[ChrisSD]

The are a number of Windows settings for turning off what it calls "suggestions". Do a search in the Settings app for "suggest", click "Show all results" and see what comes up. Amongst them are:

* Show suggestions occasionally in Start

* Show suggestions in your timeline

* Suggest ways I can finish setting up my device to get the most out of Windows

* Get tips, tricks and suggestions as you use Windows

* Turn off suggested content in the Settings app

Changing these settings can greatly reduce Windows 10 spam.

[walton_simons]

Also consider this script if you're reinstalling Windows.

The fact that it needs to exist in the first place is itself a bit of an indictment of Windows 10, but running this during the Windows installation process will give you a nice, clean, non-animated desktop and start menu, with all of the shovelware and ads neatly excised and the privacy settings set to sensible values (admittedly for certain values of sensible, given that you can't disable all of the telemetry in most versions):

https://community.spiceworks.com/scripts/show/4378-windows-1...

[isoprophlex]

Imagine paying money for an os and having to go through this song and dance to not have your productivity tool become an ad infested unproductivity tool

[AnIdiotOnTheNet]

Admittedly, it is awful and stupid. On the other hand, those of us who use it find the alternative to be even worse despite being free. Imagine what problems must exist with that alternative for this to be true.

[rightbyte]

When you buy a computer, or get one from work, it is preloaded with Windows.

Windows is essentially "free", as in for most people there is no savings from not using Windows, like it is i.e. if you build your desktop your self.

Linux is compeeting with effectivly mandatory prepaid Windows installs.

[AnIdiotOnTheNet]

I paid for it, and I didn't have to. I chose it because it works better.

[moistbar]

> Linux is compeeting with effectivly mandatory prepaid Windows installs.

You can get your money back if you don't plan on using the license.

https://www.linux.com/news/how-get-windows-tax-refund/

[rvieira]

French courts disagree: https://www.pcworld.com/article/249340/lenovo_ordered_to_pay...

[eitland]

Some of us find the alternatives to be really really good compared to Windows. The only thing I should wish was that IT was (even more) supportive.

Lucky us I guess.

(FTR: Linux is as usual as Mac at work now. I've even seen a team lead and a sales guy run Linux!)

[AnIdiotOnTheNet]

> Some of us find the alternatives to be really really good compared to Windows.

Yeah, and some of us don't. A lot of us, actually. I personally get kinda sick of the arrogance of people who think they're above everyone else because they chose a different operating system.

[Can_Not]

Somebody just wants to choose their operating system without the whole market being coerced by a large hedgemonic monopoly and then you yell down from your ivory tower that everybody but you is arrogant.

[AnIdiotOnTheNet]

Some people would like to use FreeBSD and other free Unix OSs without having to kowtow to Linuxisms too. It isn't the fault of Linux users that they have to do so.

[shrimp_emoji]

U+1F97E U+1F445

[nightski]

I use it every day and tbh I haven't had to touch the settings in years. I never encounter this stuff.

And reading the article it explicitly says they will only show users this feature if edge is their default browser.

[armoredkitten]

No, it says "the pop-up will appear even when Microsoft Edge is the default browser... The company is not targeting people who use Google Chrome and Firefox as default browsers."

I.e., it shows up for everyone, not just people who aren't using Edge already. They aren't specifically targeting Chrome and Firefox users; they are just also included in the group.

[immigrantsheep]

Can confirm that I never encountered this behavior and I have Edge (although Canary) as my default browser at the moment.

[Semaphor]

> And reading the article it explicitly says they will only show users this feature if edge is their default browser.

That’s not what it says. It says "even when Microsoft Edge is the default browser".

[senectus1]

oh Puh-lease....

we don't have to imagine it, this isn't new, this is the Status quo.

And we're all to enrolled/busy/tired to give a shit about it. just make the customizing changes and move on.

[0-_-0]

Have you never spent time configuring an operating system?

[lostgame]

Yeah, things like desktop wallpaper and to show application extensions; not to tell it I don't want ads integrated into my OS...

We generally pay for services, to avoid ads.

[moistbar]

Yes, but it's because I want to and not because I have to in order to get it to shut up about itself.

[scaladev]

Remember, you're paying money for this treatment. Reminds me of cable TV, honestly.

[neogodless]

It's interesting. Lots of people pay and put up with ads for the convenience of cable TV. But I'll happily pay and memorize where my shows are to enjoy Netflix, Hulu and one or two other streaming apps so I can avoid ads but still enjoy my shows (though for network shows, there's often a waiting period before I get to watch them). There, the price difference per month was one of the driving factors.

With my PC, I could dual boot, as it's just reassuring that I can fire up my favorite games and they "just work" on whatever the latest Windows OS is I'm running, and the convenience factor is so much higher now that I'm running WSL2 and can do various Linux things, too. But cost-wise, well I've only ever paid for Windows when buying a pre-made system. When building, I've gotten various free versions of Windows over the years, like when I did a "Windows party" for the launch of 7, and they sent me a free copy of Ultimate (which was free to upgrade to 8->8.1->10. But obviously not available in general if you want a Windows license.)

And the cost of time... to fiddle with Linux and try to get all my Blizzard games working, maybe it's not as bad as it is in my head, but it seems like a hassle, and quite often, my spouse and my family members and my friends and I spontaneously want to jump into a game of StarCraft 2 or Valheim or Diablo 3, and I don't want anything causing me to stop what I'm doing and try to troubleshoot it for 2 hours while everyone else plays.

So, I run only Windows, and I put up with the once or twice a year that a new update comes out and potentially introduces some kind of notification or extra Start Menu tile, and I turn that thing off, and then I go on with my life without it. If I could have Linux with a "Windows gaming" channel like Netflix that always just worked for every game I play or will play in the future, I think I'd certainly consider switching to that. But for now, I'm not confident enough that everything I use my PC for would "just work" if I switched, with the same performance and lack of troubleshooting, so I do not do so.

[wayneftw]

I just do work stuff on my Linux machine and play stuff on my Windows machine. Couldn't be happier! I've been running Manjaro Linux on 3 workstations for over 2 years now and, as a web developer who does mostly Node/React/React Native, I haven't needed anything from Windows. The best part is not having to fiddle with Windows specific issues all the time.

I have even worked on .net core projects with vs code and run SQL server in a docker container.

[neogodless]

Definitely curious about the .NET Development experience in Linux. My past includes a lot of Visual Studio + SQL Server Management Studio, and I'll be working on some Azure data stuff in the future. For now I'll rely on Windows for that, but I'll still hold a small piece of my brain in curiosity mode.

[wayneftw]

Oh yeah SSMS was one thing I missed. Switching to Azure Data Studio was slightly painful since it didn't handle big SQL files as well and the UI was generally a bit slower, especially with large result sets.

However, I forgot to mention - FreeRDP is a wonderful tool and it works perfectly for me. If and when I need to use a Windows only tool like SQL Server Profiler, it's easy to RDP over to a Windows machine to do that.

I know lots of people do everything on their one computer, but I just love keeping all the OSes separate so I don't have to deal with the possibility that some interoperability layer is actually causing me issues. And look what you can get for $299 that Linux will run perfectly on after you throw an SSD in there - https://www.amazon.com/HP-EliteDesk-800-Cerfified-Refurbishe... - and you can go even cheaper if you get an i5-4590 or i5-3470 instead. For a laptop, I have an old (2015) Acer Aspire E5 that runs Manjaro perfectly as well.

Here are the instructions to setup the dotnet host and runtime on an Arch based distro (Although, I just use the GUI add/remove software control panel in Manjaro called Pamac) - https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/.NET_Core

[scaladev]

It's fine. I use Rider, and work with databases through its built-in tools, which are pretty decent (the same functionality as their separate paid product DataGrip). I've never needed Windows in 4 years of doing this.

[Someone1234]

Aside: Search in Settings is a bad user experience.

If I search for "suggest", click a result, press mouse-back button: It loses my search results. I sent back to a blank index page.

So I have to search "suggest", find my place in the results, click result, back, search again, remember where I am, click, back, search, etc etc.

If you're going to make desktop software "browser-like" then actually commit. Don't add a back button but not have it act like a browser back button. Just obnoxious.

PS - On Windows 20H2/19042.867.

[swiley]

A much simpler task if you're going to bother with administrating your machine: just install an OS that treats you like a human.

[Black101]

There are so many things that need/should be turned off nowadays in Windows that it is ridiculous. And some "features" are nearly impossible to turn off... you would think that Windows was free software with all that crap that comes with it.