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Anomalous CPU utilization on Windows build node caused by ads

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Re: Anomalous CPU utilization on Windows build node caused by ads

#121
post #6

A related observation: I have between 4-8 *nix, MacOS, iOS, machines running on my home network at any given time. I’m using piHole (with base config) to block ad traffic. My blocked percentage hovers around ~10%... until I boot up my one Windows 10 machine, which spikes the blocked ad traffic to ~25% and remains that high -with zero applications running mind you - until I shutdown the machine, after which it quickly…

Windows Defender's realtime protection in Windows 10 is also terrible. Practically monopolises an entire core at all times. To make things worse, you cannot permanently disable it without a GPO. And Microsoft is known to keep taking GPOs out of Pro.

Re: Anomalous CPU utilization on Windows build node caused by ads

#122
Windows is just a spyware at this point. Never use it for anything serious. Microsoft having more money that they can ever spend, play the "good person" and seduce developers with shiny things, but the underlining strategy to f*ck everyone hard is in play at all times. Don't be a fool.

Re: Anomalous CPU utilization on Windows build node caused by ads

#123
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve seen less on the Windows 10 Pro version (switched off all datasending features on install).

Enjoy having them silently re-enabled on the next update. Enterprise is the only version where you can actually disable and it'll stay disabled, because most regulated corps would consider "telemetry" a data breach.

Odd. On the dozen Windows 10 PCs I've maintained from mixed vendors and self builds, some fresh installs, some upgrades from 7 or 8, I've never had any of these options reenabled. No fancy registry hacks or 3rd party blockers on 3/4 of the machines. A few have more aggressive telemetry disabling changes, and let me check this one... yeah, no changes. And this system has been abused, tweaked and untweaked 15 ways to bacon over the last 2 years on the same install.

My guess is that people screw up their machines in a way that triggers some type of registry repair, or they encounter a problem and do a rollback or refresh in safe boot themselves, which will reset things like active services and scheduled tasks. Those fire up, see an unrecognized configuration, invalid entries, or missing entries, and reset those settings to a default.

Seriously, I see these comments on things happening by magic in Win 10 - full apps installing themselves, setting gremlins flipping switches, advertisements eating people's children, etc.- and I've literally experienced NONE of them. Actually I had Error Reporting reenabled once after using the troubleshooting settings to clean the DNS cache instead of ipconfig. I've had plenty of issues to troubleshoot, mostly from my own tweaking, some out of my control, but the level of Win10 FUD is bizarre.

tl;dr - More MS FUD. Don't use every hack posted by internet randos and check any deep customizations after using any automated repair tools.

Re: Anomalous CPU utilization on Windows build node caused by ads

#124
post #37

Things like these is why most Mac converts never want to return to Windows. Not just the issue in TFA/post, which may seem trivial, but the overall “telemetry” debacle and experiences like jtdev’s comment. For all their claims of having reformed, Microsoft will always be that ex you don’t want to do anything with ever again. There are worse horrors than the lack of a physical Escape key, waiting on the other side of…

I love the idea of Apple being more privacy focused, and helping us keep our data more secure. I have a touchbar macbook pro, and a headphone-jackless iphone. I just wish they wouldn't beat me with their opinionated hardware and software choices. Deprecating open gl. Eliminating 32-bit support. Forcing me to use dongle after dongle (ethernet, usb-A, HDMI, and SD card) Magic mouse has such a terrible sensor, not to me…

[deleted]

Re: Anomalous CPU utilization on Windows build node caused by ads

#125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've seen IE launch itself at times after a reboot. When the OS updates & reboots, a lot of apps take this opportunity to update themselves, or maybe its the default behavior on system boot, who knows. After the update they decide to send you to their website - but they fuck up the API call and so IE just shows the default homepage.

But why IE? Why not Edge? IE hasn't been the default browser for years. And iirc Edge shows some shitty news feed "new tab" screen (without ads). It's still crap, but less crap than msn.com :-)

I suspect it actually was Edge and the OP didn't realize

Re: Anomalous CPU utilization on Windows build node caused by ads

#126
post #95
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love the idea of Apple being more privacy focused, and helping us keep our data more secure. I have a touchbar macbook pro, and a headphone-jackless iphone. I just wish they wouldn't beat me with their opinionated hardware and software choices. Deprecating open gl. Eliminating 32-bit support. Forcing me to use dongle after dongle (ethernet, usb-A, HDMI, and SD card) Magic mouse has such a terrible sensor, not to me…

I have a lot of the same dramas... but then my Windows computer and ecosystem has so many equivalents (in terms of frustration and lost time, more than specifics) that frankly I’m exhausted with computing in general at this point. Question: what enclosure did you get? I’m thinking of getting the Razer Core X myself, for an AMD card for bootcamp and macOS

I got the Razer Core X.

There is an issue where I have to plug it in right after windows starts to boot because the mac tries to disable the integrated graphics if it's plugged in when the laptop boots (which causes windows to not boot). But if you don't plug it in while windows is in the early boot stages then windows doesn't seem to want to identify it. Apparently this is solvable with a custom efi module but I haven't explored that yet.

Otherwise it works solid in windows. Pretty much the same performance as when the card was in my desktop.

Re: Anomalous CPU utilization on Windows build node caused by ads

#127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do graphics, but on the scientific side, we all use Linux. Except when the lab provides us Macs, then we get frustrated and just remote in. I'm just trying to detangle the type of graphics being mentioned. I do wish Nvidia drivers were better, but maybe that'll happen with ROCs coming out soon.

> I do wish Nvidia drivers were better Get AMD. Why do people insist on getting Nvidia cards and then complain that those aren't aimed at them? Get the one that is selling to you.

Because both times I bought an AMD (ATI at the time) card, it failed prematurely (out of warranty, but < 2 years of life) and the drivers sucked balls.

Re: Anomalous CPU utilization on Windows build node caused by ads

#128
post #2

The duality of modern Microsoft is absolutely astounding. How they can simultaneously do incredible things for Github, and open source Windows components, while continuing to not fix the most user hostile Windows ever produced, is completely bonkers. My litmus test for whether Windows is finally fixed is whether of not it’s possible to install it without Candy Crush, but unfortunately without killing the network and…

I don't think Microsoft is doing incredible things. They are baiting the developers and just use the strategy of locking people into their constellation of spying services. Acquiring GitHub they got access to all private repositiories and insight to what other companies are doing. This is despicable.

Re: Anomalous CPU utilization on Windows build node caused by ads

#129
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love the idea of Apple being more privacy focused, and helping us keep our data more secure. I have a touchbar macbook pro, and a headphone-jackless iphone. I just wish they wouldn't beat me with their opinionated hardware and software choices. Deprecating open gl. Eliminating 32-bit support. Forcing me to use dongle after dongle (ethernet, usb-A, HDMI, and SD card) Magic mouse has such a terrible sensor, not to me…

Did you start experiencing the random auto double click bug on your logitech yet?

Nope, I've never had that problem with any of the Logitech mice I've owned. Which model has that issue?

Re: Anomalous CPU utilization on Windows build node caused by ads

#130

So the objection is that Internet Explorer has msn.com as its default homepage. This is fair, it's ridiculous and a relic from a long gone age. But so is Internet Explorer. What kind of super old Windows version were these people running? What caused IE to open out of the blue? Windows has plenty flaws but randomly open browsers is not one I'm familiar with.

The comment on randomly opening windows is fair (I don't see what caused it either), but this was a build VM, not a workstation - there is no reason to upgrade the browser. A more pertinent question is why are MS still shipping IE by default.

It was a "build VM" running the client edition of Windows. Do you install Ubuntu Desktop on your build VMs and expect Firefox not to be bundled?
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