My solution is that I don't use OneDrive so disabling notifications from it is not a problem for me. I never registered an account so it can't even guess where to upload stuff. Not that I wouldn't put it past them to sync stuff to the cloud with a unique ID that can later be assigned if I ever did register.
Microsoft nicks one more Apple idea: An ad-supported OS
Microsoft's Department of Annoying The Users has been quiet since the end of the GWX scheme. The Department's Greatest Hit so far has been the "Get Windows 10" promotion, which involved a pervasive popup reminding Windows 8 and 7 users to upgrade. This co-opted a number of sophisticated malware techniques to get the message …
COMMENTS
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Monday 13th March 2017 18:59 GMT Mage
My solution
I just handed back another laptop, unwanted Win10 from Win7.
I fixed it by putting on Linux Mint + Mate with customised "Redmond Theme", Noscript + Classic Theme restorer in Firefox (disabled PDF view in browser), and I took pity and changed most of the sillier defaults in Libre Office (though they arn't as silly as Windows defaults for last 25 years).
Added Skype and Wine and Mono.
The PDF viewer works better than Foxit or Adobe (the save page as image is nice).
How many ordinary folk use more than browser, email, basic "office" features, PDF viewer, image viewer etc?
(I also made Caps Lock be both shift keys and Caps Lock Key be "compose").
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Monday 13th March 2017 22:32 GMT dan1980
Re: My solution
"More or less did the EXACT same about 6 months ago. No regrets so far."
No indeed.
But what about in 2 years, when Chrome stops supporting Windows 7 and you can no longer visit certain websites? Sounds far-fetched but I've seen it happen with XP and then Vista. Some work in Firefox but others just don't.
You have a choice now, but some day down the track you won't and it's not going to be any better then. And yes, you can use another OS, but what if you actually can't? (For whatever reason?)
Technically-savvy people can almost always get around things like this and set up virtualisation and dual booting to compartmentalise their tasks but the vast, vast majority don't have the knowledge and/or resources to do so.
Like it or not, this is the road down which post of the population is being directed.
Sorry - I am not feeling well today and the trajectory I see the IT industry taking fills me with depression and cynicism.
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Tuesday 14th March 2017 18:58 GMT F0rdPrefect
Re: My solution
@dan1980
"But what about in 2 years, when Chrome stops supporting Windows 7 and you can no longer visit certain websites? Sounds far-fetched but I've seen it happen with XP and then Vista. Some work in Firefox but others just don't."
The only websites I've ever seen that didn't work in Firefox used ActiveX or Javascript, hence I didn't want to use them anyway.
Would be happy to be proved wrong on that.
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Wednesday 15th March 2017 07:15 GMT dan1980
Re: My solution
Often, they are sites offering SaaS - 'cloud' applications. It's not always that they won't work in Firefox so much as the vendor insisting that they only support usage via Chrome and any bug that occurs will not be investigated unless it occurs using Chrome as they develop and test for Chrome.
I have clients that use Chrome, IE and Firefox all together, depending on the site. IE for a SaaS platform using Silverlight, Chrome for another SaaS platform (because that is what is supported) and Firefox for some government sites which require plugins that aren't usable on Chrome.
The fact that you, as an IT-savvy person doesn't want to use that site is irrelevant (no offence) to the rank-and-file employees who have to.
Sure, in a sysadmin's perfect world, we could dictact which browsers and add-ins can be used and everyone else in the company would seek our nod of consent if they wanted to use a site. But that's just not reality for the overwhelming majority of companies.
If you work somewhere where you can overrule a SaaS purchasing decision because you don't approve of the browser requirement then congratulations. But I have never worked anywhere like that.
The point is that browser compatibility is an annoyingly shifting landscape of vendors and versions and add-ins and compatibility and support can be fickle and equally annoying. If you've never been in the situation I described then, again, congratulations, but I have and I am sure I am not alone.
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Monday 13th March 2017 17:12 GMT Steve Davies 3
But will Apple file suit against MS?
I expect the Cupertino spaceship is not amused at MS implementing something they clearly invented (not).
Either way, Ads like this are the lowest of the low.
As has been said in BetaNews, Windows 10 is just an ad carrying vehicle and spyware combined.
https://betanews.com/2017/03/12/disgustingly-sneaky-windows-10-ads/
The sooner it is consigned to history the better.
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Monday 13th March 2017 19:44 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: But will Apple file suit against MS?
Apple has NEVER sued anyone for violating a patent that they don't use themselves. If you disbelieve that, instead of voting me down, how about providing proof? I've been asking for an example of this here for years and no one has come up with any, because they don't do it. They will sue the hell out of you if you violate a patent they are using, but they could care less about stuff they don't use in their own products.
But it may be irrelevant, as their implementation would probably be different than what is covered in the patent, and Apple and Microsoft have patent cross licensing agreements which might cover this.
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Tuesday 14th March 2017 12:03 GMT Avatar of They
Re: But will Apple file suit against MS?
Careful. Windows 10 may be consigned but MS is on a roll (downhill very fast) so windows 11 will only have more.
You meant to say hope MS is consigned to history so lessons learned will include no spying and no ads.
Then again we live in a post truth trump, snoopers charter era. So spying, malware pumping ads and you renting your OS are here to stay.
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Tuesday 14th March 2017 22:50 GMT Sebastian A
Re: But will Apple file suit against MS?
From that article: "Does Microsoft think we're stupid?"
No. It doesn't think we're stupid. It *knows* enough of us are stupid enough to put up with this. The others, who aren't stupid enough, can get lost for all it cares. We're not the target audience anymore. We never were. They don't care if we rant and rave and switch to Linux. We were never profitable. We expected improvements, stability, security. None of those things make Microsoft money.
The sheep, those are where the money is. They put up with ads, shovelware, and blatant scams. They're the ones who "upgrade" to a "pro" version when faced with a nag screen. The ones who accept all the optional programs with an install. The ones who never check the privacy settings.
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Monday 13th March 2017 18:56 GMT bombastic bob
Re: See MS *does* love Linux
*sigh* I so wish it were true, but I fear the alternative [that "ads in the OS" become "the new normal"]
/me thinks of the TV screen from 'Idiocracy' that has 3/4 of its area COVERED in moving advertisements, while the middle 25% of the screen has the actual content in it...
OW MY BALLS!
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Monday 13th March 2017 18:56 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: See MS *does* love Linux
Seems so; it was the GWX fiasco that prompted me to push W10 into a dual-boot option that's only (rarely) used if there's no other way of doing something. Which means that "Unfortunately the only way to disable the promo blaster is as follows:" isn't really the case for me any more. :-)
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Monday 13th March 2017 17:15 GMT TRT
I came across this today...
https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2014/03/salt-found-to-improve-red-wine-flavour/ about Nathan Myhrvold, Microsoft’s former chief technology officer.
So they have a history of "improving the consumer experience" through radical departures from received wisdom, it seems.
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Tuesday 14th March 2017 00:44 GMT Captain DaFt
"https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2014/03/salt-found-to-improve-red-wine-flavour/ about Nathan Myhrvold, Microsoft’s former chief technology officer.
So they have a history of "improving the consumer experience" through radical departures from received wisdom, it seems."
So he's addicted to Cooking Sherry then?
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Monday 13th March 2017 17:15 GMT Anonymous Coward
SpamOS?
If Microsoft really wants to give this idea a try, they should start with Windows Mobile and Lumia phones. It would be an Extinction Level Event for Windows Mobile.
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Monday 13th March 2017 18:59 GMT David 132
Re: I presume
Oh, absolutely, and Microsoft are super keen to ensure that you get value in return for all the ads.
Windows 10 Pro, for example, is a $2700 value - but because of the ads, and the telemetry, and the fact that you have so generously agreed to volunteer for the mandatory beta testing, they can bring it to you for the low, low price of only $100.
Over a $2600 saving! Just for watching a few¹ adverts!
¹ -dozen²
² - well, hundred³
³ plus a few zeroes, ish
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Tuesday 14th March 2017 18:58 GMT Richard Plinston
Re: the cost of all their services will be drastically reduced?
> I thought that in fact most of the running copies of Win10 where given away free.
No. Not even close.
About 250million PCs and laptops are sold every year with the majority being forced by Microsoft to have Windows 10 on them. These are not free, the price of W10 is part of the computer price and this is passed to MS. These new PCs and laptops are the bulk of the 'running copies of Win10'.
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Wednesday 15th March 2017 01:06 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: the cost of all their services will be drastically reduced?
Not only that, there's also a concerted effort to impose planned obsolescence onto earlier versions of Windows.
It's one thing if Microsoft stops supporting and stops updating those older versions of Windows. It's another thing if third-party software vendors stop providing updates on older versions of Windows... and it has nothing to do with technological reasons. I'm convinced that Microsoft had somehow bribed, pressured or 'nudged' them to do so.
It's basically a mass genocide of Windows versions before Win10. Either Microsoft wants to force most users onto Win10 and achieve a critical mass of users so as to brag to shareholders, or Win10 'software as a service' (and the very interesting EULA changes) pave the way for a future subscription-based revenue stream.
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Monday 13th March 2017 17:16 GMT Hans Neeson-Bumpsadese
Adverts, etc.
I saw another, sort-of-related, story on /. today about the pervasiveness of adverts in Windows 10, and it made me think...
I don't think I've ever had ads imposed on me by Windows on any of my Win10 machines - nothing in Explorer, nothing in the Start Menu...not anywhere.
I can't recall switching them off (from what I read, you can't switch them off anyway). It's got me wondering how come I'm leading a (thankfully) ad-free existence while other people seem to be getting ads foisted on them all the time.
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Monday 13th March 2017 18:56 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Adverts, etc.
"I don't think I've ever had ads imposed on me by Windows on any of my Win10 machines - nothing in Explorer, nothing in the Start Menu...not anywhere."
Have you managed to remove or disable Cortana by any chance? Ad-pushing is, I believe, the only REAL reason that this abomination exists - given its symbiotic relationship with Bing!
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Wednesday 15th March 2017 01:06 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Adverts, etc.
Not using a Microsoft account when using Win10 is the key step in disabling Cortana. Many of Win10's features e.g. Onedrive, Cortana, Microsoft app store require a Microsoft account to function.
Of course, there are various other tweaks and patches which have been generously contributed by the techies to get rid of the telemetry stuff in Win10. These should be used in addition to not using a Microsoft account.
The only negative drawback is not using Skype... which may be annoying for people who do video calls often. But there are alternatives out there which are better than Skype. Also, you might be able to use Skype without linking it to a Microsoft account.
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Monday 13th March 2017 20:35 GMT GrumpyKiwi
Re: Adverts, etc.
Indeed. Windows 10 Pro takes a great deal of my time to rip out all those unwanted store apps that I don't want users touching, let alone trying to use. Then it tries its damn hardest to restore them. As a non-subtle hint that I should be using Enterprise, it's like a rino horn up the jacksie.
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Monday 13th March 2017 20:06 GMT Mark 110
Re: Starve the beast
Windows 10 is fine stays out of my way. Rarely does anything annoying.
On principle I would like to use Linux instead. Itss just that everytime I try I end up forced to a command line to try and do what I want to do and invariably fail. Just too old to learn a new languagge to do simple thingss (though Spanish lessons are coming along a treat - but thats a bit different to sitting on my own swearing at my computer and resorting to rum to help the giving up processs. Spanish is a bit more social).
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Tuesday 14th March 2017 11:58 GMT Avatar of They
Re: Starve the beast
Lol, Used windows 10 once and found myself in the DISM. Powershell by another name, trying to add windows features.
Windows has a command line now and we ain't talking DOS, if you haven't had to use it then you are lucky. It is there and needed if you want to do something "extra"
Needless to say windows 10 didn't last as I couldn't understand why my new laptop had me in a command line and removing adverts for mirror.co.uk.
Minty penguins all round. Ain't no adverts here.
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Tuesday 14th March 2017 13:35 GMT CrazyOldCatMan
Re: Starve the beast
Powershell by another name, trying to add windows features.
Ah yes - PowerSHeLL. The monstrosity that came about then Microsoft engineers first got exposed to the linux CLI and thought "How can we take every broken feature in the Linux CLI and port it to Windows? And make it worse?"
They then proceeded to do things like random capital-letter sensitivity and huge processor use.
Run away. Run away now.
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Monday 13th March 2017 18:56 GMT Hans 1
In other words, the only way you can blot out Microsoft's adverts is by turning off the service that delivers important, even critical messages from OneDrive too – such as telling you synchronisation has failed, or your cloud storage is full, for example.
Yeah, but those who use OneDrive will not mind the ads, anyway, right ?
I am astounded at how MS has since 2001 consistently tried VERY HARD to make Windows non-worthy for real business work. Ok, 7 to 8 really was an incredible leap forward, more so than 8 to 8.1 or 8.1 to 10, the funny thing is, each time, they try some new way ... I do not really think it is the department to p*ss off users, more like, Self Destruct HaraKiri Division ...
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Monday 13th March 2017 18:56 GMT LosD
Errrr... I'm pretty sure it is enough to disable "Get tip, tricks, and suggestions as you use Windows" in the "Notifications and actions" settings (at the very least I don't see the ads, and I haven't disabled sync providers).
Of course, that shouldn't even be necessary. I paid for Windows 10, I shouldn't have to jump through hoops avoid spam, phoning home and similar malware ('cause that's what it is!).
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Tuesday 14th March 2017 14:12 GMT DropBear
There are people who equate power over other people with a carte blanche licence to do to them whatever they see fit. They live simpler lives than most, unencumbered by any kind of moral concerns. The rest of us all, we're just Non-Player Characters in the great game they are the heroic protagonist of. If they could, they'd probably be deeply offended that we don't just stop existing and de-spawn when their game ends. I don't think they ever realize the real name of each of them is Ozymandias...
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Monday 13th March 2017 20:36 GMT David 132
Re: they believe noone uses computers for anything serious anymore.
noone uses computers for anything serious anymore
Too busy, that's why.
Noone presents a weekly show on SiriusXM satellite radio.
Noone was Herman (of the Hermits).
The word you're looking for is "no-one" </grammar-pedant-mode>
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Monday 13th March 2017 19:43 GMT 45RPM
I don't like the idea of advertising in the OS. I don't like the idea of advertising in any software. But the prevailing opinion is that software, not being tangible, isn't worth anything. It's a race to the bottom, and it's the professional software developers who are being squeezed.
So what should we do? Put advertising, however unwanted, in the software that we write? Starve? Or are users going to start ponying up and paying for the tools that they use?
The free model works for Apple because Apple sells hardware, which pays for all that development work - with cash to spare. The free model works for Google because they can sell data scavenged from their users (oh, and advertising besides). The free model works for some Linux distros because they sell vastly expensive support contracts to enterprise. But other than that, it's a bloody bad time to be a developer.
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Monday 13th March 2017 20:06 GMT Mark 110
Might be time to try . . .
. . . Linux again.
Last time I tried I had two big niggles and a small niggle:
- lack of an acceptable DLNA server - I've fixed that now by buying a NAS box. Which works great using Plex. The Linuux desktop version of Plex was pants. Wht the f**k did it want to run fullscreen - I didn't want it too.
- unable to get the screen on my Yoga to autorotate. I don't use it as a tablet very often - but I do. I died a death in the command line trying to get that to work last time I tried.
- lack of native Office install - I would have had to use Office 365 web apps. Microsoft might come around on this one eventually if tthey keep forcing people onto Linux. They did it for Macs.
Oh well - I don't use IE. I'm not going to see the ads.
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Monday 13th March 2017 20:41 GMT 45RPM
Re: Might be time to try . . .
They did it for Macs…
I could argue that Office was Mac first, Windows second. Certainly, Excel and PowerPoint were Mac first, Windows second. As was a GUI version of Word. So the circumstances are a little different from those for Linux.
On my Linux box I use LibreOffice. After all, if you're going to break from Microsoft then you might as well go the whole hog. I use Office 365 on my Windows PC - and it works nicely enough with LibreOffice.
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Tuesday 14th March 2017 00:45 GMT Anonymous Coward
Tipping Point
The Cumulative Effect of everything slurps, is I buy nothing now. No smart TV's, no IoT, no Android Smartphones, and certainly no Win10 infested sh*t.
For now at least its possible to buy basic non-smart TV's and basic feature phones, and we can safely ignore smart IoT, after all who needs to spend 1,2,3,4 grand on a Smart Fridge etc. But you can't ignore Windows-10 slurping even on Pro / Enterprise judging by comments on the Reg recently.
Tech is at a serious tipping point. Even if you're in a coma you can't ignore how few benefits there are versus the risks from surgically invasive Tracking, Snooping, Ad-Slinging and leaks to Hackers / Cybercrims / Spies...
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Tuesday 14th March 2017 12:04 GMT Steve Davies 3
Re: I've done it
You may well have 'done it'.
Ask yourself if the average user could do what you did?
The answer is certainly a big fat NO.
Us smartarses here can do all sorts of tricks that just bamboozle the average user. There is no way that that can do that. So they are left to suffer at the hands of the Ad slingers unless we can persuade them to move platform.
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Tuesday 14th March 2017 08:04 GMT Timmy B
I had a bit of a search...
...and it seems that this is currently only happening in the beta for the creators update. May well explain why the vast majority of sites that mention this are, like the reg, just pointing back to the same reddit article. I use Windows 10 all day every day at home and work and the only adverts I see are in browser windows and they are pretty infrequent.
I do also find it interesting that several people on here have complained about Windows and how much they hate it and then put down a long list of hoops they have to jump through to make their chosen Linux look and work just like it.
I welcome your downvotes,
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Tuesday 14th March 2017 11:36 GMT Avatar of They
Re: I had a bit of a search...
Make a good point, people jump to Linux and immediately make it look like windows. Not sure why myself as I like the cinnamon look as is.
Like the Golf adverts in the UK they used to have, where they made a point of people buying a car that was like a golf, but wasn't a golf.
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Tuesday 14th March 2017 13:34 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: I had a bit of a search...
Just once: until PulseAudio decides that the USB mic you used yesterday doesn't exist and makes the HDMI interface in your video card the default sound device. Linux may not have ads, but it is still very competitive with Windows when it comes to the makings of a bad day.
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Tuesday 14th March 2017 23:38 GMT Number6
Re: I had a bit of a search...
Yes, it has some annoying quirks with sound like that. My favourite (given that it's my son's PC affected and not mine) is where his favoured USB audio device sometimes presents itself as stereo speakers, sometimes as mono microphone and sometimes as both. I've told him to bring up the config page and repeatedly unplug and plug it back in until it does what he wants. I suspect there's a weak point in the Linux USB stack for dealing with combo devices.
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Tuesday 14th March 2017 12:00 GMT Nick Ryan
Registry
For those that like to mess with the registry:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
DWORD:ShowSyncProviderNotifications, set value to 0
Of course in classic Microsoft ass-hattery, and as noted in the article, this will also disable important sync provider messages. Scumbags.
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Tuesday 14th March 2017 12:02 GMT MrKrotos
I have had enough of W10, previously I have got on okay with it but in the last 2 days the experience has shown me its no good.
Been running W10 on a laptop happily for 3 months, then it auto installs the CU for 1607 which kills the USB! No way to rollback, no way to fix.
MS answer: “Just reinstall it”
My answer: “How about I fuk W10 off and just use Windows 7 while I learn Linux?”
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Tuesday 14th March 2017 14:24 GMT Anonymous Coward
What kind of idiot?
So you pay good money for a bad OS and then, instead of letting you do what you want to do, it interrupts you with ads. I could understand this if they were giving away the OS (although I'd probably choose not to use it rather than suffer the ads). I might even use the thing and suffer the ads if they were PAYING me to use it. But what kind of idiot would pay money to endure somebody else's advertising?
Hmmmmm. *Looks out of window*. Oh, most people are wearing clothing THAT THEY PAID FOR and the clothing is advertising something. So, there are plenty of idiots who are stupid enough to pay Microsoft money in order to watch adverts, because there are plenty of idiots who are stupid enough to pay EXTRA to advertise somebody's product when the advertiser should be paying them to wear it.
I've just had a thought. Tattoovertising. Why pay money for twuntish tattoos when you can spend twice the amount to have a tattoo that advertises something? I'd get paid by the advertiser and the punter. I'd need a really good name for the tattoo parlour. How about "Twattoos"?
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Wednesday 15th March 2017 00:52 GMT Anonymous Coward
Ads vs spam... there's a difference
I remember when Microsoft rebranded Hotmail to Outlook, and all I saw henceforth were ads featuring other Microsoft products and services.
I surmised that Microsoft was filthy rich enough to not need additional ad revenue from external sources, and there's no better promotion than self-promotion to a captive audience.
We saw that come into fruition with the 'Get Windows 10 now!!!' spam. Once upon a time people would install Lavasoft AdAware or Malwarebytes to deal with that kind of 'promotion'.
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Thursday 6th April 2017 16:08 GMT Hidden Manna
You guys are full of it !
If you want to use WIndows 10, what's the big deal?
1. Use a local account - eliminate 80% of the annoyances right there.
2. Go to privacy settings and untick everything - 10% more
3. Use a hosts file or adblock - 7% more.
4. Customize a bit - you do that anyway - organize the Start menu how you want it etc.
Right there and you already have a mostly decent system. Or just use 8.1 with a Start menu package. The hysteria is too much. You all are quite adept and can fix any of these systems to how you want them, so what is the big deal? On day One of the clean install you should have it already all how you want it (as far as one can), it's not like you are clueless.