Boy, the good ole days are gone when it comes to Windows. I am posting just to help anybody that doesn’t know. This is like a creepy wire tap. If you are actually using Windows 11, make sure to disable and or reduce telemetry in Windows 11 (Privacy). If that actually helps, I am sure there are more ways they send data back but the video link is a simple how to for the telemetry. Here is more info: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wtg_s1GQiMU
ITT: a lot of people trying really hard to justify their use cases for Windows.
My reason is really simple: replacing Windows with Bazzite or whatever would be a lot of effort. If W11 ever bricks itself or does something hideously invasive (that I can’t disable or opt out of) then it becomes less of an effort than maintaining the status quo, and thus switching becomes the obvious choice.
We all have our limits - yours is a fair point of ease vs inconvenience. I think that is the market dominant force. That being said with how far any distro has come since I started messing around in 98… It’s close to being that easy.
The Windows 11 cope…
What do you mean the good old days of Windows? When does it been doing this for decades bro.
I used to sell pcs at Sears back the day. There was this one weird family I sold a 486DX to and the wanted just one more peripheral…a scanner. You could return entire pc purchases at Sears up to 3 years later depending on how loud you’d yell… Us sales guys would lose the commission and we were straight commission those days so I got into pcs by keeping my stuff sold. They had to have a scanner and I went out to support … Every trick in the book with himem and config…memory optimizers … Couldn’t get that IRQ … all my tech buds tried too. Finally I gave them a free (pre release cus we had it for weeks) copy of win 95 all set up - because it could assign all those resources effortlessly without one text file. Windows wasn’t always purely evil.
Windows XP was the best for me.
Dude in your hilarious if you think Windows XP wasn’t sending out telemetrics as well.
That being said I’m impressed with Linux Mint.
That being said I like Ubuntu for my smart tv that’s a old IMac
Not as bad, I didn’t even use the internet on XP anyway. I was a poor boy, from a poor family…
Glad I got out two years ago. Never going back.
I had prepared everything to migrate to Linux, cause of this video I did. Installed Bazzite. It went incredible smooth!
One of us!
ONE OF US!
how to disable telemetry in windows 11
Install Linux
I’m gonna piggyback off of this to remind everyone to install OpenSnitch and go through the iinitial and super-tedious approve/deny outgoing connections.
there’s stuff on linux that, despite being perfectly offline capable and having turned off everything related to clown sync and remote check this and that, still phones home.
I mean most things are just timeserver checks or poking GitHub/flathub/repo servers. Not something you can fully prevent if you value seamless functionality. Fedora has an opt out telemetry ping just to see how many people are using each version, but it comes part of when you run an update and ping their servers for that anyways. If you want it all removed and still have good functionality I really recommend secureblue
Ha. Beat me to it!
PSA, for people sticking to Windows:
You can get a reasonable level of privacy by installing Windows Enterprise via RUFUS, which also has options for removing restrictions during installation. Massgravel is used to activate your copy of Windows, the Github also having .ISOs for you to use with RUFUS.
ShutUp10 is a piece of software that goes a step further, allowing you to toggle off many bad things, uninstall Microsoft’s AI, and gives a description of what you are tweaking does. The premium version also automatically applies your settings at all times, reverting Microsoft’s constant tweaking of your settings.
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I recently attempted my 2nd migration to Linux through ZorinOS, but that didn’t work out. There are still issues with reliability and user friendliness. As a power casual, there were too many jagged edges to let me feel good about daily driving Linux. Hopefully, SteamOS will change that within three or four years. Linux will someday be our solution to the Microsoft problem, but that year hasn’t yet arrived.
There are still issues with reliability and user friendliness. As a power casual, there were too many jagged edges to let me feel good about daily driving Linux.
Something is very wrong with Zorin then.
Reliability and user friendliness are why I use linux. I work from home, I can’t afford to have a computer not be reliable. Its why I use linux, it works, it doesnt change unless I do. As for user friendliness, windows is extremely hostile to decent work flows. It is user unfriendly.
Linux will someday be our solution to the Microsoft problem, but that year hasn’t yet arrived.
It arrived for me about 20 years ago. Your statement is ridiculous today.
This is my current solution too, while Win10’s extended support period lasts… I really hope Adobe will support Linux (or a working emulator is made) by the time I need to leave Win10, because I don’t want to touch Win11 with an 11-foot pole lol
Which issues did you have with Zorin?
Assorted things, but the biggest was with AppImages. You are supposed to make them executable with a properties tab, as ZorinOS is intended to be a Windows-like experience. However, at some point, AppImages stopped launching, even after rebooting the system. There was no error messages, just nothing happening after trying to launch them. That is bad for troubleshooting, and is vexing. After three or four days trying to resolve such issues with Linux, I got fed up and went back to Windows 11 Enterprise.
In any case, I will attempt another Linux migration when the time seems right. I will let Valve cook, they will bring friendliness and reliability to the masses.
Did you try using the built in Software app first?
I assume you are talking about the Snap store: Not everything on Github is necessarily in there. In any case, I am not dealing with Linux’s bullshit anymore until Gabe has properly tamed the beast.
Why ZorinOS? Maybe try a better distro
Because it is supposed to mix the friendliness of Windows with Linux’s lack of authoritarianism.
Try Mint instead. Its a popular distro that has an old school windows like interface…not an exact match but super close, enough that you’ll be zooming along in no time.
I have used it a lot and have almost no issues except for the very propriety-windows-only software.
I tried Mint three or four years ago. Assorted game launchers weren’t working nicely and my games were laggy. Presumably the work done by Valve would allow Mint to be okay-ish by now, but that also applies to ZorinOS. In any case, I refuse to waste any more time troubleshooting Linux, until it has been given more time to be casualized.
There is zero reason to use Windows now. Linux has gotten so good that even a noob can install distros like Ubuntu and Mint. I have Linux running as my main on an old Zephyrus laptop after it arbitrarily installed W11 without my permission or prompting. Windows is spyware and gets isolated in my network.
I’d recommend putting more time into switching to Linux instead of pirating Enterprise versions of Windows and then installing and configuring a bunch of third-party software that is supposed to stop Microsoft from doing all the Microsoft things we don’t like. That seems like it’s a lot of work and effort too, plus they are actively hostile towards users instead of just “not ready”.
There is zero reason to use Windows now.
Apparently accessability tools are still lacking for people with vision impairments compared to windows, especially on Wayland.
This is a rough one. Accessibility is severely lacking in so many tools and interfaces.
zero for you perhaps, but I unfortunately need Adobe InDesign and Illustrator (and Photoshop but that has more alternatives), or similar software that has the many professional features I use
also need my games and mods to run on Linux… currently ProtonDB says my Steam library is 51% platinum and gold, and then I haven’t even addressed older or online games
You’re delusional (saying this as a long time tech support for various new Linux user.s)
Finally someone has common sense
Agreed.
I still keep and use my Windows partition quite often, and probably will for a long time.
I do find that more and more finds its way over to Linux though, which is very nice
I’m sure I’m overestimating and I don’t care. The majority will keep using malware and complaining about it, while doing nothing to solve it. Not even the bare minimum of searching “what are my alternatives?” I know there’s a massive slice of the population that will live in PC hell until the bitter end.
I was gonna say we should consider the average person that uses a computer but wven then I’ve seen people strugle to download from a .exe lol
Laughs in Tux
MS at least permits to desactivate all this crap (naturally not documented, but activated by default), it’s all in the settings, services and registry (eg.desactivate SysMain, whith which MS
stealshare your Bandwidth). Apart there are also a ton of other services and “features” which remain active by default, despite not longer needed since 15 years, eg.Prefetch, IndexService, Hibernate and other (eg.AI), slowing down the system and wasting RAM. Most optimizer apps, like ShutUp10 and others can help, if you don’t want to do it by yourself (!!!). To make easier the access, God Mode still works in Windows 11, or download Super God Mode. Windows always need work to turn it in a fast and usable OS with an reasonable privacy (remember that some telemetry make sense, eg.for update checks (Important security updates, also for drivers)Mandatory to install Portmaster.
With all the effort it takes to figure that out on Windows (yes, even with a guide to follow), it literally would be easier to switch to Linux.
Inb4 needing to pick a distro. Here’s a simple flowchart:
- Do you game with brand new graphics cards and/or brand new games that need driver updates?
- Do you want to tinker?
- If yes, use CachyOS
- If no, use Bazzite
- Do you want to tinker?
- If you don’t buy graphics cards or high end games right after release, or don’t game at all
- Use Linux Mint
Or just install Fedora. I don’t get the love for Mint. Its ubuntu derived, broken by default.
Mint just works out of the box, that’s why people recommend it.
They all do. Mint has always seemed behind (having to follow Ubuntu) and their upgrade and package paths are strange.
With so many better options, why that one?
Go reread your last comment it makes no sense. But I’m personally not surprised you’re proving to be a loon
- Do you game with brand new graphics cards and/or brand new games that need driver updates?
Or, and this may be a difficult concept for the Windows-brained to grasp, use an operating system that you don’t have to fight and bear into submission for it to what you want and only what you want.
It’s your computer, why would you give control over it to anyone else?Linux I’ve had to fight and beat into submission just to try and install it without accidentally overwriting my windows installation, and have all my hardware working. I’ve tried and failed 6 times now
That sounds like you had difficulty determining the correct instructions. Given the wrong instructions, computers will do the wrong thing, and that’s OK. They’re not supposed to think, but do what they’re told.
I’ll admit that Linux still occasionally suffers from UI/UX issues, in that its not always obvious what the correct choice is in a given circumstances. A bit like Micro$lop trained their users for decades to completely ignore any and all error messages and just try what they were doing again, by making their error messages needlessly cryptic and borderline useless.So which one is the trouble? Windows or Hardware? If its windows, well maybe get rid of the problem first. Microsoft is actively hostile to your plans.
If its hardware, that can be tricky, but it sure seems infrequent these days.
Refined is probably the best method of dealing with windows. Give windows and linux their own drives, let refined manage the booting and you choose which environment to launch. Windows will never know the other os or bootloader exists. Also turn off fastboot in windows, the cause of a lot of problems.
I need to keep a windows installation because I need MS Office. LibreOffice is fine 98% of the time, but I’ve got a handful of complex documents and spreadsheets that just don’t render correctly in LO, and I’m not going to spend the weeks it takes to correct them.
I’ll look into refined, but currently can’t afford anything but essentials so it’ll be a ways off before I can get a new HD
The office problem. I moved over a long time ago. Word at that time couldnt handle large documents, and excel was a pain in the ass for the csv data we were getting at the time.
Either deal with that pain over a few weeks, or deal with that pain forever! Maybe the fork of onlyoffice will do what you want.
If its only office you can just run windows inside of linux without issue and have it launch the office application when needed using winapps. https://github.com/winapps-org/winapps
Personally I just keep windows in a docker container for that ultra rare time I need windows.
a while ago, i watched a youtube video that opened wireshark on brand new installs of ubuntu and windows with no other apps open
comparing a paid operating system and a free operating system that has been said to have privacy issuesguess which one sent 500 packets in under 2 minutes
I believe I saw the same video. I’m now planning to switch from Ubuntu to Parrot OS.
For Windows 10 and 11 this is just scratching the surface and is next to useless for all the stuff they leave behind.
Use ShutUpWindows10++ (yes it work on 11 too) and THAT will get the vast majority of the stuff that this video doesn’t even touch on.
Please post a correct URL for shutup10++, as I googled it and found github/O-O-ShutUp10 which is most likely a scam.
Does https://codeberg.org/fossarchive/Win11Debloat do the same?
this is the one I’ve been using for many years: https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10
This is another one of the windows negatives. There’s no real standard for tools that debloat or remove the MS malware and decent chance that you end up getting more malware in the process (that might even do what it says it does in addition to installing who knows what, so it’s not even immediately obvious that it might be a good idea to go back to the “wipe storage and install OS” step. Thing could even revert some of the settings later on to encourage users running an updated version of the script (not that I think most would bat an eye at their “OS optimization script” being a thing that continuously runs and auto-updates) and it wouldn’t even be unexpected windows behavior considering how passively hostile they already are with users trying to reduce their stupid shit in windows.
Windows deleted all my files that weren’t even in one drive this week when one drive had a melt down and killed itself. I stared in disbelief, thanked the heavens I just backed all that shit up recently, laughed, and installed Linux. Didn’t even bother to see if I could recover anything. I’ve been meaning to switch for a long time and just haven’t. Windows made it pretty fucking easy.
Linux Mint is surprisingly good. I have a extra Windows 11 PC with RAID, there is no way I can mess around and try to install Linux on it. It would for sure mess up all of my storage.
You could install it on an m.2 drive.
The computer is from 2009 lol and I’m not buying an adapter. I could get an external hard drive though or a big USB for a live version.
I have location services turned off in windows on my work computer and MS word really dislikes it. Whenever I do a side by side window with word included I get a notification (from word) that I should enable my location services in settings
turn off the ‘notify when apps request location’ setting at the bottom of settings->privacy->location
Insanity that word should even think to need location services. Wtf Microsoft, clippy would never.
Always trying to peek on you.
Just spyware doing spyware things here.
pulls out typewriter
pulls out telegraph
edit: Dear Microslop
Popped a windows 11 laptop behind a firewall for toubleshooting, it logs all traffic that leaves that subnet.
Instantly flooded my logs with all kinds of bullshit.
