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Useless Windows 10 Features

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Re: Useless Windows 10 Features

#181

Post by crispinb »

starsinspace wrote: post #171
crispinb wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're probably best off asking around on relevant forums about what works best on your particular machine. Of the mainstream distros, I found Fedora was by far the best OOB for my current laptop (XPS 15 9570), but I don't get the impression that's universally true. (Tangent: though likeable in many ways, Fedora was still too much fart-arsing about for me & after a few months I went back to Windows. I don't like it,…

Does Fedora come with support for playing back common media formats these days? Last time I tried, it didn't even play MP3s, just showing some dialog box about how it can't play that due to patents or something. To solve that IIRC it was needed to add some 3rd-party repository (which is always a bit worrying with having to trust them) to install the codec packages. Is that still the case with Fedora?

I don't know at what point Fedora loosened up re the FOSS strictures, but the version I installed (30) did have non-free apps/codecs available by default, including for mp3s.

Re: Useless Windows 10 Features

#182

Post by Xelbair »

cookie_monsta wrote: post #85

I've installed Win10 on dozens of machines and I've never seen ads on the lock screen, in the taskbar, and in notifications like the article talks about. Maybe because I always say "no" to all those creepy tracking/advertising ID type options on the initial config screen and I always say no to Cortana at the same time. What I heard (and it seems reasonable) is that MS included games like Solitaire and Minesweeper in…

Me too, i never ever seen any ad on win10 - both home and pro versions(on a side note - home version is nigh unusable when it starts it's anti-malware scan - even on fresh install))

I do always turn off every possible telemetry setting.

I've never ever seen them at my work too - we use pro version of windows10 for most PCs.

Re: Useless Windows 10 Features

#184

Post by siempreb »

> Windows 10 has more built-in advertisements than Google’s Android and Chrome OS do.

It's still hard to believe that after paying a few hundreds of dollars for a new OS you will be treated with advertisements, as if it were freeware.. I'll never buy that shit.

Re: Useless Windows 10 Features

#185

Post by twic »

cannonedhamster wrote: post #28
orev wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In many cases you can get by with the built-in Windows Defender. I’m not sure I trust the free AV vendors, seeing as everyone is jumping on the data-hoovering bandwagon.

Windows defender goes from consistently being one of the best options to no good and then back to one of the best regularly. Generally browsing Gavin are the thing that saves you not than antivirus these days.

browsing Gavin = browsing habits?

Re: Useless Windows 10 Features

#186

Post by jplayer01 »

siempreb wrote: post #184

> Windows 10 has more built-in advertisements than Google’s Android and Chrome OS do. It's still hard to believe that after paying a few hundreds of dollars for a new OS you will be treated with advertisements, as if it were freeware.. I'll never buy that shit.

> It's still hard to believe that after paying a few hundreds of dollars for a new OS

I haven't checked, but are the ads in the enterprise versions? Otherwise, I'd guess that the vast majority of home consumers have an OEM key that came with their laptop or PC (or upgraded from Win7), and they didn't pay hundreds of dollars for. While the price of Win10 is included in some way in the price of the device, it wouldn't be nearly as much. Also, from what I remember, 1903 has gotten rid of most of the ads on a fresh installation, so it seems to be improving.

edit: Actually, I didn't realize there were actual ad notifications at all in Win10. Never seen them before. Maybe region/setting dependent? I only meant the games and other third party stuff that show up in the start menu.

Re: Useless Windows 10 Features

#187

Post by iggldiggl »

sofaofthedamned wrote: post #103
cVwEq wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here, but maybe the difference is that we install Windows 10 Pro whereas the author is a Windows 10 Home user? The article doesn't seem to state the version they are using. Most annoying is that there are a large number of little bits of functionality that phone home or send information out into the ether: Windows Defender and its submitting of samples, searching via the Windows button, Task Scheduled telemetry…

Wikipedia in this situation always uses Edge as the browser. I wonder if this helps inflate their user stats?

Try EdgeDeflector (https://github.com/da2x/EdgeDeflector).

Re: Useless Windows 10 Features

#189

Post by twic »

zeta0134 wrote: post #54
ilaksh wrote: post #38

In case people are really ambitious or adventurous and want to avoid all of this stuff completely, what Linux distro (or other open source OS) is currently trendiest/most useful/relevant? Is it still Ubuntu?

I would strongly vote in favor of Ubuntu for your first distribution. It's still wildly popular, and despite some mishaps, Canonical tries pretty hard to make sure it's a smooth installation process, and has enough standard applications installed to be useful right away. If you just want to get your feet wet, and especially if you'd rather not mess around with the command line unless absolutely necessary, Ubuntu is g…

My experience has been that Fedora does better at "just works" than Ubuntu, over the working life of the installation. Ubuntu may install easily, but it builds up weird stuff over time - thing randomly crashing, stuff not working in weird ways after updates. Fedora just keeps on trucking.

+1 to Cinnamon - AFAICT it's the best way to preserve a classic desktop-style desktop, rather than having a desktop which is trying to be a giant mobile phone.

Re: Useless Windows 10 Features

#190

Post by jplayer01 »

pjc50 wrote: post #142
IdontRememberIt wrote: post #53

The most critical useless feature (as it is now) is actually the Windows Store. What is Microsoft doing wrong that makes nobody use it? It could be a revolution (selling + updates).

I believe it only works for UWP apps, thereby making it almost completely useless. Also, nobody wants to give Microsoft a cut of the software price if they can help it.

Thankfully, it seems the store is improving slowly.

https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/30/18645609/microsofts-unive...

I think the Windows Store is incredibly important. Worked as a technician for a while, and the amount of garbage people installed from random sites is mind-boggling. Or programs that hadn't been updated in five years. Non-tech people need a safe source for installing software (that also automatically updates it) and as long as the store wasn't providing a significant amount of useful software (all of which is Win32), it wasn't ever a viable solution. It might be soon.

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