Microsoft revives aggressive Windows 11 upgrade campaign with intrusive popups for Windows 10 users
Microsoft revives aggressive Windows 11 upgrade campaign with intrusive popups for Windows 10 users
The lengthy advertisement for Windows 11 was highlighted by Windows Latest after it installed the optional January update (in preview) on a Windows 10 machine.
I would upgrade to windows 11 if it wasn't full of ads, I had two computers accidentally upgrade after mis-clicking an upgrade prompt and the experience was bad enough I reloaded the whole computer.
Not only that, but it doesn't make sense to have a task bar on the bottom of an ultrawide display. I've been putting my taskbar on the left side for over a decade, and now you just can't do that for some reason....
The task bar is my main reason for staying on 10. Forced grouping with icons only and no option to change it is such a bizarre design decision.
Edit: Sounds like my last major gripe with W11 has been fixed! Dreading a forced switch to 11 much less now.
This is also my main reason for not switching and let me tell you this issue is NOT fixed. Do not upgrade to 11. You don't have an option to use small taskbar icons, making the ungrouped tabs massive. Plus they resize themselves constantly. I use 11 at work and the only workaround as of now is third party stuff that either costs money, is a resource hog, or both.
I can change it on 2H22 with these instructions
I had to use it on a work laptop briefly. It is still insane, when you run out of space it the apps then get put in this crappy overflow area.
You know what I used to be able to do? Make the taskbar 2, or even 3 lines. No more.
I'm staying on windows 10 for work as long as I can help it.
The "show more" menu on right click is absolute insanity. I right click files constantly, all day.
They've taken features away for seemingly no reason.
I'm so confused by the ads thing. I don't think I've noticed any since upgrading to Win 11. Are they only on certain editions or something?
That’s what confuses me. There are absolutely ads, it’s just fake installed apps. But amount of ads are exactly the same as windows 10. They’re in all the same places, same types (mostly the start menu). Shit you could say 10 has more since that awful edge desktop widget doesn’t exist by default on 11 as far as I’m aware.
Do people just have such deeply debloated windows 10 installs that they’ve forgotten what windows 10 is actually like? Maybe it’s because it’s been 1.5 years without a major update that reinstalls all the garbage automatically?
https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-remove-most-annoying-ads-from-windows
check out how many settings you have to search and disable to turn off MOST of the ads in windows. It's completely ridiculous.
There aren't more ads than 10 because MS has added those ads to 10 with each update over the years.
Weather bug in taskbar is an ad server. You click on it and it brings up bing stories to get you to click them and see ads. The search bar now has a little daily decoration. Click it for ads. The search menu has bing news- again to bait you into clicking one and seeing an ad.
I have to use W11, but I use ExplorerPatcher to make it bearable.
I had to purchase new computers for my wife and son. So W11 home edition it is. $12 for for the family pack of startallback and the PC's run as they should. It's so stupid that I have to do it, but it clears out all the annoying shit so it's worth the few bucks.
I have been using classic shell/open shell since Win8 anyways. My screens look the close to the same since Win7 and I am not changing anytime soon.
Windows 10 came with Candy Crush ads in the start menu (on my machine), it's not any better than W11. Don't get me wrong, I use W11 and think it sucks more overall, but W10 does the same crap.
This popped up over the weekend on my work PC. It was an emergency and I absolutely needed to get to my desktop ASAP.
Nope. Full screen advertisement for Windows 11 demanding my immediate and undivided attention. Blocking all other functions, commands, and inputs. I must interact with this ad or else I cannot use my computer.
Fuck. That.
I am never installing Windows 11. I am never buying another Microsoft operating system. Specifically because of this sort of heavy-handed dark patterned bullshit. Not to mention the fact that Windows 10 is dog shit.
I paid full price for Windows 10 twice, from Microsoft's website. I believe in paying for good software but Windows 10 was anything but. After the whole forced Microsoft account thing I had very little patience and then Windows 11 dropped. I switched to Linux and never looked back.
I understand if anyone can't switch or disagree with my point of view, you don't have to leave a comment.
I feel this in my bones. Can't tell you the number of times I've been working on some late night or weekend work emergency when fucking Microsoft throws some random unnecessary bullshit in my path. Haven't run into the Win 11 mandatory commercial yet. But MS is notorious for wasting our time with push notifications, Teams drama, mandatory updates, and slow ass software that glitches at the worst possible times.
MS lost the way years ago. They forgot that software is supposed to work for us. They demand we work for their shitty software.
"Just use Linux" indeed. Will be doing that in my retirement.
I feel you. I wish I wasn’t supporting 3500 windows endpoints but that’s the job. Refuse to use that shit at home though except for gaming. Luckily my home windows 10 has all that dumb shit slipstreamed out. I use a Mac or iPad for most other stuff.
Windows 11? Ads. New outlook program? Ads. Old outlook iOS app? Now injecting ads there too.
Ads are a cancer on the internet.
Nadella has ruined Microsoft.
Are you kidding? He's made some...questionable decisions over the last couple of years, but look at where Microsoft is at today compared to when Ballmer left. It's a much more successful, more exciting, and more open company than it was. Could you imagine Ballmer's Microsoft releasing WSL? Or greenlighting a major faithful remaster and re-release of all 4 of the big Age of Empires games, as well as developing an entire new one? Or buying and actually being a surprisingly good steward of GitHub?
He's far from perfect, and all the enshittification of the last 2 or 4 years should be roundly criticised. But overall, Nadella has been a net positive for the company both financially and in terms of the company's societal impact.
The same can not be said for Google's Pichai...
As a software developer: MS has been 100X better to work with under Nadella. He may not know what to do with the operating system side of things, but the .NET/Azure/android/linux etc side has never been healthier.
Are you implying it was good before that?
He did make it worse, but I don't know about "ruined"
Slows my pc down while downloading and prepping upgrade. Attempts upgrade. Not compatible. Undoes upgrade. Bitches to upgrade the next week...
You know who won't do you dirty like this?
A certain penguin knows.
I'm actually transitioning. Windows for what I need it for but daily driver on mint. I think that makes the updates worse since I'm not using Windows as often.
These incessant, full-screen upgrade ads, with no way of canceling other than a small "Remind me later" tucked away in the corner, where the final straw from me switching to Linux.
When this screen recently came up, i had a mini stroke because it looked like it just updated itself... Iam really sold for linux mint, but my laptop is currently my desktop and i need functional Dockingstation use and an external gpu. Which doesn't do well on Linux :(
I guess I'm lucky I just get the "System requirements not met" instead of the Win11 update option.
My computer is good enough to run any games I want to play, even recently released FPS types of games at reasonably high settings. Still not good enough for Win11. My weak-ass tablet, though, was upgraded straight away.
Yeah that’s funny how a gaming laptop with a beefy i7 can’t be upgraded but an enterprise laptop with whatever pitiful i3 can be. Even though gamers see windows as their primary OS, Microsoft clearly doesn’t see gamers as their primary audience.
that's probably the case with the majority of those still using win10 outside of 'enterprise' (corporate managed) environments. those upgrade 'offers' are quite effective at tricking people into the 'upgrade'
There’s a reason everyone says “Just use Linux”
I jumped onboard last weekend. Built my new computer from parts because I couldn't find a system I liked that didn't come with a Windows license, and I refuse to pay for a shitty OS I won't use.
I installed Mint have been happily gaming for just over a week now. I even upgraded my kernel when I came home for lunch one day. That's not something you can say about Windows!
I'd recommend staying with your current distro if you're happy with it!
that's awesome, i'd recommend trying out EndeavorOs for your next distro
It's really so much better. I'm going on a year now since I ditched windows and I have to say it's been great and there's nothing I miss about windows.
There is a reason these people get blocked
Everyone says to just keep it at Windows 10 or that Windows 11 is not that bad as that's the majority of people. It's a small group that says to just use Linux, and if you think it's everyone it suggests you are in an echo chamber/don't participate widely enough in various communities.
Every time I've tried to upgrade Windows major versions in place, it's been a terrible experience. And not on potatoes, either!
From XP to Vista, everything broke. This was long enough ago that I don't remember exactly how it broke, just that it made my computer unusable and I had to reinstall from CD. I mean, that makes sense though, right? Vista was terrible. From Vista to 7 (on a different machine), I just did a fresh install.
I skipped 8. After that, my Windows 7 machine (a third machine now) kept begging me to upgrade to 10, so I tried it. But even though Microsoft's own tool told me everything would work just fine, the install was absolutely trash. I was stuck at 1024x768 (on a 16:9 monitor). Performance even with no programs running was so bad—on a machine that could easily run Adobe Premiere and Photoshop simultaneously under Win7—that it took ±30 seconds to open Task Manager. Exactly zero drivers for any USB peripherals worked; I had to dig out my PS/2 keyboard to revert the install.
At this point I must just be out of my mind, because last fall I let Windows 11 install on my Windows 10 computer (a fourth machine). The installation took several hours somehow, and when it was done wifi didn't work. There were a few other annoyances, like stealing back defaults and reverting my Firefox default on every reboot. Being in no mood to deal with the nonsense, I switched back to Windows 10. And guess what? Wifi was still broken. Windows 11 broke network connectivity on Windows 10.
These were all good computers, and I don't do anything particularly odd or unusual with them.
I'm never doing an in-place Windows upgrade again. No way, no how. Not gonna happen.
Windows 10 is the end of the line for me regardless of software compatibility.
That's it Microsoft...keep pushing more people to use Linux. 🐧
Linux people are so annoying
Yeah we are... but not more annoying than Microsoft pushing ads everywhere. 😋
:3
Look, no hate, but I always find these kinds of comments funny because I've been reading them for over twenty years.
It's not going to happen, certainly not in any significant numbers.
Hell, look at the fediverse. The vast majority of internet users find signing up to mastodon hard, let alone lemmy. How the hell are these people supposed to install linux, for example when they follow many an 'easy' linux installation guide, but then find Rufus isn't able to create a bootable USB stick in fat32? How are they supposed to verify their data, or hell change the bios settings when the guide they read gives them the wrong key to press to enter the bios? And then if by some miracle they do manage to install linux, you expect them to move away from all the apps they've grown used to? They'll try to install MS office on linux and blame this not working on linux.
TLDR: Gretchen! Stop trying to make mass linux adoption happen! It's not going to happen!
So, do you stop rooting for your favourite sports team because they can't be world champion? Do you not support a small artist you like because he won't ever be as big as van Gogh?
Like, will desktop Linux overtake Windows anytime soon in market share? No. Do I use Linux on all my machines? Yes. Does that mean I'm not allowed to like it / hope for more adoption or hell, help people who would like to get away from Windows?
I get your point and I mostly agree. But why exactly should that be an argument for people to stop liking / improving something that's objectively got more future?
TL;DR:
“Stop advocating for things you care about, it’ll never happen. Fuck your passions and your want to share them with people.”
That’s how you sound.
I don't think entry level users are what will be converted, at least first. It's users like you and me. Users that, for whatever reason, haven't preferred Linux historically. I've tried the new popular distro every few years to 'check in' with Linux, and each time I ended up running into some issue which reaffirmed my preference for Windows sooner or later.
Until I tried Debian 12 a couple of months ago, that is. Between nonfree drivers, Wayland and its compatibility throughout the ecosystem, and updates to GNOME, it's honestly been refreshingly user-friendly and feels more optimised than Windows.
Importantly, in searching for alternatives to Windows-only software I use, I didn't have any problems and in one case actually ended up finding new software I prefer.
The peace of mind of my OS not trying to sell me something or trying to farm my engagement is nice too, but not why I'd recommend giving it a try. I've always gotten behind it in principle support of free software, but now I can get behind it actually using it. I'd recommend it because it genuinely seems better in my general use.
Linux has something like 15% market share in India and growing
lol my reasonably good gaming pc doesn't even meet the minimum system requirements. I don't have anything with a cpu that's in the "list of approved CPUs" 😎. Guess I can't use Windows even if I wanted to. 🤷
So absurd. My i5-6600K apparently didn't make the cut either. Sure it's almost 10 years old now but it runs W10 just fine. Thank god for Linux Mint.
You can. Just make the installation USB using Rufus. Rufus allows to configure the Windows 11 iso to override minimum requirements. Almost all Windows 10 drivers work with Windows 11 too. I'm running Windows 11 on an ancient 1st Gen i7 Laptop with 6GB Memory and an NVIDIA GT 425M. Works better than Windows 10.
So. If my PC cannot be upgraded because of your bullshit requirements, can you leave me alone please.
Also in win 11.. if I have an office subscription activated in the OS can you please not throw ads for office 365 then.
It's nonsense.
i just set up a new one the 'right' (according to microsoft) way; allowing it on the network and to link to msa right off the bat, during oobe. sure you 'installed' the office (had 365 on that msa)--it was already there, you just 'activated' it. you also messed-up the document libraries, relocating three to onedrive, even though no pc on the msa has ever even had onedrive turned on in the first place. you also linked the edge browser to msa, even though the user has never, ever used edge for anything (user has been using firefox, exclusively, forever).
there were full screen ads more cloud space and for xbox whatever-the-fuck-that-was during 'first boot'.
I’m a Mac user. I like using Macs, and I like using macOS. Apple are just as bad as MS for this shit.
I have an old MacBook Pro, as well as a pair of older minis. All three were left behind by macOS a few years ago, but if they weren’t all running Sonoma through OpenCore, they’d have an update in the App Store to upgrade to a new OS that Apple won’t let them run.
I think with the latter it might be them pushing a personal account, assuming you're logged in with a work account. It often does this to me on my work computer. Or, it's just being typically annoying - that would make sense too.
I had to update my BIOS a while ago and it set TPM back to disabled as default. Voila. No Windows 11 prompts because, as far as it can tell, I do not meet the requirements.
Brilliant! TPM as a crappy OS ad blocker... but this is still the worst timeline.
My $2000 PC built a year before its release with no TPM will beg to differ.
if you built a $2000 desktop and didn't specifically go out and source old parts... it's got one, most likely, you've just chosen to not enable it. intel and amd cpu have them built-in and motherboards and their bios support those. they don't need headers for a module or a discrete tpm chip on the board.
got a book on Linux from the library this week, and I've been speaking with a friend who runs Linux full time on his system. looking to make the switch within the next few weeks; absolutely done with windows, personally.
I've been on Linux Mint for a few months now, and haven't booted into Windows in like three weeks.
The transition has been relatively painless.
what was that nice app that would block Windows 10 upgrades?
There's a registry setting for telling Windows that the target feature release is a specific version (it should be 22H2) which also will stop it from trying to push win11 upgrades
If anybody is curious, here are the details on how to do that: https://www.pdq.com/blog/how-to-block-the-windows-11-upgrade/
If you want to take it a step further, write a Powershell script that checks that the registry entry is what you want it to be, and then changes it if it is not. Then create a scheduled task to run at login that runs the script. That way if/when Microsoft pushes an update that switches the registry entry back, the scheduled task will flip it back after installing updates/rebooting/logging in.
I am currently fighting this battle with New Outlook in Win 11 23H2. It's really annoying. I can get rid of it with registry entries, but when windows does updates it reverts the registry changes back. So scheduled task it is. It would be great if there was an Intune configuration profile to deal with this, but that would go against Microsoft's current methods of shoving new products down your throat.
You might be talking about Never10, made by Steve Gibson over at GRC.com. It has since been updated and renamed InControl. It now also works to prevent unwanted Win11 upgrades, as well as other things. https://www.grc.com/incontrol.htm
grc yes! thank you
It's called Russian botnet initiator 5.0
Say what you will about Apple but I don't have to put up with this insane shit at least on their computers. I really wonder how long they hold out on this stuff.
You have to deal with different shit thought. Source: been using both Windows and Mac for over 20 years now.
Yeah for sure they both have their pros and cons, I've used both extensively. This just happens to be something that would particularly fucking infuriate me and I'm glad I don't have to deal with it on my daily driver.
Sorta feels like someone kicking the door into your house and tacking up billboards on your walls or something.
The problem with Apple is that it's not your computer. It's their computer and they get to dictate everything you do on it.
Their phones maybe? But not really Macs..... You can have full root access, edit system files, replace the OS, whatever.
How so?
Please elaborate.
Drop requirements for TPM and secure boot then.
That shit is just Xbone Kinect all over again.
Desolder your tpm chip to prevent forced downgrade to win11
That seems much easier than installing Linux.
You can turn off those requirements a few ways. IIRC using Rufus to make the bootable USB can, or something like Windows X-Lite which absolutely strips away all the M$ bullshit, like edge, defender, telemetry, bloat, and ads.
Every time I see people complain about this while I'm running PopOS https://media.npr.org/news/images/2008/dec/12/sip_200-8cd52659abd57bb28c4d7bd3797c582d77527643-s6-c30.jpg
Amazing you managed to post that without having to install three different drivers then reboot forty times, then buy new ram
Shit tier os
Enshitification continues.
Windows is like the corner prostitute: pay some money, usually get what you want although not the best, occasionally get some horrible disease
Linux is like the sweet SO: has its quirks but you love them for it. let's you grow in your skills but that can be challenging at times. Surprises you in good and bad ways.
Edit: for grammar
Lets* you grow 😉
I have a different perspective after trying to go linux as my daily driver for decades:
Windows is that kind of easy girl in college that everyone has a chance with but is pretty mid and highly controlling.
Linux is that hot alt girl that you keep seeing in strange clubs like the anime or robotics club, and is really fun to be around until they have a major meltdown out of nowhere and absolutely no one is willing to give you any advice until you take a 6 month course and prove you know enough about girls before they will respond to your questions.
I finally swapped to Linux and it's been easier than I expected. Don't know if I'll ever go back to only windows.
Same I was really surprised how easy it was. Thank you Lutris
What distro did you go with? Been thinking of switching myself
Not OP, but there's many beginner friendly distros. I'd look into Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Zorin, or Elementary
My hardware couldn't run Windows 11 anyway. But if it could, I still would've installed Linux.
I'm done needing 10 different tweaking programs before Windows works the way I want it to. I don't want an OS that is working against my workflow.
What distro do you use for day to day stuff? I’m a Mac user but want to dip my toes into Linux as a VM
I'm a little late to the party but I'm using Ubuntu myself. There are a handfull that are pretty good for starters. Ubuntu and Linux Mint are probably part of those. And I see others have given you some advice on good ones as well.
I would suggest to not just jump off the deep end but maybe make it a dual boot or install it on a spare computer. It's probably also usefull to make like a list of applications you're using in Windows and see if they're available on Linux. And if not, what alternatives there are. It helps if you are willing to try some alternatives to your daily applications when they are not available in Linux. But worst case scenario there are a lot of Windows applications that can run inside Wine in Linux.
I've had TPM disabled in the BIOS since I got this machine (which is getting pretty long in the tooth, granted). Can't upgrade, doesn't bug me about it.
Next computer will be the latest OS at the time, but I get to decide when that is.
It can still pop up the blue upgrade dot, but will fail if you try to “check compatibility”. I assume the full screen bs is further down the line
You can't "upgrade" windows, only downgrade it with patches and new versions that make your computer slower and more annoying.
Plasma 6 comes at the end of the month. Maybe upgrade to that instead. :)
Off topic, why does clicking keep windows 10 trigger the admin pop up? What does it need permission to do? It ain't for removing the ad because I still get it most boots
Because it wants administrative privileges to reverse the changes it already made to your PC
Oh.. well I've been constantly hitting no after it asked once and nothing changed. I initially thought it would disable the windows 11 prompt entirely
My machine can't handle that upgrade and I've not gotten any popups, thankfully.
Hope they push so hard to a point that finally most of users adopt Linux and developers focus more in Linux
Perhaps. I hope so. Right now I just can't be bothered to troubleshoot for every basic thing I have to use and constantly run into issues that majority of users aren't having. I just want my PC to "work".
Well, we have a big contender which is Steam that is a long time ago pushing very hard to move gaming to Linux. They are having excellent results, it's a matter of time
Correct I think the same. Also, That's what company management thinks too. And what creates the dependency in one part, because is the only OS to somehow give that. IBM with Redhat has been doing it a long time ago with servers and it's working for them. Hope a company takes the same but for desktop
Unpopular opinion: I'm concerned that widespread adoption of Linux would mean a reduction in functionality for power users. Considering that the majority of "regular user" effort seems to be going into gaming, I'm doubly concerned that the first major group to embrace Linux would be Gamers, a demographic I think is capable of doing untold damage to the ecosystem at large.
I'd probably move to FreeBSD if things got to that point.
EDIT: by "Gamers" I don't mean people who like video games, I mean the people who make video games their entire personality and assume they understand everything about a computer because they managed to install Steam without blowing away their entire OS.
Your worry is completely unfounded. Linux will remain the OS of preference for supercomputers, mission critical tasks, programmers, network administrators and power users. And they will continue to make sure the access and tools remain available disregarding more user friendly options are developed too.
Arch isn’t going anywhere. There will always be builds for power users. If not, forks will happen.
I want to get the microsoft monkey off my back, can anyone point me to a guide or give me steps to making the switch?
Usually, I help family and friends setup their computer to something familiar/similar to their routine (especially those that do everything in their browser). Otherwise, I let them slowly adapt to some new alternative software for their case use by preconfiguring it with them.
Generally, I recommend Linux Mint for those that are used to the Windows "feel".
Guide: Linux Mint Installation Guide
Video: Linux Mint 21.3 (Wayland) Install Guide Note: I have not watched the whole video, I just quickly skipped around to see if they made sense.
Ideally, try to get a relative or friend who already use some flavor of Linux to sit down with you and help you get going with the transition, guaranteed they would be overjoyed. It'll help avoid some obvious pitfall/mistake depending on your expertise level on IT stuff and streamline the experience by sharing knowledge.
If any of my friends ever asked me to teach them Linux I'd be floored. I'd be over there with all kinds of devices and white boards to show the paradigms and strengths of open source.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
Linux Mint 21.3 (Wayland) Install Guide
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
wow, thank you Xavier
Hi. 10-year Linux user here. Here is my concise guide to making the switch from Windows to Linux:
Step 1: Start trying out open source software on your Windows machine. A lot of my first year of using Linux full-time was googling "linux equivalent for [software name]." See what you think of LibreOffice, Blender, FreeCAD, Shotcut, Inkscape, GIMP, Krita, whatever programs you would use for your workflows.
Step 2: Try out Linux in a VM. You'll probably use a package called Virtualbox, which lets you install Linux in a file on your computer, and run it in a window. This is a great way to just...try out Linux distros without doing any permanent changes to your computer. Speaking of distros, yes there are thousands of them, yes that choice can be paralyzing. I recommend trying Linux Mint, Kubuntu, and Pop!_OS. These are designed with good out-of-box experiences and beginner friendliness in mind and are designed as daily drivers rather than as tinkering projects.
Step 3: Live USB. If you've ever installed Windows, you're probably familiar with the "you put the disc/USB stick in, boot to it, and it dumps you straight into the installer which runs at like 800x600 and you have to fully install Windows to get to the desktop" process. Not Linux; most Linux distros use what they call a Live environment, where from the disc/USB stick it boots to a fully functional version of the desktop. Nothing gets written to your machine's internal hard drive, but now you're running the OS on bare metal and not in a virtual machine, you can now genuinely test it for compatibility with your hardware.
Step 4: Run the installer. I'm not going to cover this process, you can find guides easily on the internet, including how to dual boot with Windows if you're not ready to fully burn that bridge. But now you're actually moving in.
Answers to some FAQs:
-
Do I need to use the terminal? Probably on occasion. Microsoft has trained a few generations of computer users to hate and fear the CLI by making theirs horrible. Think about the kind of things you need to edit the registry or dive into configuration files on Windows, and that's the kind of thing you'll need to use the terminal for on Linux. If you ask for technical help on a Linux forum or Lemmy community, you will likely be asked to run a terminal command, for the simple reason that "run lsblk and copy-paste the return" is way easier to do in a text forum. There are several "Linux terminal basics" videos out there that take around an hour and show you how do do things like make folders, create and delete files, install software etc. from the terminal, which is worth learning how to do, it will help your understanding of the Linux desktop. It's a good way to learn how the Linux file system works.
-
Do I need to know how to program? No. Scripting and programming tools will fall to hand easier on a Linux system, but if you create art in GIMP and play games in Steam and whatnot you won't need to write any code.
-
Will my [weird program or esoteric hardware work] Maybe, maybe not. I have seen it go both ways, I have hardware that works in Linux better than in Windows, I have seen things that don't work in Linux at all. If you have a gaming mouse or keyboard, it may be that the vendor's software for configuring the RGB lighting or remapping the buttons doesn't work. On the other hand I use a Spacemouse in CAD software and it works fine. Ultimately you will have to test this.
Good luck, and Welcome to the Linux community!
Hi thanks for the guide, I do use most of those applications already not even realizing the linux connection before now. I use all the windows stuff for work and honestly they are all so similar now.
-
I don't have a guide as I had a Linux-friendly relative help me, but I can say that I use EndeavourOS with KDE and coming from someone who has used Windows all their life, I couldn't be happier. Now every time I have to use Windows on my work PC I die a little inside.
I found an excellent for me, half measure. Look up Windows X-Lite, they have a website. They offer 10 and 11 absolutely stripped of all the M$ bullshit and annoyances. Even windows defender can be removed.
Legit reminds me of a fresh XP install. Back to installing the vc++ and net desktop runtimes again, even.
I only don't ditch windows because I love playing VR and occasionally Valorant. And Wayland isn't quite where I'd like it to be feature wise for things like VRR and HDR.
Macbook? Chromebook?
Honestly, anything is better than Windows. But don't switch to Linux unless you are actually interested in Linux.
Longtime Linux user, here...
Windows 10 AME Wizard, get AtlasOS or whatever takes your fancy. Otherwise Linux Mint.
Pick anything that's not Ubuntu and enjoy it! Be prepared to reformat a LOT as you figure out what distro and configs you like the best. No one guide is ever going to be complete and experience is the best tool for learning Linux.
So this was the exact thing that pushed me over to the FOSS side the last time they did it. Nice to see the tradition of annoying users to the point of them abandoning Microsoft is alive and well.
Trust bust tech
I wish they'd stop defaulting to the goddamn boot drive for updates.. I don't have the space
rm -rf /*Works every time.
It doesnt work for me,
C:\Users\HelloHotel> rm -rf /* not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file. C:\Users\HelloHotel>Why
Edit: this is a joke, daily drive linux. (I even think cmd would give a diffrent error message than "not a command") the child comments are an absolute shitshow
Give me back my vertical side-docked taskbar or STFU.
No, I don't want to deal with Explorer Patcher.
I got the full-screen splash screen depicted on the second screenshot a couple of weeks ago, I screamed "No!" thinking Microsoft upgraded me to W11 without my consent. My partner thought my computer was broken 😂
Just reinstall xp and these will stop.
*Upgrade to XP
Yep. Just turned on my win10 machine and had a full screen spread trying to get me to upgrade which I had to decline 3 different times to get to my desktop. Keep this up M$oft and I’m gonna switch entirely to Linux and run windows in a VM.
I found an excellent for me, half measure. Look up Windows X-Lite, they have a website. They offer 10 and 11 absolutely stripped of all the M$ bullshit and annoyances. Even windows defender can be removed.
Legit reminds me of a fresh XP install. Back to installing the vc++ and net desktop runtimes again, even.
I only don't ditch windows because I love playing VR and occasionally Valorant. And Wayland isn't quite where I'd like it to be feature wise for things like VRR and HDR.
I would rather move to Linux at that point but I can’t do that either since some critical apps I require don’t run on it (yet)
Do they work via Wine on Linux? I have had pretty good success there.
Hmmm. I mainly play heroes of the storm at the moment and I've had issues getting that to work. While the steam games seem to work great I really feel like it needs some more polishing.
The work that has been done on it is stellar though. Especially considering it's the publishers not supporting Linux systems.
Everything on my steam deck works great though thanks to valve.
But my desktop... Not sure if I'm ready for that yet. :/
If it works on steamdeck it should also be working on normal Linux using the Linux native steam program
I know. It's the other platforms I'm worried about :D. Although I've kind of stopped playing all blizzard their other games.
Maybe I'll give it another go at one point.
What issues did you have getting it to work? I have been playing hots on Linux for a few years now..nearly a couple of hours everyday, but I've not needed to install it for a long time so I've probably forgotten what was needed to set it up. There are some prerequisites and I will leave that here in case you feel like trying it out again in the future. https://github.com/lutris/docs/blob/master/Battle.Net.md
I tried installing it through lutris, first the battle.net client and then hots but it just failed to install.
I'd have to reinstall Linux and see exactly what the issue is. I probably missed one of the prerequisites.
I read something on the Linux gaming Lemmy group where they are planning on combining the fixes so not every platform ( bottles, lutris, steam ) has to maintain their own scripts to fix things.
I'd need to actually put some effort into figuring out why it didn't work.
It's a very common problem among users who attemped to install Nvidia driver using .run file. To fix it, it's suggested to completely reinstall your system and get drivers from repositories instead.
If you didn't know about this beforehand I would certainly consider this a case of Linux not being better.
But my desktop… Not sure if I’m ready for that yet. :/
create a bootable USB disk and try it out, you don't need to fully commit until you feel ready
I didn't even get a question, just straight up installed Windows 11 on my Surface with a bunch of cumulative roll ups after using it again for the first time in about 8 months. Couldn't even stop it once the "windows update" started, only option is to allow the reboot and then go through the hassle of rolling back to 10. It's a tertiary device for me and goes long periods without being used and I was probably ok with testing 11 performance on it, but don't appreciate being strong armed. I had to kill modern standby again to prevent battery drain while shut down, which is plaguing my laptop after I tried 11 on it.
Windows 11 is straight up unusable in multi-monitor configurations though due to the locked down UI customization, so my main rig won't be touching it with a 20ft pole. If Linux had more consistent VR gaming performance and support, I'd probably be jumping ship. As it stands, once 10 hits EOL I'll probably end up there anyway. Microsoft will be killing one of my headsets at the same time anyway by dropping WMR, and I hear there is some great Linux options for the Surface Pro line now too.
I've tried to upgrade but the updater rolls it back every time. Idk what's up lol but my PC has given up trying to ask me
Does your computer have a TPM?
Yeah it covers all the requirements
The updater clearly wants you to use the better version of Windows. And that isn't Windows 11. ;p
windows has sucked ever since 8
Maybe you want to open that file in browser right? Ok setting default to open in browser!
But I really like the app because It was working just fine except for a few stupid glitches everywhere...!
What's that? So you really love the browser for files! That's great! Yeah it's compatible with Firefox we just put the file menu here, prin behind settings, view, you gotta triple click...oh very compatible!
But just wait until you want to do a teams meeting! Or a power point presentation! Full screen mode is now 10 menus deeper on power point and you'll love the 5 pixel screen when you present your power point on teams! People in the back really love being able to see all the very large people icons all around the very important 5 pixels representing your mouse and all graphics on your slides. Plus Karen! She'll change her icon to a cute little kitty and not tell anyone the secrete code to do it! It's Visual C++ now!
I don't see the point of your comment. What exactly are you critiquing?
I imagine the aggressive “feature” upsell popups that get more and more invasive with every new windows release
I'm sorry, you lost me at PowerPoint. You hit F5? Have you checked your screen resolution?
I like my full screen like this: https://images.app.goo.gl/krbc3oUbh4fPh8Z4A
Microsoft likes full screen like this: https://images.app.goo.gl/141RczU6S4kKiEM67
And this for teams is ridiculous: https://images.app.goo.gl/9yp7ocn63ieB23FF8
I'm thankful that I made the Switch to Linux after Windows 10 forced updates got annoying while gaming. I'll deal with whatever trade offs. I only need Windows for my Elgato atm.
More and more happy I left Windows behind a couple of months ago. I'd been on Windows since version 3. I dual-booted for a few weeks, then took the plunge. Windows is completely gone from my life.
I'm on Ubuntu at the moment, but I'm planning a move to LMDE, I think that's a better distro for me.
Thought about regular Linux Mint too? It has some of the Ubuntu benefits but not the parts people don’t like.
I am considering switching one of the computers at home away from windows, so I have been looking at the latest on some of my options.
At this point I know of two Ubuntu features that would make a difference to end users: PPA support, and the Device Manager.
PPAs are/were Ubuntu's answer to the question "What if the software I want isn't in the repository?" "Well the vendor will host a personal package archive, you can just add it and then still use APT." From where I'm sitting, Flatpak and/or Appimage have completely invalidated any use case for PPAs, I haven't installed a package from a PPA in years.
The Device Manager is handy if you have an Nvidia GPU, open Device Manager and click the one that says "Recommended." IIRC this is an Ubuntu-derived feature not available in LMDE and as soon as I own an AMD GPU I'd have less reason to not use Debian Edition.
I was able to solve this annoying problem by replacing my PC with a raspberry pi running android.
Android? But you can do better with any distro that runs on ARM.
Did you choose a de-googled Android?
I'm running a Google-free distribution, so no worries there.
How is this bad
It either pushes them to an actual supported Windows OS, or to a FOSS/Linux OS. Both scenarios are good
Unless you disable it via registry entries
People still use macrosh!t? 🧐
Every 6 years I have to about people that are not updating. The drama.
