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Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

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Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#251

Post by vacri »

exodust wrote: post #107
jfoster wrote: post #70

Seems like the "new Microsoft" honeymoon period has been brought to an abrupt end. Did every single Windows 7 user get this? Perhaps they can recover from this by learning quickly from the backlash that's about to happen.

Backlash from needing to go into settings and flick a toggle switch from on to off? Oh the horror!

There was backlash against iTunes 'helpfully' giving you a crappy U2 album. Traditionally, advertising is something you see when you 'go on the internet'. It doesn't usually appear before you even log onto the machine.

Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#252

Post by blibble »

MatthaeusHarris wrote: post #249
goda90 wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have your tried Synergy for your mouse/keyboard situation? Another possibility is perhaps a KVM switch that if you plug in two outputs into the same computer that it is recognized as two distinct USB devices. I don't know if it's possible but then you could pass through one to the VM directly.

Synergy is decidedly non-optimal for gaming, unfortunately. Various games try to grab the mouse pointer in different ways and synergy throws a wrench into at least some of them.

you can bind a key to switch to relative mode.

since switching to VM based gaming about 6 months ago I've played and completed: SC2 LOTV, Bioshock Infinite, Crysis 1/2, and The Talos Principle and have not had a single problem.

Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#253

Post by seanp2k2 »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #190
Someone1234 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Microsoft Office one is far worse than this example. I actually had Office installed and was STILL seeing those annoying as heck notifications. That was just blatant and annoying advertising. All this is, is you're opting to receive dynamic lock screen images that rotate constantly, Microsoft threw in a few ads. It isn't ideal but you you get something in return (a constantly changing set of lock screen images fr…

This behavior is caused by a preinstalled modern app called "Get Office", which you can find in your Start Menu's All Apps list. Along with it's brethren "Get Skype", right click and uninstall both. The fact that these apps are unable to tell that you already "Got Skype" and "Got Office" is definitely irritating.

Who at Microsoft is pushing for and developing this junk?

Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#255

Post by seanp2k2 »

gargravarr wrote: post #55
RealCasually wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the harm done? Of course you don't "own" your operating system. You also paid nothing for it. I also struggle to grasp the double standard of why Google, Facebook, et al are able to endlessly track and personalize ads, but when Microsoft follows a similar model, there is outrage.

The argument that Win10 is free won't hold for much longer, it's only 'free' if you upgrade from Win7 or 8. It's already being sold retail in stores for a similar price to the old versions. And from later this year, people will have to pay for upgrades too. On the flipside, you don't "own" your software anyway, you own a license to use it (EULA). The double-standard probably has something to do with the ability to bl…

While I agree with the difference, it should still be possible to block these types of ads with some kind of firewall. Unless the OS is blocking the blocking at a lower level (which I'd be VERY surprised by), something like Privoxy and using that as the system proxy for http[s] should be able to knock these out if they're loaded dynamically. I haven't tested this, so it would require some inspection and network monitoring to figure out what's serving these. Some hosts file entries may even be enough.

Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#256

Post by seanp2k2 »

blisterpeanuts wrote: post #161
civilian wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My brother cut me a login to his Comcast Xfinity. I tried watching "The Magicians" on syfy.com--- and there's 100 seconds of ads, six times over a 45 minute show! It makes the cliffhangers and pauses even more obnoxious. I'm going to go back to torrenting.

No TV/cable, but on a trip recently I tried to watch syfy on the hotel TV -- and it was more ads than show. I can't believe anyone puts up with it; I swear it was five minutes of ads and five minutes of movie. No thanks; I'll just wait until things come to Prime or Netflix.

Yeah, if you stop watching TV for a few years, trying to watch again after is really jarring. The volume-boost of ads, while not as bad as it used to be, is still pretty obnoxious, and the sheer quantity of ads makes shows much less enjoyable. I really believe that our parents are the last generation to really put up with all the ads, and our generation will just torrent / wait for Netflix / Prime or something else with minimal ads. The days of paying $100/month for 60 channels with linear programming spending a third of their time on ads are numbered.

Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#257

Post by JabavuAdams »

exodust wrote: post #103
pearle wrote: post #68

I think I'm finally going back to Windows 7. I'd rather pay full price for a OS release than become a product. Of course, another issue is that the Windows Store is completely broken on my computer and quite a few apps no longer work (including Windows Calculator, Photos, etc.).

Or just turn off the spotlight thing in settings.

This is not how you design good products and tools. If I grab my drill, it's because I want to make a hole. I don't want to click through even one annoyance. Also, in the real world, it's one annoyance today, but it'll be five tomorrow if people don't push back.

Computers are annoying because apologists keep saying things like "just turn that off".

Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#258

Post by khedoros »

blisterpeanuts wrote: post #161
civilian wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My brother cut me a login to his Comcast Xfinity. I tried watching "The Magicians" on syfy.com--- and there's 100 seconds of ads, six times over a 45 minute show! It makes the cliffhangers and pauses even more obnoxious. I'm going to go back to torrenting.

No TV/cable, but on a trip recently I tried to watch syfy on the hotel TV -- and it was more ads than show. I can't believe anyone puts up with it; I swear it was five minutes of ads and five minutes of movie. No thanks; I'll just wait until things come to Prime or Netflix.

I don't know about other people, but I put up with it using a DVR and liberal use of the fast-forward button.

Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#259

Post by [deleted] »

kuschku wrote: post #214
strommen wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't pretty much all advertising everywhere "without the end-user's explicit consent"? Websites, TV, radio, print media, billboards, sides of buses, posters in public bathrooms, Disney-branded kids' food at the grocery store, product placements embedded in actual Hollywood movies, desktop search in freakin' Ubuntu... I didn't sign up for seeing ads in any of these. They're just an implicit part of the social contrac…

You can block websites, only listen to radio channels without ads, switch to another TV channel when ads are coming up, use print media that have no ads but are subscription financed, etc. In many cities you’ll even find that bus advertisements are toned down, and in public bathrooms there are no posters either. I don’t remember when I saw or heard an ad the last time, but it was not this week.

[deleted]

Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#260

Post by cmc31 »

blibble wrote: post #252
MatthaeusHarris wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Synergy is decidedly non-optimal for gaming, unfortunately. Various games try to grab the mouse pointer in different ways and synergy throws a wrench into at least some of them.

you can bind a key to switch to relative mode. since switching to VM based gaming about 6 months ago I've played and completed: SC2 LOTV, Bioshock Infinite, Crysis 1/2, and The Talos Principle and have not had a single problem.

What is your CS:GO rank?
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