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“Reclaim Windows 10” Powershell Script

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Re: “Reclaim Windows 10” Powershell Script

#161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

What do you mean by issue? After a couple of xrandr invocations to configure them, which could be automated by some GUI app if I were so inclined, I've never seen external monitors have issues on either of my Linux laptops.

Re: “Reclaim Windows 10” Powershell Script

#162
post #99

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…

Yup, bleeding-edge laptop support is still a toss-up, but it's getting better, IMHO! I think that's where this sentiment often comes from: people who cut their teeth on XF86Config tweaking and compiling NVidia kernel modules from source and shopping for just the right PCMCIA wireless adapter are now amazed when a fresh Ubuntu install has working 3D-accelerated graphics, 802.11n (with GUI for configuration), Bluetooth…

> Maybe the bar was just really low, and you've got a strong argument if you say it shouldn't be anymore, but we are making progress...

I was one of those people for longer than I can remember. Last year I decided that it was time for me to make this argument. I don't regret the time I spent learning, tinkering, and sometimes wrestling Linux into working. However, while Linux has made a ton of progress, the gap between what "just works" and what users expect has only grown. My time and needs are just too valuable to me now to be messing around with Linux.

Re: “Reclaim Windows 10” Powershell Script

#163
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.

> 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.

So... you're saying that if you do know all this stuff, then you should manually type it all in a shell window (or hunt down in a gui) on every win10 box you want to administer?

Re: “Reclaim Windows 10” Powershell Script

#164
post #5
post #3

I had been a long time Windows user, at home (W10) and work(7/Server/Datacenter). Windows had been getting just more and more intrusive like a malware since the last couple years. I hope they do something to stop that. I have recently moved to Fedora and it is just awesome. Pretty much everything works like amazing. Its not a complete replacement if you are gaming, nvidia drivers are a bit painful to install but ever…

If you can get ahold of the Windows 10 LTSB (Long-term servicing branch) distribution, it's actually really nice. Windows without the store, the cruft, the forced updates, and the telemetry. Unfortunately I believe you need MSDN or an enterprise volume licensing deal to have access to it.

Isn't W10 Enterprise available to individuals as a monthly subscription?

Re: “Reclaim Windows 10” Powershell Script

#165
post #127
post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Some people run experiments on black-box operating systems, using VMs where changes can be tested and rolled back. There is a long tradition of users reverse engineering Windows behavior. No need to blindly accept anything.

Re: “Reclaim Windows 10” Powershell Script

#166
post #24

I don't consider win10 telemetry that bad. You can dial it down a lot until it's just sending crash data when thing go bad. Pretty much all OSes have this. What I really don't like however is Microsoft pushing garbage like candy crush to my machine without my consent.

What I don't get is, why do they have to store the telemetry data encrypted locally. Why can't I see what my computer is sending off.

You might have stronger thoughts about your choice of OS if you saw what they really knew and stored.

Re: “Reclaim Windows 10” Powershell Script

#167
post #21

If telemetry really bothers you, I think you'd be better off with a different OS

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…

> Canonical does telemetry as well.

Apart from their short flirt with Amazon (which is now long gone), what else do they do apart from package updates?

There are also major distributions like Fedora and Debian which never did this.

Please stop spreading your FUD.

Re: “Reclaim Windows 10” Powershell Script

#168
post #7

I wonder what MS employees think when every week a new tool pops up disabling data mining in their OS.

I'm an enigneer on Windows. We actually use the crash dumps and the more the better so we can prioritize reliability bugs. Usage telemetry helps us prioritize work, like which settings to migrate from Control Panel to Settings first, or to see if design changes actually made things better for people.

How do engineers there feel about the fact that the data is encrypted so users don't even know what MS knows about them, and how those interested in privacy have to resort to something like this?

Re: “Reclaim Windows 10” Powershell Script

#169
post #3

I had been a long time Windows user, at home (W10) and work(7/Server/Datacenter). Windows had been getting just more and more intrusive like a malware since the last couple years. I hope they do something to stop that. I have recently moved to Fedora and it is just awesome. Pretty much everything works like amazing. Its not a complete replacement if you are gaming, nvidia drivers are a bit painful to install but ever…

"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…

It's not primitive in terms of UX. You just need to spend more time configuring it. Some will argue that that means it's primitive, but I don't think so.

The point about portable computers is also false. You just need to pick a machine with hardware manufactured by friendly vendors who help write drivers. Why would you want to support anyone else?

Battery life? My x230 with tpm installed gets 6 hours of battery life on the stock battery.

Display support? I'm using a 2560x1440 monitor with the mini displayport on my x230 right now and have had no issues with it whatsoever. Plays Quake 3 great too, no tearing. Debian Jessie.

Sleep support?

/etc/systemd/logind.conf

HandleLidSwitch=suspend

Performance issues? My system idles at 200mb. Good luck getting macOS or Windows to do that. And to preempt the bias card, I use a Mac for work and love it to death. I think most of your points were applicable in 2005. The terrain has changed and the mainstream Linux distributions are now very stable and usable daily driver systems.

Linux is more than competitive, it's just not targeted at inexperienced users. Which is fine. Not everyone has the need or want to configure their computer to suit them. Some people just need a computer that works. That's why macOS and Windows exist.

Re: “Reclaim Windows 10” Powershell Script

#170
post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you do any creative work, Linux is pretty much a desert. Adobe software doesn't run on Linux, capture one doesn't either, so as a photographer I have no choice but windows (cheap hardware and malware os) or OS X (hyper expensive old generation hardware with passable os). Davinci resolve seems to have a Linux version but not enough for someone who does more than video.

s/any creative work/digital design/ Photoshop is the industry standard, yes, but 'creative work' extends beyond digital design.

I agree. I implicitly meant "my creative work" which includes photography and digital design.

Having worked with and at digital agencies, adobe is the industry standard. I am open to learning about an agency which does not use Adobe, Sketch etc.

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