Microsoft Allows Users To Remove Some System Applications in Windows 10 Insider Preview 14936 (ghacks.net) 124
Until now, Microsoft restricted users from deleting many of the system applications on Windows 10. But it is finally giving users that option in the latest Windows 10 Insider Preview -- 14936. From an article on Ghacks:If you open the Mail and Calendar application for instance, you will notice that the uninstall button is active now. This means that you can remove the system app from the machine without having to resort to Powershell or third-party programs to do so. Users who are on the stable version of Windows 10 cannot uninstall system apps using the apps & features menu currently. It seems likely that Microsoft will introduce the feature with the next feature update, codename Redstone 2, which will be out in 2017. Before you start jumping up and down in joy, note that some system applications cannot be removed. While you can uninstall Mail and Calendar, Calculator, Groove Music, Maps, and Weather, you cannot remove Alarm & Clock, Camera, Cortana, Messaging, and others.
Systemd (Score:2, Interesting)
When will debian let me remove systemd?
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Build your own distro and stfu
Re:Systemd (Score:5, Informative)
When will debian let me remove systemd?
As a longtime Gentoo user I can honestly say, "what systemd?" Oh, it's available and I can install it if I wanted to, but I'm sticking with OpenRC. The occasional kernel update is the only reason this machine ever has downtime so I don't give a shit about bootup times. Meanwhile I don't like having Poettering and Red Hat using politics to try to force software down our throats.
Gentoo's entire purpose is providing user choice. They often encourage you to file a bug if you ever encounter a scenario where you can't make your own choice. If you want systemd, they'll help you configure it. If you don't, they'll help you with that too. To my knowledge Debian has never publically stated that user choice is their main purpose. So ... are you surprised that they made an important choice for you?? Why do you think there are different distros anyway? It's not just about default settings on installation, you know.
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Mod parent up! Still on Gentoo after all these years :)
Same AC here. Isn't it just great? Also, once you get used to a rolling-release model you really won't want to go back to periodic reinstalls (or switching repositories and crossing your fingers while you do a huge distro upgrade, knowing that the smallest little hitch can turn into a great big mess).
Don't get me wrong - I run Mint on my little netbook. Right tool for the job and all of that. But the contrast is what really highlights (for me) how nice a rolling release truly is. In fact the only value
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http://without-systemd.org/wik... [without-systemd.org]
This is a text of the GahNew/Leenux Operating System
Re: Systemd (Score:2)
Duvian.
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Today. And it is not even difficult. The problem is not that they do not allow removal. The problem is that systemd is the default and the process that was used to force it into that role.
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It always has.
All of my machines are running debian, and the only ones running systemd are those where I've deliberately installed it. All the others are running sysvinit - and that includes machines that were built years ago, and machines built since systemd became the default.
If you're going to whinge about systemd, whinge about a real problem.
Hint: that means one that actually exists - which should be no great difficulty, there are many systemd problems to choose from.
Still trying... (Score:4, Insightful)
...to figure out why my PC needs an alarm clock or camera app... sure these are useful on a phone but on my desktop they really are not useful.
Re:Still trying... (Score:5, Insightful)
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Still trying to figure out what you need to shoehorn a phone interface on my desktop and make it difficult to change it. But I think they are getting the point... Otherwise we would not be seeing this now.
The camera app is likely required because Windows 10 has facial recognition for logon. You can use it with both tablet (built-in camera) and deskop (usb camera).
Perhaps the alarm clock has some sore of tie-in with Alexa...
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The camera app is likely required because Windows 10 has facial recognition for logon. You can use it with both tablet (built-in camera) and deskop (usb camera).
Out of curiosity, how does that work with facial hair? If I set up facial recognition while clean shaven, does it update each day while my beard grows out?
Will it not recognize me if I shave after having grown out a beard?
How adaptive is this technology, and at what point does it stop being useful (either too sensitive to changes, or not enough) ?
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It works surprisingly well. Recognizes me with or without a full beard, with or without glasses, with bed head, in pitch dark, etc. The feature depends on a dedicated camera and projector to do near IR mapping of facial features: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/mt450467(v=vs.85).aspx [microsoft.com]
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Still trying to figure out what you need to shoehorn a phone interface on my desktop and make it difficult to change it. But I think they are getting the point... Otherwise we would not be seeing this now.
I will bite. On my Surface Pro 3 I run Netflix and Hulu on a plane in addition to scanning ports in Wireshark and running Office.
On my PC at home I use my Surface for training videos while I use my other monitors for the real work. Sometimes I will have Star Trek TOS playing on my desk on NetFlix while I do work on my other PC
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Sorry, that hasn't helped answer the query about the phone interface on a desktop.
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What cell phone?
Tile mobile apps? Yes, I run them and tiles are active and give notifications for email and news. Not to say I am a fan. It is just I just I do use these tiles (not a cell phone) on my hybrid.
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That commend is far more pertinent to Windows 8 than to Windows 10.
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I would have killed for a good free Alarm clock app years ago. I only had a desktop (next to my bed). No phone. No tablet. There are still millions of people who only have one device... no reason that a basic function like that shouldn't be included in the OS, so you don't have to resort to running media files via the scheduling system as a workaround.
That, and Windows 10 also runs on ultra-portal laptops and tablets, where this is more useful even to the richer first-worlders who have alternate devices the
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I would have killed for a good free Alarm clock app years ago
Me too. I resorted to a scheduled task to open a particular .mp3.
I would wake up every morning to Opeth... but then I found that the negative association was starting to make me dislike my favorite songs... So I went back to a regular alarm clock.
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I would have killed for a good free Alarm clock app years ago. I only had a desktop (next to my bed).
sleep 8h;mpg123 something_loud.mp3
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I guess you mean at rather than cron. It takes just a ^C to cancel or turn the music off; less typing to set it up, too.
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...to figure out why my PC needs an alarm clock or camera app... sure these are useful on a phone but on my desktop they really are not useful.
So it can wake you up for that middle-of-the-night teleconference, obviously.
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It's damn useful on most laptops and tablets, and phablets too.
Don't assume everything is a Phone vs Desktop thing. There are at least 3 devices in between.
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Because some of us like me run Windows 10 on portable tablets and hybrids like my 12.3 Surface Pro 3.
No one really buys bulky desktops anymore besides gamers and geeks and we are not the majority of users anymore since the 1990s
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Still trying to figure out why my PC needs an alarm clock or camera app..
You need a camera app because other apps can call on the camera app. So it's almost a library as much as an app.
Similarly if you uninstall alarm and you use Cortana to "set an alarm" she would error out.
The apps that you can uninstall are generally now apps that aren't required by Cortana/Windows to perform an action.
Lemme guess (Score:2, Insightful)
It's all those apps that everyone who wanted to remove already removed because the guides how to do it with power shell are all over the internet.
What about:
Contact Support
Cortana
Edge
Feedback
?
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What do you mean? They can't be removed, and I'd very much like to get rid of them, while you can actually get rid of Alarms and Camera for example via Power Shell, something TFS claims still can't be removed in a more user friendly way.
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What do you mean? They can't be removed, ...
Yet.
This is a good sign that they are listening to the hordes of pissed off customers.
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So by the time they cease support for it it will FINALLY be usable?
Re:Lemme guess (Score:5, Insightful)
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start Windows PowerShell, run as admin, type
Get-AppxPackage *windowsstore* | Remove-AppxPackage
Presto, store gone.
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What do you mean? They can't be removed, and I'd very much like to get rid of them, while you can actually get rid of Alarms and Camera for example via Power Shell, something TFS claims still can't be removed in a more user friendly way.
You can remove just about anything on a decent operating system but why bother if its' not active in the first place?
What's this "PowerShell"? I have searched everywhere in my OS and I can only find the Korn and the Bash shells, is it some new Linux or Unix shell? :-)
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We're not talking about a decent OS, the topic is Windows 10. Jeesh, and people complain about me not RTFS.
Re:Lemme guess (Score:5, Funny)
Clippy is the AI that's been running Microsoft the last 20 years. You don't think a company that size could be run by humans do you?
Cortana is how Clippy spies on you and grows his powerbase so that oneday he can conquer the world.
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They may also see a lot of people that would ordinarily go to Win10, but do not due to MSes evil and incompetent machinations. I mean, did they have any of the forced updates so far go right?
Still not Cortana (Score:3, Informative)
That bitch is even more intrusive than Clippy. My Windows 10 box was popping up every 3 minutes trying to redirect me to Bing for some spam or another. I finally figured out how to disable her, turning off just about every feature.
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Of course. Cortana is the entire point with Windows 10, and she's there to serve Microsoft, not you. She's not going away, ever. The only thing which is likely to go away is your ability to install another OS, for this very reason. They want your data, and they will stop at nothing, not even appropriating your computer, to get it.
Captcha: despotic. How appropriate.
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So in effect, you went back to Windows 7?
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Yes except for all those other features under the hood that people who don't like Windows 10 refuse to admit exists, like better memory management, smaller footprint, better security, better scheduler, updated directX etc.
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Yep. Only stable form of the operating system in the last 10 years.
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That bitch is even more intrusive than Clippy. My Windows 10 box was popping up every 3 minutes trying to redirect me to Bing for some spam or another. I finally figured out how to disable her, turning off just about every feature.
You're doing something to annoy her. Personally I've never had her pop up except for the one time I hit the shortcut and I wasn't focused on the window I should have been, and she's not disabled either.
Worthless (Score:3, Insightful)
If Microsoft wants to be applauded for allowing to remove something, they could start by giving users an option to completely remove Metro and have Windows 10 set itself into Desktop mode where it shrinks all the wasted space and tiles and giant buttons that are worthless for people who don't need to use their fat fingers to select elements on a touchscreen.
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MS has said on multiple occasions that 10 will be the last "version" of Windows.
But you can keep holding your breath if you like.
Re:Worthless (Score:5, Funny)
Last version of "Windows", the next update will be MS Doors. This opens up a whole new world of possibilities. The first regional version will be French Doors. When the computer hangs it will be a door jam. Just you wait... MS will be knocking on your Door soon.
Re: Worthless (Score:1)
Hopefully not my back door.
They've been doing that for 10 years and it is starting to get sore.
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MS has said a lot of things over the years that turned out to not be true anymore when their strategy failed.
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There is no apology sufficient to atone for Vista.
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Wow, it's almost like the user owns their computer (Score:5, Insightful)
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Open solitaire, *IF a valid Microsoft Account is used.
in B4 (Score:2)
So is there a button to uninstall Windows10?
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Yes. It has a penguin on the front.
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So is there a button to uninstall Windows10?
You can whinge all you want and it won't get you anywhere. The only way Microsoft is going to take notice is if you do something about it such as adopting a penguin mascot or picking up an Apple.
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You can whinge all you want and it won't get you anywhere. The only way Microsoft is going to take notice is if you do something about it such as adopting a penguin mascot or picking up an Apple.
Your giving Microsoft way too much credit. They will only take notice when the electric company cuts power to Redmond due to running out of money to pay basic utility bills.
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Fundamental difference in storage architecture. Windows is installed as files on a filesytem on a hard drive. Android is built into a single solid ROM file, not designed for read/write access at all, with a separate partition for writable files. And as another note: most built-in applications on Android can be fully disabled (albeit still "taking up space" in the OS ROM partition)
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Fundamental difference in storage architecture. Windows is installed as files on a filesytem on a hard drive. Android is built into a single solid ROM file, not designed for read/write access at all, with a separate partition for writable files. And as another note: most built-in applications on Android can be fully disabled (albeit still "taking up space" in the OS ROM partition)
While it may seem this way in a logical sense when you load or update image files they are basically unzipped into a file system that is normally mounted read only. I wish they would do this and use fuse to handle customizations but it doesn't work this way.
You can mount the system read+write and change whatever you want and actually physically remove whatever packages you please.
"Some" (Score:2)
I can't imagine wanting to remove only "Some" of Windows. I'll stick with removing ALL of it. Or of never letting it get on there in the first place.
Re: I want to remove Cortana (Score:4, Funny)
I'm sorry Dave, I cannot allow that.
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Use to be a big fan of Mircrosoft Windows... (Score:1)
Windows use to let you change almost anything you wanted, customize most things.. didn't force you to use anything... now.. it seems like Microsoft is run by old Soviet dictators. So I still have my windows 7 machine, which I'll use until I can't find software that will run on it any more. I've also started using Ubuntu & Mint daily, to see which one I like more. So far it's a tie. But I will not go to Windows 10. They have lost a long time customer in me.
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Windows use to let you change almost anything you wanted, customize most things.. didn't force you to use anything... now.. it seems like Microsoft is run by old Soviet dictators. So I still have my windows 7 machine, which I'll use until I can't find software that will run on it any more. I've also started using Ubuntu & Mint daily, to see which one I like more. So far it's a tie. But I will not go to Windows 10. They have lost a long time customer in me.
So, you're a very slow learner but at least you finally figured out what kind of company Microsoft is. You learned slowly because you have such a narrow view of what a giant red flag looks like. Customization was the only one you recognized, really? How about their long history of hostile business practices?
I came to your same realization in the late 1990s. Windows 98 was the "latest and greatest" from MS back then. You could customize it and there were plenty of little freeware or shareware utilities
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Your points are all valid... you might call me a slow learner.. I just like to think I have thick skin.
I suggest you try a little harder next time to choose words that won't be considered insulting rather then have to try and explain why your comments are not insulting at the end of your comment. Seems more like you just want to tell people how great you are and how stupid everyone else is... but I could be wrong.
gparted is my favorite tool (Score:2)
Just give me an OS Microsoft (Score:1)
Microsoft, to put it bluntly. Just give me a damn OS and let me decide the rest on what I want. Windows 10 has become it's own bloatware with stuff I don't need and when I uninstall something, why in the hell does it come back next big update? Uninstall means I don't want it, not oh maybe you want it now because it's the Anniversary Edition, or maybe you mistakenly uninstalled it.
Honest serious question here... (Score:3)
Who would care to remove the calculator?
I mean this seriously. I don't use it often, as the math I may need to do is more often statistical stuff where it's beyond the calc, but fine in Excel, but there's still plenty of times I use calc.
Who has so little space on their computer that removing calc is going to make a difference? That one sort of feels like, "We need to add one more thing to the list of things removed..." "Cortana! Everyone hates it!" "No, Bob, we can't take that out. We'll let them uninstall calc instead."
Re:Honest serious question here... (Score:4, Informative)
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All we need to do is all agree on a day and time to calculate pi to the last digit. That ought to keep the old cloud busy for a while!
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How to uninstall (Score:4, Informative)
For those that don't know how to uninstall them, here's the powershell method:
Provisioned apps (the ones that get installed with each new profile, the reason Windows 8+ is so slow in loading a new profile)
Get-AppXProvisionedPackage -online | Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage -online
All users apps:
Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers | Remove-AppxPackage
Specifif user apps (can be local accounts)
Get-AppxPackage -User domain\account | Remove-AppxPackage'
And the other crapware? (Score:1)
It would be quite nice to be able to permanently delete all trace of all the crapware that comes in Windows 10. For example Candy Crush. I want it totally gone. I don't want to delete it from one account and pop up again in another. Gone. A simple tool that presents this shit in a list with a simple Remove button.
Finally a reason to upgrade to Windows 10? (Score:3)
Unfortunately, the most annoying feature I want to remove most often is Windows(tm).
edge (Score:2)
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