I installed Windows 10 in a virtual machine...man, this is straight up dystopian.

https://lemmy.ml/pictrs/image/be22ba36-0ad7-4d26-91d0-46ee2a934846.png

https://lemmy.ml/pictrs/image/a98d3eca-7493-475a-bf8b-6be96d0e90e6.png

The tips, ads, and recommendations you see will be more generic and may be less relevant to you.

And this is treated as a bad thing?!

The number of ads you see won’t change, but they may be less relevant to you.

Send only info about your device, its settings and capabilities, and whether it is performing properly.

In other words, even after turning off all the settings, your data still gets collected.

The rest of the installation process wasn’t fun either. It was worded in this weird, condescending tone, like “Let’s get everything set up for you”, and “Let Cortana help you get things done!”.

Thank goodness for FLOSS and GNU/Linux.

Schurke,
@Schurke@nrw.social avatar

@TheImpressiveX i found looking glass recently and will definetly try it out, but as I understand this kvm method needs a second GPU for passthrough to Linux.

fredbrooker,
@fredbrooker@witter.cz avatar

@TheImpressiveX I have W11 cracked in VBox

Warjac,

Yeah sadly as a gamer I HAVE to put up with Windows. But Next time I build a machine I’m definitely dedicating a whole drive to a linux OS because fuck Windows and their petty marketing shit.

mynamesnotrick, (edited )

I made the jump back last fall. I’ve ran into one game so far I couldn’t play and that was just because of it’s anticheat software (the game was “hell let loose”). Check out Pop!_os. The GPU drivers are preinstalled in the kernel and just work. For both Nvidia and AMD. Steams proton and lutris/wine have made everything easy to play. Never going back to windows now.

Hawk,

Have to? Been playing on Linux for years, haven’t had many issues so far.

Dublin112,

There are unfortunately still too many games that my friends and I play that won’t work on Linux. In my own situation, I’d be alienating myself from my friends from switching over even though I really want to. Not to mention I built my PC with a Nvida card which all I hear is that it either works perfectly for you, or you better buy an AMD card so there are still some valid reasons for people not to switch. Once windows 11 is forced upon me is when I’ll cut my losses though. Glad to hear that it’s a good enough experience for you though!

hackris,

I have to agree. I used to play Rainbow 6 with my friends. I enjoyed it, because I was addicted to gaming and they were the only friends I had. After I switched to Linux, I couldn’t play R6 online, which led to them… well… not being friends with me anymore. I’m glad I got out, because if the only thing keeping them being friends with me were the all-nighters of Rainbow, there was no friendship to speak of (I knew these people offline, not just online). After this I eventually stopped gaming completely, not because of a few very minor compatibility issues, but because I realised how much time I was wasting gaming.

So essentially, not only did Linux help me get back control of my computing, but it also completely eradicated my gaming addiction and helped realise what functioning relationships look like, since I even started socialising more. An absolute bargain!

_cyb3rfunk_,

Personally I treat my windows pc as a gaming console. I play games on it and nothing else. Then it becomes a non issue: so what if they track my gaming activity?

trippingonthewire,

You should get a Steam Deck, I want one as it seems pretty awesome. It runs Linux and you can sail the seven seas like crazy on there, yk?

Honestly, I haven’t played games in a while but in the future, when I feel like gaming again, the Steam Deck will likely be my thing.

trippingonthewire,

The year is 2050

Booting up Windows84

Hello, your NSA overseer is Mr. X

It appears that you have committed 147 thought crimes this week…your accounts shall be ghosted for the time being.

baritone_edge,

deleted_by_author

    •
    AzzyDev,

    I don’t think so, but this sounds like a super interesting idea. I might try this later!

    baritone_edge,

    deleted_by_author

    •
    AzzyDev,

    I’ve been super busy as of recent, but I’ll try to remember to reply to you if/when I do :)

    Dave,
    @Dave@lemmy.nz avatar

    In the past I’ve heard of power shell scripts you can run to actually disable or uninstall stuff. I wouldn’t trust these toggles to do much at all.

    Aux,

    Oh, the people who don’t use enterprise editions of Windows…

    Blue_Morpho,

    I’d buy it IF THEY WOULD SELL IT TO ME!

    The best legal version of Windows I have figured out that you can actually buy as a regular consumer is Windows Server Essentials 2022. (maybe they’re up to 2024 now?)

    Server Essentials is regular Windows 10 GUI with absolutely no spyware, OneDrive, or pre installed ads hiding as shortcuts. It doesn’t even require a TPM. The only nonsense that comes pre installed is Edge.

    Updates are for 10 years minimum and they only install when you tell them to.

    nikscha,

    500$ for a Windows license just to have it not have bloat preinstalled? Hmm pass XD

    Blue_Morpho, (edited )

    It was $300. It’s Server Essentials, not the full Server. Server Essentials doesn’t have network controller or unlimited Windows VM licenses.

    lud,

    Windows server obviously isn’t intended for consumers so no, it’s not cheap. The pricing for Windows Server datacenter is extremely high at 6 155 USD

    Blue_Morpho,

    Windows Server Essentials is $300. It is a cut down version of server. It’s pretty much regular Windows that includes an extra Windows license for an extra VM. If for some reason you needed to run two copies of Windows legally, that brings the cost down to $150 per VM.

    lud,

    Yes I know what essentials edition is. I just wanted to point out that datacenter edition is very expensive because it’s funny.

    Btw, essentials is actually 500 USD and standard is 1070 USD

    www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/pricing

    Blue_Morpho,

    The price on the MS website isn’t the price you can buy it in stores. For example MS lists Windows 11 as $139 when it’s $119 at Newegg.

    I bought Sever Essentials from Lenovo for $285.

    lud, (edited )

    Yeah, the price is lower if you buy the OEM versions.

    I personally believe the msrp to be the actual price though.

    Aux,

    Buying Windows? What kind of lunacy is that?

    Blue_Morpho,

    I’ve been running so long with “Activate Windows” in the lower right corner on one of my computers that I don’t even notice it anymore.

    But for other PC’s, as a rule, I don’t pirate executables because of the virus risk.

    Scolding0513,

    I remember installing Windows XP. sigh.

    rolling_resistance,

    I was lucky if everything worked. Usually it had troubles with peripherals, network, or even the USB drive it was on. But none (?) of this crap.

    Scolding0513,

    fair. i used Windows 2000 a crapton, and I think 2000 was the king of true Plug N Play. that bitch would take ANYTHING. hell, even these days I’ll stick modern Kingston USB 3.0 drives into it, just to see if it works, and it won’t even bat an eye 🤣

    Fluke,

    I had one of the 23 machines in the world that ran Windows ME flawlessly. :(

    InternetUser2012,

    Hey now, mine ran it flawlessly after three days of tinkering and then rebooting twice a day afterwards.

    oo1, (edited )

    Yes I was doing similar a few weeks ago. I was investigating how to get netflix app running on linux, tried a Windows VM, basically stopped at roughly this screen due to bile reaching my mouth.

    Ended up installing Zen kernel, switching to KDE(Wayland) and using Waydroid. Far easier than having to read those words or figure out what you actually have to do. I’d assume you have to regularly regedit often to keep this shit under control.

    On the wierd condescending tone I also noticed a few years ago at work (compulsory MS) the MS programs started being very rude and overstepping the boundaries of informality: “Want to save this file?” “Fuck you excel, you can’t talk to me like that. You think I’d ever be friendly with someone who so wantonly fucks up my data types?”

    They must think stockholm syndrome has spread to most of the user base.

    _cyb3rfunk_, (edited )

    I’m confused. What is rude about “Want to save this file”? What would be the non rude way of asking it?(English is not my first language)

    oo1,

    A complete sentence like that would nornally have a “subject” - in this case it should refer to me in the “second person” by using “you”. Failing to refer to me as the subject makes the sentence incomplete and seem informal. The sentence literally does not respect me.

    Such informality would usually only be used in conversation with a friend or acquaintance. It’s jarring to me to see that in written English, especialy coming from a computer.

    A more formal and complete sentence would be: “Do you want to save this file?” That’s formal and not rude, but if you want to be more polite you’d say : “Would you like to save this file?”

    I can’t really explain why “Would you like . . .?” is more polite than “Do you want . . . ?”, it just is in my experience. Perhaps that’s not globally true though many might disagree.

    FYI since you’re asking about English, “no rude” would normally be written as “non-rude” or you can just use the opposite word “polite”.

    mynamesnotrick, (edited )

    As soon as you start running a pihole on your home network it makes really stop and think and want to eradicate all unnecessary data tracking. Windows was so chatty. Science only knows how much of a consumer profile they create and sell on you for just wanting to use a computer.

    Additionally… Smart TV’s are the absolute worst too.

    Boozilla,
    @Boozilla@lemmy.ml avatar

    Amazon Kindle, too. If there’s a pihole, it freaks out and starts retrying the mothership in a loop until it drains the damned battery. Airplane Mode quiets this, but I hate how aggressive these devices have become.

    krnl386,
    @krnl386@lemmy.ca avatar

    What happens if you redirect all traffic to a sinkhole, rather than to 127.0.0.1? Do the devices still freak out when they talk to a web server which returns a 404? Just morbidly curious…

    cygon, (edited )

    I love the “Let’s finish setting up your device” popup that prevents me from using my VMs regularly.

    The “Let’s finish settings up your device” popup of Windows 10, acting as if you forgot to let Microsoft scan your face, tell them about your phone, buy an office subscription, store your data on Microsoft servers and start using Microsoft’s browser.

    Like some condescending peddler trying to slam-dunk your agreement as a foregone conclusion.

    Come on, buddy, let’s do those remaining tasks, let’s have Microsoft scan your face, tell Microsoft about your phone, let’s go and install those Microsoft apps missing from your phone, and your laptop, too, and then we go buy that Office subscription and have you store your important files on Microsoft’s servers and we really need to get around to switching to Microsoft’s web browser now.

    And the only option you get is “Yes” or “Remind me later.”

    If you turn it off (and it needs to be turned off in two places), it’ll be back on as soon as Microsoft publishes the tiniest update to any of its unwanted services. Harrghrrr! (artery popping noises)

    only0218, (edited )

    Turn off “Offer Tips and Tricks to finish setting up this device” ( At least for me that was permanent. Otherwise you might use something like O&O shut up 10, also the setting is per user )

    cygon,

    Yes, I do that on all my VMs about every 3-5 weeks when it turns itself on again.

    Boozilla,
    @Boozilla@lemmy.ml avatar

    ShutUp10 is the GOAT.

    YoorWeb,

    Not to mention being forced to create a MS account if you’re online.

    possiblylinux127,

    Not on Win10 and you can get around it on Win11

    stratosfear,

    With win10 you should be able to click the small text to get a local account but yeah I think with newer win11 installers you have to be off the internet for a local account. And then when you do log in with your MS account to save your license (important when using a Win7 OEM key to license win10) it would convert your profile to online, and then you had to “do steps” to put it back to local. Annoying af

    Davel23,

    When installing Windows 11, say you want to log in with your Microsoft account, then when it asks for email address and password enter a@a.com and any random password. It will say the account has been deactivated and let you create a local account. No need to be offline.

    execia,

    You can enter any random email and password, there’s no need to type any specific one. Or you could add the registry key that prevents the requirement.

    Grass,

    I still don’t get why people keep defending it. Win+e doesn’t even open to a panel that lets me open the c drive without clicking other shit and waiting for it to appear first. An update also just put the search bar back on the task bar when I explicitly disabled it as soon as I got through the bad default options for days during the install. It also added copilot. Auto update is also supposed to be disabled.

    While I’m at it fuck every dev that uses libraries/framework/etc that is known to not work in wine. There are thousands of better ways to be a shitty dev.

    InputZero,

    The only reason I don’t completely despise Windows is because it, along with Mac OS, has made computing available for the masses. The average person doesn’t have the time to learn how to use a computer. They just want to use it. That in my subjective opinion is a good thing. A very strong, and valid argument could be made that it’s a faustian bargain, probably because it is.

    PirateMike94,

    Yeah. I’ve been wanting to adopt Linux as a daily driver, but unfortunately there are programs that simply aren’t made for anything other than Windows/Mac. I seriously do hope programmers start investing more in software for Linux so that I can make the switch permanently.

    Lemongrab,

    See if the software is compatible with Wine, a compatiblity layer for Windows software to run on Linux.

    index,

    I still don’t get why people keep defending it.

    With microsoft being the most valuated company in the world rest assured that many of the people defending their products are getting paid to do it.

    InternetUser2012,

    PR team hard at work.

    rekabis,

    Win+e doesn’t even open to a panel that lets me open the c drive without clicking other shit and waiting for it to appear first.

    I have been seriously considering creating a “graphical registry editor” that would be feature-focused and could be both portable (for one-off application) and installable (for constant on-login resetting of any changed preferences). Just open it up, browse the offerings, select the feature mods you want, apply and restart.

    There is a lot of File Explorer shit that you can do to mod it back to WinXP days. Had to do this to a Win11 install for my Octogenarian father who has become very intolerant of unexpected changes, and while it needs regular maintenance to “keep”, it has worked out well for him.

    Grass,

    That would be pretty handy especially if it could reapply each update. The lock screen merely existing is another. I want my first keypress to be the first letter of my password, not sliding up a screen that serves no purpose and is a pain even on phones. Really there are so many small things they did over the years to make a genuinely worse experience that I can’t even list them all. This week’s unapproved update after a few without windows running even once made edge the default browser again. First boot after windows hiatus initiating update reboot loop immediately without even logging in is also concerning.

    LoveSausage, (edited )

    I had a need for one piece of corporate windows program once. Installed Windows AME , only way to really get rid of all crap. All the debloating software and scripts get easily reversed by windows otherwise.

    TheAnonymouseJoker,
    @TheAnonymouseJoker@lemmy.ml avatar

    Or you could have tried Windows 10 AME. It has none of this stuff.

    OSes are tools. You should not care. Use the one best for a particular job.

    aniki,

    Lolno

    TheAnonymouseJoker,
    @TheAnonymouseJoker@lemmy.ml avatar

    Lol

    Explain to me how this is a valid reason or argument. This looks to me like circlejerking, a primitive internet behaviour.

    This is not reddit or 4chan.

    aniki,

    cope

    NostraDavid,
    @NostraDavid@programming.dev avatar

    That reminded me of TinyXP - a modified version of Windows XP to be like some 100MB install, instead of the typical 2GB of default bloat.

    Good shit.

    TheAnonymouseJoker,
    @TheAnonymouseJoker@lemmy.ml avatar

    nLite, eXPerience, WinPE days were old. AME is not built like that. It is debloated and stripped of components that results in same thing as the custom ISO builds of yesteryear though.

    NostraDavid,
    @NostraDavid@programming.dev avatar

    Ooooh, there’s also nLite, if you wanted to make a custom version for yourself!

    Those were fun times!

    only0218,

    Oh and that seems to be ltsc or an older win 10 build too! If you want the creeps get a normal win 11 home iso and try it out with a burner account… You might be surprised what they got in charge for you. (A lot of ads and tracking with up selling, tho I don’t know how much Home edition costs, pro costs like 130€ or so and has the same crap built in but the ability to make an offline account(they still ask you to “upgrade” to online))

    Pantherina,

    No the offline account trick still works.

    TexMexBazooka, (edited )

    You have to use CLI to get around it, I don’t consider that functional for the average user

    rekabis,

    Or you just use Rufus to create your USB installer. It provides the ability to add that option to the installer just before the burning process. Mouse clicks only, no CLI needed.

    Pantherina,

    No for sure thats criminal, but its possible. Rufus makes it easy with a single click to bypass it. But when not using that silly media creation tool Windows may not boot on Thinkpads etc.

    Thinkpads with Windows are a joke, they are basically nonfunctional without all these lenovo drivers for anything.

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