Hey Microsoft, Stop Installing Apps On My PC Without Asking (howtogeek.com) 511
Chris Hoffman, writing for How To Geek: I'm getting sick of Windows 10's auto-installing apps. Apps like Facebook are now showing up out of nowhere, and even displaying notifications begging for me to use them. I didn't install the Facebook app, I didn't give it permission to show notifications, and I've never even used it. So why is it bugging me? Windows 10 has always been a little annoying about these apps, but it wasn't always this bad. Microsoft went from "we pinned a few tiles, but the apps aren't installed until you click them" to "the apps are now automatically installed on your PC" to "the automatically installed apps are now sending you notifications." It's ridiculous.
They did ask... (Score:5, Funny)
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Of course it is. It does not mean that this is a good business practice. Things like this erode trust and perceived reliability. I know I look forward to the day when an alternative gaming operating system rivals Windows via Steam. Currently there's no comparison, which is truly sad.
Re:They did ask... (Score:4, Insightful)
Things like this erode trust and perceived reliability.
Are you kidding? Trust in Microsoft vanished a long long time ago for most of us here, and "perceived reliability" barely ever existed. These are little more than expected amusements for those of us who haven't touched Microsoft in decades.
All the remaining users don't have any trust, they either have stockholm syndrome or are fully aware of the level of shit they put up with but have no other choice for pragmatic or technical competency reasons (I say this with no judgement, you guys have been fucked for a _long_ time and I feel sorry for you). Even those who switch to Apple just have a different kind of shit to put up with these days.
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Yeah, I didn't see any judgement on that. It isn't optional if you're a primarily PC gamer. I've installed Steam on MacOS and seen a pretty small selection of games, and those were mostly big enough to justify what was likely just a Wine compatible port (like EVE Online). I don't even know if they support Linux, but I imagine the selection is pretty slim.
Re:They did ask... (Score:5, Informative)
... Steam on MacOS and seen a pretty small selection of games ... I don't even know if they support Linux
SERIOUSLY!?! Steam has been one of the biggest supporters of Linux. Their SteamOS _IS_ Linux. Their Steam Machines run Linux. They have over 1k games that run on Linux (probably most of the same ones that run on macs).
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It's been a while since I checked. I'll have to take a look again. It's a shame I bet the files stored on my SSDs likely wouldn't share data and if I dual installed I'd have to pick between. I'll look into it when I get home.
Re:They did ask... (Score:4, Informative)
It's a shame I bet the files stored on my SSDs likely wouldn't share data and if I dual installed [the same Steam game for multiple operating systems,] I'd have to pick between.
That depends on how an application's depots [steamgames.com] are configured. Each depot is a package that can be for one or many operating systems, one or many architectures, one or many languages, and either the base game or a particular add-on. A well-packaged Steam game would come as three depots:
(Many developers refer to non-program depots as "assets", but others claim that the term "assets" devalues non-program works [gnu.org].)
Thus you'd end up with a program depot per OS and non-program depots shared among OSes.
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I don't even know if they support Linux, but I imagine the selection is pretty slim.
There are more than 3,000 games for Linux on Steam now.
That said, very few of them are big titles, and a lot of them are Chinese/Japanese visual novels and girl-girl romance games, it seems.
Also, Steam only supports Ubuntu with 32-bit. You can get it to work, of sorts, with some other linux distributions with 32-bit support, but then you're on your own, and some titles might not work, or might stop working when you update your OS.
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Ubuntu isn't the worst. Do you know if the offshoots from it support it? Thinking specifically Mint Cinnamon, etc.
Re:They did ask... (Score:5, Informative)
Linux Mint Cinnamon and Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE2) are both handling Steam just fine at my house and have been for many months.
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Excellent. Thank you.
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Playstation is not a good system for my gaming needs. I had a PS3 and played a few games, but then most of what I kept it around for showed up on Steam (FFX, Tales of series, etc). I know the PS4 is better than the Xbox One, but I can't stand controllers when keyboard and mouse are there. Microsoft is showing they suck, but it's still superior for my needs.
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Some games for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 support mouse and/or keyboard.
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I know I look forward to the day when an alternative gaming operating system rivals Windows via Steam.
Steam turned PC gaming into a DRM-laden dystopia. Add to it the drama* that comes with playing online, cryptocoin miners running up GPU prices, and most games being uninspired formulaic FPS rehashes, and it's no wonder the term "PC master race" was originally coined with sarcastic intent. By comparison, having to run Windows is a pretty minor fault.
Besides, this article is a non-story. Every version of Windows has always shipped with a few annoying default settings, go in and turn that crap off - problem
Re:They did ask... (Score:5, Insightful)
Besides, this article is a non-story. Every version of Windows has always shipped with a few annoying default settings, go in and turn that crap off - problem solved.
RTFA. The point of the article is that you can't do exactly what you suggest people do. Per the article:
There is, technically, a way to disable this and stop Windows from installing these appsbut it’s only for Windows 10 Enterprise and Education users. Even if you spent $200 for a Windows 10 Professional license because you want to use your PC for business, Microsoft won’t let you stop the “Consumer Experience” on a professional PC.
The group policy or registry setting that disables this feature originally worked on Windows 10 Home and Professional in the November 2015 update when Microsoft originally added the Consumer Experience. But Microsoft went out of their way to make Home and Professional ignore this setting in the Anniversary Update. Now, only Enterprise and Education respect that preference.
So unless you buy the enterprise edition of Windows (Cost: $84 per PC, per year, minimum 5 licenses), or are attending a university that will enable you to obtain the Education edition on windows (Cost: averages about $9,970 per year) you can't even do what you suggest. Windows explicitly ignores the settings that turns this functionality off.
Re:They did ask... (Score:5, Interesting)
TFA is pointless. Windows 10 doesn't install any apps without your request if you turn off the settings "Occasionally show suggestions in Start" under the taskbar settings. Additionally the package responsible for installing these "suggestions" is called App Installer which you can simply uninstall and gone. You don't need any fancy educational or enterprise thing for it.
The thing is if you do a search on this problem you'll find 100 different people suggest 100 different registry edits or group policy edits and 100 different people complaining that it doesn't work. Frankly I've given up on any article claiming you can't turn it off.
Incidentally this single setting is also responsible for the suggestions to use Edge when you use Chrome, and also responsible for one of the two nagging OneDrive adverts.
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I'm sure its there, in the EULA we don't read.
If you take the time to read the EULA, Microsoft makes it perfectly clear that "your" PC isn't "yours" any more.
So just ignore stuff that they are doing with "their" PC.
Re:Hey, Chris Hoffman (Score:5, Insightful)
It does seem incongruous that MS has tried everything possible to get people to move from Windows 7 down to Windows 10, but then they do things like this which degrade the customer experience.
Re:Hey, Chris Hoffman (Score:5, Insightful)
Indeed. When the observable behaviour of your legitimate software is becoming indistinguishable from the observable behaviour of malware, at some point you have to look in the mirror and say maybe you're the problem.
Re:Hey, Chris Hoffman (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes. Not only is the behavior of Microsoftware just as unacceptable as the more typical malware, but it also teaches ordinary users to just click through and accept malware because it acts just like Microsoftware does. Microsoft is training users that malware behavior is normal.
Re:Hey, Chris Hoffman (Score:5, Insightful)
This type of thing is exactly why Microsoft did everything possible to get people to move to Win10. They intended to monetize it in other ways that would give them a steadier/larger stream of income going forward.
As operating systems get more stable there are fewer reasons for the consumer to upgrade while Microsoft still has the task of keeping up security updates, etc. Eventually this would lead to declining revenues and the inability to support future development, not to mention allow Linux to make inroads. By restructuring to a walled garden where they're in control of your system they can monetize the hell out of you, EULA away your privacy rights, and be laughing well into the future.
If Linux development can ever get it's head out of it's ass and focus on how to make it easier for users to recover from problems without resetting everything they'd probably have a shot at taking away a big chunk of users who don't want to deal with MS' new direction.
Re:Hey, Chris Hoffman (Score:5, Insightful)
Most all those users have all been taken away already, by Apple.
Sure, theirs is also a walled garden, but at least the experience is user-friendly and not user-hostile.
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Most all those users have all been taken away already, by Apple.
Sure, theirs is also a walled garden, but at least the experience is user-friendly and not user-hostile.
Microsoft is not aiming for the Apple market. Apple charges a premium and it's customers are the people who buy their products. Apple still does some lock in by making Apple products work best with other Apple products but the purchasers of its hardware are still its primary customer. Microsoft is aiming for a completely different market. Microsoft is trying to change to the android/facebook/google business model where it gives its product away for free. The end user is no longer their customer. Their
Re:Hey, Chris Hoffman (Score:5, Funny)
Apple's products are pricey, but in many cases no pricier than equivalent alternatives. Just because a Lexus RC-F is expensive doesn't mean it's priced at a premium compared to a Honda. If all you're looking to do is fulfill a set of requirements met by the Honda, then the Lexus isn't targeted at you and would seem to be priced at a premium.
Except it's actually a Honda with a Lexus logo on it. The gas and brake pedals and other controls have been swapped. The built-in stereo only plays music you subscribe to from the manufacturer. The industry standard butt interface (seat) has been courageously removed. You can buy an adapter or a wireless seat that doesn't attach. Each model year is a little bit thinner, so it's hard to get into it, and the gas tank gets smaller, so it can't go very far.
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Most windows users think Sudo is a precursor for making meth. They've never seen a command line and think the recycle bin is just as good a place to store stuff as "My Documents."
The typical windows user doesn't know what a "Web Browser" actually is, they just think they get on "The Internet" by using "The Winderz" and think it's normal for their stack of toolbars to extend halfway down the screen.
The typical mac user doesn't know much more than that either but they feel smarter because they paid more to ge
Better yet... (Score:5, Interesting)
None of this Happens to Me (Score:2, Insightful)
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I really like many of the things they have done in the Windows 10 interface, particularly compared with 8. But controlling your applications, privacy concerns, and ignoring what the user explicitly selected is completely unacceptable.
Re:Better yet... (Score:5, Informative)
Today (Feb 15th 2018) is the day Microsoft has been telling me they are going to remove the PDF reader and I should use 'edge' instead. The singularity of stupid has arrived.
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2018, not 2008. The whoosh is strong with this one.
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My biggest gripe is that on every major update it resets my security settings so I can no longer connect to other computers on my home network. I also have a script that allows me to use .hlp files. I have to re-run that.
Hey Samsung! (Score:5, Insightful)
Stop installing Facebook on my phone without me agreeing with that.
But you know what? You can uninstall Facebook app from Windows. Hell, you can uninstall Windows altogether from your PC and still have a usable PC. But I can't uninstall Facebook from my Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) and I sure as hell can't uninstall Android from it.
So who's the greater evil?
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Still Windows. I need my computer for work, leisure, communication and lots more. I need my phone to make friggin' phone calls with people I don't like.
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You can uninstall Facebook app from Windows.
For now, anyway. If you've been paying attention it is clear that MS is warming up the water so they can be just like Samsung. To enhance your user experience, of course.
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Windows. As a practical matter, it's easier for most people to get a different phone than it is for people to choose a different OS.
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So who's the greater evil?
Why does it matter which one is greater? Both are evil and should be stopped.
We should have moved past this "greater of two evils" false dichotomy bullshit a long time ago. It doesn't matter if we're talking about computers or phones or politicians. Shit is shit and evil is evil -- how about we just avoid all of it and work towards a good alternative?
Oh, that's right... nobody actually cares about good or evil - just whether it looks like their team is currently winning, or if it isn't, to throw shit at
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But you know what? You can uninstall Facebook app from Windows. Hell, you can uninstall Windows altogether from your PC and still have a usable PC. But I can't uninstall Facebook from my Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) and I sure as hell can't uninstall Android from it.
So who's the greater evil?
Criminal A: Today I robbed two banks and stole purses from 5 old ladies.
Criminal B: Today I robbed three 7-11's, deflated tires of 20 vehicles in a Walmart parking lot and jacked three Teslas.
So who's the greater evil?
As a factual matter you do have a choice. You could install Lineage OS on your A5 and be completely free of both Facebook and Google malware.
If you're lucky enough to own supported HW (Score:3)
Hell, you can uninstall Windows altogether from your PC and still have a usable PC.
That's true of select PCs. But good luck getting usable suspend on something like a ASUS Transformer Book T100TA after installing a competing operating system [debian.org]. From that page: "Closing the lid triggers automatic suspend to RAM, which causes a full freeze."
What to do? (Score:4, Insightful)
I haven't noticed this behavior yet and don't use any apps on my new machine. (Since it's new, it comes with Win 10. Of course, I'm using Linux for work.)
Do the apps run in the background if I never open them and use Classic menu? Do they show notifications if I turn notifications off?
Re:What to do? (Score:5, Insightful)
They don't - the guy who wrote this article has no idea what he's talking about.
I suspect what happened is they installed facebook via the windows store on another PC and the default behavior is to sync/install apps (kinda like Android/iOS). And since store apps use oAuth 2 which Windows 10 supports - it can chain the authentication.
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They don't - the guy who wrote this article has no idea what he's talking about.
Yes they do the same way candy crush was being installed via the "suggested apps" auto install malware of the windows store.
Re:What to do? (Score:5, Interesting)
I suppose that could be happening. However just last night I setup a brand spanking new computer for my kids to use. I installed Firefox, Minecraft, and Steam. I was switching between the children's profiles to set things up when I noticed that the start menu was now showing some new games that weren't there previously. Games that I've never heard of let alone purchased through either Steam or the Windows Store. I also didn't configure the Windows 10 install using any external accounts like email or Microsoft. From my perspective it appears entirely as if Windows just decided that I'd like some games and installed them on its own.
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The first thing you need to do in any windows 10 installation is turn off Settings > Personalisation > Start > "Occasionally show suggestions in start".
That controls the installation of suggested apps.
Microsoft Owned Computer (Score:3)
When you install Windows on a computer, it becomes a Microsoft managed computer.
You simply pay for the bandwidth, pay for the hardware, pay for the software, and Microsoft controls 100% of their computer that you simply lease, and use whatever Microsoft gives you permissions to use.
There is a reason Microsoft went from "My Computer" to "Computer", and it wasn't about people getting confused.
Thats why "your" files are in the Microsoft owned cloud, on a Microsoft owned hardware. You are just using a dumb terminal, and granted permission by Microsoft to use it.
Comment removed (Score:3)
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In the past, the only way I've found to do this is have a system builder make my machine, and insist on a full retail version of the OS which has no additional stuff on it.
OEM installs usually are full of that additional shit, and I don't want it. I don't want the manufacturer's wizards, helpers, games, or anything else .. I just want the OS.
The problem is now, the OS is full of its own kind of crapware, and you can'
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"You should start your own cattle farm and slaughtering plant if you don't like antibiotics, growth hormones, rat feces, and rat poison in your meat."
Or buy from a company that doesn't do those things. There are plenty of organic food sellers out there.
"You should start your own automobile company if you don't like cars designed to fail at 150,000 Km."
Or do your research and buy a car that doesn't fail at 150,000 Km.
"You should start your own pharmaceutical company if you don't like drugs with undisclosed side effects."
Or you could just not take the drugs.
"You should start your own power company if you don't like the current rate structure or the polluting generation methods they use."
Or use alternative energy sources like wind & solar.
"You should write your own mobile and desktop OS if you don't like what's on the market today."
Or use a flip phone, or don't have a phone.
Any of these suggestions will yield better results than having the government interfere & probably end up making things worse. I realize though it's easier for some people to get someone else to force
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the idea of your computer is over (Score:2)
Found the LUDDITE! (Score:2, Insightful)
Only apps can app apps, and Appsoft apping apps while apping other apps just makes Appdows 10 even appier! Only LUDDITES hate apps, because they're too stupid to know how to app apps while apping other apps!
Apps!
How do you mean? (Score:5, Insightful)
He "geek"! Stop installing Windows (Score:2, Insightful)
What sort of "geek" is it, that installs Windows in the first place?
And, after they do, "blogs" about it?
And what sort of a "news for nerds" web-site publicizes such nonsense?
Well (Score:2)
You don't realize (Score:2)
that you are owned by corporations, that's a fact and it's great that you complain about it but it is also useless.
Corporate goons are programmed to implement this kind of shit and the one's having to deal with complaints fear for their jobs if they miss-behave and criticize what is corporate culture if they are even aware of it.
Often they work out of sweatshop calling centers in far away countries and are not familiar with laws and regulations in "here" countries and need the income to get by.
What would be
Reinstall Windows (Score:2)
And this time, don't check the "Enable Windows Customer Experience" box without knowing what it does. In fact, don't check any box you don't understand.
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You know, at this point I'm not really sure it matters whether you check the box or not. They are just going to do their thing - that little check box isn't connected to anything, as it were.
2018 (Score:2)
Paste into a .reg file and run. You're welcome. (Score:5, Informative)
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CloudContent]
"DisableWindowsConsumerFeatures"=dword:00000001
Re:Paste into a .reg file and run. You're welcome. (Score:5, Informative)
Setting HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager\SilentInstalledAppsEnabled to 0 seems to do the same trick at least on Win10 Home
Re:Paste into a .reg file and run. You're welcome. (Score:4, Funny)
This is why Linux will never go mainstream. Too many obscure, incomprehensible settings just to get the machine to be adequately usable. Normal people just won't put up with it!
Wait, this hack is for Windows? Uh, forget I said anything.
Re:Paste into a .reg file and run. You're welcome. (Score:4, Informative)
That setting doesn't actually work after 1511. I know because I used to use this and in current builds they expect you to get the enterprise or education SKUs.
even worse than you think (Score:2)
More annoying is when it deletes your Start menu. (Score:5, Interesting)
I set a PC up for someone at work a week or two ago, the next day it put an update on and reset the entire Start menu tile configuration I'd spent about 15 minutes sorting out, so I had to set it all up again.
A couple of days later my Dad said "I don't know what happened to this laptop. All my programs have gone and I have to manually search for everything now." Yes, it had deleted all his Start menu, too. What a total F#'#'*&$£ pile of $#!t3. This should be illegal. If I went into someone's house and re-arranged their rooms without asking I'd expect the police to be knocking on my door.
I only moved to Win 7 because of the end of life with XP, but I can't see me moving off Win 7, ever.
Re:More annoying is when it deletes your Start men (Score:4, Insightful)
So move to another OS like Mac, Linux, etc.?
switch to Linux (Score:3)
just as soon as I can get Linux to be stable on this brand new hardware i am wiping windows 10 off and running Linux exclusively, i agree with you on windows, i find myself hating it more & more and especially since it has turned in to a platform to spam you with crap you dont want
This is A/B testing, not all of you experience it! (Score:5, Interesting)
To everyone calling bullshit:
This really happens, but it is assumed that Microsoft is doing some kind of A/B testing, similar to when they roll out updates:
I've never seen it happen on my PC (besides Candy Crush, which I could easily delete), but on two completely fresh / no MS Account Windows 10 Installs at my in-laws. The following games kept getting downloaded and reinstalled. It was really without user intervention on a completely fresh machine.
https://i.redd.it/5uvjgiyc7l50... [i.redd.it]
It amounted to roughly 1,2GB traffic on a 4mbit connection. Only disabling cloud content via registry allowed this to stop. Uninstall led to reinstall.
Re:This is A/B testing, not all of you experience (Score:4, Informative)
This has been known since ~2016:
https://winaero.com/blog/fix-w... [winaero.com]
TL;DR:
If a vendor wants to promote an app, then they pay Microsoft to push it to all Windows PCs.
Windows Bonzi Buddy Edition (Score:2)
I hate to blame the victim... (Score:3)
Spam 10.0 (Score:3)
This is why MS was giving 10 away for free, often without asking. It's not an OS, but a Spam Engine, with an OS in it.
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What alternative is there for games? Consoles suck because of their lamepads.
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Primarily? No. But I enjoy gaming. And my privacy. What now?
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This [easeus.com] should do it assuming you didn't bother to spend the time to set your operating system up right from the getgo or read ahead before installing major patches as to what you need to do to stay up to snuff on privacy.
Re: This is 2018. (Score:2)
Re:This is 2018. (Score:5, Interesting)
Primarily? No. But I enjoy gaming. And my privacy. What now?
Your privacy? That was pretty much gone loooong ago. Now they've come to take away ANY control you may have left over your computing experience, so they can subject you to constant propaganda-laced exhortations to conform, to consume, to rent-to-not-own, and to trust your entire to the Cloud and the corporations. In general, they're doing everything possible to get you to give up your autonomy and your ability to think critically. They haven't achieved that goal yet, but they are getting ever closer, and the writing's on the wall. But go on ahead and enjoy those games! Or, alternatively, you might consider that having to use Windows makes those games cost WAY more than the sticker price. Like, maybe, your soul ...
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Why would you say that?
If you are into gaming, you want to get every ounce out of your PC. Having programs installed and running, will just mess with the effectiveness of your games.
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Games, and most business apps....
Re:This is 2018. (Score:4, Insightful)
So far, I can still get computers that will run Windows 7. Thanks to GPU improvements, and Intel being a bit weak in the upgrades department these days, even a seven year old computer (that isn't from Apple) is still relevant! I just got an Optiplex 790 i5 for $25 (with 12GB of RAM in it too, couldn't refuse that), and put a $110 graphics card into it. Runs OEM Windows 7 x64 Pro with no trouble, and that's what's on the license sticker.
I'm still not sure what OS I'll be playing games on in a few years, but at least the one main game I play has a Linux version because it uses Unity.
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No offense to your point, but you got a really good deal there. a core i5-2500 (just the CPU) is still selling on the used market for at least 50 bucks. Because as you noted, its performance has held fast and will actually be faster than some 6th gen core i3...
one of those core i5 optiplex 790s around here on craigslist would easily sell for at least $100-200. And my son has a 2nd gen core i5 and it plays all modern g
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If you are still saying things like "f you are still using Microsoft Windows... I feel sorry for you.", you are nothing but a t
Re: This is 2018. (Score:5, Funny)
If you are referring to Windows I'll just point out that Windows NT is the newest among common consumer operating systems.
Mac OS - evolved from Nextstep - 1988 release.
Linux - 1991 release.
Windows NT - 1993 release.
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In particular, the current Mac OS didn't evolve from its roots but is a BSD fork: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
I will also point out that the current Windows OS didn't evolve, but devolved into spyware and an advertisement platform.
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https://fosdem.org/2018/schedu... [fosdem.org]
As for other vendors, they are not going to change if they think that this is what you want.
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I've done the same at work but at home, I still like playing PC games which makes the switch impossible.
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If you quit your job, eat no-doz for every meal and play games (and do nothing but play games) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, you will die of old age before you finish playing games on Linux.
No, you will die of malnutrition or a heart attack in three to four weeks at the most. Granted, you'll probably look like you died of old age after eating nothing but No-Doze for a month without sleeping.
Re:This stuff was bad enough when it was free (Score:5, Insightful)
A lot of people aren't paying for it. Loads of gamer types who build their own PC are using unactivated Windows 10, something they would have had to use hacks to be able to do with XP.
So MS have loosened up the rules on paying for the OS but at the same time monetized app auto installs. Consider. If you buy a PC it comes with a load of crapware preinstalled - Norton Internet Security, Anti virus and so on. Most of those are trials - after a month or so they prompt you for a credit card to get a subscription. Now some percentage of PC users will dumbly hand over their credit card, and some percentage will work out they can uninstall it and use Windows Defender instead.
So each machine with trial software on it will generate a certain amount of revenue for the software vendor. Which means the software vendor can pay PC vendors to install trial software.
People have argued that the price of the trial ware knocked off a significant percentage of the cost of a Windows licence in volume. The problem from MS's perspective is that all the cash went to the vendor and WIndows got poor reputation for performance because things like Norton Internet Security absolutely killed performance.
Now with WIndows 10 and push installs MS have a chance to get in on the act. Some software vendor can do a deal where they pay MS to push install their software.
PC vendors probably won't get to install Windows for free though - there's no reason for MS to allow that and it would kill their revenue. However people building their own machines will probably get to use unactivated windows for free. Possibly MS will segregate things so that unactivated windows will get software pushed while corporate machines where the company pays a per seat license will not. I.e. 'free' windows can be monetized in a way that doesn't require the users pay a fee.
Or maybe they'll sell Microsoft Insecticide [slashdot.org]
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A lot of people aren't paying for it. Loads of gamer types who build their own PC are using unactivated Windows 10, something they would have had to use hacks to be able to do with XP.
Microsoft is actually offering an incentive for some not to purchase Windows 10 since forced updates don't occur when you don't activate.
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The only real problem with switching away from Windows is that the Linux community is almost as full of c^cksuckers as the men's room at the Republican National Convention.