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Windows 11 Officially Shuts Down Firefox’s Default Browser Workaround

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Re: Windows 11 Officially Shuts Down Firefox’s Default Browser Workaround

#201

Post by xxpor »

smoldesu wrote: post #176
tentacleuno wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Programs like Photoshop and Ableton Live work just fine through WINE. Could you expand on this, please? What was your experience working with Photoshop in WINE? What version / CC of Photoshop did you use? Did you use PlayOnLinux, which supports this IIRC?

Photoshop CS6 works pretty reliably on the majority of setups, I remember having an... ahem, perfectly legal copy installed without needing to use any install helpers whatsoever. WINE just downloaded all of the dependencies before launching the installer and it worked like a charm. According to WineHQ[0], the only features it seems to be missing is the updater that came with it. Creative Cloud seems to be a bit more…

Does low latency audio work through WINE? I don't care about the specific tech used, as long as midi->hearing audio works well enough to actually play a piano.

Re: Windows 11 Officially Shuts Down Firefox’s Default Browser Workaround

#202

Post by tentacleuno »

tombert wrote: post #178
tentacleuno wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and "going to sleep upon the lid closing" just worked. And "not going to sleep upon the lid closing" just works, too! I tried this when I hooked my laptop up to the TV. Closing the lid did nothing. It only went to sleep when you closed it and unplugged the HDMI. I really really liked that, despite it being a tiny detail.

Oh yeah! I had forgotten to mention that. I can't really blame people for thinking that the Linux desktop experience sucks, to be fair. As someone who used it in 2012 and went through the pain of getting an Optimus graphics card working correctly, and dealt with the weird rendering issues of Gnome 3, and had to write a bootup script to disable "tap to click" on my mousepad, it's a reasonable complaint to say that the…

> I can't really blame people for thinking that the Linux desktop experience sucks, to be fair.

Nor me. A lot of it has been small things in my experience though, like this trackpad being terrible, or GNOME crashing once in a blue moon. I've definitely not experienced the level of pain you had with Optimus, or the rendering issues, which seems like a good thing. Although... on the subject of rendering issues, Firefox doesn't like it when the system is woken from sleep and has a really weird glitching effect until you maximise and restore the window.

On this laptop Linux hasn't been that bad, honestly the worst thing for me is this genuinely bad trackpad driver that has massive jutter and is hilariously broken. I might learn C so I can look into making my own.

I do agree on your last point(s). It's got substantially better, but as always there are little things that majorly hold it back (trackpad!) when the rest of the system isn't actually that bad. I'd much prefer it to Windows, despite its flaws.

Re: Windows 11 Officially Shuts Down Firefox’s Default Browser Workaround

#203

Post by frosted-flakes »

delecti wrote: post #154
jccalhoun wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I updated to 11 on my laptop but kept 10 on my main machine. I see zero reason to update my main computer to 11. I was willing to give centered start button a try but the fact that you can't turn off grouping of applications in the taskbar is a deal breaker. If I have two firefox windows open I want to know it and to be able to pick which one I want without having to hover my mouse over the icon for a second while th…

If you use the Windows+# shortcuts it's pretty easy to navigate multiple instances of an application. I don't know how the ordering works with the centered start button, but traditionally, the left-most application can be switched to by pushing Win+1. The second instance of the first can be switched to by holding Win and then pushing 1 twice. That's been available since Vista. I don't want to excuse taking options aw…

It still works this way, but I find having to figure out which number to press is too slow. There's a utility that adds numbers to the taskbar buttons when the start key is held down, called 7+ Taskbar Numberer, but it doesn't work on Windows 11.

https://ramensoftware.com/7-taskbar-numberer

Re: Windows 11 Officially Shuts Down Firefox’s Default Browser Workaround

#204

Post by ohiovr »

Even in windows 10 in a virtual machine I cannot download chrome and install it. I have to use virtualbox to transfer the installer and run it that way. Poor Microsoft has to use such tactics because their software blows (they know windows sucks and they have no control over it anymore) and they can only barely hold on with these tactics. Wasn't there an antitrust lawsuit which they some how won because of violations lesser than this?

Re: Windows 11 Officially Shuts Down Firefox’s Default Browser Workaround

#205

Post by phendrenad2 »

> Basically, this means that “microsoft-edge:// links” can no longer be forced to open in your default browser of choice

So wait... Links that specifically REQUEST to be OPENED IN EDGE cannot be overridden to open with an arbitrary program? So just don't use those links. Problem solved.

The irony here is anyone who actually cares enough to be angered by Microsoft opening links in Edge rather than their preferred browse would never use "Start menu search" or other noob features.

Re: Windows 11 Officially Shuts Down Firefox’s Default Browser Workaround

#206

Post by BrS96bVxXBLzf5B »

willis936 wrote: post #95
cronix wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering the state of security in modern computing devices and the various OS's that power them, security updates mean less and less to me over time. Nothing is secure and likely won't ever be. I'd argue we're collectively less secure in 2021 than in 1995 despite massive advances in all other areas of the field.

The flashlight is just on. 1995 computers were trivial to compromise and still are. If perfection is unattainable does that mean we should snap to the other extreme and set all of our passwords to "password"?

We would only be coming full circle. https://donhopkins.medium.com/mit-ai-lab-tourist-policy-f73b...

Re: Windows 11 Officially Shuts Down Firefox’s Default Browser Workaround

#207

Post by ArnoVW »

InitialLastName wrote: post #66
josephcsible wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately, there's one very big reason you'll need Windows 11: that Windows 10 won't get security updates forever. After October 14th, 2025, you'll need to "upgrade" to it to stay secure.

That gives me four years for the tools that lock me to Windows to decide to port to literally any other OS.

After 30 years on Windows I switched this month to Linux, for pretty much the same reason. It's great. And it feels so fast. All my software exists natively on Linux (minecraft and game emulators for the kids, KNIME, Intellij, and Blender is a lot faster on Linux). No Word or PowerPoint, but there's Libre Office and it's good enough.

Who'd have thought that 2021 would be the year of Linux on the desktop. Not because it has gradually improved (it has), but because the alternative has declined so much.

Re: Windows 11 Officially Shuts Down Firefox’s Default Browser Workaround

#208

Post by chabad360 »

serf wrote: post #131
smoldesu wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then why wait? Programs like Photoshop and Ableton Live work just fine through WINE. I have a hard time imagining what kind of software you can't replace on modern Linux...

while these can be made to work .. Fusion360/SolidWorks/CATIA/Siemens NX are notoriously hard to make work, and when they do the fixes usually only last a single patch; and these softwares (aside from SolidWorks) are all always-connected and auto-updating. and unfortunately a lot of that software is simply career-making. It's simply an arms-race that can't be won from the consumer perspective without applying adequat…

At least for fusion360, check out this project: https://github.com/cryinkfly/Autodesk-Fusion-360-for-Linux

It makes using fusion on wine really easy, and it runs surprisingly well too.

Re: Windows 11 Officially Shuts Down Firefox’s Default Browser Workaround

#209

Post by drdaeman »

modeless wrote: post #196

Firefox should go all the way on this. Exploit bugs, modify binaries, whatever it takes. With user consent of course. If the user says they want Firefox to be their default browser, Firefox is justified in modifying the operating system to achieve that. Ultimately Microsoft is powerless to stop this except by using their antivirus to block installation of Firefox in the first place, and I'd like to see them try that…

This. Just like in the ol' good days, install an API hook (e.g. with Microsoft Detours[1]) that would patch relevant functions in-memory. Microsoft cannot block this because they'll be breaking lots of existing things (automation tools, gaming overlays, AV software even).

And if MS would want to play it rough and start blocking hook DLLs with permission barriers, make this API patcher a kernel module.

[1]: https://github.com/microsoft/detours

Re: Windows 11 Officially Shuts Down Firefox’s Default Browser Workaround

#210

Post by arepublicadoceu »

Windows 11 was an absolute downgrade to my Windows 10 experience. To the point that I went back to windows 10 in less than a day of Windows 11.

1. I can't ungroup the taskbar windows. So now I have to hoover the taskbar to see multiple instances of the same software;

2. Who the hell thought it was a great idea to couple all the commands like WiFi, power energy, etc under the same menu? On Windows 11 I needed to click the WiFi icon, select WiFi menu, select a WiFi to connect to. Whereas on windows 10 I just click on the WiFi symbol and choose the WiFi. I don't like my computer auto connecting to the Internet so I manually connect whenever I want and use this menu multiple times a day.

3. Speaking of great ideas, now all the right click useful stuff is behind a second menu... Pure genius move.

I know I can hack my way around these issues but I don't see the point of installing sketchy software or messing registry hacks to fix this mess. I will use Windows 10 until its end of life.

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