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Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything

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Re: Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything

#331

Post by Grimm665 »

Grombobulous wrote: post #283
cm2187 wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The computer is not exposed to the WAN (behind a firewall), the main way it could get infected is via a vulnerability in a browser, but these do get updated. And OS updates don't really protect you from malware in executables you install anyway.

The other potentially obvious question is why bother using an OS that’s out of support when Linux is so good? I left Windows 11. The last straw wasn’t Microsoft accounts or Windows updates. I actually thought the OS was fine, most OS updates actually added great new features, and anything I considered an annoyance was easy to disable permanently. Toss your Windows 11 ISO into Rufus and disabling things like Microsoft…

> The other potentially obvious question is why bother using an OS that’s out of support when Linux is so good?

I'm in the process of setting up a Linux desktop to replace my Win10 one, and for me it's these (if anyone has suggestions for migration or replacement, I'd love some opinions!)

- Lightroom. If anyone knows how to either run this under Linux, or migrate an entirely catalog of photos (plus edits) to something open source (including the Negative Lab Pro plugin), that would be amazing.

- MusicBee. There just does not seem to be a good music manager for Linux that can replace MusicBee. I rarely use it as a music player, there are dozens of great options for Linux music players, but MusicBee feeds my Airsonic instance, and I have not found a good way to manage music graphically in a way that maintains this setup.

- Games. This is really getting better and better each year...but I regularly play Microsoft Flight Simulator and haven't even tried to get that running in Linux yet (anyone have good experiences getting this working?)

Re: Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything

#332

Post by 34679 »

fortran77 wrote: post #318

I don't know what the disconnect is. I'm running Windows 11 Arm right now on the best laptop I've ever owned -- an Asus Zenbook A16 with OLED screen and 48 GB of RAM (all for $1699). It's super fast -- it beats a 2026 Macbook Pro rendering Blender "Classroom". I have a Microsoft account, I don't know what the big deal is. I follow the happy path. It's nice to have settings (and I can control which ones) sync across m…

1. Personal Computers are personal. Inviting an outside observer into one is no different than inviting one into the bathroom. What I do in there is my business.

2. Friction. This is likely MS's attempt to slow-walk Windows into a subscription service. If nobody resisted, that walk wouldn't be slow.

Re: Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything

#333

Post by noah34 »

TacticalCoder wrote: post #147
noah34 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

good luck getting ol' grandma to flash her desktop with Fedora/equivalent

> good luck getting ol' grandma to flash her desktop with Fedora/equivalent My kid's grandma (my wife's mom) brought me one Windows laptop too-many to fix "because there were ads everywhere". I confiscated her laptop (I'm now using Linux on it) and had her buy a Chromebook. People aren't using Windows under my watch / friends don't let friends/family use that mediocre piece of turd that Windows is / etc.

to be honest i forgot chromebooks exist and now that you mention them i think they're the best solution for anyone whose computer is simply a medium to access a web browser

Re: Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything

#334

Post by patrakov »

seethishat wrote: post #307
daemin wrote: post #296

One thing I disagree with the article about is that drives should not be encrypted by default. For the vast majority of people an encrypted drive is just data loss lying in wait. I prefer to use non-encrypted drives so I have the option of popping out the disk and reading it from another system with ease, which also means that I can recover files from drives of otherwise dead systems just as easily. This is a trade o…

It's really about personal privacy. Your computer is likely to be stolen and sold. If you don't want others reading your email, viewing your pictures, seeing your tax returns, etc. then you should encrypt the drive. I call this "The Pawn Shop Threat Model" ;) And, IME it is likely to happen.

And the worst part is, I have seen computer repair shops that refuse to work with a laptop if it has an encrypted system drive, under the guise of "how would we then validate the fix?"

Re: Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything

#335

Post by nandomrumber »

seethishat wrote: post #307
daemin wrote: post #296

One thing I disagree with the article about is that drives should not be encrypted by default. For the vast majority of people an encrypted drive is just data loss lying in wait. I prefer to use non-encrypted drives so I have the option of popping out the disk and reading it from another system with ease, which also means that I can recover files from drives of otherwise dead systems just as easily. This is a trade o…

It's really about personal privacy. Your computer is likely to be stolen and sold. If you don't want others reading your email, viewing your pictures, seeing your tax returns, etc. then you should encrypt the drive. I call this "The Pawn Shop Threat Model" ;) And, IME it is likely to happen.

> Your computer is likely to be stolen and sold.

No, it’s not.

Re: Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything

#336

Post by nandomrumber »

antiframe wrote: post #304
daemin wrote: post #296

One thing I disagree with the article about is that drives should not be encrypted by default. For the vast majority of people an encrypted drive is just data loss lying in wait. I prefer to use non-encrypted drives so I have the option of popping out the disk and reading it from another system with ease, which also means that I can recover files from drives of otherwise dead systems just as easily. This is a trade o…

> I prefer to use non-encrypted drives so I have the option of popping out the disk and reading it from another system with ease, which also means that I can recover files from drives of otherwise dead systems just as easily. Everyone has different security needs. But (maybe it's different on Windows), what's hard about popping the disk to another machine and then decrypting it with the key? Does Windows not give you…

[dead]

Re: Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything

#337

Post by hellojesus »

yabones wrote: post #324
daemin wrote: post #296

One thing I disagree with the article about is that drives should not be encrypted by default. For the vast majority of people an encrypted drive is just data loss lying in wait. I prefer to use non-encrypted drives so I have the option of popping out the disk and reading it from another system with ease, which also means that I can recover files from drives of otherwise dead systems just as easily. This is a trade o…

Obviously "physical access is full access", but it's shockingly easy to break into a Windows box if you have access to the unencrypted drive. I learned with I was a teenager how to use the recovery partition to mount the C: drive, then copy "cmd.exe" to "utilman.exe" or "sethc.exe" and get an instant root shell on the login page. Takes about 2-3 minutes, can be done in the time somebody leaves their laptop to go to t…

Agreed, specifically about the tax info concerns. All my drives are encrypted with either luks, veracrypt, or native zfs encryption if my server data.

My primary concern is a robbery while I'm not home. It's trivial to break in, steal hard drives, and then go pop them into another machine on your own time to scan the files looking for tax or other sensitive docs.

While encryption keys are a risk, you can always save the random key file or passphrase in cloud storage (using symmetric encryption) and/or in your password manager.

Re: Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything

#338

Post by Ylpertnodi »

newtonianrules wrote: post #319

Just install Ubuntu already (if it supports the apps you need, most of which probably have web versions) and be done with it. Ubuntu 26.04 had a significantly better install experience than Windows 11.

Ubuntu won't run my software of choice(s). Come on, Steinberg - we need a linux Cubase. Ms can go whistle, and my w10 machines are treated better than ever.

Re: Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything

#339

Post by hellojesus »

kubik369 wrote: post #323
daemin wrote: post #296

One thing I disagree with the article about is that drives should not be encrypted by default. For the vast majority of people an encrypted drive is just data loss lying in wait. I prefer to use non-encrypted drives so I have the option of popping out the disk and reading it from another system with ease, which also means that I can recover files from drives of otherwise dead systems just as easily. This is a trade o…

Agreed, I have personally come to the same conclusion. I do not encrypt the drives in my home desktops and servers so that the recovery/migration is easier when the time comes. The risk of someone stealing my desktops from my home is very low and the impact of someone going through my family photos or Linux ISOs is nothing. I roll my eyes at my friend when he explains the solutions for how to input the encryption pas…

> I roll my eyes at my friend when he explains the solutions for how to input the encryption password when his server restarts.

Isn't this rather trivial? You gen a keyfile, register it with luksAddKey, then update /etc/crypttab, no? The real concern is making sure that keyfile is stored securely, but you can simply symmetrically encrypt it and upload it to your favorite cloud storage provider.

Re: Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything

#340

Post by sufficientsoup »

_carbyau_ wrote: post #142
xigoi wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your game is on Steam and does not use creepy “anticheat” software, you can probably just play it on Linux.

I have that one linux friend who is always recompiling shaders every game update. It's only 5 minutes, but's it's every game update which can be lot. I'm waiting for that to go away before I consider the jump. I figure there'll be enough people sick of that behaviour it'll get sorted.

If I'm understanding that they're waiting this 5 minutes when they try to launch the game, there's a setting (go to Downloads, scroll down) to do the shader compilation in the background
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