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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

#151
post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Correct: with the latest images, W11 will not under any circumstances allow you to avoid creating an MS account. It will insist you go online and halt the installer until you do. Rufus ( https://rufus.ie/en/ ) offers an option to revert fix this, but you still have to ensure that you keep wifi disconnected and ethernet unplugged during install.

Actually yes it will - at least as of last weekend. During OOBE setup, after connecting to Ethernet or Wi-Fi, you must select “join a work or school domain.”

I got tripped up by this too because I was insistent on not connecting it to the internet during setup, but the local account only switch had moved since I last checked up on it.

It will still ask you three or four times ARE YOU SURE you don’t want to sign in to a Microsoft account. But at least you can still avoid it for the moment.

Re: Edge sends images you view online to Microsoft

#152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Today it’s obvious Microsoft can’t be trusted. Today? Where were you when it's 'free' OS' was 'phoning home' or during it's behemoth days in the 90s-2000s when it forced the most pro-business Government (US) to essentially break it up when it was using it's monoploitic practices too far for even them? I have to use Teams and just logically assume all of what was said or talked about exists on some server somewhere…

Please don’t give up praying about FOSS to the masses. It was a post like this that convinced me to try Linux Arch. I will never look back. I didn’t boot into my Windows drive for more than a month now. I just keep a bare installation for online games that don’t run on Linux. For now.

It’s unfortunate, but there’s not really a FOSS alternative for a general purpose personal-use OS that comes close to Windows.

It completely owns that market. There’s macOS and iOS I guess, but they’re not generally available to install on third party equipment.

Linux, sadly, is just not at all a consumer OS and never became one. The security model alone is an unfixable disaster (and many have tried over the years).

Re: Edge sends images you view online to Microsoft

#153

Here is how you disable that: 1. Go to your favorite search engine 2. Download a different browser 3. Never use Edge again

Its funny you mention that. I was helping with a windows laptop. I swear using edge to download chromium and firefox, the browser didn't stop me, but put a bar at the top saying how I should give "Edge" a try for my browsing needs. It was a little startling, realizing the browser is watching the url and that someone had to write code for that scenario. there is it, was not remembering wrong: https://www.theverge.com/…

The pinnacle of psychopathy.

Re: Edge sends images you view online to Microsoft

#154
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 does not align with my experience with HN. The pitchforks were properly out and aggressively poking at Apple when Apple declared that images uploaded to the cloud would be actively scanned and reviewed for illegal content. It got to the point where Apple reversed its decision.

>It got to the point where Apple reversed its decision.

Nice?

HN users tend to use more Apple and Linux. If Microsoft gets more of a pass my guess is it's because no one expects anything from them. The opinion of many HN users about Windows and Edge is already very low.

Re: Edge sends images you view online to Microsoft

#156
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can start by switching to Firefox ( https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/browsers/ ). It's a perfectly fine browser, good extensions.

If a browser user is concerned about privacy, I don't see how Firefox is really all that much better of an option. Read the Firefox Privacy Notice, for example: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/privacy/firefox/ It sounds to me like Firefox can collect and send out a lot of information beyond what is necessary for user-initiated browsing actions to be performed. There are also numerous references to sharing information/d…

If I gotta pick a leaky bucket, I am going to pick one with a smaller hole.

Re: Edge sends images you view online to Microsoft

#157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Vivaldi is my browser of choice due to sync, and because Firefox as much as I love it does not perform well when scrolling on mobile. Of course, Firefox has sync as well.

I don't have problems scrolling in Firefox mobile that I've noticed, and I don't run flagship phones (I'm running a few years old Galaxy A51). I do run uBlock on Firefox Mobile though, which I'm sure helps immensely, so maybe that's the main difference.

Re: Edge sends images you view online to Microsoft

#158

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.

I went through literally every reply in this HN thread and I didn't see anyone defending Microsoft. Two pages as of the time of this writing, I looked at every subthread. And the servers ARE melting down! (But not because of this.)

Are we talking about the same website?

Re: Edge sends images you view online to Microsoft

#159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vivaldi is my browser of choice due to sync, and because Firefox as much as I love it does not perform well when scrolling on mobile. Of course, Firefox has sync as well.

Firefox is my favorite browser. Not because I like it more than other browsers. But I think it is very important that there is not just a single browser engine on the market. Chromium has too much market share. And although it is open source google dictated what features get in. We shouldn’t trust one company with that much power.

I've been using FF more lately because it has a functioning ad block. Mobile web has become borderline unusable with the amount of ads that get shoved in your face. It's not enough to take up 90% of the screen, it has to pop up autoplay videos with audio over that last 10%.

Re: Edge sends images you view online to Microsoft

#160

We need to get off the GitHub and VsCode dependency before LLM tooling makes it too difficult. It's just a matter of time until those business units are integrated into Microsoft's system of perverse incentives.

Jetbrains make great IDEs, Codeium isn't half bad as a copilot replacement, and there are other git hosts that are fine too...
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