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De-crufted Windows 11 coming to Europe soon

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Re: De-crufted Windows 11 coming to Europe soon

#81

Post by shpx »

amadeuspagel wrote: post #42
just_boost_it wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got a mac for the first time this year. Honestly, it feels like taking a shower after getting home from the beach on a sunny day when you've been wearing sunscreen. Everything just works with no extra garbage, no constant intrusive updates, no hassle. The only issue I had was the lack of alt-tab, and that was solved by an app called alt-tab.

Except for apple music constantly popping up?

Yea, that's annoying. You have to install the noTunes app and set it to run at log in:

https://github.com/tombonez/noTunes/releases

Re: De-crufted Windows 11 coming to Europe soon

#82

Post by miki123211 »

jchw wrote: post #22
tonymet wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a few minutes you can make Windows 11 look pretty close to Windows 7 (or 10) by disabling personalization, content , widgets, new tab content. In edge disable all of the new tools and bing integration. You’re right about the hassle of doing it manually, and I wish there were a global “Windows 2k mode” that ran the OS as lean as possible.

> In a few minutes That's a pretty big understatement to be honest. I don't use Windows anymore, but I still occasionally set up Windows for other people and there's so many annoyances that it's difficult to even enumerate all of them. Off the top of my head: - MSEdgeRedirect to stop Windows from opening Edge even when it's not your defualt browser. - Shutup10++ to quickly disable a bunch of crapware/unwanted feature…

The randomly waking up at night part was one of the biggest annoyances for me before I switched over to the Mac.

I'm a screen reader user, and I would regularly unplug my headphones when not using the computer, especially if it was stored in a bag. Of course, that meant everybody around me could hear my screen reader when Windows decided to do its thing. This woke me up at night multiple times and disrupted a few activities I was a part of. There was nothing to be done.

Re: De-crufted Windows 11 coming to Europe soon

#83

Post by Sanzig »

jszymborski wrote: post #44
mutex_man wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My process for a new laptop for the last decade or so has just been to nuke Windows and immediately install Linux. The only machine I own that runs windows is my home gaming PC due to many online/competitive games not supporting proton or other tools. Thankfully I work for a company who happily allows me to continue this practice with my work laptop. My last and current work laptops have run NixOS and it's been great…

I always deploy the DBAN when I get my hands on a new laptop. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darik's_Boot_and_Nuke

Somewhat off-topic, but fun fact about Darik of DBAN fame - he landed himself in hot water a few years ago when it was revealed he was a founding member of a white nationalist Canadian political party [1]. The party was later dissolved due to inactivity when its leader went to prison for antisemitic hate crimes [2]

[1] https://www.thespec.com/news/canada/he-says-he-works-securit...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Nationalist_Party

Re: De-crufted Windows 11 coming to Europe soon

#84

Post by jchw »

miki123211 wrote: post #73
jchw wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find macOS annoying no matter what I do. AltTab is nice, but the window management still sucks in my opinion. The security bandages used to work around traditional desktop security models makes it feel incredibly annoying to use; I'll try to set a keyboard shortcut (not a global one mind you) in iTerm2 and suddenly I need to enable iTerm2 to have accessibility access? Disabling SIP is needed for a myriad of things…

> Discord will direct you to disable SIP if you want to .. capture audio during screenshares This is untrue, there's a difference between disabling SIP and changing your security policy to "reduced." Disabling SIP lets you modify files on the system volume along with a few other things, like a way to run executables that require private entitlements that aren't signed by Apple. The reduced security policy lets you ru…

Yeah, I have an app that relies on the Rogue Amoeba kext. Probably Zoom or something.

I admit I glossed over the details of SIP partly because I forgot, but the point is that to get audio capture working on Discord ~~right now~~ (Apparently according to neighboring comment this is fixed, but the point does still stand anyways since this literally was the situation for users since Apple Silicon arrived afaik), you have to go into recovery and run some esoteric commands to lower the security level of the machine, and it's 100% Apple's fault because they didn't offer APIs for things that people were using kexts for before shutting off third-party kexts.

(And this whole thing feels a bit rushed, as can be seen by the issues that have occurred with the newer usermode network filtering APIs... It's always especially bad when you fuck up in a way that messes with privacy software for only your own services, even if it's truly accidental.)

Re: De-crufted Windows 11 coming to Europe soon

#85

Post by binkHN »

aetherspawn wrote: post #3

Suppose you are buying a new laptop ... does anyone else feel sad that their operating system has effectively turned into some weird social media marketing tracking data harvesting hybrid of a thing? But in the name of progress and security, you can't stay on Windows 10. So for me it's this weird middle ground right now .. waiting for either Windows to U-turn, die out, or for more work apps to port to OS X.

Surprisingly, I'm not sad at all. I've been using Windows for a long time and recently purchased a new computer with Windows 11. It's such an abomination that it forced me to try Linux for the very first time on my production machine, and I'm very pleased with the results. A thank you to Microsoft for giving me a reason to look somewhere else, and a sincere thank you to the open source community for all the work they've put into Linux on the desktop.

Re: De-crufted Windows 11 coming to Europe soon

#86

Post by jchw »

xcv123 wrote: post #64
jchw wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In a few minutes That's a pretty big understatement to be honest. I don't use Windows anymore, but I still occasionally set up Windows for other people and there's so many annoyances that it's difficult to even enumerate all of them. Off the top of my head: - MSEdgeRedirect to stop Windows from opening Edge even when it's not your defualt browser. - Shutup10++ to quickly disable a bunch of crapware/unwanted feature…

Takes less than a few minutes with this PowerShell script: https://github.com/n1snt/Windows-Debloater

I've tried a number of these solutions, but if it needs constant babying it's not really useful for daily driving IMO. Still might be good for test VMs, but I want something that feels like it's actually supported if I'm going to run an actual desktop machine. "Just rerun this powershell script after shit breaks and hopefully the person maintaining it doesn't stop because it will need to be updated periodically to keep up with changes." That's not a solution. It's a collection of workarounds in a solution-shaped trenchcoat, and it's ready to tumble over at any moment.

Another big problem with a lot of these things is you run them, then later Photoshop or Winget or VS isn't working suddenly and you have to try to figure out what service or component needs to be re-enabled. At one point I just re-installed over this...

Re: De-crufted Windows 11 coming to Europe soon

#87

Post by michaelmrose »

dghlsakjg wrote: post #72
lovepronmostly wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the limit here? If I own a store and you walk into my store am I required to forget that you came into my store? Monday: Bill: "Hey Jane (store owner), do you have any X45 hammers?" Jane: "Sorry Bill, I'm out but might have some tomorrow" Tuesday: Bill "Did hammer come in I mentioned yesterday?" Jane: "What hammer? Sorry I'm not allowed to remember anything about people in my shop because that would be spying…

The law says that you need consent for any cookies which aren't strictly necessary for the functioning of the site. In your instance, I would have put a backordered hammer in my cart. I come back the next day to check and see if the hammer is in stock. The cookie that enables cart behavior is necessary to the functioning of an online store. No consent needed. In the real world, this basically means that tracking and…

Even tracking what items you had looked at purely for the purpose of showing you things you had previously considered is trivially justifiable if its used for that feature rather to sell info to advertisers.

Re: De-crufted Windows 11 coming to Europe soon

#88

Post by superb_dev »

dghlsakjg wrote: post #65
revscat wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has never happened to me. I exclusively listen to music on my phone, and work every day on my Mac. I have never had the Music app open itself up, not once. Nor I have I experienced anything that is even related to music, such as asking me to subscribe to a service.

It doesn't pop up on its own, but it is the default response to a lot of actions. Accidentally press the play button? Apple Music. Charge your iphone through your computer? Apple Music. I find it pretty annoying, but it is also easy to eliminate the default behavior

I've never had Apple Music open when I plugged in my iPhone

Re: De-crufted Windows 11 coming to Europe soon

#89

Post by Semaphor »

RajT88 wrote: post #40
t-writescode wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you get access to enterprise? Last I looked, I believe you had to create a company-relationship with Microsoft to be allowed to do that and there was probably a lot more cruft to do. Edit: and a quick scan of the Microsoft website says that you need to "Contact Sales" still.

For much of my career, I got free Enterprise licenses through an MSDN subscription through work. You can pay a similar amount to what your company pays for similar numbers of licenses across many OS's. Last I checked it was about ~500 USD a year. Sure, that's excessive for a single OS install, but if your company is footing the bill they usually don't care if you install on personal machines.

Huh, we have the action pack and I just checked, there’s indeed 10 Enterprise keys included. I should try to remember to ask my boss the next time I reinstall if I can grab one of those :D

Re: De-crufted Windows 11 coming to Europe soon

#90

Post by xcv123 »

jchw wrote: post #86
xcv123 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Takes less than a few minutes with this PowerShell script: https://github.com/n1snt/Windows-Debloater

I've tried a number of these solutions, but if it needs constant babying it's not really useful for daily driving IMO. Still might be good for test VMs, but I want something that feels like it's actually supported if I'm going to run an actual desktop machine. "Just rerun this powershell script after shit breaks and hopefully the person maintaining it doesn't stop because it will need to be updated periodically to ke…

That's too bad. I only use Windows for games. Have not had issues with the script there. If you're forced to use Windows for work then it's worth finding the minimum set of crap you can remove while keeping things stable.
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