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In wake of Windows 10 retirement, over 780,000 Windows users skip Win 11 for Linux, says Zorin OS developers — distro hits unprecedented 1 million downloads in five weeks (www.tomshardware.com)
submitted 9 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 8 points 9 months ago* (2 children)

I keep hearing about ads on computers, smart tvs, fridges and shit, is that solely an american thing? I'm in Europe and never get any of that shit. Sure, Microsoft will tell me at installation that they'd like to "personalize" some adds for me, but I have never actually had a single one. Did the EU block them or something?

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  • [–] 6 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    You definitely get more in the US, but Europe isn't free from ads.

    Windows still shoves OneDrive, office, and other things in your face in Europe. They still have featured news stories and the like. They still have recommendations in the start menu and such.

    These are all ads, though we've been conditioned into thinking MS plastering OneDrive and OneDrive recommendations all over their OS isn't advertising. It very much is.

    If you have an Android TV in Europe, 1/3 of the home screen by default is an ad banner, just like in the US. Etc.

    We are not free from ads. We just have it slightly better than the US.

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago

    I don't get any of that. No ads for microsoft products, my start menu is literally just a blank space with Project Diablo 2 and Calculator as quick access. Not even on my Samsung tv do I get ads unless I choose to tune into one of their free channels.

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  • [–] 6 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    It might be the version of Windows 11 you have installed, too. Enterprise has no ads (or can be configured not to have ads, at least). Same for Professional, I think?

    You can also use a post-install "Playbook" to rip all the adware and spyware out of Windows. I used ReviOS in my Windows 11 VM and it works well for me, but I'm guessing that's not what you've done since you'd know about it, lol.

    I'm super happy with my switch to CachyOS. Canadian laws roughly mirror US laws, so it's a breath of fresh air to not need to deal with Microsoft's bullshit (well, outside of the VM I need for work, anyway.)

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    You can also use a post-install “Playbook” to rip all the adware and spyware out of Windows

    Does that actually persist across forced updates? I know they've been known to re-install things on updates before.

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago

    Most disable Windows Updates for that reason, afaik? You can manually patch security updates without getting automatic updates, I think.

    I don't really care about Windows Updates for my use case since it's just a VM and I know how to prevent most virus vectors anyway, but yes; there are major trade-offs to "debloating" Windows.

    In the longer term, I want to try getting all my must-have apps for work running in browser apps or compatibility layers so I can just stay in Linux.

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