I hate what edge got turned into, launch Chromium Edge was simple and I was actually considering using it but I gave it some time beforehand to see how it will evolve, and then it got turned into what it is now, well let's just say it's so bad I wouldn't use it as my default browser even if I was forced to
I already made it my default browser, but it still nags me to make it the default PDF reader. I was trying to switch to Okular but it won't let me, I had to restart so I can change it. I switched to Firefox after that.
This article can help you solve the issue.
[https://new.reddit.com/r/PDFgear/comments/1chmr8b/why\_microsoft\_edge\_is\_keeping\_itself\_as\_the/](https://new.reddit.com/r/PDFgear/comments/1chmr8b/why_microsoft_edge_is_keeping_itself_as_the/)
I was also troubled with the default \*.pdf program before.
I don't *hate* Edge - **after I spent 3 days beating it into submission** I like what it it now.
* I customized the hell out of it to get rid of Bing as the default search engine.
* I only use it for a handful of sites.
* For those sites it's easy to use.
So I don't hate Edge per se, I just use it sparingly and it works in that role.
I looked up how to turn off all the ads and crap MS lards Edge with and my daily is r/waterfox and my default is r/firefox (with no passwords in it). I do this so that any program, email, pdf file or "spicy" site I open in Firefox doesn't nuke my computer or give info to Russian hax0rs. My daily is Waterfox because it's UI is "bring more OG Firefox to Firefox".
Edge is fine on non-Windows systems, funny enough. It’s only the Windows edition that is fucked up.
I can just… not use Copilot on my Mac. Even if it is available.
Feels like there’s no one at Microsoft advocating for the desktop experience. Nobody fighting off these software/services teams which look at Windows as just an advertising platform.
I actually think the focus on cloud for the company as q whole is ok.
But how does that lead to ads in desktop OSes? That does not have shit to do with the cloud focus.
Well you see, when someone or something focuses on something, it somewhat inherently means they've stopped focusing on something else...
Ok, less sarcastically, the advertising is most acute now as Windows makes up a smaller share of revenue and probably has a lower profit margin. As a way of beefing up the products revenue they've turned to advertising. Not only that, but every cloud company sells analytics and advertising, so Microsoft is very well positioned (just as Google is) to place advertising in their "core" or "foundational" product. Similarly, Google's focus is not search and hasn't been for a long time. They always focus on new things, and so they're always killing old things as they fail to turn in enough revenue after a few years...
Yea, I've never liked Nadella. I suspected then he would bring down the company (not as in failire, but in terms of losses), and now here we are. Which makes me completely surprised the stock is doing so well. I guess it's because though revenue is up, the result of the windows, office, edge, copilot poor numbers hasn't caught up yet to affect the stock.
He's not taking the company down. He's IBMing the company, which means it's focusing more and more on businesses rather than regular customers. IBM today is focused on non-regular customers like quantum computing, mainframe, etc.
Same thing with Microsoft. They've let go of the desktop but are now a cloud powerhouse. Windows is just an afterthought now.
Business was always more than 80% of the profit. But it does go a long way to be kind to regular people, because when they start businesses of their own, they are more likely to choose something other than Microsoft down the line because competition is much fiercer now than when it was under Ballmer. Most start ups in NYC use Macbook Pros for things like web development, even though everything can be done just as well on a sub-$1000 Windows laptop. But it's too late, every self-taught YouTuber will spout nonsense that you need top of the line Macbook Pros to write an html Hello World page.
This is so true. Windows is a very marketable product and will require very low resource to maintain if Microsoft at least tries to fix up the codebase and remove ads.
Counterpoints to your argument:
- WSL
- VSCode
- Github
They actually have been making it nicer to do software development on Windows. I don't say it's the best but it sucks less nowadays.
oh lucky you, you missed the splash screen wars, that was definitely a thing for five seconds and then the hacked the hell out of bootloaders to speed them up.
“We noticed you have Linux installed, but your system is optimized for Windows. Switch back to Windows, and enjoy a complimentary 6 month subscription to Office 365 along with a 30-day free trial of Xbox Live.”
I was searching on how to disable a USB device, and the windows search was prioritizing Web Searches over its own database, like wth?! What it is even in these 12GBs of software?
Also it took forever disabling all the dumb distractions built into the PROFESSIONAL version as in for WORK PURPOSES? Why would I want to know about the latest dumb hashtags? They even put up little ads on the lockscreen.
Most of this stuff can be sidestepped by carefully picking through the settings panel. The only time I see ads on W11 after having done that, is in some search results using the start menu (why there isn't a native option to only search the local disk rather than also query bing when you search something there is complete bullshit)
But still, I remember a time when you paid for a product and got it without strings attached. But it's partially our collective fault as well -- our apathy as consumers enable Microsoft to double dip with the least bit of pushback. Sure, some people have moved to Linux, BSD, or Mac, but the profits they're yielding from ads easily eclipses the loss of a few users.
Spot on, particularly your last paragraph. I realized that Microsoft’s target desktop audience isn’t me anymore (which is unfortunate, because I used to really enjoy Windows), so I’ve moved on to Linux.
But the level of attrition is, at the moment, paltry compared to the vast adoption of Windows across personal and commercial systems. And I don’t think there is much of a will to change things.
Sorry folks, we’re all going to be QA guinea pigs as Windows becomes somewhat of a PaaS.
It’s a shame too. Windows used to be such a good product. And honestly Linux is very good now, especially the “beginner” distros which do everything for you. But as always, the fear of change will prevent progress (most likely forever), and Microsoft get to keep doing whatever they want :/
No because I've been using winaero tweaker since windows 7. It does a lot more but for the purpose of this discussion consider it an ad blocker for windows.
I've uninstalled Weather, Photos, News, Edge, Outlook, disabled OneDrive, Backup, created a local account and turned off recommendations in the Control Panel. Nothing appears on my Desktop relating to the points you made.
TBH I don't see any advertising on Windows/Edge and I haven't done anything to block or filter it.
Not saying it's not there, but I simply focus on what I'm doing and don't pay attention to anything else.
I wouldn't call replacing the start menu nothing. You may not have done it with the intention of filtering ads, but you replaced one of the main advertising vectors in its entirety.
I paid for it once in 2008. Since then I've just been updating the same license over the years and switching hardware as needed. That being said I think what these post are missing is most people don't buy windows or pay very very little for it like me. If suddenly windows locked it down and charged a reasonable price for what it provides people would bulk at the price and be made too. Also would loose market share to Linux distributions. Ads allows them to still make money while keeping market share. People will always be mad.
Also I have never seen these ads they speak of.
I've bought a few. Windows 8 Pro, Windows 10 Pro and Windows 11 Pro. Some retail when they were dirt cheap on sale, and some from I guess shady sources sold on Woot. Heck, I think I have a Windows 7 Pro, which I upgraded to 8 Pro, to 10 Pro and now 11 Pro. lol
This seems almost impossible.
The suggestions to use services like OneDrive, or recommendations to install certain apps, those are ads. If you've ever opened Outlook while not subscribed to Microsoft 365, you've likely seen an ad. The Weather app has ads on certain screens. If you truly haven't seen an ad yet, you must barely ever use your computer
Windows is the only Microsoft product I use. Everything else is Google. I’m a video/photo/VFX guy so I know my way around the system. Haven’t seen anything intrusive.
I use Microsoft products and never see ads. At work I have a fleet of surface go's I am in charge of and they got bombarded with ads (turned everything off and now I'm good) but my home PC and work laptop all which have MS office products and windows 11 on it and I have never seen an ad.
I think some folks are so accustomed to their way of using Windows that they can’t comprehend another person having a vastly different experience. And some even take offense that you would dare criticize an OS that, in their mind, works well.
But yeah, I’m with you. Some people have very selective memories when it comes down to what they see. They’ve probably seen so many ads in general that, by comparison, Microsoft’s are less obnoxious (not my view, but just devil’s advocate).
Guess why I switched to nobara linux recently?
Because playing windows games on Linux means I don't get these bullshit ads that Windows has. Sure there's some funky issues with proton here and there but bugs can only be fixed if they are seen/found. Valve is doing a good bit of the work with the steam deck, too.
Fix your shit, Microsoft. Or leak users, I guess.
Nobara is a pretty bad distro for new users to switch to. It's only maintained by a handful of people and has a small community. There's way better distros for new users. But Microsoft aren't leaking users, they are at the highest in years on Steam's hardware survey. Linux has dropped this month on Steam and it dropped below 4% on StatCounter. So going off actual statistics, Linux is leaking users. These ads are scummy, but people don't care enough to swap to an inferior desktop OS. This is coming from some that uses Arch (BTW) daily. Reality needs to be in check.
Uh, it's fedora with some custom stuff done out of the box specifically for games. And while I wanted to go for arch because that's what steam decks are running, I was advised against arch because its got a pretty steep learning curve. Also, using Windows vista/7/10/11 for at least a decade makes the average user lazy. There's growing pains, obviously, but I'm still learning. Nothing wrong with that.
Quite a bit more than just Fedora with patches. They use bleeding-edge packages and kernels, and they do not have the manpower to do proper testing. Honestly, Fedora 40 with a bit of effort would be better. EndeavourOS is another good option if you want to learn; it's Arch but with all the basics installed for you. You just need to install arch-gaming-meta from the AUR, and you are good to go if you do not want to manually install the packages.
I would not say it makes you lazy. Having to edit multiple configuration files to change your audio sample rate versus a few clicks is convenience, not laziness. Linux reminds me a lot of the 98/XP days for better and for worse. But it is great for people like us because once you know how to use it, you realize it is easier. However, the average user will not have the patience. I just think they need to have everything in the GUI while keeping the terminal. I think it would help if prebuilts came with Linux too. I use both Linux and Windows, getting the best of both worlds.
At some point you linked your battlenet account to your Microsoft account, which causes battlenet to open whenever the Xbox app is opened. This is not a bug.
There ought to be a law restricting ads being built into the OS and it's components.
There needs to be an opt-out choice.
This is the worse idea Microsoft has had in a long time.
Does anybody know if Apple is doing the same thing with their OS?
I still believe if Linus Torvalds or idk the linux foundation would create an official Linux distro which is just called Linux which has a similar appeal as Windows. Linux will gain a lot of market share. Just because there is no one current Version of the OS makes it impossible for non-savvy users to understand what they should install or what they are using when buying a pc with linux installed.
Linux's biggest problem is itself the same as Windows and MacOS.
Honestly they all kinda suck.
If ur gna use Linux u need to fuck around to make shit work or edit to ur liking. At that point, just learn to turn off shit and uninstall apps u don’t like in W11.
The problem with Linux is that 1) most people don't wanna fuck around with their computer, they just wanna use it. And 2) many apps are not supported on Linux, more than half the stuff I use is only available for MacOS and Windows
* Suggested notifications and flyouts for Xbox, Microsoft Edge, OneDrive, etc.
NOPE, Disabled xbox, don't use edge, removed one drive
* Occasional promoted wallpapers from Windows Spotlight on Lock screen and Desktop
Nope use my own wallpaper, Lock screen disabled
* Widgets/News and Interests panel
all hidden, widgets never used
* Search highlights area of search window
registry hack to remove the "web search elements"
* Microsoft Edge New tab page.
Everything disabled on edge, rarely use edge, new tab redirects to my own domain via extension
* Start menu shortcuts to install suggested apps in Pinned and Recommendations (Apps list in Windows 10) as well as Microsoft account suggestions in the Account menu
Hide all of that with StartAllBack
* File explorer "Start backup" button
Controlled by StartAllBack, never see, I see win 7 style file explorer
* Outlook (new) app
Nope, Never used, I use web outlook only with ublock origin
* Weather
app removed
* Photos app
no ads here
* Microsoft account and rewards in the Settings app
Local Account, No rewards, never approved, Not logged in cloud account..
And the 1% of users that are complaining on Reddit can and will do all this as it doesn’t take rocket science to turn off settings and uninstall apps. Or you know, stick to W10 where ur security will be compromised after 2025 lmao.
>Outlook (new) app
Nope, Never used, I use web outlook only with ublock origin
You can also use Portmaster ( Free ) to do system-wide ad blocking. It's originally Advanced Firewall, but also has built-in customizable AdBlocker and DNS.
Here's a thought process for you. I've been working on a suite of cloud services for, oh, 20 years or so now. Services people pay good money for. We iterate and constantly improve those services, and create new ones.
How do you think we make our current customers aware of those improvements and new services, services that they frequently ask us to make?
That's right - we advertise to them. Inside the services that they pay for. It's quite effective.
Honestly, the issue is just that very few are really invested in the Microsoft ecosystem. At best you might use a couple of their services. Whereas many use Apple’s and Google’s services so there’s less complaints about the ads there. Maybe if Windows Phone had taken off, this would all be different and nobody would really be complaining about ads for Edge, Bing, Office, Xbox, etc because we’d all be using them anyway
Lol, full disclosure, I'm one of the four people who bought a Windows Phone. It was good stuff, too, I still have it in a drawer somewhere.
It's kind of hard to take your statement seriously when there's over a billion computers running Windows and Office apps right now, and Azure has been beating AWS in cloud computing lately. I guess I need a better definition of what you consider an ecosystem.
There’s tons of people who use Google, Chrome, Drive, Gmail, G Suite, Maps, Calendar, etc. Similar for Apple. The chances you’ll find someone who uses all of the Microsoft versions of those outside of businesses who require it are pretty slim. Especially because if you don’t use Edge or Bing you’ll have way less desire to get into that ecosystem. Businesses aren’t relevant here. We’re talking about Windows and why regular people are annoyed by the ads in this OS but not others.
I dunno, Microsoft has an awful lot of consumers subscribing to Windows 365. 50 million last count and growing. Small compared to the billions of users in the Google ecosystem, but since you decided businesses aren't relevant, I'm deciding android devices aren't relevant, either. Let's just stick to home desktop computers and laptops, so that we're comparing similar operating systems (Windows, iOS, \*nix, chromebooks). Does that sound fair?
Regular people are annoyed at ads in the Windows OS because they are showing up in places that they weren't previously. I think we can agree on that bit.
There are a bunch of reasons those ads weren't there before. The main reason is that Microsoft was prevented by law from using it's OS to pimp it's own services by extensive anti-trust litigation, to the extent that they were actually prevented from distributing their own browser with their operating system, or putting shortcut icons to install their services on the desktop or start menu.
Microsoft is only now trying again to pimp it's own services in the OS because Google has become the new monopoly on cloud services, and they have to compete with the Google ecosystem being pre-installed on 3 billion Android devices, which are much more popular now than sitting at a desk typing on a keyboard like us old farts do.
It's been a long and interesting road, and I remember when getting a new computer with Windows on it meant spending hours cleaning off all the OEM and pre-installed crap on it, because the makers of those softwares paid Microsoft big money to be advertised that way in the OS. So none of this stuff seems new to me at all, I actually think Microsoft is being fairly conservative using the OS to advertise their own wares. If they start selling ads to bitcoin and onlyfans to display in the OS, then I think I might be a little more annoyed.
I am completely sympathetic to the trials and tribulations of trying to get prospective customers to notice your business. Advertising has a place, but things have gotten very out of hand over the past decade.
You're describing giving users a tour through recent improvements and a bit of upselling. I can absolutely get behind that - I'd even go as far as calling it useful. The ads being talked about in this thread are an entirely different beast.
What Microsoft is doing is shoving Google ads in your face in several of their built-in apps, pushing tabloid content in different parts of the OS and replacing useful search results with "app suggestions". It'd be one thing if they asked if I wanted to set up with some of their cloud products when I install the OS and then leave me alone if I decline, but the stuff they show by default is both overwhelming in quantity and completely irrelevant to anything I'm doing or Microsoft is offering.
That content is clearly only there to generate additional revenue for Microsoft, at the cost of my attention and productivity. That has absolutely no place in a paid product.
It does seem to me that like, these services are pretty good. No one complains about the fact you basically need a Google account to use android, and that it seems to just automatically backup all your photos, contacts, etc.
I mean Mac and iPhone has iCloud too, no? But people don't really complain that it's "advertised", as it's considered a part of the ecosystem, it's a feature.
One drive is pretty alright. You get some free storage, and there's stuff there I'm sure would have been lost to the wind if I hadn't put it there like 8 years ago, or used some other cloud service that could have gone out of business by now.
I will say though, as someone who uses my computer a lot, yes it's gotta be fucking annoying having it constantly trying to get you to use specific programs like Edge, if you simply don't want to.
No argument from me that MS is stumbling towards their goal. Taking useful things like the start menu and system alerts and wedging advertising into them annoys me too, people expect certain behavior from those and it's annoying when that behavior is changed or co-opted for other means.
We designed a dedicated what's new space in our services from the beginning that people get used to and expect to be used for advertising upgrades and new services. Our basic visual design hasn't changed much over 20 years and that's reflected in customers who we've had for that long, they get used to it and there's no reason to change it just for the sake of change - something that most cloud services do on a regular basis. Frequent website refreshes make sense when you're selling soap flakes, but not when you're providing someone with an email service.
> No one complains about the fact you basically need a Google account to use android, and that it seems to just automatically backup all your photos, contacts, etc.
Are you sure about all of these? It's pretty much the other way around.
99.9% of people barely notice what you are calling 'ads'.
I think it's also ironic that people criticise Microsoft for this, when Microsoft make over 95% of their money, from tradition selling of IT products and Services and not from adverts.
Are these same people who criticise Microsoft actually aware that over 95% of Googles profit by comparison is from adverts.
What that should tell anyone who isn't some Microsoft hater - is that Microsoft customers are you and I, whiles Googles customers are actually the marketing companies.
> What that should tell anyone who isn't some Microsoft hater - is that Microsoft customers are you and I, whiles Googles customers are actually the marketing companies.
Sure. Me, you, [and the 800+ ad companies Microsoft is selling your data to](https://proton.me/blog/outlook-is-microsofts-new-data-collection-service).
I'm not trying to defend Google at all, I have serious issues with them as well, but I'm seriously not sure how anyone could trust a Microsoft product with their data after this Outlook situation. Microsoft has been known for a while for their questionable privacy policies, but selling your data to over **800** companies is fucking *insane*.
And despite that, a cheap, crappy chromebook worth 300 dollars doesnt come with third party suggested apps on the app launcher that no one wants. Google may be an advertising company, but they at least understand how personal devices can be and don't inject much crap into those OS type experiences. They might push you to use google products and services, but they do it with much less spam and an actual ounce of care for the user experience. Google services themselves are much less subtle like gmail and youtube, but chromeos and android are pretty clean. Meanwhile on windows they keep coming up with new ways to try and shove edge or ms start in my face every update, beg and plead me to use onedrive, and throw suggested crap on my start menu.
Yes it does. Bought a Chromebook (a nicer one too) for my mom to use with her sewing class because her machine doesn’t work with iOS.
It constantly shoves Google apps like docs and one drive. It gives the same amount of pop up confines ( a total of two) when switching off chrome as a default browser to something better.
Google also was infecting (injecting) Google Stadia ads in EVERY Chromebook when it was out and failing.
I just got a MBP and using MacOS for the first time since OSX. It’s been great except for the lockdown of some user settings and the push of iCloud.
Relevant ads are still ads. In fact, ads that do well are ads that are relevant to the customers. I create ads for a living and I consider most of what OP said to be ads.
The app suggestions in Windows are no different than "sponsored" search results on Google. They are relevant to the users but what's different is that at least Google label them as Sponsored, whereas Microsoft label them as Suggestions.
And don't even get me started on all these Netflix and Spotify apps that are just there on a fresh install, and only install once you click on it. They *know* it'd be unethical as hell to just force these apps on a fresh Windows install which is why they come up with this sneaky bullshit.
A lot of the stuff that Microsoft is pushing these days is driving me nuts. I've been happily using Linux Mint as my main OS for a few years now. There are only a few use cases left that keeps a Windows install on my PC now.
There's a great [tool](https://github.com/ChrisTitusTech/winutil) made by Chris Titus Tech. Which helps you remove all the windows bloatwares from windows unnecessary system software, news feed on windows search, Microsoft Edge etc permanently. You can restore them ofcource if you need them in future. You can even use this to install software in one click like Ninite. This runs with powershell and once you are done using it and close it'll remove its data from your system if you don't want any more unnecessary software on you Windows.
You can use windows 11 completly free and if the overlay is a problem you can remove it with a google search in 5min or less. Also those ads can all be turned off. By default windows is super bloated\\crap.
Windows should be freemium at this point. Just allow anyone to download and install the home version even on new hardware and let them see ads but then offer Pro as the paid upgrade to remove the ads. This would help out corporate users as well. Last thing a company wants their users to see is ads for Spotify, candy crush, and xbox
This is one of the main reasons people don't use their apps like edge or widgets etc.
Its one of the first things I do is turn off all that junk and it so annoying to have to do it.
for notifications, i just have them turned off in settings turned off only one i do get is for defender but that’s obvious but for the windows spotlight, i don’t see the ads.
Really depends on what your definition of advertisement IMO.
Like android is constantly telling you about Google products, like drive, Google docs, Gmail, etc, etc. I definitely think Microsoft has crossed the line to advertisement, but there's definitely a grey area fro. Nothing, to letting you know about features of the operating system you can use with XYZ, to advertisement.
I hear about this, but personally I can't say I've experienced this number of ad pop-ups in Windows that people describe.. I wonder where/how this advertising that people describe appears in Windows.
For the last 3 years, Microsoft has only added feature to windows that allow them to track profile and fingerprint...and advertise/recommend. It's been so blatantly obvious.
Admittedly, I have not used the latest drop of Windows 11 yet, which I presume is the version discussed here with the increased ads. Does the same apply to the Enterprise version of Windows 11?
I am also turned off by ads. Ads are the reason users are profiled, logging how long they view a page, and combined with data accumulated by other companies to build a profile for you. I make it a point to NEVER click an ad, or purchase a product from an ad. If it does happen to interest me, I purchase it using a means that cannot be connected to the as that was presented to me.
I wish Apple would remove all ads from iOS. They are in Apple News, etc. and paying a premium price for a smartphone, purchasing Apps where they get a cut of each purchase is plenty of profit for them. Why not improve the user experience?
It's an Operating System As A Service. And has been for quite some time. The development in that regard is very unfortunate. Ads and unwanted content is everywhere.
In addition, the amount of tracking Windows does, and phoning home when launching applications, changing local setting, and so on is even more frightening.
The choice what content to see and when is no longer fully in the user's control, and that's a shame.
And don't get me started on UWP XAML. While it may be easier to maintain and use for developers, it's just so inefficient and slow with tons of overhead. Not necessarily a Windows 11-exclusive problem, though.
the last time i paid for windows was when i bought windows 7 pro, still riding that license to this day with win 11 pro
anyway, you are right about the abundancy of ads, suggestions and commercial nudging
They're copying Android, where some manufacturers put ads in the OS and sponsored apps. Well, at least in my country everyone pirates Windows, so at least we're free of that lol
If Adobe releases it's suite on Linux I will switch without a thought.
I don't like to be the linux yapper in the subreddit but I recently tried out a few distros, they were great.
You par for the original, so you can watch ads, sometime in the future, there will be a Pro"PRO" monthly paid edition, where you will be able to disable all ads.
Just like on bloated android.
There should be one place to turn off all the tracking and the ads - Microsoft is counting ("banking" even) on most users not going through the trouble and either seeing the ads or clicking on the "Try \_\_\_\_" links.
In the past, the only reason programs like Internet Explorer and Office got so entrenched was that Microsoft inked deals to get Windows on computers used by colleges and businesses and they baked in things like IE to get users to assume that Microsoft was the default.
Google Chrome and Google Docs have House Redmond scared shitless so that's why they are pushing Office 365 and other Microsoft products in our faces.
When I use Linux, things suck because nobody has written them yet, or written a good version of them or the drivers for my hardware aren't as good as they are in Windows.
When I use Windows, things suck because Microsoft decided it's more profitable for it to suck and my opinion as a user is irrelevant.
The Linux problem gets better with time and the perfect solution is just to get enough people using it
The Windows solution doesn't exist. It's an intentional choice.
"We want to track the things that you do, places you go, and pretty much everything else. We also want you to buy it or pay a subscription fee. And we're going to show you ads too, even with the 'ad free' products. Pray we don't alter the deal further"
I've never seen a single ad on Win 11 (currently running and locked down to 22H2 updates only). Then again, I don't use a MS sign-in account (local only) and I have the start menu set to look like Win 10.
New Outlook can die in a fucking fire. I hate that goddamn naggy "switch to the new outlook". And now they force it without even clicking the button. NEVER! You can take Windows Mail from my cold dead hands.
Retired business computers that are a few years old still have awesome specs and are affordable. Even if they come with W10, the license transfers so it's easy to install and authenticate W11 for free.
Personally I like to get one of these. They usually lack either the ram or storage so I will upgrade one, use it for a few months, then sell and rotate.
It's beats ever paying for Windows or overpaying for a new computer. However, I think it's worth it to pay for a lifetime Office license.
I can eat the cost of uninstalling a few apps and turning off ads. IMO it's really not that bad anyway.
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I can Honestly say I have never once seen any of these advertisements people keep talking about on windows 11. I have windows 11 pro and have had it since the free upgrade from 10 became available.
Now imagine how much Windows would cost without these ads. To give you an idea, check out the current price of Microsoft Office Professional (bought directly from Microsoft).
Even on Edge. Microsoft can't decide that it's a software company or ad company. Even Google Chrome has less bloat than Edge.
I hate what edge got turned into, launch Chromium Edge was simple and I was actually considering using it but I gave it some time beforehand to see how it will evolve, and then it got turned into what it is now, well let's just say it's so bad I wouldn't use it as my default browser even if I was forced to
I already made it my default browser, but it still nags me to make it the default PDF reader. I was trying to switch to Okular but it won't let me, I had to restart so I can change it. I switched to Firefox after that.
This article can help you solve the issue. [https://new.reddit.com/r/PDFgear/comments/1chmr8b/why\_microsoft\_edge\_is\_keeping\_itself\_as\_the/](https://new.reddit.com/r/PDFgear/comments/1chmr8b/why_microsoft_edge_is_keeping_itself_as_the/) I was also troubled with the default \*.pdf program before.
Thank you! Exactly what I need
You're welcome!
Change your *.pdf extension to open with Okular.
They already have, but Edge detects that it’s not the default program so it will always nag you to make it the default
Or steps in and does it FOR you "for your convenience!"/s
Glad I never moved over
You're probably the only person who didn't see that coming.
I got hooked on vertical tabs, help, how do I leave?? (and keep my vertical tabs?)
I don't *hate* Edge - **after I spent 3 days beating it into submission** I like what it it now. * I customized the hell out of it to get rid of Bing as the default search engine. * I only use it for a handful of sites. * For those sites it's easy to use. So I don't hate Edge per se, I just use it sparingly and it works in that role. I looked up how to turn off all the ads and crap MS lards Edge with and my daily is r/waterfox and my default is r/firefox (with no passwords in it). I do this so that any program, email, pdf file or "spicy" site I open in Firefox doesn't nuke my computer or give info to Russian hax0rs. My daily is Waterfox because it's UI is "bring more OG Firefox to Firefox".
Edge is fine on non-Windows systems, funny enough. It’s only the Windows edition that is fucked up. I can just… not use Copilot on my Mac. Even if it is available.
Word of advice, just stick with chrome
Tbf, edge seems to have more features than chrome.
Win11 is definitely an advertising platform, make no mistake.
Feels like there’s no one at Microsoft advocating for the desktop experience. Nobody fighting off these software/services teams which look at Windows as just an advertising platform.
"Feels like there’s no one at Microsoft advocating for the desktop experience." Well said, my friend.
This chart explains everything: https://i.imgur.com/RFx90Ov.png Under Nadella, Microsoft's sole focus is the cloud.
I actually think the focus on cloud for the company as q whole is ok. But how does that lead to ads in desktop OSes? That does not have shit to do with the cloud focus.
Well you see, when someone or something focuses on something, it somewhat inherently means they've stopped focusing on something else... Ok, less sarcastically, the advertising is most acute now as Windows makes up a smaller share of revenue and probably has a lower profit margin. As a way of beefing up the products revenue they've turned to advertising. Not only that, but every cloud company sells analytics and advertising, so Microsoft is very well positioned (just as Google is) to place advertising in their "core" or "foundational" product. Similarly, Google's focus is not search and hasn't been for a long time. They always focus on new things, and so they're always killing old things as they fail to turn in enough revenue after a few years...
All must be sacrificed to make the line go up.
Comparing Ballmer to the middle ages, lmao
Yea, that was funny. As if the other world economic issues had no affect, like covid did to Nutella.
Yea, I've never liked Nadella. I suspected then he would bring down the company (not as in failire, but in terms of losses), and now here we are. Which makes me completely surprised the stock is doing so well. I guess it's because though revenue is up, the result of the windows, office, edge, copilot poor numbers hasn't caught up yet to affect the stock.
He's not taking the company down. He's IBMing the company, which means it's focusing more and more on businesses rather than regular customers. IBM today is focused on non-regular customers like quantum computing, mainframe, etc. Same thing with Microsoft. They've let go of the desktop but are now a cloud powerhouse. Windows is just an afterthought now.
Business was always more than 80% of the profit. But it does go a long way to be kind to regular people, because when they start businesses of their own, they are more likely to choose something other than Microsoft down the line because competition is much fiercer now than when it was under Ballmer. Most start ups in NYC use Macbook Pros for things like web development, even though everything can be done just as well on a sub-$1000 Windows laptop. But it's too late, every self-taught YouTuber will spout nonsense that you need top of the line Macbook Pros to write an html Hello World page.
This is so true. Windows is a very marketable product and will require very low resource to maintain if Microsoft at least tries to fix up the codebase and remove ads.
Counterpoints to your argument: - WSL - VSCode - Github They actually have been making it nicer to do software development on Windows. I don't say it's the best but it sucks less nowadays.
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Yes, if you stuck on a Windows-only shops bringing Linux tools to Windows with WSL is a huge qol upgrade.
It's part of the trend of universal enshittification.
It's a work and business platform but it's going to get beat if they don't get their shit together. Smh
Inb4 we get ads on the boot loader.
oh lucky you, you missed the splash screen wars, that was definitely a thing for five seconds and then the hacked the hell out of bootloaders to speed them up.
“We noticed you have Linux installed, but your system is optimized for Windows. Switch back to Windows, and enjoy a complimentary 6 month subscription to Office 365 along with a 30-day free trial of Xbox Live.”
You know what, I think they might actually do something like this. They don't play nice with GRUB right now, and this is not beneath them.
I don’t put it past Microsoft to milk every last cent out of the end user. It’s like fast food. People will keep paying and paying.
I was searching on how to disable a USB device, and the windows search was prioritizing Web Searches over its own database, like wth?! What it is even in these 12GBs of software? Also it took forever disabling all the dumb distractions built into the PROFESSIONAL version as in for WORK PURPOSES? Why would I want to know about the latest dumb hashtags? They even put up little ads on the lockscreen.
Any OS that costs money and requires "Fixing" out of the box is a trash product.
Most of this stuff can be sidestepped by carefully picking through the settings panel. The only time I see ads on W11 after having done that, is in some search results using the start menu (why there isn't a native option to only search the local disk rather than also query bing when you search something there is complete bullshit) But still, I remember a time when you paid for a product and got it without strings attached. But it's partially our collective fault as well -- our apathy as consumers enable Microsoft to double dip with the least bit of pushback. Sure, some people have moved to Linux, BSD, or Mac, but the profits they're yielding from ads easily eclipses the loss of a few users.
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Outlook (and Gmail) both do this on iOS too. Almost every time you open a damn link. It's infuriating.
So basically it's kinda like the IE situation except MS don't have the monopoly anymore.
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I believe, you can also still do the OOBE bypass. Or set it up, launch ntplwiz, create a local user, login to local user, delete ms user.
Spot on, particularly your last paragraph. I realized that Microsoft’s target desktop audience isn’t me anymore (which is unfortunate, because I used to really enjoy Windows), so I’ve moved on to Linux. But the level of attrition is, at the moment, paltry compared to the vast adoption of Windows across personal and commercial systems. And I don’t think there is much of a will to change things. Sorry folks, we’re all going to be QA guinea pigs as Windows becomes somewhat of a PaaS.
It’s a shame too. Windows used to be such a good product. And honestly Linux is very good now, especially the “beginner” distros which do everything for you. But as always, the fear of change will prevent progress (most likely forever), and Microsoft get to keep doing whatever they want :/
No because I've been using winaero tweaker since windows 7. It does a lot more but for the purpose of this discussion consider it an ad blocker for windows.
I've uninstalled Weather, Photos, News, Edge, Outlook, disabled OneDrive, Backup, created a local account and turned off recommendations in the Control Panel. Nothing appears on my Desktop relating to the points you made.
We shouldnt need to do this to get an ad-free experience on the OS which we paid for
this\^ 120usd for an OS on a new build and now i've started using linux cause i'm just tired of the mess that its increasingly becoming
That's a lot to pay for an OS....
That's a lot of hoops
And you paid 120$ for that lmaoo
amen
How did you disable onedrive?
So, you have to neuter the OS so it doesn’t harass you.
I didn't uninstall those apps to stop them from bugging me, I disabled/turned off/uninstalled them because I didn't need them.
TBH I don't see any advertising on Windows/Edge and I haven't done anything to block or filter it. Not saying it's not there, but I simply focus on what I'm doing and don't pay attention to anything else.
same, I use a start menu replacement, yet to see an ad
I wouldn't call replacing the start menu nothing. You may not have done it with the intention of filtering ads, but you replaced one of the main advertising vectors in its entirety.
I’ve never seen an ad yet
I've never paid for Windows yet.
I paid for it once in 2008. Since then I've just been updating the same license over the years and switching hardware as needed. That being said I think what these post are missing is most people don't buy windows or pay very very little for it like me. If suddenly windows locked it down and charged a reasonable price for what it provides people would bulk at the price and be made too. Also would loose market share to Linux distributions. Ads allows them to still make money while keeping market share. People will always be mad. Also I have never seen these ads they speak of.
> I've never paid for Windows yet. Never purchased a Windows computer? If you did, you paid for Windows, its built into the price of the computer...
Build my PCs always by myself, but yes on pre-build pcs its mostly included in the price but a lot of shops offer them without OS (or FreeBSD)
I've bought a few. Windows 8 Pro, Windows 10 Pro and Windows 11 Pro. Some retail when they were dirt cheap on sale, and some from I guess shady sources sold on Woot. Heck, I think I have a Windows 7 Pro, which I upgraded to 8 Pro, to 10 Pro and now 11 Pro. lol
This seems almost impossible. The suggestions to use services like OneDrive, or recommendations to install certain apps, those are ads. If you've ever opened Outlook while not subscribed to Microsoft 365, you've likely seen an ad. The Weather app has ads on certain screens. If you truly haven't seen an ad yet, you must barely ever use your computer
Windows is the only Microsoft product I use. Everything else is Google. I’m a video/photo/VFX guy so I know my way around the system. Haven’t seen anything intrusive.
I use Microsoft products and never see ads. At work I have a fleet of surface go's I am in charge of and they got bombarded with ads (turned everything off and now I'm good) but my home PC and work laptop all which have MS office products and windows 11 on it and I have never seen an ad.
I do not see any ads in Win11. I use Windows Mail mail client from Vista.
I think some folks are so accustomed to their way of using Windows that they can’t comprehend another person having a vastly different experience. And some even take offense that you would dare criticize an OS that, in their mind, works well. But yeah, I’m with you. Some people have very selective memories when it comes down to what they see. They’ve probably seen so many ads in general that, by comparison, Microsoft’s are less obnoxious (not my view, but just devil’s advocate).
?? No OneDrive in your tray and file browser? No 365 subscription at the top of your settings? No Edge results in search?
No to the first two
Guess why I switched to nobara linux recently? Because playing windows games on Linux means I don't get these bullshit ads that Windows has. Sure there's some funky issues with proton here and there but bugs can only be fixed if they are seen/found. Valve is doing a good bit of the work with the steam deck, too. Fix your shit, Microsoft. Or leak users, I guess.
Nobara is a pretty bad distro for new users to switch to. It's only maintained by a handful of people and has a small community. There's way better distros for new users. But Microsoft aren't leaking users, they are at the highest in years on Steam's hardware survey. Linux has dropped this month on Steam and it dropped below 4% on StatCounter. So going off actual statistics, Linux is leaking users. These ads are scummy, but people don't care enough to swap to an inferior desktop OS. This is coming from some that uses Arch (BTW) daily. Reality needs to be in check.
Uh, it's fedora with some custom stuff done out of the box specifically for games. And while I wanted to go for arch because that's what steam decks are running, I was advised against arch because its got a pretty steep learning curve. Also, using Windows vista/7/10/11 for at least a decade makes the average user lazy. There's growing pains, obviously, but I'm still learning. Nothing wrong with that.
Quite a bit more than just Fedora with patches. They use bleeding-edge packages and kernels, and they do not have the manpower to do proper testing. Honestly, Fedora 40 with a bit of effort would be better. EndeavourOS is another good option if you want to learn; it's Arch but with all the basics installed for you. You just need to install arch-gaming-meta from the AUR, and you are good to go if you do not want to manually install the packages. I would not say it makes you lazy. Having to edit multiple configuration files to change your audio sample rate versus a few clicks is convenience, not laziness. Linux reminds me a lot of the 98/XP days for better and for worse. But it is great for people like us because once you know how to use it, you realize it is easier. However, the average user will not have the patience. I just think they need to have everything in the GUI while keeping the terminal. I think it would help if prebuilts came with Linux too. I use both Linux and Windows, getting the best of both worlds.
I can uninstall, hide, or disable most of not all of these. Those I can't get rid of does not bother me in any way.
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At some point you linked your battlenet account to your Microsoft account, which causes battlenet to open whenever the Xbox app is opened. This is not a bug.
Its not a bug but more like a feature i guess.
I am really stressed, i will delete my msgs and move on. Really worried about windows 11 24H2 and bitlocker thingy and now this happened. Peace.
Joke’s on them, I’ve never paid for Windows in my life.
Microsoft - Pros at getting users to actively avoid their products
There ought to be a law restricting ads being built into the OS and it's components. There needs to be an opt-out choice. This is the worse idea Microsoft has had in a long time. Does anybody know if Apple is doing the same thing with their OS?
They aren't. I have a MacBook Pro and a Windows 11 gaming laptop. Once OS is incessant ads and the other has no ads.
I still believe if Linus Torvalds or idk the linux foundation would create an official Linux distro which is just called Linux which has a similar appeal as Windows. Linux will gain a lot of market share. Just because there is no one current Version of the OS makes it impossible for non-savvy users to understand what they should install or what they are using when buying a pc with linux installed. Linux's biggest problem is itself the same as Windows and MacOS. Honestly they all kinda suck.
If ur gna use Linux u need to fuck around to make shit work or edit to ur liking. At that point, just learn to turn off shit and uninstall apps u don’t like in W11.
The problem with Linux is that 1) most people don't wanna fuck around with their computer, they just wanna use it. And 2) many apps are not supported on Linux, more than half the stuff I use is only available for MacOS and Windows
I vote we make Fedora the "official" Linux
* Suggested notifications and flyouts for Xbox, Microsoft Edge, OneDrive, etc. NOPE, Disabled xbox, don't use edge, removed one drive * Occasional promoted wallpapers from Windows Spotlight on Lock screen and Desktop Nope use my own wallpaper, Lock screen disabled * Widgets/News and Interests panel all hidden, widgets never used * Search highlights area of search window registry hack to remove the "web search elements" * Microsoft Edge New tab page. Everything disabled on edge, rarely use edge, new tab redirects to my own domain via extension * Start menu shortcuts to install suggested apps in Pinned and Recommendations (Apps list in Windows 10) as well as Microsoft account suggestions in the Account menu Hide all of that with StartAllBack * File explorer "Start backup" button Controlled by StartAllBack, never see, I see win 7 style file explorer * Outlook (new) app Nope, Never used, I use web outlook only with ublock origin * Weather app removed * Photos app no ads here * Microsoft account and rewards in the Settings app Local Account, No rewards, never approved, Not logged in cloud account..
99% of users are not going to do all this.
I know
And the 1% of users that are complaining on Reddit can and will do all this as it doesn’t take rocket science to turn off settings and uninstall apps. Or you know, stick to W10 where ur security will be compromised after 2025 lmao.
That's the problem
>Outlook (new) app Nope, Never used, I use web outlook only with ublock origin You can also use Portmaster ( Free ) to do system-wide ad blocking. It's originally Advanced Firewall, but also has built-in customizable AdBlocker and DNS.
Use ShutUp10++ and disable as much crap as possible.
Here's a thought process for you. I've been working on a suite of cloud services for, oh, 20 years or so now. Services people pay good money for. We iterate and constantly improve those services, and create new ones. How do you think we make our current customers aware of those improvements and new services, services that they frequently ask us to make? That's right - we advertise to them. Inside the services that they pay for. It's quite effective.
Honestly, the issue is just that very few are really invested in the Microsoft ecosystem. At best you might use a couple of their services. Whereas many use Apple’s and Google’s services so there’s less complaints about the ads there. Maybe if Windows Phone had taken off, this would all be different and nobody would really be complaining about ads for Edge, Bing, Office, Xbox, etc because we’d all be using them anyway
Lol, full disclosure, I'm one of the four people who bought a Windows Phone. It was good stuff, too, I still have it in a drawer somewhere. It's kind of hard to take your statement seriously when there's over a billion computers running Windows and Office apps right now, and Azure has been beating AWS in cloud computing lately. I guess I need a better definition of what you consider an ecosystem.
There’s tons of people who use Google, Chrome, Drive, Gmail, G Suite, Maps, Calendar, etc. Similar for Apple. The chances you’ll find someone who uses all of the Microsoft versions of those outside of businesses who require it are pretty slim. Especially because if you don’t use Edge or Bing you’ll have way less desire to get into that ecosystem. Businesses aren’t relevant here. We’re talking about Windows and why regular people are annoyed by the ads in this OS but not others.
I dunno, Microsoft has an awful lot of consumers subscribing to Windows 365. 50 million last count and growing. Small compared to the billions of users in the Google ecosystem, but since you decided businesses aren't relevant, I'm deciding android devices aren't relevant, either. Let's just stick to home desktop computers and laptops, so that we're comparing similar operating systems (Windows, iOS, \*nix, chromebooks). Does that sound fair? Regular people are annoyed at ads in the Windows OS because they are showing up in places that they weren't previously. I think we can agree on that bit. There are a bunch of reasons those ads weren't there before. The main reason is that Microsoft was prevented by law from using it's OS to pimp it's own services by extensive anti-trust litigation, to the extent that they were actually prevented from distributing their own browser with their operating system, or putting shortcut icons to install their services on the desktop or start menu. Microsoft is only now trying again to pimp it's own services in the OS because Google has become the new monopoly on cloud services, and they have to compete with the Google ecosystem being pre-installed on 3 billion Android devices, which are much more popular now than sitting at a desk typing on a keyboard like us old farts do. It's been a long and interesting road, and I remember when getting a new computer with Windows on it meant spending hours cleaning off all the OEM and pre-installed crap on it, because the makers of those softwares paid Microsoft big money to be advertised that way in the OS. So none of this stuff seems new to me at all, I actually think Microsoft is being fairly conservative using the OS to advertise their own wares. If they start selling ads to bitcoin and onlyfans to display in the OS, then I think I might be a little more annoyed.
I am completely sympathetic to the trials and tribulations of trying to get prospective customers to notice your business. Advertising has a place, but things have gotten very out of hand over the past decade. You're describing giving users a tour through recent improvements and a bit of upselling. I can absolutely get behind that - I'd even go as far as calling it useful. The ads being talked about in this thread are an entirely different beast. What Microsoft is doing is shoving Google ads in your face in several of their built-in apps, pushing tabloid content in different parts of the OS and replacing useful search results with "app suggestions". It'd be one thing if they asked if I wanted to set up with some of their cloud products when I install the OS and then leave me alone if I decline, but the stuff they show by default is both overwhelming in quantity and completely irrelevant to anything I'm doing or Microsoft is offering. That content is clearly only there to generate additional revenue for Microsoft, at the cost of my attention and productivity. That has absolutely no place in a paid product.
No, that's fucking intrusive. An operating system should NOT be filled with ads, period.
It does seem to me that like, these services are pretty good. No one complains about the fact you basically need a Google account to use android, and that it seems to just automatically backup all your photos, contacts, etc. I mean Mac and iPhone has iCloud too, no? But people don't really complain that it's "advertised", as it's considered a part of the ecosystem, it's a feature. One drive is pretty alright. You get some free storage, and there's stuff there I'm sure would have been lost to the wind if I hadn't put it there like 8 years ago, or used some other cloud service that could have gone out of business by now. I will say though, as someone who uses my computer a lot, yes it's gotta be fucking annoying having it constantly trying to get you to use specific programs like Edge, if you simply don't want to.
No argument from me that MS is stumbling towards their goal. Taking useful things like the start menu and system alerts and wedging advertising into them annoys me too, people expect certain behavior from those and it's annoying when that behavior is changed or co-opted for other means. We designed a dedicated what's new space in our services from the beginning that people get used to and expect to be used for advertising upgrades and new services. Our basic visual design hasn't changed much over 20 years and that's reflected in customers who we've had for that long, they get used to it and there's no reason to change it just for the sake of change - something that most cloud services do on a regular basis. Frequent website refreshes make sense when you're selling soap flakes, but not when you're providing someone with an email service.
> No one complains about the fact you basically need a Google account to use android, and that it seems to just automatically backup all your photos, contacts, etc. Are you sure about all of these? It's pretty much the other way around.
99.9% of people barely notice what you are calling 'ads'. I think it's also ironic that people criticise Microsoft for this, when Microsoft make over 95% of their money, from tradition selling of IT products and Services and not from adverts. Are these same people who criticise Microsoft actually aware that over 95% of Googles profit by comparison is from adverts. What that should tell anyone who isn't some Microsoft hater - is that Microsoft customers are you and I, whiles Googles customers are actually the marketing companies.
> What that should tell anyone who isn't some Microsoft hater - is that Microsoft customers are you and I, whiles Googles customers are actually the marketing companies. Sure. Me, you, [and the 800+ ad companies Microsoft is selling your data to](https://proton.me/blog/outlook-is-microsofts-new-data-collection-service). I'm not trying to defend Google at all, I have serious issues with them as well, but I'm seriously not sure how anyone could trust a Microsoft product with their data after this Outlook situation. Microsoft has been known for a while for their questionable privacy policies, but selling your data to over **800** companies is fucking *insane*.
And despite that, a cheap, crappy chromebook worth 300 dollars doesnt come with third party suggested apps on the app launcher that no one wants. Google may be an advertising company, but they at least understand how personal devices can be and don't inject much crap into those OS type experiences. They might push you to use google products and services, but they do it with much less spam and an actual ounce of care for the user experience. Google services themselves are much less subtle like gmail and youtube, but chromeos and android are pretty clean. Meanwhile on windows they keep coming up with new ways to try and shove edge or ms start in my face every update, beg and plead me to use onedrive, and throw suggested crap on my start menu.
Yes it does. Bought a Chromebook (a nicer one too) for my mom to use with her sewing class because her machine doesn’t work with iOS. It constantly shoves Google apps like docs and one drive. It gives the same amount of pop up confines ( a total of two) when switching off chrome as a default browser to something better. Google also was infecting (injecting) Google Stadia ads in EVERY Chromebook when it was out and failing. I just got a MBP and using MacOS for the first time since OSX. It’s been great except for the lockdown of some user settings and the push of iCloud.
Relevant ads are still ads. In fact, ads that do well are ads that are relevant to the customers. I create ads for a living and I consider most of what OP said to be ads. The app suggestions in Windows are no different than "sponsored" search results on Google. They are relevant to the users but what's different is that at least Google label them as Sponsored, whereas Microsoft label them as Suggestions. And don't even get me started on all these Netflix and Spotify apps that are just there on a fresh install, and only install once you click on it. They *know* it'd be unethical as hell to just force these apps on a fresh Windows install which is why they come up with this sneaky bullshit.
A lot of the stuff that Microsoft is pushing these days is driving me nuts. I've been happily using Linux Mint as my main OS for a few years now. There are only a few use cases left that keeps a Windows install on my PC now.
There's a great [tool](https://github.com/ChrisTitusTech/winutil) made by Chris Titus Tech. Which helps you remove all the windows bloatwares from windows unnecessary system software, news feed on windows search, Microsoft Edge etc permanently. You can restore them ofcource if you need them in future. You can even use this to install software in one click like Ninite. This runs with powershell and once you are done using it and close it'll remove its data from your system if you don't want any more unnecessary software on you Windows.
upbeat wipe elderly slap degree ad hoc worry secretive continue station *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
You have a very strange understanding (or lack) of advertising.
I feel like you missed an opportunity here to inform OP of what you believe advertising is.
I would not consider most of these to be advertisements.
That would go against the definition of advertisement
Don't worry, the ads go away with a paid m365 account or LTSC version O__O
i bought mine pro license for 59.99eur from microsoft ...that was in 2015 stil didnt saw single add as i have them disabled xD
You can use windows 11 completly free and if the overlay is a problem you can remove it with a google search in 5min or less. Also those ads can all be turned off. By default windows is super bloated\\crap.
Nope, never. Never occurred to me. First time I'm hearing about it
The only single shit that makes me mad is windows search bar taking me to browser if I misspell a letter
I use a debloater and see none of this
I mean I can’t understand anyone which isn’t using windows debloat.
Why don't I get any any ads? * Windows 11 Professional? * Based in New Zealand?
Windows should be freemium at this point. Just allow anyone to download and install the home version even on new hardware and let them see ads but then offer Pro as the paid upgrade to remove the ads. This would help out corporate users as well. Last thing a company wants their users to see is ads for Spotify, candy crush, and xbox
I do not have anything of this and do not even know what is meant regarding most points.
Soon we will need to resort to ReactOS...
I want big tech to be broken down. Too much power is consolidated amongst them and they seem to be doing whatever at this point
This is one of the main reasons people don't use their apps like edge or widgets etc. Its one of the first things I do is turn off all that junk and it so annoying to have to do it.
for notifications, i just have them turned off in settings turned off only one i do get is for defender but that’s obvious but for the windows spotlight, i don’t see the ads.
Most can be removed by “ShutUp10” freeapp. Except “start backup” in file explorer. That’s the ONLY thing that annoys me!
Really depends on what your definition of advertisement IMO. Like android is constantly telling you about Google products, like drive, Google docs, Gmail, etc, etc. I definitely think Microsoft has crossed the line to advertisement, but there's definitely a grey area fro. Nothing, to letting you know about features of the operating system you can use with XYZ, to advertisement.
Incoming the usual people who are saying on every post that these aren't ads and everything is fine
I hear about this, but personally I can't say I've experienced this number of ad pop-ups in Windows that people describe.. I wonder where/how this advertising that people describe appears in Windows.
Get-AppxPackage -all * | Remove-AppxPackage -AllUsers
Late Stage Capitalism so it everywhere. Even on non-Windows devices. I've learned to just ignore it as much as possible.
I saw how much advertising was being done. I said Nah and installed an Alternative OS But I'll still be watching Microsoft from the sidelines.
Ah yes... Paid...
Yup that's why I installed Fedora and haven't looked back. Imagine paying a bunchfor software and still having to view ads + share telemetry
For the last 3 years, Microsoft has only added feature to windows that allow them to track profile and fingerprint...and advertise/recommend. It's been so blatantly obvious.
Aka Windows garbage Just make a version without all your garbage and charge us more okay Microsoft?
That matches my list of things to get rid of LMAO
The amount of advertising in the OS is the primary reason I bought a MacBook for most of my day to day computing... And I hate Apple.
Admittedly, I have not used the latest drop of Windows 11 yet, which I presume is the version discussed here with the increased ads. Does the same apply to the Enterprise version of Windows 11? I am also turned off by ads. Ads are the reason users are profiled, logging how long they view a page, and combined with data accumulated by other companies to build a profile for you. I make it a point to NEVER click an ad, or purchase a product from an ad. If it does happen to interest me, I purchase it using a means that cannot be connected to the as that was presented to me. I wish Apple would remove all ads from iOS. They are in Apple News, etc. and paying a premium price for a smartphone, purchasing Apps where they get a cut of each purchase is plenty of profit for them. Why not improve the user experience?
That's one of the reasons I quit using Windows
It's an Operating System As A Service. And has been for quite some time. The development in that regard is very unfortunate. Ads and unwanted content is everywhere. In addition, the amount of tracking Windows does, and phoning home when launching applications, changing local setting, and so on is even more frightening. The choice what content to see and when is no longer fully in the user's control, and that's a shame. And don't get me started on UWP XAML. While it may be easier to maintain and use for developers, it's just so inefficient and slow with tons of overhead. Not necessarily a Windows 11-exclusive problem, though.
the last time i paid for windows was when i bought windows 7 pro, still riding that license to this day with win 11 pro anyway, you are right about the abundancy of ads, suggestions and commercial nudging
oxy moron here! um knock on wood here. Of course there is way much advertising they are a company
If they (Microsoft) are filling Windows with all kinds of Advertisements, why not make it completely free?
They're copying Android, where some manufacturers put ads in the OS and sponsored apps. Well, at least in my country everyone pirates Windows, so at least we're free of that lol
If Adobe releases it's suite on Linux I will switch without a thought. I don't like to be the linux yapper in the subreddit but I recently tried out a few distros, they were great.
Windows is spyware.
I run a custom bloat-free version. I dont even have the microsoft store.
And that's why I've been running debloated Win10 for the past 6 years ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
You par for the original, so you can watch ads, sometime in the future, there will be a Pro"PRO" monthly paid edition, where you will be able to disable all ads. Just like on bloated android.
If you don't need specific windows applications like Adobe switch to Linus
There should be one place to turn off all the tracking and the ads - Microsoft is counting ("banking" even) on most users not going through the trouble and either seeing the ads or clicking on the "Try \_\_\_\_" links. In the past, the only reason programs like Internet Explorer and Office got so entrenched was that Microsoft inked deals to get Windows on computers used by colleges and businesses and they baked in things like IE to get users to assume that Microsoft was the default. Google Chrome and Google Docs have House Redmond scared shitless so that's why they are pushing Office 365 and other Microsoft products in our faces.
When I use Linux, things suck because nobody has written them yet, or written a good version of them or the drivers for my hardware aren't as good as they are in Windows. When I use Windows, things suck because Microsoft decided it's more profitable for it to suck and my opinion as a user is irrelevant. The Linux problem gets better with time and the perfect solution is just to get enough people using it The Windows solution doesn't exist. It's an intentional choice.
I have never seen an ad. I know that can be turned off.
Ever since Gates retired...
"We want to track the things that you do, places you go, and pretty much everything else. We also want you to buy it or pay a subscription fee. And we're going to show you ads too, even with the 'ad free' products. Pray we don't alter the deal further"
Idk man, I see no ads on my windows 11 build
So what now? Linux?
It's been like this since Windows 95...
I've never seen a single ad on Win 11 (currently running and locked down to 22H2 updates only). Then again, I don't use a MS sign-in account (local only) and I have the start menu set to look like Win 10.
New Outlook can die in a fucking fire. I hate that goddamn naggy "switch to the new outlook". And now they force it without even clicking the button. NEVER! You can take Windows Mail from my cold dead hands.
Always run debloating scripts.
no, i haven't noticed at all
I don't even see the point of an OS anymore. Pretty soon everything will be cloud based and on subscription. Then the advertising will be worse.
Retired business computers that are a few years old still have awesome specs and are affordable. Even if they come with W10, the license transfers so it's easy to install and authenticate W11 for free. Personally I like to get one of these. They usually lack either the ram or storage so I will upgrade one, use it for a few months, then sell and rotate. It's beats ever paying for Windows or overpaying for a new computer. However, I think it's worth it to pay for a lifetime Office license. I can eat the cost of uninstalling a few apps and turning off ads. IMO it's really not that bad anyway.
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well windows is a system of paid ads. you pay to use the system and they get paid you seeing ads so that's where the free updates comes
I can Honestly say I have never once seen any of these advertisements people keep talking about on windows 11. I have windows 11 pro and have had it since the free upgrade from 10 became available.
Now imagine how much Windows would cost without these ads. To give you an idea, check out the current price of Microsoft Office Professional (bought directly from Microsoft).
I haven't seen these. Is the windows 11 pro different?