Windows 10 will start nagging you to switch from local account to MS Account
neowin.net
neowin.net
Every time I have to touch Windows, it seems there's some new, shiny, irritating thing I have to dismiss. I want my operating systems to run things I tell them to, not try to drag me into their clicktrap ecosystem, or randomly reinstall "free to play" games, etc.
I'm aware I can disable this stuff, but I shouldn't have to. And it's annoyed me enough over the years that I no longer run Windows on the iron on anything - even games are "decent enough" under Linux now.
"Thanks to the GDPR, users in Europe who download the Outlook for Windows app, will be greeted with a modal pop-up dialog that displays a user agreement and requires its users to consent. The breathtaking aspect of this is that the dialog starts right out stating: “We and 772 third parties process data to: store and/or access information on your device, develop and improve products, personalize ads and content, measure ads and content, derive audience insights, obtain precise geolocation data, and identify users through device scanning.”
https://borncity.com/win/2024/01/18/new-outlook-app-monitori....
But 772? For an email client? No, sorry, my email behavior is not that many people's business.
Thanks, GDPR, and the law of unintended consequences!
I was shocked just how many things work well with Steam on Linux (Ubuntu LTS is what I run). I'm not a big fan of the "aggressively online, kernel anti-cheat" stuff, which I consider malware in a shiny package, but I've been surprised by just how well stuff works, either natively (more than I'd have expected), or with Proton.
In the end if I was playing a game alone I'd hack on it for days just to get it working so I can enjoy it on linux (hacking away at the game specifically not the linux install like needed for VR). But when I want to play a game with friends spending days (or even hours) isn't an option since they'll be onto something else by then.
I definitely get just keeping windows around. I'm lucky enough that things usually have Just Worked, and I don't use VR.
Being able to just play a game is worth a lot.
Edit: As mentioned by Cieric below.
I really wish a Windows Product Manager could comment here and explain why the hell they keep doing this shit despite the user not wanting any of it. I know they won't. They're ashamed of what they are doing, and/or hide behind some "do not post online" corporate policy.
Why can't operating systems just stay out of the user's way? Go schedule the CPU, manage the filesystem and network peripherals, and stop with the user behavior modification experiments.
I just switched back to Thunderbird (which I haven't used since the 00s) instead. It's still ugly, but it isn't getting in my way.
Default choice of fonts, mishmash of visual styles from across decades of development in the various widgets, non-native/non-pixel-aligned font rendering, context menus that relegate the most common actions to submenus while elevating actions that you're not going to use as much, alignment issues abound, use of modal dialogs for things that are taking place in the background and should be progress bar widgets instead, dialogs that need focus being placed under dialogs that can't be used until the backgrounded dialog is interacted with, etc.
In other words, it's a desktop app, through and through.
If you're used to stuff that's mobile-first, it's a rather jarring change - I can see how one would consider it ugly. I happen to find it "dense, usable, and does the job fine." I wouldn't call it pretty, but neither do I mind a utilitarian interface to do things like "read my mail."
It's pay once and it comes with a free version if you just wanna give it shot, the only bad thing for me was how annoying the website was with dark patterns trying to push sales, the software itself is great.
Regards
Michal Burger eM Client CEO
So until Apple lowers prices on their computers to compete with the cheapest (never), Microsoft can treat their customers however they please.
I'd like for Linux to be an option for desktop computing, but it is not and will never be. Non-enthusiasts are not able to troubleshoot problems in Linux.
Fair, but that does not really reflect the HN crowd. That said, at the rate MS is going, ChromeOS is looking like the better deal, and, surprisingly, it has less nagging/ads than Windows does!
I'm sure if you have a problem from a piece of software running on Linux that is supported by a vendor and asked for help, you would get it.
It's not that simple.
* You can disable some of that stuff, but not all
* Some of your preferences will be reset with the next update
* Some of your preferences will be reset at random
* Some new stuff will be introduced and you will need to disable it individually
* As for some stuff, you will never know unless someone smart figures out something grey is going on under the hood, publishes their research, this research reaches you, and you decide to act on it
More recently, I decided to try moving back to Linux as a primary desktop environment after getting frustrated and annoyed by the various dark patterns in Windows, and I was shocked to find how much better the gaming landscape looks now thanks to Steam and Proton. I’ve successfully gone all in on Linux again and hope to never use windows outside of an occasional virtual machine when I have no other choice.
Depending on your reasons for keeping windows around, it’s worth taking a look at the Linux desktop again. It’s exciting and gratifying to find it so extremely functional after many years of frustration and living on the bleeding edge of something that wasn’t ready for the mainstream at the time.
I’m using an Nvidia RTX 3000 series with 1st party drivers and Firefox for my browser.
Besides actually playing the games, I use Photoshop to make skins for my cars when simracing.
There are several options online now, that implement almost all the features from Photoshop that I use.
I have used Photopea, and while it runs slower than native Photoshop, I am genuinely surprised about how good it is, and how feature complete it is. I recommend Photopea over Gimp ten times out of ten.
There are others like Pixlr I have yet to test, but now I am convinced graphic edition can be done without Photoshop.
With that said, I’ve been experimenting with various RAW processing tools on Linux because I’d love to eventually move to Asahi. I do think this remains one of the weakest areas on Linux, but the tools keep getting better. Good to know about Photopea vs. Gimp. I definitely need to try this.
1. Two apps: I use OneNote daily for work and personal notetaking, use the OneNote app on my iPhone, and have shared notebooks with several (non-technically minded) family members. There is no other free (or even paid) comparable software that does all of this. Sadly, the best you can do on Linux is use it through the clumsy web interface. And then, Autodesk Fusion360 for my dabbling in 3d printing, also without native Linux support.
2. Very basic things like mouse scroll wheel and mouse pointer acceleration are at best somewhat "off" or at worst impossible to tweak, depending on which which display protocol / linux flavor you're using. Every time I rathole on it, I end up at the same place: some spat between libinput and Wayland. I don't care about who does it, I just want it to work.
I could probably get by with a windows VM or other alternatives for the unsupported applications. So then it's a wash between Windows enshittification and Linux rough edges. I suppose within a few years as the enshittification continues worsening while the rough edges get fixed, it becomes an easier decision.
I thought I would feel this way as well, but I came to the realization that, ultimately, my productivity is still better with Linux. And, well, I feel a little better knowing that I'm no longer subjected to Microsoft's monetarily-derived whims.
Regarding OneNote, the P3X project is worth checking out [1].
Regarding cursor acceleration, I’ve stopped trying to use Wayland and generally find that X11 is pretty rock solid. Many distros now focus on aesthetic optimizations, and coupled with ChatGPT as a configuration assistant, I haven’t gotten stuck on issues like this.
- [0] https://github.com/cryinkfly/Autodesk-Fusion-360-for-Linux
I am quite surprised at how easy it is to run modern titles like Helldivers on Linux. Hate to sound like a cliche but I think the era of desktop Linux is truly here. If you are a Windows user, the shift to KDE is a very small pill to swallow.
In the start menu it shows a yellow "!" over my profile icon and if I click that it informs me that I should sign into a Microsoft account.
I'm able to dismiss it, but then it reappears a couple of weeks later.
(It was also originally a Windows 7 Pro license that I've moved through 4 different versions of Windows)
slmgr /upk
slmgr /cpky
I recently had to turn on my old PC and even though it's unlicensed it still works is if it was "Pro" licensed.
fallout 4 , was opening in window mode only, and no matter what we did it refused to read the setting to open full screen, also the game was not saving anything
he kept searching online, until he found someone suggesting to use a local account, and bingo, it fixed everything
i am not sure exactly why , but it seem it has to do with your home directory going through onedrive if you use an ms account , and this messed up the game ability to read settings and save progress
(Yes, in the past I'd restart games to switch modes. No, I did not know better.)
Always remember those keyboard shortcuts! They will save you when weird stuff happens.
With regards to OneDrive - just remove it and things work better. On older Win10 releases you have to manually remove it (shell extension and everything) but Win11 and latest Win10 you can just uninstall it from what I have seen.
Other two cents; when installing Windows, to skip Microsoft account creation / setting up ann internet connection, use shift-f10 to open a terminal and in the command window use the command oobe\BypassNRO.
For anyone looking to switch to Linux (especially people who play games or make video content), Nobara[1] is the best desktop distro I’ve used by far — it’s the one I used most recently and it’s the only one I actually wanted to stick with. I’ve tried a bunch of different distros but this is the only one where I truly felt like “it’s the year of the Linux desktop”. I didn’t need to use the terminal at all, or manually set up drivers, or custom kernels, or edit config files, or anything. It just works out of the box and I install stuff with the built in app store. The only things that didn’t work were all caused by some company being stubborn (games not enabling the Linux support that comes with their anticheat, Nvidia not adding some features to their driver related to screen capture)
I don't care which party, i don't care which power position.
I just want to prosecute and harm Microsoft and other companies adopting this kind of predatory and abusive behaviors.
I've got news for you, part of this is not the case . . .
It's gotten to the point where I am afraid to type in my actual Microsoft account anywhere near my Windows PC, lest it decides to spring the trap and say "AHA GOT IT! Now you're logging in with your Microsoft account now and forever! Muahahahahahah!" I won't even speak it aloud, in case Windows has the microphone on listening for it. I'm only half joking.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/whats-new/ltsc/ove...
Any distro recommendations for a good small-footprint distro? So far Void, Sparky and Manjaro have caught my eye. If I decided to commit to gaming in Linux, I’d choose Pop!_OS though, just for the great nVidia driver support.
It's not a rhetorical question, it's a real one. I'm really interested in what's keeping people on Windows nowadays, considering all the spying, nagging and overall hostile attitude Microsoft has against its users.
My development is done with VS Code + Windows terminal into WSL2, linux VMs and remote instances.
I use Windows for the great hardware support : power management, printers, scanners, webcams, usb microphone, usb wifi adapters, yubikeys. HyperV is great for VM management. MS Edge has great performance and cross-device sync. One-Drive has excellent OCR & search indexing. I use it to search & manage legal documents for various partnerships. MS Co-pilot is excellent for engineering & legal research. MS Designer (image gen) has been great for generating logos & designs. I've learned more about Powershell https://github.com/tonymet/powershell-scripts
I've spent time to remove all of the recommendations, news, online content, ads and bloatware features from Windows 11. I turn on "max performance" and everything is very snappy.
It's been the best OS experience I've had since Windows 2k.
Every tool requires time investment. I also don't like Windows 11's online /entertainment content. Many industries are going in that direction e.g. automotive.
Give it a try.
that's a pretty good overview
Also do start --> "adjust the performance of windows" --> choose "adjust for best performance". You can turn on essential stuff to your liking.
If you want to go down a rabbit hole, checkout Windows 11 debloat on github and then selectively disable those services & settings .
And then software that does exist will often have bugs for Linux that are overlooked due to how small the market is.
Now i'm an old man and I want my tools to get out of the way so i can get the job done.
Why in the world would anyone want to turn this on?
I have no idea why MS oscillates between velocities here. It doesn't seem to impact their profitability or popularity.
It was the first version of windows that required external activation (via internet or telephone). Prior to this you just needed the activation code that came with the packaged software. IIRC it was also the first version that tied OEM software to the hardware you purchased it on.
It required you to agree to telemetry for the first time.
It was the first version of Windows that included DRM baked into the OS, and required you to agree to install updates to that DRM as needed.
It required different licensing for based on the number of processors in your computer, and the number of computers that connected to it over the network.
The EULA seems mild (and short!) compared to those today, but it was a big deal in technical circles at the time, and started the slow boiling of the frog.
https://download.microsoft.com/documents/useterms/Windows%25...
https://download.microsoft.com/documents/useterms/windows%25...
Just sayin'. If you're not a chronic Destiny 2 or R6 Siege player, hop on in, the water's fine!
That being said, there's caveats. You need a well-supported GPU, a super recent desktop, and a monitor that talks the right language. I don't daily-drive any HDR monitors myself so I can't say for certain where it's at now, but a lot of people are confident of improvements this year: https://www.phoronix.com/news/KDE-HDR-End-Of-2023
Also see: Gamescope, Valve's compositor software that can force HDR in some apps: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Gamescope#HDR_support
I’m certain there may exist SOME titles which don’t work well but they are so exceptional that I never encountered them.
It’s hard saying "Linux gaming just isn’t there" while you can play more games on Linux than on any released console to this day (and I’m not even including emulation).
It's going to take a lot of straw to finally break the camel's back.
Doing this is nontrivial and not without consequences, however, so I wouldn't recommend it unless you have more interesting reasons (see below for one example) for setting up an AD domain than to avoid a nag screen.
Complications include:
1. Home editions of Windows don't support domain logins.
2. In-place migration from a local user account to an AD account without losing user profile information or ACL-protected resource access granted to the local user is neither automatic nor trivial.
3. Setting up an AD domain requires either an additional computer or VM running Windows Server or Linux[2] to serve as a domain controller.
4. While desktop Windows is supposed to cache logins to allow local login without connecting to the DC, in my experience, this mechanism usually works, but very occasionally fails for reasons I don't recall, so mobile domain login is not risk-free.
5. Cached logins only apply to local logins; remote logins using AD credentials require DC access. This is an issue, e.g., when authenticating between domain-joined VMs on a development laptop.
5a. This can be worked around by maintaining a VPN connection between the laptop and the DC's network or installing a (possibly read-only) DC replica on the laptop (obviously avoid the latter in any case where DC compromise will materially affect the security of anything beyond the laptop itself).
5b. Active Directory relies on DNS for name resolution, so either workaround requires additional care and feeding to avoid complications when traveling and connecting to other networks. Namely, use [3] to redirect DNS queries for the AD domain to the VPN or VM, and make sure the VPN or VM network isn't allowed to override the local DHCP-assigned DNS server addresses (which most VPN clients do by default).
The one significant upside that has made a personal AD domain ultimately worthwhile for me — speaking, admittedly, as someone with significant prior AD deployment and administration experience — is AD group policy, which has allowed me to set convenient defaults that automatically apply to the dozens, if not hundreds, of often transient Windows development and test VMs I've set up over the years, including disabling pretty much every other undesirable "feature" Microsoft has added to Windows in the past decade (e.g., Cortana, Bing, and advertising in the Start menu).
[1] I'm assuming local because, if you don't want to log in using a Microsoft account, you presumably don't want to log in using an Entra née Azure AD account either, given that the latter is, for present purposes, a Microsoft account that's more complicated to set up.
[2] https://wiki.samba.org/index.php/Setting_up_Samba_as_an_Acti...
[3] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/dnsclien...
How do I turn this off?