Mastodawn

Gareth Halfacree Nov 24, 2023

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.

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𝙰𝚕𝚟𝚊𝚛𝚘 🦊🧑🏻‍💻Nov 24, 2023

@ghalfacree I’ve had a couple of family calls asking for help because of that, just after they updated to W11, mostly because they are used to search for local data in the menu, and now it looks on the internet and all the other unnecessary things you just mentioned…

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Gareth Halfacree Nov 24, 2023

@alvariviris It's possible to strip it all out - I've got a Windows 11 laptop with no ads, no web search, no LLM, no weather, no news - but it's not easy. I spent an entire afternoon getting mine to that point!

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NormanDunbar Nov 24, 2023

@ghalfacree @alvariviris

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.

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Gareth Halfacree Nov 24, 2023

@NormanDunbar @alvariviris Only trouble is, it's short-lived. One of the reasons it took so long is half the solutions out there - like disconnecting the NIC to force the creation of a local user account during installation, or using a shortcut key to bring up a command prompt during the setup wizard - don't work any more, as Microsoft keeps tweaking the OS to block 'em.

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sahqon

@ghalfacree @NormanDunbar @alvariviris I got through several updates already with windows still not logged in and zero ads. I can even install stuff from their store while not logged in lol. And there's articles about this, though I don't remember where I read the walkthrough for what I did.