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Microsoft is using malware-like pop-ups in Win11 to get people to ditch Chrome

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Re: Microsoft is using malware-like pop-ups in Win11 to get people to ditch Chrome

#71

Post by nightski »

stetrain wrote: post #38
WarOnPrivacy wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I got a Windows Notification the other day while playing a game telling me about a "Grand prize giveaway" By my exp, I'd wager it was a third party using Windows' baked-in nag system, via Chrome. That is, you've got a bit of crapware in Chrome that is sending notifications and Chrome cheerfully forwards them to Windows. I see this on customer systems with some regularity. Degrading a user's experience seems to be o…

No, it was a Microsoft Rewards promotion. Something I don’t recall opting into. https://promos.microsoftrewards.com/US/en/SS/88/rules Edit: Chrome isn’t even installed, I use Firefox.

Yeah Microsoft Rewards is super annoying, and I'm not sure who even actually engages with it. But if you want to use windows you can remove MS rewards from your account and the notifications stop [1].

[1] https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/how-to-opt-out-of-...

Re: Microsoft is using malware-like pop-ups in Win11 to get people to ditch Chrome

#72

Post by nerdjon »

throwaway290 wrote: post #68
nerdjon wrote: post #60

Microsoft really needs to take a real hard look at Windows and figure out what its place is in the world. I know very few people outside of gamers that have a full computer outside of one given for work. This is one of the many reasons that my windows computer is solely for gaming (and I use a debloated Windows 10 LTS install) and never has anything sensitive on it. Any general computing tasks happen on my Mac. I wou…

I think you mistake gamers and normal consumers who do have a choice. Maybe they don't want to pay more for Mac, and that's the only leverage. If they don't play games, they lose nothing.

I don’t think I am? I specifically mention that I know very few people outside of gamers that have a computer.

So I feel like most normal consumers have already made that choice and they don’t need windows or Mac.

Re: Microsoft is using malware-like pop-ups in Win11 to get people to ditch Chrome

#73

Post by Digit-Al »

willwinger wrote: post #54

All Microsoft applications such as Teams, Outlook now open links only on Edge, completely ignoring the default browser setting.

You can turn that behaviour off though [0]. I would agree that it should be off by default instead of on by default - but they don't completely ignore the setting if you don't want them to.

[0] https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/web-links-from-out...

Re: Microsoft is using malware-like pop-ups in Win11 to get people to ditch Chrome

#74

Post by tchbnl »

partomniscient wrote: post #27
tchbnl wrote: post #10

Windows 7 really was the last good Windows release. After that we got the hideous Metro redesign, then all the telemetry and shoving of Edge etc. down our throats.

I still worry that the Wachowski's were right when they wrote that line in The Matrix about the peak of human civilisation. I actually think its about connectedness. We're too overconnected for our own good, the connections are shallow and manipulative and that connectedness is exploited by the powerful to connect more of us further in ways. Downward spiral of dystopian future ensues... For the controlling corporatio…

I do think the Internet peaked in the early 2000s. Things started to take a downward turn as social networks like Facebook and Twitter really took off and simple recommendations started being replaced by algorithms and endless scrolling to encourage nonstop consumption. The limited hardware and network speeds prevented some of that from being possible.

We're definitely overconnected these days. I think it'd be a net positive for humanity if the centralized social networks and mega services died.

Re: Microsoft is using malware-like pop-ups in Win11 to get people to ditch Chrome

#75

Post by trustingtrust »

gumballindie wrote: post #65
mythz wrote: post #53

I'm a big fan of WSL, which has kept me on Windows for years more than I otherwise would have. But I can't stand the scammy adware infused OS Windows has become and will be moving to Apple Silicon full-time when the next gen M3 Desktop hardware is out. As a recent M2 Macbook Air owner I'm surprised how much software supports ARM/Apple Silicon natively, where everything I use daily as a .NET developer worked OOB [1].…

Why not Linux (depending on your line of work). Wider hardware choice, easier to upgrade, and no corporate oversight. Doesn't cover all use cases but it's a good option these days.

With computers like framework and system76, the community for hardware support is solid too now. Seriously considering a switch from M1. I feel like macOS is half baked development environment. I only stay because I never bought a Linux supported computer and I got the M1 air very cheap. But I am considering getting a framework as I just damaged a usb-c port and I am not entering apple’s repairability problem.

Re: Microsoft is using malware-like pop-ups in Win11 to get people to ditch Chrome

#76

Post by Maken »

tchbnl wrote: post #10

Windows 7 really was the last good Windows release. After that we got the hideous Metro redesign, then all the telemetry and shoving of Edge etc. down our throats.

Aside from some some odd duplication in the system UI (they have like three different "control panels" with overlapping functionality), Windows 10/11 are not such a bad UX. As long as you actively op-out of all the BS they keep adding on daily basis, of course.

Re: Microsoft is using malware-like pop-ups in Win11 to get people to ditch Chrome

#77

Post by digitalsin »

thesuperbigfrog wrote: post #5

"You might argue that this is Microsoft’s operating system, or that when using Microsoft’s browser and search engine it’s well within its rights to try and sway people away from Chrome." "Microsoft’s behaviors here are totally beyond a simple webpage prompt. I shouldn’t have to be dismissing pop-ups that appear on top of my apps and games, or ones that magically appear after I update my copy of Windows." Windows 11 i…

If a user can't switch to another OS, you can run Windows Server. I run that in my home lab when I have to use a Windows based OS for certain scenarios.

Re: Microsoft is using malware-like pop-ups in Win11 to get people to ditch Chrome

#78

Post by nerdjon »

gumballindie wrote: post #67
nerdjon wrote: post #60

Microsoft really needs to take a real hard look at Windows and figure out what its place is in the world. I know very few people outside of gamers that have a full computer outside of one given for work. This is one of the many reasons that my windows computer is solely for gaming (and I use a debloated Windows 10 LTS install) and never has anything sensitive on it. Any general computing tasks happen on my Mac. I wou…

> Microsoft really needs to take a real hard look at Windows and figure out what its place is in the world. They did. But they looks in the wrong mirror from the wrong angle. They probably asked a few business people in microsoft what can the company do to increase revenue, and that's what they came up with. > I would love to ditch Windows and go to Linux for gaming but as good as proton is. The more people that play…

I disagree with the idea of leaving negative reviews just because a game doesn’t support a specific platform. It’s the same toxic fanboy wars we see if a game doesn’t come out on a specific console or available on a specific store.

Doing so costs money for a small portion of the community. Ultimately these studios are businesses and have to make financial choices.

I do fully recognize that this is a chicken and the egg problem. But proton is not a perfect solution and I even had to install Windows on my steam deck to play some of the games I want to play.

At the end of the day I’m a gamer first and a fanboy second. I want to play the games.

Re: Microsoft is using malware-like pop-ups in Win11 to get people to ditch Chrome

#79

Post by footlose_3815 »

Ever since Windows 8, Windows has opened the floodgates of shitty 3rd parties to come into your machines.

My sound menu changed the offered me 3rd party apps to buy from the store for audio codecs. My start menu aggressively searches the internet for nothing I'll ever want. My computer came pre-loaded with a ton of garbage I never wanted. My iPhone images in HEIC codec require a microsoft store transaction to view.

They are making money after the fact when they sell you the OS. Marketing the hell out of every single click, phoning shady telemetry back home.

It's not really my computer anymore. And it's been 20 years since I first used linux, and it's not taking-over fast enough. Shitty game developers like Blizzard and Bethesda (Both now owned by Microsoft BTW) are keeping people on Windows.

Re: Microsoft is using malware-like pop-ups in Win11 to get people to ditch Chrome

#80

Post by prmoustache »

tivert wrote: post #50
prmoustache wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What should Windows 11 users do to let Microsoft know that such behaviors are intrusive and offensive? Leave it for a proper OS. It might not be possible for your company issued computers if they don't allow you to use something else[1][2] but for your personnal uses it is fairly easy. [1] I doubt it would be configured to receive popup ads in that context anyway [2] Having a toxic work environment is a good reason…

> Leave it for a proper OS. > It might not be possible for your company issued computers if they don't allow you to use something else[1][2] but for your personnal [sic] uses it is fairly easy. It's not that easy, unless you're willing to make a bunch of sacrifices for the sake of using a different OS. Windows is by far the dominant desktop OS, and there's a lot of software people need and want to use that's availabl…

> there's a lot of software people need and want to use

This is mostly a mindset issue.

A bit more than 2 decades ago I would have said you would have pried photoshop from my cold dead hands.

Then I got fed up by a lot of things in this ecosystem, and I left it completely. I may not have access to the same applications, but I have access to decent applications that allows me to get the job done. And it applies to a very broad range of domains.

There are a few exceptions of course, but rarely ones you encounter in a non professionnal setting. In these very few and rare use cases there are options:

1. wine if it works would be the preferred one 2. accessing an app running on a windows through rdp, either as a full desktop or as a standalone window.[1] OK granted you are still using windows in that case, in the background, but you can do that only sporadically by launching a cloud windows vm instance for the small amount of time in a year you definitely need that dirty OS for personnal use.

Obviously YMMV but the barrier is mostly psychological imho.

[1] I think there was a project to facilitate that for office, adobe applications called winapps, see the different active forks here:

https://techgaun.github.io/active-forks/index.html#Fmstrat/w...

there is also this: https://github.com/ne0YT/Linux-Subsystem-for-Windows_Seamles...

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