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I can’t believe a paid OS needs a tool like this. Here’s a GUI tool called OFGB (Oh Frick Go Back) to remove all the ads in Windows 11. It’s understandable if a free OS or app needs ad support, but this is just crazy github.com/xM4ddy/OFGB
[Screenshot Of a GUI Tool To Removes Ads From Various Places Around Windows 11]
I have win11 on my gaming pc and i don’t see any ads. Maybe because i use local account.
Same. I main a Manjaro mini-PC but have a separate Windows gaming rig. No ads. I did use a reg key to disable start menu web search a while back but otherwise haven’t made any system changes.
There’s really no need to run Windows gaming rigs anymore 🤷 I have 2 and both are Linux
I have some games I play that do not play nice with Proton. In particular, my wife and I are pretty obsessed with Solasta: Crown of the Magister (over 500 hours and counting), which has poor compatibility in wine and proton to my understanding.
Besides, for now I don’t need the hassle. I boot up gaming PC, Steam launches, I play, then I shut down. I don’t need an excuse to leave the gaming rig powered on when I’m not using it. Maybe if and when I end up rebuilding it.
People are constantly pushing others toward Linux, because its nothing like it used to be. Id never touched a terminal screen besides a run command in Windows. I still haven’t had to touch when, except for making monecraft work a long time ago. (Which was as easy as copy pasting the commands by the way, and I was not at all doing something typical. Yet the guides were there.)
I can say however, finding a fix on Linux is significantly easier than it can be on windows. Just like any os, you’re gonna find times where you’re alone.I don’t need a push, a Linux machine is my daily driver (and has been for something like 8+ years now), and I’ve worked in IT doing virtualization/automation/data management and compliance for several years. I spend a lot of time in the terminal.
To me the Windows gaming PC is essentially a console, no different than a PS5 or a Switch is to someone else. It’s been up and running as such since before Proton was fully viable and for its use case I don’t see a need to change it until it’s due for a rebuild/replacement/upgrade.
Id say a steam deck is like a console. You turn it on, and you play games. A windows machine at the start is nothing like a console. Updates, forced updates, intrusive AI’s, constant suggestions, nothing is straight forward to me.
Maybe that’s just because I haven’t had to use Windows in the last 5 years, but thats been my experience any time I fire up my desktop.
I don’t see any of that. Cortana is disabled via settings toggle, no AI stuff, start menu web search is disabled. Updates are set to automatic download only and are only run upon shutdown if I choose “update and shutdown” instead of just doing shutdown.
I dunno, there are legitimate things to complain about with Windows, but none of this really fits.
In my case I power on, Steam launches, and I run a game. When done, I press the power button and it shuts down. That’s it.
Solasta: Crown of the Magister which has poor compatibility in wine and proton to my understanding.
I don’t need the hassle
Linux is far less hassle in my experience. Especially with one of the many SteamOS-like distros.
But by all means, you do you.
I don’t need an excuse to leave the gaming rig powered on when I’m not using it.
…why would Linux give you that excuse?
That was just one example. And I’d you review that page you linked, they don’t all disagree, there were more than a few reporting issues with it. It’s gold rated, but not platinum.
I’m glad you’re enjoying the experience, but either way the point I was making is that my gaming PC is just an appliance. It works and I have enough other things to do that I don’t feel like reinstalling the OS and a butt-ton of games.
When I need to do a rebuild/upgrade in the future I’ll likely revisit Linux with it, but until then I don’t see the point. I only turn it on a few hours a week to game and otherwise it’s off. And when it is on, I just want to game, not potentially spend time fiddling or troubleshooting if something isn’t as expected.
Fair enough
Can’t play warzone and siege on linux. Windows gaming just works.
Never heard of siege. Only heard terrible things about CoD and Warzone so…no love lost there. Pretty much anything works unless the developer specifically opts out of it or they add some bullshit kernel-level anti-cheat.
Linux “just works” better than Windows in my experience, when it comes to gaming. All the Windows bullshit was always in the way. There has never been any sort of gaming integration into the Windows OS the way Steam Deck OS has.
You never heard of Rainbow 6: siege?
Some people don’t play competitive FPS games exclusivesly, shocking I know.
I’m one of those people. And not only in fps, I started avoiding pvp in every game altogether.
Heard of it. Can’t blame me for not recognizing a generic single-word reduction of the title.
I don’t need any gaming integration in windows. I turn on my pc, steam opens on startup and i click play. Nothing in windows gets in my way. I don’t update my drivers unless i am playing a new game on launch day.
I don’t need any gaming integration in windows.
I used to have problems all the time where there was some sort of XBOX overlay error message every time I launched a game. Games would minimize at random in the middle of a match. If you want to change any system settings you have to back out of the game, as opposed to SteamOS which has the quick access menu. Simply shutting down the system sometimes takes like 3 minutes, as you have to exit the game, wait for it to load the main menu, hit exit AGAIN, wait for it to close, then hit the Windows button and shut down. In SteamOS I don’t have to do anything except open the menu, select power, and select shut down and the system handles the rest.
Just a few of the OS integration improvements.
This is just a bad windows install. The overlay problem happens if you remove edge/gamebar without preserving webview2. I am curious what system settings do you change in the middle of a game apart from one click shutdown.
Don’t you have any news, and other suggestions on the taskbar, lock screen etc? Also, are you in the EU?
No. I am from asia
Is it possible that the suggestions Windows is giving you don’t perceive them as ads?
Asia is a continent
Astute observation
Same but I setup my install by pretending I’m from the UK and that’s the only difference I can see
I think I finally found it. There aren’t (officially) any ads in windows 11 yet, they just changed the wording of the toggle for the start menu to add ads as part of the toggle.
https://www.xda-developers.com/windows-11-start-menu-ads-avoid/
the more you use the native implementations of stuff, the more you see it. if you for example, dont use edge, dont use the native task bar/start bar, dont use the microsoft store, dont use any of the built in AI tools, then AD visibily would be minimal.
A good chuck of the Ad problems is usually fixed by using 3rd party software, be it completely switching OS, or using non native software.
its like trying to use old internet explorer and complaining about ads, when 3rd party alternatives exist, and of the subset who complains, a chunk refuse to get off IE, and look for ways to mod IE instead of just going 3rd party from the get go.
I mean not using the native taskbar is a bit further than fixing stuff by using third party software. The taskbar is an integral part of the OS. If you’re switching it out then you’re making significant, deep rooted changes to the OS.
its less rewriting the entire task bar, but overriding the functionalities of the start button (in which most of the Ads are displayed in)
It’s kind of embarrassing to see so many linux nerds talk about ads in Windows 11, like navigating the settings menu is difficult.
I use linux and Windows. I haven’t seen an ad in windows since i installed and disabled them.
It isn’t hard but it is tedious because each of the ad settings is in a different location. Like taskbar has its settings which aren’t configured in the Settings app where you can turn off the ads. Settings has places in search and another in privacy. Look at the OP image. It’s 9 different settings that need to be found and turned off.
9 settings all easily accessible via the search bar in settings.
Idk im not seeing the absolutely gigantic issue that anti-windows people make it out to be - at worst, it’s a minor nuisance.
The issue is ads are for supporting free software. Windows is not free therefore should not be showing ads.
It’s embarrassing to see people actively defending the wealthiest corporation in the world baking ads directly into your operating system.
1: you shouldn’t have to
2: you have to go to like 6 different places to get most of them and there are still ads for microsoft products baked into the settings menu
Does anyone happen to know what Mastodon client this is? I’m assuming this is on iOS
TIL you can view and reply to lemmy posts from mastodon
That’s the point of the fediverse and activitypub - posts from one platform are federated to other compatible platforms. I know this also includes kbin, but there’s probably other platforms.
Yah, Ivory
Unfortunately requires a subscription :(
Only for using basic features 😉
Acceptable workaround workflow:
Share icon -> open in Mastodon on the off chance there’s something to reply toExpect you want something free but a little more fully featured!
I just found Ice Cubes, it looks promising. It’s also open-source on GitHub.
I like that one too!
Nice :) I really like it so far, it also seems to have a macOS version, I’m definitely gonna have to compare it to Mona.
If only they knew how badly recived ads are inside of a free OS and how careful KDE’s devs had to be to ask for donations once a year in a permanently dismissable standard system notification.
If you absolutely MUST use Windows, use it with AtlasOS.
Otherwise, Debian w/ KDE Plasma is your panacea.
I hadn’t heard of Atlas… Looks like it’s a debloating tool? Does it work well?
Debian FTW
It disables security features!
That was what I read.
I’ve read about that one
Then there was a similar tool and some discussion about one or the other being either buggy or problematic?
Also - I remember NTlite or similar was out there and lots of talk of Chris Titus’ debloater - haven’t used any at least not in over 5 years
deleted by creator
That was it!! Thank you!
Settings ads? I had no idea it got THIS bad.
When it’s against the law to not maximize profit for shareholders we get into some really disgusting territory when you can’t innovate anymore and need to squeeze every dime out of everything.
What the hell is microsuck going to do in another 10 years? Infinite growth is more of a fantasy than working Communism yet we swear it will work somehow…
I have never seen an ad. I’ve not put any effort into debloat. It’s this all just bs?
Edit: Plenty of down votes for asking a question. Great community guys.
Not BS but you’re probably from EU. Microsoft cannot do this shit there.
That may be it.
Perhaps you just have a different view on what is or is not an ad. For example when I see a link in the start menu for an app that I did not install, I consider that to be an ad. The most common time this happens is for Office. (Or Microsoft 365 or whatever it is called now.) Also, when I see a ‘suggestion’ to sign into a Microsoft account to use OneDrive - I consider that an ad. Microsoft aren’t telling me about OneDrive to improve my life. They are telling me to improve their profits. And when I type something in the start menu to launch an app, any result that comes up that is not something I put on my computer is an ad. It often will suggest particular websites for example.
These are the kinds of thing that we’re talking about. I’m sure if you’re using Windows on a home computer you will have seen these things. (I assume you’re talking about ads in Windows. It would be quite something else if you’d never seen any ad anywhere.)
Perhaps you just have a different view on what is or is not an ad.
Always fucks me up when I use someone else’s computer and immediately get assaulted by the fucking candy crush ad in the start menu, start grumbling about it and/or ask if they want me to disable it, and the person goes “idk I never noticed it lol”
Like muhyb says it’s likely because EU don’t allow this.
This is my start menu in Windows 11, so I’m also curious about all the hubbub. I will admit I had to get rid of a load of unwanted links when I first got the computer but I’ve never seen adverts beyond that and that it suggests Microsoft Edge in certain contexts.
You in EU?
Yes!
I’m in the same boat. USA here and only the initial start menu tiles had junk but removed them long ago. Next time I go on my computer I’ll look closer. Maybe my brain just auto filters ads out at this point.
Does anyone know if the EU protects against this? I am in Europe (well Switzerland, so technically not EU, but GDPR etc. nonetheless) and using windows 11 as my daily driver on two machines (one with beta) I have never seen ads.
EDIT: except for the ‘finish setting up’ stuff after bigger updates, those I do get.
EU gets Windows 11 ‘N’. It’s gdpr compliantnane doesn’t include the ads. I don’t know about the telemetry though.
I live in North America, I happen to have bought a Windows 10 license from Microsoft’s website.
If I install the “N” version of Windows 10, my license key doesn’t work.
That being said, give it a try, if it works, great, if not, just install the non-N version and debloat.
GL everyone.
Anyone can install Windows N, just select it during the installation
I’d still recommend debloating it using some script though
Does that actually work?
Yes, if I need to install Windows I always pick the N version. Just make sure to install the Media Feature Pack from the “optional features” area in the Settings app, otherwise some apps like Spotify might not work correctly. It took me days to figure this out, I was incredibly frustrated (that’s often the case with Windows lol, that’s why I switched to Linux).
Yes, until you install an update. Then it’s best practice to run it again.
they used to call this malware
If its pre-installed, its typically called “Bloatware”.
And I remember having bloatware on my machine going back to the 90s. The first really high quality gaming computer I got was a Sony Vaio and it had tons of bullshit excess software I had to mop out of it before I was ready to really use it.
“It’s okay when we do it.”
Is it actually malicious, though? Ads by themselves aren’t malicious.
Adware then, which is generally unacceptable in a large full featured paid product.
Ok this is just absurd if there’s really file explorer ads
Sure, but Microsoft has favorable ESG reporting. Your move Nix.
Not sure if my AdBlock is responsible for not knowing about any of these ads even existing or EU.
I want to make a script for Linux that adds ads everywhere. It would be tricky with Wayland but not impossible. It could start by installing browser extensions.
Na just throw ads into system logs. Or do what Ubuntu does and throw an advert every time you run apt upgrade.
Have you tried installing any packages from NPM recently?
9474733 packages are looking for funding
I think that is the better case. That is just NPM aggregating the metadata. There are lots of packages that print their own ad.
Make it for Hannah Montana Linux plz!
There is a special place in hell for you lol.
If they were fake ads like in GTA and Cyberpunk, it could be fun, provided you could turn them on and off anytime.
Now I wish there was an advertising studio where, like, they specialized in shitty ads for real things. Like “I made a game on newgrounds, you WON’T LAST TEN SECONDS” but it’s just a flappy birds clone or something
I’ll use the Google Ad platform
From there I’ll encrypt all your files and make you watch an ad per file to access your data
Uh sorry, this is a big file. Here’s the second, unskippable ad.
Super-hell now.
It has a 1 in 500 chance of serving you a 300 hour ad you cannot skip, and if you attempt to restart the system to get rid of it, it’ll make a note of that and restart the ad from the beginning after the next reboot.
If you try it twice, it will delete the file you were about to access.
And call the script “Windows”
I was thinking more along the lines of “optimizer”
I have used the Chris Titus debloat tool before and it works pretty well.
Really the fact that this is necessary at all is disgusting. Start Menu ads are straight up AIDS. Not to mention curated news feeds in Start and other places. Why not just tell me what my opinions and purchasing habits should be, and eliminate the middleman?
I feel like even novice Windows users would be better off with Pop! OS and Wine at this point.
Genuinely where is the line for people still putting up with this stuff?
I think for many people, me included the OS is more or less invisible bc I use so few OS elements. File browser and that’s it. Hardly any other gui feature comes to mind that isn’t a third party program.
Putting up with the ads or putting up with the workarounds?
Since I’ve been running debloated windows since win 7 it has never bothered me to run a few scripts after install or use a modded iso. But if that wasn’t an option I’m not sure if the last few games holding me to windows would be enough.
I think that it’s one of the benefits of monopoly. People don’t think “I wonder if I should start checking out alternatives?” but instead “Damn, that’s annoying. I wonder if there’s a way to fix this?” Alternatives never even enter their head. See, there’s already a tool for the problem in the post!
Yeah sadly, whenever you say PC / Laptop people associate it with windows. You buy one of these, its windows. People dont even know what else is out there.
Yeah that went out the window when American corpos found out during the pandemic they can literally just keep raising prices for shittier product and Americans just… keep buying it
Welcome to the end of human society, we’re just getting started. Should have chosen a birthdate a few decades earlier, too bad!
For bullshit like spinning rims or golf clubs that wouldn’t surprise me but it’s not like I can just choose not to eat. I HAVE to buy food.
The worst thing about the future is that everything is fucking data mining and ads. Yes, EVERYTHING, from cars to fucking refrigerators.
Follow this simple tutorial to get root access to your fridge and install a foss OS …
And subscriptions. Once hyper capitalism got its whiff of subscriptions there was no turning back.
I haven’t paid for windows since like 2014. The fuck are you guys doing that you haven’t gotten a free legitimate license?
