Live data from Hacker News

“Reclaim Windows 10” Powershell Script

gist.github.com

121–130 of 273 posts

Re: “Reclaim Windows 10” Powershell Script

#121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who uses the big three desktops daily, freedom is just one facet. I also want an operating system that respects my time. None of the free operating systems out there do that. Considering the state of Ubuntu, probably the "easiest" to use desktop out there at the moment, my freedom is second to my ability to get a working desktop.

We must be doing very different things. Outside of gaming, everything I do is as fast or faster to get done on Linux.

No to condescend, but that just means that what you do most likely only has to do with programming. If you attempt to branch out into other fields of activities, Linux software is just not capable enough. Try to edit a photo beyond the basic capabilities of Gimp. Try to author a video project. Try to master audio. Try to design and edit documents beyond the most basic capabilities of LibreOffice. Attempt spreadsheet workflows.

It's just not there. But yes, if you want to run Python, GCC or Ruby from the commandline, Linux is very capable of giving you a faster experience.

Re: “Reclaim Windows 10” Powershell Script

#122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only thing I didn't do is to block MS servers in System32\Drivers\etc\hosts file. This is useless in my opinion, MS can always change them or add new ones.

Didn't they 'hack' it so it ignores MS servers listed in hosts file?

Curious about this too as I heard the same thing.

Re: “Reclaim Windows 10” Powershell Script

#123
post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This machine is dual boots Win 7 and Linux Mint. Work is an older MBP and another LM desktop. There's one laptop with Win10 that's kept around mainly to keep up with the tech and it would be really nice to turn off all that extra MS bullshit. But I have to question your attitude, especially here on a forum called "Hacker News"; why do you advocate against exercising ownership over one's rightful property? Microsoft a…

It's called Hacker News, not Script Kiddie News, and the difference between understanding what you're doing (or at least, doing something with the intent of learning something from it) and running someone else's code without understanding what it does is pretty much the demarcation point between being a hacker and being a script kiddie.

As it has always been and always will be. Some will blindly run it, some will review it before running it, some download just to rip out the bits and pieces they like. Some just want to understand the OS...

Re: “Reclaim Windows 10” Powershell Script

#124
post #84
post #57

I seriously doubt that Windows 10 is doing anything so grave as to require you to run some arbitrary PowerShell script you found on the Internet with elevated privileges. If you do not understand every single command in this thing, you should avoid it, and if you understand every single command in this, you don't need it.

Up voted for this: "If you do not understand every single command in this thing, you should avoid it, and if you understand every single command in this, you don't need it." It's so universally applicable!

" if you understand every single command in this, you don't need it." - Oh, I don't need it, but it's kind of convenient to have a reference of them, all in one repo.

Tool users, remember?

Re: “Reclaim Windows 10” Powershell Script

#125
post #57

I seriously doubt that Windows 10 is doing anything so grave as to require you to run some arbitrary PowerShell script you found on the Internet with elevated privileges. If you do not understand every single command in this thing, you should avoid it, and if you understand every single command in this, you don't need it.

Do you understand every single line of code in Windows 10? No. Then you can't make the claim it's not doing anything grave. I'm not saying it is. I'm just saying your argument is illogical and inconsistent.

Re: “Reclaim Windows 10” Powershell Script

#126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Everything just works" so long as your expectations around "everything" are essentially set by a desktop computer experience designed in 2005. Linux on desktops is fine (except from a physical security standpoint), but primitive in terms of UX. And it's still dependent on Mozilla or Google for its browsing experience. And if you want a portable computer (which by the way are demonstrably more secure in the face of p…

> And if you want a portable computer (which by the way are demonstrably more secure in the face of physical tampering) you basically relegate yourself to terrible battery life, poor display support, dicey sleep support, and the fixes for these often compromise performance. This depends a lot on how well supported your hardware is. I run Linux Mint (MATE) on a Thinkpad T430 and have had 0 issues with displays, sleep,…

Have you plugged in an external monitor and not had an issue? I think that's not the norm even for that setup.

Re: “Reclaim Windows 10” Powershell Script

#127
post #125
post #57

I seriously doubt that Windows 10 is doing anything so grave as to require you to run some arbitrary PowerShell script you found on the Internet with elevated privileges. If you do not understand every single command in this thing, you should avoid it, and if you understand every single command in this, you don't need it.

Do you understand every single line of code in Windows 10? No. Then you can't make the claim it's not doing anything grave. I'm not saying it is. I'm just saying your argument is illogical and inconsistent.

But that's my point. I don't understand every single line of code in Windows. When I run Windows, I'm deciding to trust it. If you've stopped deciding to trust it, then adding more untrusted code (code that relies heavily on undocumented registry flags and the behavior of Windows itself) is like trying to put out a fire with lighter fluid. And this script doesn't have to be malicious to be bad.

Re: “Reclaim Windows 10” Powershell Script

#128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which one? An essentially unsupported Linux distribution? Canonical does telemetry as well. Apple has been doing this for years an yet we still don't sweat wrathful spate of headlines over it. Oh and by the way, the logfiles from most package servers provide an accurate description of what you're doing with your machine and a weak concept of identity. So you'll need to avoid those. Browsers keep updating and the vast…

Bullshit. I've had a better experience with Ubuntu than with Windows 10. And since Ubuntu 16.04 the telementary thing you were talking about is desabled by default. Or you could use other Ubuntu derivate, like Xubuntu.

I think your definition of "good experience" and mine differ substantially then.

Because if getting 1/2 the battery life if I want CUDA support is pretty shit in my opinion.

Re: “Reclaim Windows 10” Powershell Script

#129

Rather than continuing to struggle against these features which will continue to be added, why not use an operating system that respects your freedom?

It's no struggle; someone wrote a PowerShell script and posted it to Hacker News!

More serious answer: I do use other OSs. But I keep using Windows because I want access to the fruits of millions of man-hours spent in Redmond and elsewhere developing for the Windows platform. It's a non-trivial body of work.

Re: “Reclaim Windows 10” Powershell Script

#130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We must be doing very different things. Outside of gaming, everything I do is as fast or faster to get done on Linux.

No to condescend, but that just means that what you do most likely only has to do with programming. If you attempt to branch out into other fields of activities, Linux software is just not capable enough. Try to edit a photo beyond the basic capabilities of Gimp. Try to author a video project. Try to master audio. Try to design and edit documents beyond the most basic capabilities of LibreOffice. Attempt spreadsheet…

The tiniest of examples: try to enable "advanced" typography features in a document, such as ligatures, small caps, proportional figures, mathematical equations – without having to convert your document into TeX.
Post reply on HN