cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/3405817

Have to use Windows for work (I’ve asked), the ads have been getting worse and worse on my work laptop. Today got a game ad notification… That’s clearly too far, right? Like I have to clear notifications, so I have to see it

  • pollocks@lemmy.mlEnglish
    854·
    1 year ago

    When Windows started getting pre installed bloatware is around the time I made my full switch to Linux. When Samsung phones started doing the same, I switched away from them too. Srsly, I will become a luddite before I use any devices that force apps I don’t want on me. It’s abusive and shouldn’t be legal.

    • kyub@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      81·
      1 year ago

      Yes. Even though not using all this crap may sometimes feel like you’re missing out on certain stuff, it is still the right thing to do. I don’t support abusive behavior, bloatware and spyware, so companies doing that will not receive any money from me if I can help it.

      We’re basically just one step ahead of the general population, who basically (still) eats up anything that’s being served by big tech corporations, without any second thoughts or hesitations. The general population IMHO is currently at the stage that nerds were like 25 years ago, in that they tend to be naively enthusiastic about every new piece of tech. But nowadays, tech can be abusive towards their users, and so it’s important to choose the right tech. The general population hasn’t made that realization yet (or they don’t care, which also must change).

      The media is also partly to blame for this, for example almost every new review of any Samsung or Apple phone is usually very positive, usually just reporting about the advancements in hardware and UI, without even mentioning any of the downsides these have on the software side. And so when reviews don’t even mention downsides anymore, there’s a lack of information available.

      And it’s not even that regular users don’t like the alternatives. For example I convinced a friend to move from a regular spyware-infested Samsung Galaxy phone (which he was using all the time, and he even wanted to buy a new one) to a Pixel with GrapheneOS. He’s not missing anything, even though his transition wasn’t super smooth, overall he’s happier now, and he mentioned that he likes the OS being so clean and unencumbered. He doesn’t particularly care about the privacy and security improvements which he now also enjoys, which is a bit sad, but at least he’s happy with the lean and unmodified Android (open source) experience.

      So, as usual, information/knowledge is power. People need to know that alternatives exist and that some alternatives are actually really, really good. And they need to know what the problems are with the “default stuff everyone uses”, so that they can make better informed decisions in the future. They also need to become less dependent on big tech companies. The alternatives have little to no PR and thus little public visibility in comparison, except via word of mouth, so we need to make the most out of that.

      • Richard@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        1 year ago

        Very good statement, although I disagree with the claim that “nerds” were naive 25 years ago, as the GNU Project and the free software movement exist since the 80s already, meaning that at least some intelligent and tech literate people already realised the destructive potential of closed-source and unfree software!

      • neonred@lemmy.worldEnglish
        6·
        1 year ago

        Not OP but I switched to a FairPhone 3 as soon as it came out after my Samsung experiences. Also wanted MicroSD and Dual-SIM, replacable batteries, easy to fix, longtime support.

        Still loving it ❤ FairPhone️ 3.

        Back then it shipped with Android 9 and recently got Android 13. That’s support.

        • Richard@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          1 year ago

          Yeah and you can easily put custom ROMs on these, much more easily than on Samsung phones, though it is quite possible for older models of those (I am running Android 12 on my Samsung Galaxy Note II that is by now 11 years old lol)

      • brianorca@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        Many preinstalled app can’t be uninstalled but can be disabled. Go to settings-apps and find the disable button for that app.

    • Senex@reddthat.comEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Just out of curiosity what phone did you switch to? My Samsungs getting a little old and I’m thinking about buying a new phone.

  • redfellow@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    49·
    1 year ago

    You can uninstall the Xbox app. Why that’s not done by your work domain admin is peculiar, or are you using random consumer installations?

    • yukichigai@kbin.social
      16·
      1 year ago

      My work forgot to remove game mode and a bunch of the built-in advertisement stuff from the workstation images they were using a while back, and I work for state government.

        • ShunkW@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          I used to work for a state University medical system. I spent weeks slimming down an image, making sure it worked, and removed all unnecessary functions. Then some director wanted solitaire and I had to change the image to include the games package. Not just his computer. Oh no. In case his PC needed reimaged, we must change the entire image and deploy to everyone.

    • intensely_human@lemm.eeEnglish
      3·
      1 year ago

      If they uninstalled the xbox app they’d have no way of coordinating their sea of thieves matches with the employees that work on a console

      • intensely_human@lemm.eeEnglish
        4·
        1 year ago

        Incidentally this makes me want to put the following plot into a sitcom:

        • Company lacks a computer and assigns an employee an xbox instead
        • They’re expected to use browser versions of slack, outlook, etc on the built-in edge browser
        • Their request for a keyboard is denied
        • This plot line goes background, but still appears in this form: any time that character’s input is considered in email or slack or whatever it’s ultra-short and contains tons of xbox-like abbreviations like “gg”
        • It ends up turning this character’s whole style into “man of few words”. Even in person they turn to him and his response after a really long wait is “We do Anne’s idea. Meeting over”
        • He flies up the corporate ladder as a result
        • Occasional shots inside his office as a high-level exec include a big TV and an xbox. The fact this is his work station is not overtly mentioned. You never see a laptop.
  • Altima NEO@lemmy.zipEnglish
    43·
    1 year ago

    That would be the Xbox app sending you a notification/advertisement, not Windows itself

    • dubba@lemm.eeEnglish
      183·
      1 year ago

      It might as well be. It’s a Windows app made by Microsoft specifically for Windows and comes preinstalled. IIRC, you can’t even fully uninstall the xbox bits without powershell or regedit.

      • viking@infosec.pubEnglish
        2·
        1 year ago

        Uninstalling the 3 or so Xbox apps was the first reason for me to work with powershell.

      • gila@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        Only the shortcut to the app was preinstalled on the build I put together a couple of months ago. When I tried to open it, it had to download and install first. Also, if you press Win+G to open the Game Bar and click the settings gear, under Notifications you can select “Hide notifications when I’m playing a fullscreen game”. Edit: or just turn off the Xbox app notifications if you don’t use it

  • 1984@lemmy.todayEnglish
    3510·
    1 year ago

    This is how I remember windows yes. Pop-ups, disruptions, annoyances, and ads.

    People think it’s normal until they try Pop OS.

    • panCat@lemmy.worldEnglish
      121·
      1 year ago

      Or any linux distro for that matter ? I been using ubuntu and then moved to mint , customised them a bit and they are perfect now

      • lobut@lemmy.caEnglish
        31·
        1 year ago

        I just bought myself one of those mini PCs and I’m thinking of putting in a Linux distro.

        I’ve only ever used Ubuntu, would you recommend mint to me?

        • frippa@lemmy.mlEnglish
          4·
          1 year ago

          Not panCat but I’ve been using Mint (cinnamon) for a couple of months now, it’s snap-less Ubuntu (snaps are a controversial packaging format, plenty of videos on that) with a Windows 10-esque UI and lots of actually useful apps pre-installed OOTB, 9/10 can recommend (not 10 bcs it looks a bit…old,but I guess you can customize it or put KDE if u want)

        • Fubber Nuckin'@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          1 year ago

          Mint is good. It’s based on Ubuntu, but it has a more Windows-like interface. You’ll be able to follow along with most ubuntu tutorials while having a more familiar experience. It also supports a wider array of software and imo has a better ethos than Ubuntu (much like Ubuntu has a better ethos than Windows).

          • lobut@lemmy.caEnglish
            2·
            1 year ago

            I use a MacBook Air M1 a lot for my work and otherwise but I’m growing tired of it. I can’t use dual monitors without special software. I wanted to buy the M1 Mac Mini and you double the price of you wanna upgrade the storage/ram to something usable.

            My mini pc arrived today and I’ve done some reading on Mint after you mentioned it, so I can install Cinnamon or what have you and it sounds like it’s a pretty ideal set up! Thanks!

        • intensely_human@lemm.eeEnglish
          2·
          1 year ago

          Ubuntu’s the middle path. It’s got great support.

          Going all the way to some obscure linux distro should only be done when you know yourself what features you want that Ubuntu isn’t getting you.

          • lobut@lemmy.caEnglish
            2·
            1 year ago

            It took a bit of time, I haven’t used linux in a while. I’ve been mainlining Mac with Windows for gaming.

            Some configurations took longer than I thought. I’ve had issues with my monitors going down and not coming back up. I sucked at setting the grub bootloader. However, I’ve been using it for like two days now and I love it. I forgot how snappy linux can feel relative to the others. I’m excited with setting up my development environment with it.

        • panCat@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          1 year ago

          Totally ! I use it on my small laptop , with an atom processor , works smooth !

    • Dept@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
      51·
      1 year ago

      literally only when you install it. i haven’t had any of this stuff in over 3 years

    • no banana@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      Just installed Pop on my new (refurb) laptop. I like it quite a lot. If games were as easy as on windows I’d probably run it on my desktop as well. Maybe I will anyway, when I can be bothered to understand how to get things running.

      • 1984@lemmy.todayEnglish
        42·
        1 year ago

        Aren’t they? I just use steam and it works. Most games are great on Linux these days. Just need to check Protondb for each game.

        • no banana@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          1 year ago

          Yeah it was much easier than I thought actually. Fantastic how far Linux has come on gaming. I was expecting a whole tiresome process. It was simple.

    • rog@lemmy.oneEnglish
      6·
      1 year ago

      Im sure people do see these ads, and its definitely starting to go a bit far, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how. Ive never seen anything like this using multiple personal and work windows machines for ~10+ hours a day, every day.

      Work makes sense, I believe its a couple of GPOs, but even at home when I boot a fresh image I tick like 3 boxes and just never see any ads.

      The only situation I can think of is prebuilt machines and laptops with preloaded configurations that people dont bother to change, but even then im pretty sure 5 minutes in settings will sort it out.

    • njordomir@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      This is the way. Do it on your phones, tablets, computers, etc., then set reminder on your to do list to check important apps once a week. My personal email can be checked one day a week and my work email when I come in, lunch, and before I leave. I don’t need a popup on my phone, watch, Alexa, car, and toaster every time amazon wants me to share my experience with a product. Notifications murder my ability to focus.

  • intensely_human@lemm.eeEnglish
    141·
    1 year ago

    On ios one of my peeves is the default permissions for notifications is all on.

    I immediately rescind the privileges of any app that shows me an ad, but it’s still annoying that they get even that once chance.

    • Senex@reddthat.comEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      I’m still hanging on to Windows 10 for as long as it lasts. My next OS will absolutely be Linux Mint.

  • Nioxic@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    9·
    1 year ago

    If i recall you can disable the whole notification center…

    Ive yet to see anything like that on my pc

  • speaker_hat@lemmy.oneEnglish
    83·
    1 year ago

    If you can Install Ubuntu and use Windows on a VirtualBox as a guest.

    Non-techy colleagues cannot tell whether it’s a virtualized OS or not.

    Microsoft as a company profit over its users obsessively

    • Zeth0s@lemmy.worldEnglish
      31·
      1 year ago

      One can directly install ubuntu on hyper-v, without any additional 3rd party tools. They just need hyper-v enabled (it’s installed by default). It’s not user friendly, it’s the usual gui mess as one could expect from a ms product. But at least it’s preinstalled, which is convenient for a work laptop.

      Whether IT security department would allow this… It’s another story

      Edit. Fixed typo