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Edge sends images you view online to Microsoft

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Re: Edge sends images you view online to Microsoft

#121

Post by hospitalJail »

NotYourLawyer wrote: post #95
hot_gril wrote: post #67

I installed Windows 10 (not even 11!) recently on a random laptop and was appalled by the amount of BS in the initial setup process. Forced me to make a Microsoft online account seemingly with remote access to my PC, tried to sign me up for several different free trials, then tried multiple times to push me to Edge instead of Chrome. The UI has new crap like the Bing search on the taskbar and in the center of the des…

> Forced me to make a Microsoft online account They actually don’t quite force this. They just make it very difficult to find the option to use a local account instead. (Unless they’ve changed things for the worse since last time I installed windows. Very possible!)

Isnt this a dark pattern.

I think you are apologizing for them if you say it wasnt forced. It sure feels forced.

Re: Edge sends images you view online to Microsoft

#122

Post by hospitalJail »

paxys wrote: post #28
1024core wrote: post #24

Just imagine if Google was doing something like this; I bet the HN servers would melt down from the outrage! MS often gets a pass in these areas because people think of it as the "underdog", when in reality, MSFT is the biggest software company out there.

Yup, pretty common theme on this and other online communities. If Apple does something – this is obviously the correct thing to do, and everyone should copy them. If Microsoft does the same thing – meh, no one cares. If Google or Meta does the same thing – pitchforks, outrage, a thousand daily top-voted blog posts detailing how terrible these companies are. Goes to show how much of the current outrage culture is driv…

>this is obviously the correct thing to do, and everyone should copy them.

This is either the result of decades of marketing or astroturfing.

Re: Edge sends images you view online to Microsoft

#124

Post by mikae1 »

hospitalJail wrote: post #114
IgorPartola wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminder that MS owns GitHub, LinkedIn, and Mojang.

>Mojang The real danger. (almost unironically though) I can switch OS, Office is almost obsolete with google + free stuff, their browser/software is terrible and never used, Github(yikes, well, git works..), LinkedIn(and nothing of value was lost). So we really are at the whim of M$ when it comes to Github and Minecraft. Scary. But hey, I used to be obsessed with Nintendo games, and now people have Zelda clones so I…

Could you name some Zelda clones?

Re: Edge sends images you view online to Microsoft

#125

Post by hospitalJail »

Camisa wrote: post #59

If you use windows it will routinely set edge back to the default browser. The web team of microsoft is absolutely disgusting in every possible way, and it has always been.

Changing your M$ settings was basically my last straw.

I fixed my Windows install to be perfect, took me hours.

A few weeks later, it was reverted.

Re: Edge sends images you view online to Microsoft

#126

Post by Strom »

tredre3 wrote: post #108
NotYourLawyer wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Forced me to make a Microsoft online account They actually don’t quite force this. They just make it very difficult to find the option to use a local account instead. (Unless they’ve changed things for the worse since last time I installed windows. Very possible!)

On W10 you only get the option to create a local account if your network is disconnected, and only after multiple screens of insistence. A normal person being asked to connect to wifi during setup will do so and never have the option to not create a MS account. So it may not be impossible to create an offline account, but for all intents and purposes they do force your hand. On W11 you have to resort to more esoteric…

> On W11 you have to resort to more esoteric tricks, you can't actually complete setup normally without network and a ms account.

Maybe with the latest images, but I have an original W11 RTM image that installs just fine without network and a MS account.

Re: Edge sends images you view online to Microsoft

#128

Post by eulers_secret »

hot_gril wrote: post #67

I installed Windows 10 (not even 11!) recently on a random laptop and was appalled by the amount of BS in the initial setup process. Forced me to make a Microsoft online account seemingly with remote access to my PC, tried to sign me up for several different free trials, then tried multiple times to push me to Edge instead of Chrome. The UI has new crap like the Bing search on the taskbar and in the center of the des…

I literally reinstalled win10 yesterday and you’re right on. I couldn’t even install due to “a media driver your computer needs is missing” with no further info and no workaround. This was after mbr2gpt.exe failed and gave no information on why and every online resource was SEO crap without any info on fixing it.

I eventually used Ventoy, it works on Linux and solved my problems immediately. It also forces the win installer to think it’s offline to avoid the dark pattern of online-“only” accounts.

Then it was loaded with adverts and other horseshit. Seriously degraded experience.

All of this because when I was trying to play a game pass game the play button just did nothing. No logs, no info, nothing. The online help was pretty good, but removing/resetting/reinstalling all game related software did nothing. Real pain when there’s no feedback.

Re: Edge sends images you view online to Microsoft

#129

Post by worrycue »

donmcronald wrote: post #53
crazygringo wrote: post #4

This is just bananas to me that a browser would perform "super resolution" at all, much less by default . Couldn't this wreak havoc on doing things like viewing medical images, inserting false detail that isn't there? As well as on text in images, e.g. inventing a cleanly readable but hallucinated license plate number on a car, or financial figure, where the original is blurry? Not only does this seem like a terribly…

It’s crazy. I used Edge when it first switched to Chromium because it was a nice, clean Chrome alternative with working sync. Today it’s obvious Microsoft can’t be trusted. This “feature” is insane and it makes me concerned about what Windows might be doing in the background.

I just had the Edge Desktop Search Bar show up on my desktop. It just appeared from nowhere. Didn't even know when it was "installed".

MS is getting really pushy. They probably see the GPT stuff as their ticket to beating Google in search so they are pushing it as hard as they can to get as many users as they can.

I just click "turn off". I don't trust LLMs - all their knowledge is learned from the unreliable internet then you add hallucinations on top of that.

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