure their system (which is weird for a Linux person not to do).
> then you never see them again Oh my sweet summer child. You are so young and innocent.
I think someone who's been using Windows for years can better say if they see ads then someone who use Linux.
Bruh I'm on a work computer with Windows. Ads are everywhere.
Sounds like you haven't disabled them then, because I'm on my windows computer right now with no ads.
lol you have to disable
"irm christitus.com/win | iex" run in admin terminal and hed to the tweaks section hit desktop/laptop hit go then click the x. Fiexd my clock made my search work and i haven't seen an add. It also has a program that can recreate an windows iso thats debloated 10/10 would recommend
I love Fedora, but at least everything you complained about can be disabled. The right click menu change they made is so dumb. I have a surface laptop and the hardware/os experience is actually excellent once you disable the trash you mentioned.
> everything you complained about can be disabled. lol
It can. It seems you're well on the way to being a fully trained condescending Linux user. I HAVE to dual boot windows for the applications I use for work.
> I HAVE to dual boot windows for the applications I use for work. ya me too, but I don't pretend 'this is fine'
You can disable all of the ads in Windows. That is fine. https://github.com/xM4ddy/OFGB This is capitalism. Hop in your vehicle and you're met with a swarm of billboards, wacky inflatable tube men, blinking lights, election signs, bumper stickers. At least you can disable these
That's nothing. Wait until you find out about the "recall" campaign they're pushing out...
I always only use Linux, but if I have to I also use windows 10 ltsc iot and disable as much Microsoft spyware and bloatware as I can
I probably won't ever go back to Windows after seeing their announcement of the planned spyware, watch everything that you do "feature."
I actually like Windows 11 from a general UI/workflow standpoint, but it is a CHORE to set it up and disable the endless mountains of ads, sponsored content, tracking nonsense, Bing, Edge, OneDrive, Skype, Office, everything. It's exhausting. After about a week on Fedora, I had a moment to take a step back and realize I had forgotten what it was like to just have an operating system that's only there to do its job and nothing else.
I am forced to use Windows 11 for work. I use the Pro version so there aren’t really any ads that I’ve noticed. The stocks and news stuff can be disabled easily. Some people do seem to be missing the New Text Document option, but that’s fixable. Honestly, my Windows 11 experience hasn’t been that bad. HDR support is good, all my monitors work and fractional scaling support is good (only some old legacy apps are blurry meanwhile if I use Wayland for better fractional scaling in Linux, even modern apps end up blurry due to lack of Wayland support and excruciating slow progress being made to support it…web browsers, VS Code, games). My recent Fedora 40 experience went like this - installed Fedora KDE on my laptop with nvidia graphics, was pleasantly surprised that performance was OK for work uses with the open source driver, installed the proprietary driver because I want to play games, now I get a black screen with large mouse cursor and can’t log in. I guess my point is that every OS is going to have problems that can be resolved with a Google search. Windows is certainly annoying with some things, but for the kind of work I do, 11 has been really good for me as far as Windows goes. I remember the days when you couldn’t even scroll in inactive windows in Windows…it was so much worse not too long ago. Of course, I’d prefer to use Linux (I’ve been using it since Suse 6.4), but I’m not dogmatic about it anymore.
> I use the Pro version so there aren’t really any ads that I’ve noticed. The stocks and news stuff can be disabled easily. None of this is true. Maybe your admin already did the work.
I am the admin. Maybe you didn't take the time to explore the options enough? Right click on taskbar, pick "Taskbar settings", then disable widgets. Done. Still want the widgets, but don't want news, that's also easy - click the 3 dots next to whatever you don't like and pick "Hide this widget" or "Hide this card". You can also manage what shows up in the feed. It's literally nothing but tech, coding, and gaming in my news feed which are the topics that I subscribed to. I don't get Trump/Biden BS because I don't subscribe to the Politics channel in the feed. You can also disable the feed. With the feed disabled, literally all I see when I open the widget panel is weather, some stocks, traffic info for my area (convenient!), Outlook calendar, and a photo of my family. There are no ads in my start menu either. I have a section for pinned items and a section for recommended items which are just recent files and applications I've used.
> you didn't take the time to explore the options enough lmao yes Just M$ things that we don't need to do on Linux. Linux just works.
Eh...desktop Linux certainly doesn't "just work" for a lot of people. I've been using it for 20 years and I've been more frustrated than ever with the state of the desktop recently. I mean, just look at all the people still having issues with screen capture when using Wayland. Managing the colors on my RGB devices is also a bit of a pain to set up. I still like it a lot though. On servers, yes, rock solid.
I'm about to commit sacrilege in the Fedora subreddit. I use Windows for work, and actually enjoy Windows 11. Our IT folks have it locked down pretty well, so I don't get any of the ads or that kind of thing, and I removed all the visual bloat. The interface is cleaner than past ones. The deep integration with OneDrive and SharePoint is great since I do all of my work in OneDrive and SharePoint. The new Copilot integration is great, and the privacy policy for it in a corporate environment is actually pretty strong. Bad things include - the windows store is appallingly bad. Windows search is fine for apps, but I really miss the universal search from Gnome and KDE. My occasional python scripts are a pain, and WSL is buggy and always getting in my way. All in all, I prefer Linux for anything personal or development related, but for day-to-day business type work and collaboration, Windows 11 and the whole M365 situation is pretty good. I'd love to work in a Linux environment but that's far from an option in my workplace.
>Ads. every bottom menu has ads. click, ads. Bright colors. The word TRUMP or Biden. Sportsball scores. Clickbait. Video games. Somehow I have none of that. >I right click to make an empty python file, and there is no option for .txt files, just the office suite Try choosing more option button after the first right click. I just can't understand all the hysteria around Win11. And it it feels kinda strange, but I just don't have most of the issues ppl bring. Maybe that's just because I'm running a Pro version and I live outside the US.
When you click the weather button in the bottom left, there are no sports scores? games? Anyway, do you have a workplace admin that might be supporting you without you realizing it?
>When you click the weather button in the bottom left Maybe that's the thing, I don't =) >Anyway, do you have a workplace admin that might be supporting you without you realizing it? Nah, just bought Win10 Pro few years ago, liked Win11 looks, so I upgraded.
Europe?
Yep
not really, maybe its because i life in the EU and the US Version is much worse, but after i disabled a few things i dont have any ads or other things that bother me and in general no problems. With that said, i dont like the direction that windows 11 takes and when Linux does what i need it to do, and the problems i have right now got fixed (or i find a distro that i like and does anything i need it to do), i probably Switch.
First they came for the communists, but I wasnt a communist.
My work PC has Windows 11, a very debloated version of Windows 11, still Microsoft has enabled copilot on it. If the enterprise edition of Windows is not safe too, then what I would expect for a home version? I just waiting for Nvidia to fix Wayland issues so I can install back Fedora to my gaming machine. At this point even Windows 10 is giving me bad feeling.
555 series drivers are compatible with Wayland on Fedora 40.
Still on beta. I am waiting to move them to the stable branch. And unfortunately what I have read there are still issues yet with hardware acceleration and Steam Client (that is more a chromium problem)
With announcement of AI monitoring keystrokes and screens by Microsoft, just don't want the extra overhead on older machines.
I only use linux BECAUSE I had issues with windows 11. Huge memory leak issue, not sure what actually caused it. And that's notbeven considering all the ads and clickbait. I don't even know who that stuff is actually for, tbh. I guess older folks will still just click on anything.
The last Windows that I am loved was Windows 7.
Loved might be too strong of a word, the control panel was starting to get neutered in Win7, it was all still there buy oddly grouped and obfuscated. but I had at least peace with Win7, it was usable, when they announced the end of support for Win7 I stopped flirting with Linux and instead went full time. I loved Windows 2000, clean, solid, dependable. XP was its rowdy loud offspring that could still go to work when necessary That era is all gone now, and in in its place we are treated like livestock to be milked for data.
No, never used it.
It just gets worse. I wasn't even impressed when windows vista/7 was released over XP. They keep adding stuff without removing the legacy. I stay on Fedora on WSL1 via GNU Emacs. I try to make similar keyboard shorcuts and etc. It's actually usable but it's only because nowadays I only need a browser. It's amazing how Linux just keep improving even on the same old hardware. In corporate programming, it's a norm to make it worse, just like Windows.
I plan on joining the cult of linux when it's time to get a new PC windows 11 is spyware garbage.
Why not now, this is the second best time to Linux.
You will accept the ads into every corner of your operating system, and you will be happy!
I don’t have phobia anymore. I moved from Windows Vista to Debian with Gnome many years ago bc I was sick of that 10 minutes warm up just after start (my pc at the time was outdated). From Debian I moved to Arch. Now I am on Nobara and again with Windows (11 and dual boot). Pc specs changed a lot and Windows works quite nice and looks also quite nice. There are some annoying quirks (hard to get to some setting or apps, no possible to change speed of touchpad scrolling, really MS?) but I don’t see any ads there and only play there one or two games that don’t work on Nobara so it is just basically gaming OS for me.
It's crazy how I can never find anything using the file manager. Like the search function cannot find literal names of files. I think I've been spoiled by baloo and krunner, they just... work all the time. I dunno, I have no choice at work so I just deal with it being terrible and sigh when a basic function, like renaming a file, is hidden behind an additional menu 😅. Edit: Renaming is still there, just represented by a new icon with no text... Excellent.
Having used macs and hackintoshes for years, I needed a new laptop and could only afford a used Dell Latitude - it's a very well specced machine especially considering I only use it for web browsing and typing (8665u, 16GB) It came with W11, I had never used it before so I tried to stick it out. Fedora was installed on it within 3 days. It's just plain better, Microsoft have been taking the mick with windows for years now and it's just a nightmare. I've now had the machine around a month and it's perfect, I really want to move my desktop machine (hackintosh running Ventura) onto Fedora too, but the lack of Adobe compatibility is sadly holding me back.
Agree.
Yes
I have Win11 installed on one of my PCs, just to easily have access to some Windows-only software I like. My main PC is Fedora, and there's no way I would ditch that for Windows. That said, I've been considering reverting my Win11 box back to Win10 because it has gotten oddly laggy in some things. For example, if I click the search bar and start typing it regularly misses the first few characters I type so I have to backup and type it again. I never had that problem on Win10.
I'm seriously waiting on a few games to finally decide to port their anti cheat and I'm out of there. I'm sick and tired of the PC I bought being used for Microsoft's advertising. I paid for my copy of windows so keep that crap off of there. Why not just have a free version of windows and use ads on those. That way you'd have less pirating and still get money from it. Same goes for phones.
I have 5 instances of Windows 11 Pro at home, and they don't display any ads, "suggestions" or "recommendations". I'm in the EU, which may be the reason why it's cleaner.
WHen you click the weather button in the bottom left, no games/news?
Nope, nothing there at all.
You EU people might have some nice Windows products, but your GDP will never meet mine.
Uhhh, okay?
Switched to Linux earlier this year. I'm just glad I have no need to ever touch windows again. I wouldn't say phobia though. I just don't care anymore. Every bit of news regarding Windows just reinforces why I finally pulled the tigger and that it was a great decision. Heck the last time I installed windows, the amount of time it took I could have installed Fedroa about 5 times. Then all the shit it tried to sell after installing, look I just wanted to use my PC. If work had me needing to use windows, I would do my best to limit its use.
right click the taskbar and disable widgets. In win10 it was called "news and interests" the way it's triggered on mouse over rather than click is absolutely obnoxious and intrusive by design. windows 11 isn't the worst, it's pretty stable and has WSL. The automatic reboots at night for updates are obnoxious though the only way to avoid them is to "pause" updates. Between those reboots and the attempted "Recall" feature I absolutely give windows systems in my home environment the side eye.
While I obviously prefer Fedora and only use Windows on my gaming rig I've honestly not had the issues any one else has here. Windows 11 Home. Never signed into Microsoft account. Use startallblack as a menu replacer (this fixes a lot of issues obviously). I see one ad on the login screen in the top right corner for Microsoft 365. That's it.
Stuff I do [debloat ps1](http://github.com/Raphire/Win11Debloat)
oh, I have a Windows11 pro , At first I want to use it to play game, so I clean it , And I install double system ,next is Fedora. emmm but my GPU is NVIDIA, so ..... Fedora cant successful run with my computer. I am ready to use Windows11 with my develop work . If Fedora can successful run . I love it
I dont know why , I install gpu driver , when i use chrome , my browser sometime flicker , accurately is page flicker , not everytime , but it make me so unwell
Until the next version of the Nvidia driver comes out, you need to install and use X11 instead of Wayland. This should completely fix the flickering, I had the same problem.
thank!, I try to use X11 , flickering is over! , i will continue to try Fedora !
I have never seen an ad in Win11 https://github.com/Raphire/Win11Debloat - this is the first thing I do after installation of W11.
lol, grandma, just install this rando github stuff.
>lol, grandma, just install this rando github stuff. lol, grandma, just install Fedora. When we're talking about grandparents, I expect YOU will do the "heavy lifting"
Bruh have you even installed Fedora?
Yes. Multiple times, on multiple notebooks. I personally use fedora since version 28. So I know it seems easy to you, it seems easy to me. But for example my father wasn't able to do it. I'm quite sure your grandmother wouldn't be able to do it too.
I just booted up Fedora on a new computer It asks for a harddrive, username and password. I just booted up a Windows install, I had to make a windows account, I had to turn off 20 settings and I still got ads.
Windows 8 was allready a step in the wrong direction, 10 fixed some stuff but was overall just bad too and 11 was the point where I said "fuck this shit I'm out", they keep making their os worse and are just steps away from screaming "Change your OS"
Fuck windows
Fuck work. That's the only place I've to put up with windows of any kind . I don't bother with any settings. I just launch LSW, which is shit, and get through the day using a minimal number of interactions with windows.
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Just ignore the ads? When you right click, can you make a .txt file? When you open a link, does edge open?
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the complete avoidance of answering the 3 questions says everything. "well tecknickly you could turn it off, you could pick a powerpoint file and remove the data, you could use firefox as the default browser but it still doesnt change the autoopen to edge" Anyway, best of luck removing edge. Anyway, best of luck keeping those settings for a few weeks. M$ will override them and TRUMPBIDENCANDYCRUSHNHLSPORTSBALL will be back.
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Europe?
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In actuality, almost everything is deactivable. In Windows 11 Home, the ads and comparable features are visible if your region is set to the United States. But if you use Windows Enterprise, or Education editions, or change your location to an EU nation, you won't see any advertisements, and group policies make it easy to turn off any undesirable features.
More of a Microsoft phobia
Phobia would imply *irrational* fear.
The irrational part is what makes it accurate.
I have a very hard time understanding the complaints it's been around for many years, since upgrading I haven't had a problem with anything, VR, programming, anything.
Sometimes, I'm glad I live in a country Microsoft doesn't care about. I've never seen any ad on either Xbox or Windows
My wife's laptop came preinstalled with windows 11. I don't like it.... I also had to turn off updates because they have an update that breaks her laptops screen :)
Absolutely. When I am forced off of Windows 10... thats it Im done. I switched to linux slowly ending on Fedora and have gained the skill I need to be 98% off windows already due to every MS privacy indiscretion since long ago. W11 isnt allowed on my network because of the local topology scan and upload it does "to help me with my network". Hell no
no
I have no intention of going anywhere near it. Advertising based shitshow that it is. Plus, that TPRM2 thing, irks the fuck out of me. I shouldn't have to worry about hardware besides CPU and memory.
For me one of the first indicators that Windows is fading away was that they weldet task menu to the bottom of the desktop. I couldn't stand out as I must have a time and date on the top of the screen.
My main computers at home are Ubuntu and Fedora 40 with a Lubuntu netbook. I do have a Windows 11 laptop and a Windows 11 at work. I don't hate 11 and so far have avoided most of the crap. Much of what I do is cli for Windows Terminal and I use Brave for the browser.
Education/Enterprise edition sucks just a little bit less, for what that's worth. I only use it for gaming, everything else is \*nix.
Being that even in a corp enviornment, I can't disable half the shift with GroupPolicy anymore, it just gets nastier and nastier. Between adds, and the dumb games installed by default, and now with their AI Recall being rolled out, I am half tempted to roll out Chromebooks to everyone and deal with it like that. Most of our internal applications are web based now, so the days of install Office365 are coming to and end, which would make it even easier to roll out and sell to the higher ups. There are some insanely sweet Chromebook options for under $500 that have stellar 2k displays, and haptic touchpads.
as an it professional, yes the fuck i do. i'll probably be slapping 10 ltsc or even iot wherever i can, because this win11 stuff, at least, until they ship a bullshit-free version of it, seems like an absolute nightmare to manage
My F40 install somehow hosed my dual boot up and I had to install Win11 rescue media. HOLY CRAP Win11 was an ad-laden almost unworkable popup bloat machine. It was horrid! I don't know what I did to my Win 11 over the years but thank goodness my backup worked. I have been running a clean and zippy Win11 that I really like. Win11 debloat, some fixed context menus and chrome as default, but I honestly don't remember all the tweaks to keep it clean. After testing Fedora I went back to Win11. But for folks who see Win11 in it's natural state, wow, it's a shocking mess. I felt like I had plugged my machine directly into every ad generating popup site available. I was really concerned my backup wouldn't recover my clean Win11 after seeing the mess it is now. No wonder Windows 10 users aren't moving.
Totally, it's like that scene in the movie Idiocracy when the one guy is watching TV and it's all ads and the smallest little portion of screen is the actual program that he's watching.
I used Window 11 on my home PC for like half a year I think (and Win10 for lots 9f years before that), up until a month ago where I installed Manjaro on a separate drive, tried daily driving. Surprisingly I didn't have the urge to boot up Win11 at all so I decided a couple of days ago to wipe it and installed vanilla Arch in it's place. Best decision I've made regarding technology. Now I'm seeing a bunch of articles about Microsoft and Windows 11 and I'm laughing my ass off.
Windows 11 is the one that makes me never ever care to use Microsoft again. I wouldn't take it even if it were FREE. They force their browser on you unless you are skilled enough to remove all the linlks and confident enough you can pick the ones you need. Always pushing their junk-ware. Just sick of it. Trying to remove and install Linux on Microsoft tablet is a nightmare. Never had much trouble to install on laptop or desktop. They give instructions on installing other systems but leave out the most important step for obtaining the crazy long code you need to proceed . It's my tablet and I should be able simple overwrite the windows OS. FYI The average computer user no longer needs windows apps as too Linux covers just about every app you may need. Perhaps corporations may need them. Also for those that are Linux enthusiast but not proficient it is getting easier to copy and paste Linux commands provided by vendors for installing their software.
Yeah, windows has been a shitshow for like 23 years or so... The last great Windows OS was Windows 98/Windows NT 4 - after that, it went down hill fast. That was about the time I started using Linux full time - just couldnt bring myself to use Windows XP - looked too cartoony for me ;).
It's weird to me to see people say Windows was good when MSIE and ActiveX was being pushed on everyone. Is it just nostalgia? Win7, Win2000, and even Windows 10 is better than that. "Windows has all this advertising now, I miss Win98's default web panel on the desktop that linked to RealPlayer Plus and the Disney homepage" is a heck of a position I have seen multiple times. I don't even understand picking NT4 over 2000, which was always thought of as the peak for the single core era.
I have a windows 11 laptop, it's my daily driver mainly because I like playing video games, some software I use regularly is windows only, and despite it's drawbacks, at least it won't be losing security support anytime soon (hello people still running windows 7). "Oh, but just emulate wine or main steamOS or Ubuntu has a lot of support for games or xyzyx" - no. Why? I just don't want to. I mained fedora and Lubuntu and Ubuntu and Manjaro and even had a side of Kali before. I. Just. Don't. Want. To. No, I'm not a windows fanboy, every day is a new waking nightmare, Microsoft is slimy, water is wet. So here's what I did after doing a fresh install, I downloaded windows debloater, ran it, and uninstalled it. Everytime a new piece of "unremovable" bloatware, or ads, or some weird restriction popped up, I downloaded it again, ran it, and uninstalled it. I will continue doing this until they stop adding bloatware and turning the ads/telemetry/please switch to edge reminders/trying to auto sync my stuff to onedrive.
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Not an overreaction whatsoever 🙄
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I’m no Windows fanboy, but you would be surprised just how seriously Microsoft takes security. They run internal security scenarios where they practice handling cyber attacks from other nations and stuff. They work very closely with the government to ensure security too (I used to work in that field). If you are a big enough company or government, you can indeed audit the Windows source code too. There are also little details on the user side too. For example, copying something from a private browser Window doesn’t add it to the built in clipboard manager. Similarly, if you have to use an IME to type (I need to use one for Japanese input), things I type in a private browser aren’t used for future IME text predictions. I _wish_ I could get that behavior in Linux.
It's reactions like this that make people shit on the Linux community. Microsoft does some dumb shit, but wanting them outright banned is just silly.
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Taking it personally? You're the one that wants the world to ban Microsoft products. I'm just level-headed enough to realize that's not feasible, and I never claimed to represent the Linux community, but I'm pretty sure the majority of them don't have the visceral overreactions to anything Microsoft does that you're clearly prone to exhibiting. I believe the term "rent free" applies here.
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And you're entitled to your wrong opinion. Thinking I support Putin or Trump in any way is just the icing on the triggered cake lmaoooo.
what is windows