Game ad notification on Windows...
Have to use Windows for work (I've asked), the ads have been getting worse and worse on my work laptop. Today got a game ad notification... That's clearly too far, right? Like I have to clear notifications, so I have to see it
That's because your IT department hasn't turned all that crap off with group policy.
Tthe problem is now if you have the store disabled basic shit, like the ability to open .heic files is broken or use stuff people want like sticky notes is broken.
We turn off most of what we can’t but having the store enabled causes all sorts of stuff.
Also windows 11 has ads baked in even with the store disabled. Plug in a Logitech mouse, get a pop up for their software. Open the picture viewer and get an ad to install some video editor that isn’t clear whether it’s a Ms product or not.
No to mention basic things like copy paste and edit are now weird icons because I guess they think most users are illiterate.
Most of the 11 UI changes are not for the better. Having to beta test it for work is frustrating and I run an IT shop.
Omg I loathe those icons. They are so much harder to use than words, cuz I still have to hover over them to make sure it’s the right thing.
Windows 11, in general, feels so shit after being on Ubuntu.
But I see Linux has decent touchscreen support now so as soon as I’m done at this job, that sucker is getting formatted 😈
MS goes out of their way to make shit harder than it needs to be.
For example. The store, they have a store for business where you can simply whitelist known apps buts it’s a PITA to setup AND they have been threatening to decom it for ages
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-store/microsoft-store-for-business-overview
Want to add safety/security features like secuirty keys. Well if you do it on a non domain joined machine you can just sign into a m365 account to enable a passkey or yuibijey as a second factor.
Want to do that in a business environment. Congrats now you have to deploy a windows CA and issue user certificates to tie to this. Even if you are signing the machine into m365 with ADAL.
They go out of their way to add complexity and failure points.
I read a thing just the other day about essentially that. Not that specific issue, but the way their timekeeping works (by default) and is a disaster (literally) when it fails.
https://arstechnica.com/security/2023/08/windows-feature-that-resets-system-clocks-based-on-random-data-is-wreaking-havoc/
That is crazy. According to a comment on that article, most BIOS uses UTC (as does Linux, obviously), but Windows uses localtime for some reason, so it converts UTC to localtime after boot, then back to UTC when it needs to do little things like networking or TLS.
Yes, it used to break dualbooting, since it reset the clock each time, it was driving me mad.
The solution was simple - erase the ntfs partition.
Now that I don't use windows anymore, I really want to see how crappy of an OS they can make it. It's fun to watch.
Christ that explains why I can’t open pictures on my work pc, thanks
Funnily I get confused with the copy paste icons than with just text.
To that I would argue why should IT need to waist their time turning that crap off. IT should be off by default.
It shouldn't even be part of an OS at all. I haven't purchased Windows in probably about twenty years but if I did I would expect that if I pay for software, it's not going to come and try to keep selling me more crap. This is just one of the reasons I use Linux.
And people just get on with it and download these chappy things that turn things off in group policy editor, like u shouldn't need to download an app to not get ads on something u paid for
Do you not purchase laptops? I have no option than to buy windows every 4-6 years along with the laptop.
We only ever buy second hand laptops. When our teen bought his brand new PC, it came installed with Windows. I asked the shop, when enquiring about customisation, if it could come without Windows but was told that it had already been installed and even if we opted to wait for one that wasn't built yet, the mount of money they charge for OEM Windows is very little so we wouldn't save much anyway.
Outside of donating, Linux distros don't cost anything so it's not like paying for an OS on top of paying for an OS.
My recent purchase had both win 11 home and office pre installed. Most consumer laptop with decent spec dont give OS as option in my country.
We are collectively paying for it to get that discounted price. Retail win 11 pro sells for 10% the price of a mid range office laptop without gpu.
It's one group policy setting, that you only have to set one time.
You're not wrong, but there's a million little things you only have to do once, and this is one more.
Yeah, there are a lot of things that need doing. That's why people have jobs in IT.
A classic parable of the broken Windows.
Oh no, I have to do things.
My point isn't how simple it is to turn off, my point is why is that turn on by default in the first place? Last I checked to join a Window's domain you need a Professional/Enterprise version of Windows. This is software intended for a business environment not only that, it also costs much more as well. Yet here we are by default my Profession Windows install comes with Candy Crush and Game Pass ads. Great job Microsoft you have done it again.
It's fucking disgusting that it even exists on the consumer version bundled for $2 to OEMs with terrible computers.
Let alone the premium versions.
This is the only argument I find makes sense. It would definitely be elementary for Microsoft to have those consumer features turned off by default in the Pro/Pro for Workstations/Enterprise/etc editions.
I think turning IT off is illegal.
It's fine as long as you turn it back on again afterwards. It's a standard troubleshooting procedure.
Microsoft Certified Reboot Specialist
The fact that you need a group policy to turn this kind of garbage off is ridiculous.
Yea, I work in a windows shop. All this shit is turned off for any device in our domain. No BYOD either.
Only OS that costs money. Truly a Premium experience.
Microsoft is like the daddy most users need I guess.
I guess MacOS costs money too since you have to buy Apple hardware to use it. It's an indirect price.
Wife started getting these ads as well. Each time she complains I try to hand her my Linux USB drive.
"use my power I beg you!"
That quote is just so good, I need to use it more often
Keep trying! My teen recently bought his first PC. It came with Win11 and I offered to put Linux on it for him. He replied, "Nah, it's OK, I'm not a programmer". I was like... wait, huh? I don't even know where he would get that idea from since the only programming I've ever done was websites and haven't done that in years. Hubby doesn't do much programming any more either. We game on our PCs.... Email. Browse the interwebs. Watch videos. Discord... blah blah. Literally all the same shit our teen does and yet Linux.
Anyways, I waited until he was trapped in the car with me on a longer drive and told him all the wonderful things about Linux and sold it to him on the idea that I'll set it up as dual boot. Give Linux a couple of weeks and if you don't like it, you can always switch to Windows. It's been about a month now and Windows still isn't even installed 😂
"Mooom, why can't I play Fortnite and Valorant anymore?!"
Thankfully our teen never caught those addictions. 😅
I don't understand how this is possible, two parents that use Linux and he thinks Windows is the way to go? Kids in school are actually idiots.
That said, I can't get any of my family to use Linux. My friend tried for a while but asked me to put Windows 10 LTSC on it instead, because he wanted to click "Install" on Steam without worrying about messing with Proton settings and checking ProtonDB, which is reasonable. Some just don't want to do the extra work, I hope some day that operating systems on our favorite kernel make it easy for plebians to use.
Everytime you see an ad for a game, you should ask yourself: "does this run on Linux?" Majority of the time and the answer is yes. Just saying!
Fully committed, this year had been a massive improvement and I'd love to say I'm linux baby!
Woah, you are the Linux?
No, they baby, Linux baby to be specific
Case in point, Deathloop runs nicely on my gaming PC and Steam Deck.
What about Tarkov?
Dunno I play good games
I'm not familiar with this game but if Escape from Tarkov is what you mean, it's not listed in Proton DB. It IS listed in Wine App DB: https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=37794
as Platinum with wine-staging 4.2 but that was from like 4 years ago and I don't know what updates the game's had since then.
Only thing I can suggest is dual boot Linux and try it. Since I've only ever dual booted, I'm not so familiar with Linux VMs and containers so I don't know if they'd work or if booting from a live environment USB would be sufficient to test the game with Wine.
If you don't dual boot, asking in one of the Linux Gaming communities might answer that question.
Why not posting this on a windows community? Or is OP expecting those sweet linux circlejerky replies?
I only see this community when I'm browsing all and it feels like a good chunk of these posts aren't actually about Linux - they're about how Windows is bad
"Check out this thing I had to go out of my way to find"
I HAVE to use Windows (I asked them to let me install Arch on my own machine and the security analysts said no, can you believe it? Don't they know how tech savvy I am?!?)
What gave it away? Lol
It was literally a notification; made a sound and everything. Didn't go out of my way to see it. I'm not used to ads in my operating system so it was jarring. Surprised people accept it as normal
CiRcLeJeRk
Go to Manage Notifications, and turn Suggestions off. Suggestions is what Microsoft calls ads.
Winprivacy.de get it, run it, disable ads and trackers.
winprivacy.de truly rocks.
Nice, never heard of it..
This is by far the funniest marketing strategy I've seen.
Well done.
Surprised I've not seen anyone mention shutup10. Been using it on all new installs for me and family since migrating from 7 to 10 Turn off anything you want, including all that bullshit and the data mining etc. https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10
No one has mentioned it because they're dealing with a laptop from work they have no say over
But yes, for everyone on personal devices, it seems to be pretty nice. I've been using privacy.sexy for a while, but it can't seem to do much without breaking things.
You can turn the entire notification system off. The fucking thing is pointless anyway.
On a personal rig? Heck yes.
On a work laptop? Uhhh not too sure about that... sinkholing Teams, Outlook and Devops notifications sounds like a quick way to lose track of visibility
Microsoft know exactly what they're doing with their spyware and adware walled garden 😔
If its a work laptop then their IT dept isn't doing shit. Just change the GPO. I've literally never seen this on my work or personal PC.
For as long as MS makes products for enterprise environments, there will be a way to turn this shit off.
I agree. I never had ads in Windows whatsoever. The only which is still nagging me is all the crapware Windows comes preinstalled with. I can't count how many times I uninstalled that damn solitaire collection by now.
What version are you using? If you install from an ent version, none of that stuff is there.
I’m this close to swapping my gaming rig to Linux for similar reasons.
Do it! My ryzen/nvidia 2060 rig is running Mint and everything works great through steam or lutris (a runner/installer)
Is there any distro which works well with touch screens?
I don't think you're going to have a problem on any distro.
My Mint laptop has touchscreen, and it works even in dwm.
My mistake for not being clear, I meant having an interface that's well suited for a tablet. Though I should probably think more about the apps than the rest of the DE.
I believe Gnome has great support for touchscreens including gestures. I don't have a touchscreen to test, though.
Ubuntu and popOS does.
Nobara
Can't up vote this enough, Nobara is great for gaming.
Honestly, distro really doesn't matter much. The things you probably want to set up for gaming can be done with pretty much any distro (e.g. lower latency kernel / Liquorix / zen, driver installs (if using nvidia). Otherwise it's just about what the distro includes by default, but rolling your own setup starting from any distro is easy and not time consuming.
+1
This is the way.
Had very few issues on it, and most was just me never having attempted a Linux gaming build.
Do it
What's stopping you? Just out of curiosity.
Do it. Gaming was the only reason preventing me from switching to the Linux side, until Itried and found out that literally every one of my games work on Linux, sometimes even better than on windows.
Do it. You won't look back.
The reason Linux gamers have a tendency to constantly talk about Linux gaming is because it is so, so much more ready and easier than most Windows folks even realize. It constantly feels like people sticking on Windows are just missing something.
The only reason I have a Windows PC is because GeForce Now doesn't have a 4K client in anything but Windows.
I assume you've looked into this, but sharing it just in case.
I'd also suggest just trying to run the Windows client under Proton as an alternative.
I'll try the client under Wine. The issue with GeForce Now under Linux, whether it is with the client or Chrome, is that resolution is capped at 1080p/60.
fixing windows shit is a source of revenue here, so i have a few to keep up-to-date.. but most everything i use (windows or linux) has been cobbled-together from other people's junk and the recycle bin.
As a grey beard IT guy, I approve of this practice.
I use windows 11 pro, and I don't see any of these ads anywhere ever. Is that something the home versions only do? Did I turn off some setting proactively at setup that prevents the ads?
I have seen it om our company pro ;nstall before, and also not, so maybe it is group policy controlled
So is that a personal laptop your using for work or a work laptop? Because if it's the latter, they're doing a terrible job setting policies and turning crap off with either GPO or some DSC system.
It's a work laptop We're a small company - I still feel like calling our IT terrible instead of Microsoft is misguided though
Yeah there are ways to turn that off. Additionally business should be using Enterprise edition which doesn't have the telemetry or that unneeded bloat. You have an incompetent IT department.
Yeah, I've never had an ad like that on a work laptop, ever. A good IT dept will lock down the experience to minimize distractions for business purposes, and lock down features that aren't appropriate for work.
I mean, I agree, but the problem isn't just that I see this at work. I shouldn't have to see it on a paid operating system. This is a normal user experience on Windows. Ads everywhere is annoying. I understand people can be proactive to disable this stuff, but I think it's crumby of Microsoft to do
I would just dualboot
There are ads in Windows?
Yes they are going to fill windows with ads as far as I've understood correctly
yep, iirc it started in windows 8 where they would suggest third party apps directly in your app menu back in 2013
I use Windows exclusively and have never seen a single ad.
Depends on the license you have. Also they are termed as suggestions/recommendations.
Right, I don't have a licence :)
It looks like ads from the Xbox app (could be wrong)
M$: "Windows is the best OS for gaming!!!"
Ok, fine. From now on ONLY my gaming PC will run windows, and my gaming PC is GeForce Now.
M$: "No! Not like that!"
https://i.imgur.com/247qaJ2.png
One of the reasons you shouldn't be using Ubuntu. Not one of the reasons you shouldn't be using Linux.
Use debian for your linux servers then
What else did you expect from Microsoft Linux? They've been taking notes from the best for some time now.
That’s the problem with corporate Linux.
Jesus Fuck Ubuntu
That link isn’t working for me. What is it?
An ad that appears in the console when you log into ubuntu server
Who the hell installs Ubuntu on a server?
Who the hell advertises their MacOS software in the console of linux of any type?
I mean, you can see who.
Ubuntu is the most popular operating system across the major public cloud providers.
What the hell happened with Debian? Or is this some commercial support based scheme from Canonical?
That's probably the big thing, companies like having enterprise support
It's $500/blade/yr for 10 years of security updates for unlimited VMs. Hard to beat, even with the recent price increase (I think it used to be $299?).
Landscape and kernel live-patching are also useful, as is ADsys.
Even without paid support, the two-year LTS cadence is a good balance between bleeding edge and stagnant stability. Debian doesn't follow a fixed release schedule; and RHEL is so bare-bones and out-of-date that you need EPEL just to make it useful.
Is that real? I’ve seen the Ubuntu pro ad in the terminal, but never anything like this. (Not saying the Ubuntu pro ad is ok. I need to migrate my server)
Yeah, Ubuntu has been consistently pissing me off. Just not enough to go distro hopping yet. The worst part for me is that apt now tells you that you are missing some security updates to temp you into buying whatever their service is. Great, thanks. Maybe I'll try KDE Neon or Pop! OS soon.
Is this an American thing? Save for the awful downgraded solitaire with micro transactions I’ve never had any ads on Windows.
Solitaire with micro fucking what now?
the reason why the solitaire type games got yeeted from windows: so microsoft could release 'app' versions with a subscription model to remove ads.
You expect solitaire to be free?
I do, but hey, maybe that's just me.
...
^(Get it? Solitaire?)
I mean, Aisle Riot is and it's much better than the old MS built in one...
I got a notification advertising Minecraft the other day. I'm positive I have all the settings about suggested content turned off. At least you can disable notifications per app, this one was from "Suggested".
Same here, it was all supposed to be off. First thing I do everytime i have to deal with Windows.
Dont forget to install candy crush when it prompts you to do so.
Never had anything like that on either my personal (two of them) or work W11 installs, nor on my girlfriend's personal or work installs, so I don't know where the complains about adverts come from, I've never seen them 🤷
Well, you've seen it now
Well that person need to get their fingers out of their ass and stop farming karma, because clearly if I don't see them without any effort then I don't know how they manage to run Linux instead of Windows 'cuz that sure does require effort!
I've never seen these.
(but my windows install is clean and debloated to my needs so... yeah not very fair)
That’s because your it department either sucks or just doesn’t have time to fix this. Windows can be made to be great for work environments, as evidenced by 80% of all workers who use a computer using a windows computer
Lol I had to install AutoHotKey just to be able to do some basic keymapping on Windows. "Can be made good" is so different than "is good"
But yes our IT team is just one dude with a degree in biology
That does not mean Windows is great in a work environment, it just means the IT department can't or won't support 2 OSs (or 3 if some of your officemates are allowed to use a Mac).