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Comment by richard_chase | Hacker News Reader

I switched to Linux after Windows started showing me propaganda on the screen where you enter your password. To me, that's diabolical and forced me to make the switch. Sorry, I don't wish to "Learn more about Black-Owned Businesses" just to access my computer.

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We updated my MIL's computer to Windows 11 and now it's giving her ads about Xbox something or other on the login screen. She is in her 80s and has no idea what an Xbox even is.

Ads on the login screen, ads on my fucking start menu. No intuitive way to access all programs. . . Sorry. Apps from the start menu. Suggested apps instead of that. Hold screens to set a backup using one drive and to link my phone and set telemetry and whatever other bullshit once a week.

It's not great. Linux mint is what I install for older relatives now. It's close enough to windows feeling that they never even question it.

Non power users just want a desktop with a browser shortcut, and maybe office apps. I extended the life of a laptop many years for my aging non technical parents. I even encrypted the hard drive for them and since Microsoft basically committed security malpractice by not making encryption available to Home edition users it was significantly more secure. After a 5 minute explainer they never once asked me a single question about it.

This is awful in many ways. Among other things what really gets my goat is that Xbox something or other ads can have cartoony sexuality, violence, and so on. Those things don’t bother me, but there are plenty of elderly, conservative, religious, etc. people who would be taken aback by it.

There’s plenty of that content in our media, but those people don’t consume that media. A computer is a critical general purpose tool. Everyone needs it. This is like putting scantily clad elves on every refrigerator.

Link to this fridge? Just so I know which one to avoid you know

Probably a Samsung, the company that replaced door handles with a microphone for "open fridge" voice command, and advertises to you based on the contents of your fridge.

I, too, am irrationally furious at microsoft for forcing me to look at nature scapes and offering a link to learn more if I wanted.

Those landscape photos are a crappy hypnotic effort meant to try and dissociate Microsoft from the feeling most people have when they have to login on a Monday Morning.

Still, complaining about something you can only possibly see when you're not using the computer is such a minor thing, whether you like it or not, I cant find myself to care in any amount.

What got me to angrily turn it off was a gigantic closeup of a moose face. It’s kind of funny now that I think about it but I have two 32” monitors and I really did not need 64” of moose lips and wet nostrils.

Honestly that sounds like something I would set as my work background just as a gag though.

I was wondering what I want for my background but you've nailed it. Just random animals in nature.

This really made me laugh, thanks.

Reading HN threads about Windows makes me wonder some times if I’m using a completely different version of Windows on my workstation. I guess I also haven’t seen any “propaganda” among my rotating selection of landscape scenery.

My last Windows PC shipped from the vendor with all the tiles and ads and live updates already disabled. I don't know why I see so many other people struggling with turning them off on here.

What propaganda? I only get a new background with some info related to it (like what's the place of the picture).

I just reinstalled Windows, so I've had the joy of a bunch of stupid MS stuff (why did you make my /~ homedir the first five letters of my email? WHY?) but I have to admit, this, I have not encountered.

Yeah, it's one of the reasons I use a Microsoft account to collect the PC entitlements and then create a local user account that has a sane profile name and never touch the online account again.

A few days ago I got the nature scapes but with a, "This would make an awesome prompt huh?" as the tagline and a link to more AI shoe-horned in.

Regrettably, I have to use a windows machine for work. The other day I got one where the "fact" was an offer to help me pic out the right laptop or tablet to get the most out of copilot.

To stoke my rage into an incandescent fury, if you go to settings -> Lock Screen, there's no obvious way to disable it at first. You have to change the background image from "Microsoft Spotlight", the one where the image changes to a static background image, and THEN you get a checkbox. The checkbox you uncheck is "get tips, fun facts, and more". I guess trying to sell me shit is under "more".

It sucks because i agree that having the picture change is a nice feature. Microsoft has decided to hold that nice feature hostage to ads.

Back when people customized screensavers, you would put the .scr file (a regular exe) in the Windows directory, and it would populate the list of screen savers? I'm guessing that's no longer a thing in the name of security theater.

Not so much security theater as a large number of exploits were disguised as .scr files as it was easy to trick a user into downloading one and then it would run with full system access

Restrict .scr to run as an unprivileged user without network or filesystem access, that always launches the system login/unlock on exit?

This seems better than having a program that does random web requests to put ads on the lock screen.

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