Dear Microsoft. Here is a list of things I want the Start Menu to do:
* Show my installed programs
* Search my local files
* Provide access to system settings
Here is a list of things I do *not* want the Start Menu to do:
* Show the weather for a randomly-selected town near my network's public IP infrastructure
* Show tabloid headlines
* Show programs I *don't* have installed
* Search the web via Bing
* Show adverts(!)
* Attempt to engage me in conversation with a hallucinating LLM
Thanks.
I moved to Ubuntu the day Bill Gates decided my version of Windows needed to be upgraded. He chose to upgrade the very moment the webinar I was leading started, leading 30+ participants hanging there, wondering what was happening.
I have never regretted deciding that my laptop belongs to me and not to that multi-billionaire.
@NovaNaturalist I moved to Linux approaching three decades ago, back when it was *really* important you knew the refresh rates of your CRT monitor or you'd risk blowing the flyback transformer with a bad X config entry...
I don't miss Windows, but I also don't miss that!
Way back, I found myself more sensitive to flicker than most. So I hand-crafted my X configuration to trade resolution for refresh rate. (Of course, reading the monitor spec.) Personally, I loved the ability to personalize my experience!
the refresh rate of the monitor, i remember the first time i was setting it! I was worried to break my monitor (since i was told that a wrong refresh rate could cause damage to the monitor).
Btw what @NovaNaturalist you are asking, is basically what the start menu was originally supposed to do! But yeah i moved to linux 20 years ago, and well my life has been much better since then! I think last windows i had installed for dual boot was windows 7! :)
@NovaNaturalist the "I do what I want when I want to" aspect of the Windows Update mechanism is by far the leading negative selling point for me when it comes to that godforsaken OS. absolutely unconscionable. totally unacceptable. never again.
I am so fucking glad I haven't used Windows for more than about 30 minutes a handful of times since 2008. @ghalfacree
@deutrino @NovaNaturalist @ghalfacree Funny enough, forced update (not upgrade) is actually one of the few "recent" decisions in Windows I agree with: a lot of users never reboot nor update, and with Windows' track record on security, this puts them and surroundings at risk.
I don't agree with the oft decried "shutdown randomly" method, but provided the user has been warned repeatedly, and given the option to shutdown with or without update, it can be warranted given the consequences.
1/3
@deutrino @NovaNaturalist @ghalfacree In the end, one could argue that with these mechanisms in place, the people who get struck by the hammer of forced shutdown (which I've yet to witness) are exactly the people who would stay vulnerable "forever" otherwise.
And while I agree it's your PC, that PC doesn't live in a vacuum.
Could the system be improved? Possibly.
Is it within the top worst things about windows?
"Not even close", I'd argue; despite how annoying it can be.
3/3
@NovaNaturalist @ghalfacree back before win95 shipped, I stumbled upon Linux.
I decided I wouldn't be upgrading from WFW and instead taking my chances on a then-new-to-me system.
Absolutely no regrets. I'm surprised how easy it was to keep Windows out of my dominion.
(definitely not missing having to recompile the kernel to have sound, though.)
@ghalfacree I charge clients $150 to remove and reinstall windows on a laptop.
I'll Remove windows and install Linux for free.
That process would make a good article, and I would read it. Not that I need it, I don't use Windows any more since retiring, but from what I've heard about Windows 11, I suspect a lot of people need the information.
Hmmm. This is not good. Not good at all.
Thankfully, I only use Linux and Raspberry Pi these days. Obvioulsy, for your job, that's not an option.
Good luck!
Cheers.
I keep an old Win 7 "virtual box" lying around for the times I inadvertently update the software on my HP multi function printer, and discover that it will no longer let me print with non-HP cartridges.
I need Windows to revert the software to an earlier version that doesn't care what cartridges are used. Other than that, there are no windows in this house! đ
@NormanDunbar @ghalfacree @alvariviris
First time ever I read about Windows as a hacker tool. đ
Maybe caused by the fact that I stopped using an HP printer some 15 years ago and gave up on Canon ink printers about 5 years later.
When I *buy* something I fucking hate it to be owned by the producer.
@ghalfacree @NormanDunbar @alvariviris Indeed. I recently installed a win11 laptop, armed with these tricks. And they no longer worked.
I was very happy with a customised iso that day.
ah this is sad news, I was gonna ask if this was possible but I am a non-techy (maximum value of "non" there), so I don't think I woud be able to manage that
@kieranmcguire @ghalfacree Theyâre making a serious mistake by watering down their operating system.
My gf knows very little about computers, but she can immediately tell her Intel i5 MacBook that she got for work is cleaner and snappier than her new Windows 11 laptop. Part of that is probably because the OS isnât shite (say what you want about Apple, ya, but MacOS is still decent imo)
@Ferrichrome @kieranmcguire On the contrary, I find macOS worse than Windows in many ways - the BSD base means it's close enough to Linux for me to think I know what I'm doing, but then Apple gets in the way and everything breaks down.
I had a MacBook Air once. *Once*.
@ghalfacree "show my installed programs" is the one single thing the start menu should do, you can lose everything else but this. Yet, somehow, in some way, they managed to screw it up. It's like Apple screwing the most basic interaction tool like the keyboard saying "we made it better!"
Sure, it was better: for the company, for the suppliers, for the shareholders. For everyone but the user.
@ghalfacree I got rid of all of those unwanted "features" out of my Start menu by just completely uninstalling Microsoft Edge, including the Edge WebView which all of those extra features rely on (because of course they do â funny how so many of today's anti-features are web-based). Be aware that a normal uninstall of Edge won't remove the WebView component.
----
EDIT: to achieve this, I used Edge_Removal.bat from this repository: https://github.com/AveYo/fox
Please tell me more.
@Freakus @TerrorBite
@ghalfacree
If you have a router/firewall that supports it like pfsense, DNS-blocking bing.com solves all of this without even having to screw with Windows. :)
Randy Orrison
Gareth Halfacree
Bruce Heerssen 
lfisk
@ NovaNaturalist HAS ALSO MOVED
Fugue State Machine Moto
Andyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
Peter Jakobs â”
Elosha
Andreas, DJ3EI, he/him
dragonfrog
Ozzie D, NP-hard 
arclight
Ivan G.
Dalimil Gala đšđż đ„„
Ellenor Bjornsdottir 
tessarakt
deutrino
Pierre 'Fox' Avital
jubilee
xsk
yakkoj đŠ
Aral Balkan
Democracy Dies in Dumbass
Luke Stockwell
đ°đđđđđ đŠđ§đ»âđ»
NormanDunbar
phi1997
U.Lancier
Lee đ
Neil
Hennes
jhannafin
sahqon
Patsy (she/her)
Kieran McGuire
Ferrichrome
BarryP
Caroline Bell 
Fabio Romeo
Count Regal Inkwell
TerrorBite đŠ
Juho MĂ€ntysalo
Freakus
Zeta Syanthis