Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

My Windows Computer Just Doesn't Feel Like Mine Anymore

howtogeek.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

371–380 of 678 posts

Re: My Windows Computer Just Doesn't Feel Like Mine Anymore

#371

Post by mschnell »

OptionOfT wrote: post #14

I can't even remove 'Recommended' from the start menu, not even on a Pro for Workstations. Every time I search on the start menu there is a web search, impossible to turn off. How is that acceptable? I install Edge Beta to test something, and the I uninstall it. All of the sudden my search provider in my normal Edge is reset. And the nagging everywhere. No I don't want 'back-up' my files (OneDrive is not backup, it's…

> Every time I search on the start menu there is a web search, impossible to turn off

I hate this as well, same with Spotlight on the Mac. Doesn’t it make sense to look for things on my own device first?

Anyway, here’s a solution I found for Win11:

## Disable web search from run menu

1. Select Start, type regedit.exe and select the Registry Editor to launch it. Accept the UAC prompt that is displayed.

2. Navigate to Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search

3. Right-click on Search and select New > Dword (32-bit) Value.

4. Name the value BingSearchEnabled.

5. Double-click on the new Dword and set data to 0.

From https://www.ghacks.net/2021/11/26/how-to-turn-off-search-the...

Re: My Windows Computer Just Doesn't Feel Like Mine Anymore

#372

Post by duckmysick »

creshal wrote: post #361
mihular wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What banking software do you mean? For home use? Isn't browser based good enough?

Some european banks are still struggling with the whole internet concept and have win32 apps using emulated dial up for both home and business customers.

Oh wow, can you name which are these?

The few I had a pleasure of using have a really good browser and mobile app support. The only problem I ran into is that sometimes mobile apps refuse to run on rooted Android devices.

Re: My Windows Computer Just Doesn't Feel Like Mine Anymore

#373

Post by creshal »

hot_gril wrote: post #247
dylan604 wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you need multiple computers when you can have multiboot and use one computer to run different OSes?

Cause it's not fun having to reboot every time you want to run a Windows program, especially if it means dealing with Windows nagging.

If you're careful with how you handle the ESP and other shared drives on Linux's side, I found it reasonably ergonomic to suspend to disk, rather than hard shut down, when switching between OSes.

At least back when win10 was new, Proton is good enough that I haven't needed Windows in a good few years.

Re: My Windows Computer Just Doesn't Feel Like Mine Anymore

#374

Post by irusensei »

epolanski wrote: post #327
kylebenzle wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am at a total loss as to why anyone is using windows in 2024.

I use it everyday in place of my MBP. 1) WSL2 is fantastic to work. Having various Linux images on my system is nice, this is huge for me alone 2) plenty of things work just better on windows like Docker 3) stuff like power tools is insanely useful 4) monitor, windows and desktop management is very well done in comparison to the mess of MacOS 5) I don't have all these issues the article describes. An automatic update…

> plenty of things work just better on windows like Docker

This makes no sense. It’s a Linux virtual machine. You are not running docker on windows.

Re: My Windows Computer Just Doesn't Feel Like Mine Anymore

#375

Post by alexruf »

helpfulContrib wrote: post #325
alexruf wrote: post #314

I have to admit, I read the article and the comments and can't help but smile a little. Personally, I switched from Windows to macOS & iOS (Linux on my second computer) back in 2013. Even though I am still ridiculed by Windows users for my Apple ecosystem, I have never regretted this step myself. macOS has never felt like it was patronizing me or getting in my way - it just works. While all my colleagues who use Wind…

MacOS is not without its issues - the delays in application launch while it checks Apples whitelist for apps you've installed on your own machine, yourself, are pretty obnoxious.

What delay are you talking about? I never encountered such issues. Apps are launching extremely fast. With an ARM Mac almost instantly.

But maybe it’s just an issue if you are using the App Store variants of those apps. I don’t have experience in that. I am using zero apps from the App Store.

Re: My Windows Computer Just Doesn't Feel Like Mine Anymore

#376

Post by 0x073 »

hulitu wrote: post #245
rsanheim wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This illustrates just how ridiculously screwed up Windows is now. No one should have to resort to registry hacking or the many scripts or hacks available to regain control over basic UX, privacy, or usability selections. It is absolutely absurd.

> No one should have to resort to registry hacking Tell that to UX developers. It is the same in web browsers.

Yes we had the time of total customisations with Firefox years ago. And now we can happy if they don't drop the about:config settings keys for some behavior.

Same as chrome with flags.

Good UX means nowadays eat or die.

Re: My Windows Computer Just Doesn't Feel Like Mine Anymore

#377

Post by PicassoCTs »

nikau wrote: post #53
OptionOfT wrote: post #14

I can't even remove 'Recommended' from the start menu, not even on a Pro for Workstations. Every time I search on the start menu there is a web search, impossible to turn off. How is that acceptable? I install Edge Beta to test something, and the I uninstall it. All of the sudden my search provider in my normal Edge is reset. And the nagging everywhere. No I don't want 'back-up' my files (OneDrive is not backup, it's…

Not justifying the shitty antics of MS, but most of the junk can be turned off by registry settings which most large organisations automate via GPO

But that turns me into a deshitifcation cron job, working for my operating system to work.

Re: My Windows Computer Just Doesn't Feel Like Mine Anymore

#378

Post by prmoustache »

bongodongobob wrote: post #214
navjack27 wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have absolutely none of these problems on my Windows 11 pro for workstations desktop. My computer is very much my computer and I seem to have full total control over everything. I'm not sure what I do differently than everyone else but that's just how it is.

It's because people fuck with the registry, run those decrapifier scripts etc. They completely mess with the guts doing nonstandard things and eventually it turns into a mess. Ask me how I know. After I started administering fleets of Windows machines, I learned that if you don't fuck with it, it's fine! If you need to make changes, use group policy. Don't like OneDrive? Don't use it! Uninstalling it is going to fuck…

You are just confirming the sentiment in the original post.

Re: My Windows Computer Just Doesn't Feel Like Mine Anymore

#379

Post by asyx »

irusensei wrote: post #374
epolanski wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use it everyday in place of my MBP. 1) WSL2 is fantastic to work. Having various Linux images on my system is nice, this is huge for me alone 2) plenty of things work just better on windows like Docker 3) stuff like power tools is insanely useful 4) monitor, windows and desktop management is very well done in comparison to the mess of MacOS 5) I don't have all these issues the article describes. An automatic update…

> plenty of things work just better on windows like Docker This makes no sense. It’s a Linux virtual machine. You are not running docker on windows.

He's comparing it to macos and there it is a VM as well but it feels less well integrated.

Re: My Windows Computer Just Doesn't Feel Like Mine Anymore

#380

Post by prmoustache »

bruce511 wrote: post #222
k8sToGo wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes you have to use what they ship. Because they force you to. You cannot turn off one drive nagging. You cannot turn off the start menu search. When installing windows these days you have to use a Microsoft account and so on. Yes there are work arounds, but that’s not for the average user. If I need to start tinkering and hack around in registries I might as well use Linux.

I confess I don't have a Microsoft account, and installed without one. I'm not sure how I did that, I guess I just passed on it. Every month or so it after a reboot it prompts me to "finish setting up my computer" and I just "remind me later". I haven't touched the registry, so that's not in play. OneDrive doesn't nag me. As I said earlier this is all anecdotal, clearly your experience is different to mine. This post…

I had to install a temporary windows 10 (not 11) install so that I can unlock the bootloader of a xiaomi phone and install a better rom. I managed to avoid the microsoft account use by not connecting to the internet before the setup was finished. It asked me like 2 or 3 times it looped 2 or 3 times in the select wifi / use MS account screens before giving up and sending me to the local account creation.
Post reply on HN