[falcolas]

> I'm not sure how to feel when I consider the daily attempts against my choices and privacy.

This is my biggest complaint about Windows as a power user. I have no control over it: I can't shut off all of the telemetry reporting. I can't turn off Defender's active scanning and have it stay off for more than a day. I can't say "Don't reboot for upgrades between 6am and 10pm." "<video game> has been denied access to the video drivers" halfway through a game, forcing a restart.

I used Windows for my daily computer from 98 to 7. My work machines transitioned to Macs around that time, and I made that same transition with my other computers around the same time - the build quality and battery lifetimes were just too good to ignore. My gaming rig stuck with it and made the leap to 10, but it aggravates me in one fashion or another every time I turn it on.

So, I guess I'm headed the opposite way of most commenters. I considered XP and 7 to be the glory years for a daily driver, and now I can't get away from the platform fast enough.

[agnsaft]

Although I get your point, Windows has more powerfull configuration options than you might think as a user. E.g.Windows defender can be permanently disabled through administrative templates for your computer.

[falcolas]

Well, for awhile. Software updates come along and re-enable these features all too frequently.

Not to mention, this feels a bit like how we used to have to manage Linux on the desktop: don't like X? Here's a configuration file you can edit. At least until another update comes along and breaks it.

It's been years since I've enjoyed chasing down new settings and finding what was reset every few days.

[mattmanser]

But it's a massive pain in the ass to do it.

Like I kinda want it, but not all the time.

Just like I kinda need to be forced to update, but not just suddenly "Well, that's it, we're shutting down now".

It's my fucking computer, if I really don't want to restart right now, what's the big fucking deal?

[drakonandor]

> It's my fucking computer, if I really don't want to restart right now, what's the big fucking deal?

The big deal is that, it's probably a pretty important security update. Forcing a patch prevents you from turning into the poster a few steps above, complaining that Windows is insecure and people lost data because of it.

[egeozcan]

> Forcing a patch prevents you from turning into the poster a few steps above, complaining that Windows is insecure and people lost data because of it.

Restarting the computer without ability to abort doesn't sound like a good data retention plan.

[drakonandor]

> I can't shut off all of the telemetry reporting. I can't turn off Defender's active scanning and have it stay off for more than a day. I can't say "Don't reboot for upgrades between 6am and 10pm." "<video game> has been denied access to the video drivers" halfway through a game, forcing a restart.

I can't speak to your video driver issue (reinstall it maybe?), but the rest of the things certainly can be done.. You can turn off Windows Defender permanently (or at least active scans). You certainly can schedule updates to 2 AM.

[falcolas]

Not within Windows 10. At least, not without editing registry entries or setting yourself up with a domain to administrate settings as if you're part of a corporation. These are things that require too much work to research and (repeatedly) implement when there are other equally good OSes out there. I could spend an equivalent amount of effort and have as good of a day-to-day experience with Ubuntu or Debian.

Availability of gaming titles aside, there's just nothing that Windows does anymore that other OSes don't do.