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7373737373

So how can we remove this and other Microsoft spyware from our systems?

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"Debian GNU/Linux Installation Guide"

https://www.debian.org/releases/bookworm/amd64/index.en.html

"Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman"

https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/fsfs/rms-essays.pdf

Use a different OS.

You can try to disable each new instance but it will keep coming. These "features" will get harder to disable as time goes on.

Microsoft's goal is to make as much money as possible. Your data is worth money. They will attempt to make use of that. Will this harm Windows use long-term? Likely. But it definitely makes money in the short term.

You can start by switching to Firefox (https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/browsers/). It's a perfectly fine browser, good extensions.

If a browser user is concerned about privacy, I don't see how Firefox is really all that much better of an option.

Read the Firefox Privacy Notice, for example: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/privacy/firefox/

It sounds to me like Firefox can collect and send out a lot of information beyond what is necessary for user-initiated browsing actions to be performed.

There are also numerous references to sharing information/data with "partners".

Maybe that data collection, transmission, and sharing can be disabled easier than in other browsers. A browser that truly respected user privacy, however, just wouldn't include such functionality to begin with.

If I gotta pick a leaky bucket, I am going to pick one with a smaller hole.

I was getting sick of Window’s bloat and telemetry so I replaced Windows on every single one of my computers with PopOS! and have never looked back. The transition was rough ( I basically gave up gaming to learn programming) but I have no regrets, and this post just validates that decision. Micro$ cannot and should not ever be trusted.

I do miss Paint.NET though.

Have you tried running Paint.NET under WINE?

I did actually, but it gave a massive amount of errors so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ it seems like I don’t miss it that much.

I still use Windows 7 + Firefox + third-party personal firewall (to control network activity on per-process level). Despite FUD from Microsoft trolls, I have not had any malware in the last 10 years.

If the last two versions of their OS are crap, then it makes sense to consider previous versions IMO.

I deleted the Edge folders from C:\Program Files (x86)\ and moved on a while ago. Didn’t seem to break anything I care about. No longer worth chasing down the settings to disable the harmful behavior.

Avoid the whole OS entirely.

If you need Windows, like I do for multiplayer games' anticheat, Windows LTSC is an option. It has much less bloat (no Microsoft Store, Camera, Cortana, OneNote, GameBar, ...), but you still get the Windows platform.

But of course, you are either in or out, and unless you're completely out, you're in. As long as there's MS stuff on the PC and it's connected to the internet, some bullshit will surely seep in.

Linux

You can't (assuming you want to keep Windows), or if you can it makes the OS unusable. There are plenty of custom 'builds' on the net of Windows 10, 11, etc.

Microsoft will continue down this path until it becomes unprofitable.

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