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Windows 10 is bringing ads to File Explorer – how to turn them off

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Re: Windows 10 is bringing ads to File Explorer – how to turn them off

#21
post #12

> how to turn them off Switch to Linux. Windows 10 Home is now $119 and tracks you. Microsoft is trying to sell you a product and monetize your behavior. They are pursuing a way to maintain their cash cow and have an avenue to push Google out.

This works well if your hobbies include manually editing obscure config files and replacing perfectly good hardware, and if your hobbies do not include playing games. I frequently explore the possibility of switching to Linux, and while it's not the garbage fire it was 15 years ago, it's still just not a peer to Windows for the way I use my computer.

Interesting, gaming is one of my hobbies and I've switched to linux years ago. Most games I play are native and a few which aren't run on wine. The more people moving to linux = more games will be available on linux.

Re: Windows 10 is bringing ads to File Explorer – how to turn them off

#22
This sucks, of course. Yet all the comments on this thread saying the solution is to simply switch platforms ignore something very fundamental.

I like to say "Nobody goes to Home Depot to buy a drill bit; what they want to buy is a hole."

I don't use Windows because I want to use Windows. I use it because there are things I need to do that can only be done with it.

The "just switch to Linux" reaction is an understandable engineering reaction. And, frankly, if your world is limited to web development and some forms of embedded development it might make a ton of sense. Yet, from a business perspective it makes no sense outside of scenarios that fit Linux well.

For others it isn't that simple. What would the Linux proponents suggest we do with hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in software not available on any other platform? Solidworks, Siemens NX, Altium Designer, FEA and other simulation tools, CAM and other manufacturing tools, an myriad other applications ranging from business to medicine to engineering that depend on this platform.

The goal of a business is to deliver goods and services, not to play with operating systems. The operating system is irrelevant. It's all about the software that runs on it and the utility it provides to users. As an aside, this, I believe, is exactly where Apple has gone wrong. By insisting on having totalitarian control over everything on their platforms they have effectively limited the utility of their devices. At the same time, this is what makes them so good for a certain range of utilization scenarios.

We use Windows because it is the only way to buy a hole. We could not care less what OS is under the hood. All we care about is the hole we need to drill.

And, frankly, Microsoft has been making a better product with time. I've been using MS products since DOS on the original IBM PC (I bought one when they came out for $3,200). Save missteps here and there, MS software has always improved with time. What they need is our feedback in order to make it even better. The criticism is fair, of course.

Re: Windows 10 is bringing ads to File Explorer – how to turn them off

#23
post #12

> how to turn them off Switch to Linux. Windows 10 Home is now $119 and tracks you. Microsoft is trying to sell you a product and monetize your behavior. They are pursuing a way to maintain their cash cow and have an avenue to push Google out.

This works well if your hobbies include manually editing obscure config files and replacing perfectly good hardware, and if your hobbies do not include playing games. I frequently explore the possibility of switching to Linux, and while it's not the garbage fire it was 15 years ago, it's still just not a peer to Windows for the way I use my computer.

Completely agree. I tried Ubuntu a few years ago because I heard that distro was comparably easier to use and my experience was frustrating. It took me 3 hours just to get the speakers to work, and the wifi connection would regularly drop off.

Windows just works, and I'll happily pay money for a good product.

Re: Windows 10 is bringing ads to File Explorer – how to turn them off

#24
In browsers, ad blockers are being used more and more commonly for even non-technical folks.

In native apps mobile apps, there are some okay ad-blocking solutions.

But when the ads are baked into the operating system itself... I have a hard time seeing Microsoft or Apple losing the ad blocking battle.

So, instead of getting ads somewhat sandboxed inside a browser, in the future we may be getting ads inside the start menu, inside spotlight, on the toolbar... and instead of semi-directly funding content providers, the ad space will only ever be funneling money to the these same huge companies to spend as they see fit. Bleeech.

Re: Windows 10 is bringing ads to File Explorer – how to turn them off

#25
post #12

> how to turn them off Switch to Linux. Windows 10 Home is now $119 and tracks you. Microsoft is trying to sell you a product and monetize your behavior. They are pursuing a way to maintain their cash cow and have an avenue to push Google out.

This works well if your hobbies include manually editing obscure config files and replacing perfectly good hardware, and if your hobbies do not include playing games. I frequently explore the possibility of switching to Linux, and while it's not the garbage fire it was 15 years ago, it's still just not a peer to Windows for the way I use my computer.

I really can't underline how stupid you make yourself sound by writing that utter toss, so I simply conclude that I very much doubt you have any idea what Linux was like 15 years ago – considering that you have no idea what it's like now – so why refer to that at all?

Re: Windows 10 is bringing ads to File Explorer – how to turn them off

#26
post #15

It was my first thought and after I checked the comments it seems like a general consensus of HN that the best way to turn them off is to switch to some other OS.

Do you find it more comfortable to constantly fight with your malicious OS vendor about its greatly annoying and disrespectful decisions?

Re: Windows 10 is bringing ads to File Explorer – how to turn them off

#27
post #3

Here's a better idea - show Microsoft that you don't accept this type of behaviour by switching products/services. I'm aware that Windows 10 is a "free" OS, but trying to ram this type of behaviour down my throat is despicable unethical behaviour and I don't condone it. It is why I've switched to Linux for my daily computing needs.

Windows 10 is not free. The "free upgrade" period is over. MSRP for Windows 10 Home is $119.

Installing Windows 10 on activated Windows 7/8 installs still upgrade to digitally entitled license. Just did it the other day. I didn't believe it 'til I tried it, but it worked.

Re: Windows 10 is bringing ads to File Explorer – how to turn them off

#28

In browsers, ad blockers are being used more and more commonly for even non-technical folks. In native apps mobile apps, there are some okay ad-blocking solutions. But when the ads are baked into the operating system itself... I have a hard time seeing Microsoft or Apple losing the ad blocking battle. So, instead of getting ads somewhat sandboxed inside a browser, in the future we may be getting ads inside the start…

When companies think their business is to monetize their customers to the last penny instead of making a product people want, it is the beginning of the end. True for Microsoft, true for Apple. I think, long term, we will look back at 2016 as the turning point.

Re: Windows 10 is bringing ads to File Explorer – how to turn them off

#29

In browsers, ad blockers are being used more and more commonly for even non-technical folks. In native apps mobile apps, there are some okay ad-blocking solutions. But when the ads are baked into the operating system itself... I have a hard time seeing Microsoft or Apple losing the ad blocking battle. So, instead of getting ads somewhat sandboxed inside a browser, in the future we may be getting ads inside the start…

>I have a hard time seeing Microsoft or Apple losing the ad blocking battle

At the risk of hijacking your comment, what's the present situation with regards to running Linux on Apple hardware?

I quite like my Macbook and am generally tolerant of MacOS (mostly because it's POSIX-y enough to feel familiar), but would definitely consider installing a Linux distro depending on how well it worked.

Re: Windows 10 is bringing ads to File Explorer – how to turn them off

#30

> how to turn them off Switch to Linux. Windows 10 Home is now $119 and tracks you. Microsoft is trying to sell you a product and monetize your behavior. They are pursuing a way to maintain their cash cow and have an avenue to push Google out.

I have a primary Linux box, but my Windows box is still used for games. For the PC gamer, the indie game market on Linux is growing, but it's still not the same as the Windows market. Microsoft had one of the last minimal-bloat systems up until Windows 10. I don't want to enter a world where we need to start ad-blocking the entire OS via custom DNS servers. Microsoft is still making money of the initial OS license wi…

And I seem to remember when Microsoft squeezed out the market of accelerated sound cards, like SoundBlaster Live.

It effectively killed their audio market overnight, with the fact that everything had to go over their DRM stack.

We could have had machines with DSPs for sound, GPUs for accelerated array math, and general purpose CPUs for everything else. But MS decided that for us... Even though us Linux people can use advanced DSPs and the like.

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