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Comment by tempestn | Hacker News Reader

I'm curious why my experience with Windows 11 is so different from what I regularly read. It was some years ago now, so I don't remember exactly what configuration steps I went through, but presumably I turned off ads when I first installed. And so, I don't get ads. I don't recall ever seeing an ad embedded in Windows. Are people talking about Edge (which I don't use) or inside the Microsoft Store (which I very rarely use, but I presume does have sponsored apps or whatever)? Or is this mostly people who don't use Windows, repeating what others have said? Or are these ads targeted at users who aren't me?

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There is a setting that turns off many of the notifications that irritate people.

Settings -> System -> Notifications. Scroll to the bottom, expand Additional settings. Uncheck "Suggest ways to get the most out of Windows and finish setting up this device" and "Get tips and suggestions when using Windows".

I get more prompts from macOS about Apple products than I get from Windows about Microsoft products after unchecking those two settings.

Your Windows 11 experience strongly, strongly depends on where you are. Are you inside the EU? 90% of the crap people complain about is simply illegal and you don't see any of it.

In the US, of course, our government loves to let citizens be the product for corporations. America: by the corporations for the corporations.

Even more true now than it has been in maybe 100 years.

I'm in Canada. I do have the pro version though; maybe that makes a difference.

I'm in the US, I never experience any of the issues people complain about. Just checked and I don't have the setting disabled that that one guy talked about up thread. But I do have all notifications off. Maybe that is why?

Pro/Enterprise Version?

Regular Joe version as far as I know.

People just like to hate on Windows. The home version has some issues and limitations, but if you are willing to invest in the Pro version, it's mostly fine, really.

There are still many complaints to be had, but the fact is that Windows does what it needs to do on a wide range of hardware without much hassle if you know what you are doing.

I've also never seen an ad in windows 11.

I did uninstall all of the weird apps like "News" "Weather" etc.

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