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Microsoft blocks even more customization apps in Windows 11 version 24H2

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Re: Microsoft blocks even more customization apps in Windows 11 version 24H2

#21

Post by snailmailman »

I’m still holding off updating to windows 11 as it still doesn’t have feature parity with windows 10.

The biggest one was the option to not merge apps in the taskbar down to one icon, and the option to show titles. They finally brought that feature to 11, but apparently the smaller taskbar is gone too? The only option was a larger one that always takes up much more space. I like it to show all the time, so I’d prefer a thinner taskbar.

Sure there are these hacky third party apps, but it’s not native. I don’t understand why they took all these power-user features away. As far as I know you can’t put the taskbar on the side or top edges of the screen either.

Re: Microsoft blocks even more customization apps in Windows 11 version 24H2

#22

Post by Krasnol »

> Like in the case of StartAllBack, you can bypass the block by simply renaming the executable to something else. If you want to upgrade to a newer build, delete the app, update your system, and then launch it using a renamed executable.

This is ridiculous.

I assume they just want to prevent average Joanne to use the tool, but she wouldn't do it either way or even get the idea to look for it. I mean...there are still people out there browsing the internet without UBlock.

So what's the point?

Re: Microsoft blocks even more customization apps in Windows 11 version 24H2

#23

Post by pipes »

wepple wrote: post #9
HlessClaudesman wrote: post #4

Not being able to customise my environment is a dealbreaker for me. I will be converting my day to day machine to Linux rather than being nagged into a user hostile OS upgrade. Clearly Microsoft has given up on powerusers, the people who notice and sometimes fix flaws in their monolith. Seems shortsighted.

What kept you on their platform this long if you don’t mind my asking?

For me it's the hardware support in windows. I've been using Linux on and off for 15 years, but every time I've tried to switch my home desktop I've always run in to issues. I used mint Linux for quite a while and it makes a very good stab at competing with windows.

Recently I got a steam deck and I'm surprised how good it is in desktop mode, and also at running windows games in proton. I'm actually considering getting a dock and ditching my desktop atx tower. The tracking and telemetry in windows has really put me off it.

Re: Microsoft blocks even more customization apps in Windows 11 version 24H2

#24

Post by jicka »

ykonstant wrote: post #18
HlessClaudesman wrote: post #4

Not being able to customise my environment is a dealbreaker for me. I will be converting my day to day machine to Linux rather than being nagged into a user hostile OS upgrade. Clearly Microsoft has given up on powerusers, the people who notice and sometimes fix flaws in their monolith. Seems shortsighted.

How good is running Windows in a VM with a Linux host nowadays? Does it work well for office users who want to run Office? How about people who want to run Adobe or Autodesk software? These use cases seem to be causing the most friction for the transition in my circles (apart from gaming, which is a different story).

If you have the hardware for it, VFIO setups can be amazing. I've been running graphics accelerated Windows inside a VM for a few months now, and apart for some random crashes, it's perfect.

I've been using Capture One (lightroom alternative) and Affinity Photo 2 inside the VM and it's been great.

Haven't really tried video editing, but it might not be as great.

Re: Microsoft blocks even more customization apps in Windows 11 version 24H2

#25

Post by pjmlp »

HlessClaudesman wrote: post #4

Not being able to customise my environment is a dealbreaker for me. I will be converting my day to day machine to Linux rather than being nagged into a user hostile OS upgrade. Clearly Microsoft has given up on powerusers, the people who notice and sometimes fix flaws in their monolith. Seems shortsighted.

Given the hard time I am having installing Linux on a Gigabyte NUC that was given to me, due to UEFI issues, I am quite close to either get rid of it, or install Windows 11, make use of WSL if needed, and call it a day.

Re: Microsoft blocks even more customization apps in Windows 11 version 24H2

#28

Post by jack_pp »

ykonstant wrote: post #18
HlessClaudesman wrote: post #4

Not being able to customise my environment is a dealbreaker for me. I will be converting my day to day machine to Linux rather than being nagged into a user hostile OS upgrade. Clearly Microsoft has given up on powerusers, the people who notice and sometimes fix flaws in their monolith. Seems shortsighted.

How good is running Windows in a VM with a Linux host nowadays? Does it work well for office users who want to run Office? How about people who want to run Adobe or Autodesk software? These use cases seem to be causing the most friction for the transition in my circles (apart from gaming, which is a different story).

Depends on how powerful your machine is

Re: Microsoft blocks even more customization apps in Windows 11 version 24H2

#29

Post by cinntaile »

ryanjshaw wrote: post #16
wepple wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What kept you on their platform this long if you don’t mind my asking?

Not OP, but in my case it's Visual Studio. It's just the best IDE for me, and I have literally decades of muscle memory using it. I first tried Linux sometime in the late 90s, and this might finally be the year I switch over. I do everything else in a Linux VM now, may as well run Linux as host and Windows as a VM.

You can use Visual Studio on Linux, I would assume you can configure it to use the same hotkeys as on Windows but I'm not sure.

Re: Microsoft blocks even more customization apps in Windows 11 version 24H2

#30

Post by withinrafael »

There are plenty of reasons to skewer Microsoft, but this isn't one of them.

Microsoft isn't blocking all customization apps here, of course. They're blocking known [1][2] unreliable, poorly written, high crash rate software that is extremely sensitive to OS changes, hotfixes, and/or upgrades due to the nature of the software (e.g. hooking functions, patching memory, etc).

The block is geared towards a specific revision of the software. The authors will just need to fix the bugs, rev the executable version, and they're good to go. Again.

[1] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/release-health/res...

[2] https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/issues

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