Microsoft now permits uninstalling Edge, Bing, and OneDrive to adhere to the EU's Digital Markets Act.
ghacks.net
These changes are only applicable to users in the EEA. For those outside the region, Windows will continue to function as it is!
The changes to Windows for DMA-compliance include:
- You can now uninstall Edge and Bing web search using the built-in settings. Earlier, the option was greyed out.
- Third-party web search application developers can now utilize the Windows search box in the taskbar using the instructions provided by Microsoft and choose any web browser to show results from the web.
- Microsoft will no longer sign-in users to Edge, Bing, and Microsoft Start services during the initial Windows setup experience.
- Data collected about the functioning of non-Microsoft apps, primarily bug detection and its effects on the OS, from Windows PCs will not be used for competitive purposes.
- Microsoft, from now on, will need explicit user consent before combining data from the OS and other sources. It will also deliver new consent screens where required.
About 20 years ago, Microsoft was found guilty and convicted, because they forced their browser on their users, driving out competitors by abusing their de facto monopoly on PC operating systems. These days, they are doing the exact same thing again, just on an even broader base. I don't even understand how this verdict took so long.
It makes perfect sense once you understand that regulators have only cared about stock prices for the last 40 years. The EU coming down on giant corporations is a new development
The fucking sad thing is, when they did it 20 years ago Internet Explorer became the gold standard. Now they are pushing super hard, annoying users, killing competition and they have a tiny market share. They aren't getting anywhere, just being assholes because they don't know how not to be.
Edge is just a Chromium build with more manageability for enterprise use.
Which is a problem, because Chromium is becoming a monopoly too. Safari and Firefox have a small marketshare and Google is abusing their power
Because Apple saw that and said "hold my beer".
"They" (collectively large lobbying corporations) own the US government.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture Read all about it
sounds about right
The behaviour required of you when you have a monopoly is different when you don’t.
These days IE isn’t a monopoly. Chrome is. So Microsoft is allowed more leeway to nudge its users.
This isn’t a verdict. There’s been no court case. This is Microsoft complying with EU regulation, which is very recent. Microsoft has responded to it quite quickly.
Demand reparations for Netscape Navigator!
Me for the rest of the week:
Is you regional settings set to a European country?
(by the way, life pro tip, setting your region to a European country solves a ton of issues people have with Windows, most complaints I see I never had a problem with even though I live in Canada, my settings are set to UK)
Interesting that setting your location to the UK gets you EU protections. Do the EU protections apply in the UK? They Brexited didn't they?
IIUC when they separated they basically ended up with a snapshot of EU regulations. So most of GDPR applies. But IDK if the DMA will apply as it was created after they split.
Yeah you better set it to Ireland or Malta to get full EU conformity.
Genuinely curious: Does that actually work? Don’t you have to have your credit card registered to an Irish bank to make payments in that PC’s Windows Store?
I never, ever, linked any payment means to Windows or Microsoft, and yes it absolutely works. I've got my VPN set to Europe as well most of the time though (Sweden actually), and for the language settings I'm indeed using Ireland, and can confirm in that configuration it works.
On iOS in the UK you’re not able to sideload on the new update so probably not
I don't think that would be possible in an Apple phone. In an Apple phone, Apple can check where you are by checking your GPS coordinates.
Are there any downsides to setting your region to some place other than where you actually are?
No, it just uses that to know which signs and types of spelling to use.
Useful fact: Both Ireland and Malta have English as official languages so you're guaranteed availability of those locales (unlike say en-DE, which exists, (at least according to ICU), while en-FR doesn't).
Fun fact: Both don't have it as sole official language, though, and each EU member only gets to nominate one of their official languages as an official language of the EU, which means that with Brexit English ceased to be an official EU language. The commission manoeuvred around that though and still kept it as working language. With the Brits out of the picture though they're not writing passive-aggressive memos regarding language use any more and the Irish certainly will not stoop down to that level, Euro-English can finally evolve freely and within ten years we'll start telling Anglophones that it's incorrect to say "there were five people at the party" (you attended), it's "we were five people at the party". Deal with it.
I've read about Euro-English and discussed it back on reddit quite some time ago, and I have to say I'm very skeptical whether such a thing exists or ever could exist. Fundamentally it's a mis-learned standard English, and the mis-learning is to a large degree determined by the speaker's native language - which varies extremely across Europe. Slavic speakers will have issues with articles, Germans much less so, etc. Consequently there's hardly any definite characteristic of Euro-English (the examples in the article are too vaguely described, and I'm sure many European ESLs would find them grammatically unacceptable too). Perhaps one could speak of a variety of English used by EU politicians and institutions, but those people are hardly a linguistic model for the vast majority of other speakers.
Define standard English?
Both the USA and UK don't agree on what it is.
The sort of English you'll see in literature, newspapers, any remotely formal communication, in grammars (which learning materials are based on as well). The stuff learners will aim to learn.
Differences between US and UK English, and the dialectal variety within each of them, are not all that relevant here. Where I live, students are taught British English, but no professor ever chastised us for using American pronunciation or vocabulary. Both are within the range of what natives will find acceptable.
You'd think it's the language spoken in England
That is most definitely not a fun fact. It's bad enough having the Yanks telling us how to speak our own language!
Timezone stuff might act a little weird, same with fuzzy location
No issues with that for me as it's separate settings 🤷
Linux solves the rest.
Wrong conversation
You’re right. I either fumbled it or found a bug in my client.
You could always uninstall with the Revo Uninstaller
Check out Chris titisi's script. Can do quite a bit and uninstall edge.
It can be ran as a single command without any manual download.
The benevolence! Letting people do what they want with their purchased software. wow!
This ought to happen everywhere. Either I'm the admin on my machine or I'm not. If it's not, I'm not sure how much longer I'll tolerate a Windows machine.
PSA: Once this rolls out into the actual downloadable Windows builds, everyone should be able to do this by reinstalling Windows.
Ummmmmmmmmmmmmm...
Can we get THIS fucking comment on the front page please? Outstanding work, friend! Sincere thanks!
I'd worry about how that might effect other things. Windows isn't the only thing that changes its behavior based on region. What other software would be looking at that specific region setting?
That's the real gift given by Microsoft:
Just change your region back to where ever you are after setup. Nothing on your PC outside of the OS will be reading the region set during Windows Install, they'll be asking for the currently set region.
Maybe I'm misreading what you quoted but it seems to suggest you can't do what you're suggesting.
Once that region is set, it's locked in unless you do a reset of the PC...which would presumably go through the windows set up again and ask for region.
Hmm, if it doesn't honor that setting being changed after the initial install it could be possible to set it during install to get the benefits, then change it post install to make other apps behave normally.
You haven't been the sole admin on a Windows machine in a long time, friend.
If you care about stuff like being the sole admin of your machine, IDK why you're using Windows.
But I thought this was a crucial part of the operating system?!
The Internet Explorer system stuff is still there, the difference is that when it launches as a normal browser, it automatically opens Edge instead of IE. (iirc)
Yeah, internet explorer is integrated deeply in places you wouldn't expect.
Which is entirely unnecessary and done explicitly so they can pretend it is essential to the operation of the machine.
Nah, mostly it's just done stupidly many many years ago but MS being MS wants backwards compatibility.
Even MMC needs internet explorer for some stupid reason. It uses it to show HTML files or some shit.
It is, specifically MS Edge WebView. For example new MS Teams and new Outlook client are using WebView. Widgets are using it as well as do many other things.
This uninstall will most likely still keep Edge present, it will just be somehow hidden / not as easily accessible.
EU regulation continues to be the only thing making big tech's shitty products somewhat usable. First USB-C, now this.
So where are the people saying edge couldn’t be uninstalled because it’s a core part of the system that other element depended upon. I swear I have seen this answer on every reddit post about uninstalling edge, yet Microsoft show its absolutely possible (although only in Europe, because dependencies don’t work the same in Europe 😂).
That's what they said about Internet Explorer right up until the moment where Microsoft wanted everyone to switch to Edge. Not only could you suddenly uninstall it, but it even started uninstalling itself!
Funny how that happens
Wasn't it actually a core component until they phase it out in Win7 or Win8? AFAIK (at least on WinXP) the entirety of GUI is rendered from the IE.
I’m sure it’s just uninstalling the browser chrome. The backend is woven into too many MS products to be completely removed.
Kinda yeah. WebView2 is edge (chromium) based and definitely is not uninstalled by uninstalling edge. But it won't have the browser chrome or the MS Account association (for now, we all know it's possible for ms to make things worse 💀)
A lot of apps do use Edge as an embedded control to display web content. (Back before Edge was a thing, they would do the same thing with Internet Explorer.) Doing this is the path of the least resistance to whoever is developing these pieces of shit, since they can (up until now) expect Edge to be present on the user's system without having to cart around their own copy of a web browser and keep it updated in perpetuity with all the potential security holes not doing so could bring, yadda yadda yadda. Uninstalling Edge will indeed cause those particular programs to break.
There is now also the "Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime Environment" (via) which may or may not be able to run on its own even if the regular user-facing version of Edge is uninstalled -- I have no idea, and I haven't tried.
Who puts up with this shit anyway? Go buy an Apple. You can eat it while installing Linux.
Had me in the first half.
I stick around with Windows due to shitty DRM and VR compatibility. It's been a couple years since I last tried Linux, so maybe it's gotten better. I should probably try it again.
ALVR is totally capable at playing steamvr games if you have a quest headset, and htc headsets work aswell as valve indexes
I'll have to look into ALVR. I've got an Index.
I also remembered that I wouldn't be able to play The Crew 2 due to shitty DRM, as well as Forza Horizon, unless I re-purchase it on Steam, as the windows store edition doesn't work on Linux (from what I understand). I really don't want to dual-boot again. I'll wait just a bit longer for Linux to get better and windows to get more enshitified.
The valve index has native linux support so you don't need alvr or anything, its the same setup process as windows. And for most games with drm, pirate them. its just better.
That'd be wild if it works. Might have to try Linux just for that.
The DRM and Anticheat (that I forgot to mention) games are online, so piracy isn't really an option so that's still an issue :/
That’s great, I’m in! Now, workflow – how do I install Adobe Audition?
That's the neat part - you don't! Fuck Adobe.
It takes the EU to force Microsoft to act reasonable.
Not only Microsoft unfortunately.
At least they are complying. Apple is being childish and throwing a tantrum.
Seriously, it took the EU to force Microsoft not to grey out "uninstall Edge". Still there are non-billionaire people who want to eliminate government regulations, it boggles my mind. I mean, besides brainwashed business school bros.
This need to be applied to smartphones
Imagine phones coming with a clean Android with the ability to install Google Play Services like a normal app 😌.
And documention to port other operating systems or new Android versions.
You just described GrapheneOS, by far the best mobile operating system IMO
Shame it, by sensible design, only works on Pixels.
Because Pixels are the only Android phones with reasonable hardware design (in regards to security)
Yes they mentioned that in the comment you just replied to.
Where is this coming from? Do you have any sources?
Pixels have many hardware security features that can't be found on any other Android phone. Examples are the Titan M2 chip, which uses the Android StrongBox and Weaver API, Insider Attack Resistance and hardware attestation. It enables a strong implementation of Android Verified Boot. On many other Android devices, Verified boot is insecure or entirely broken. Pixels are also the only phones on the market with hardware memory tagging.
I highly recommend this section of the GrapheneOS FAQ and this video.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
this video
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
That comes from the GOS devs.
The closest thing is Fairphone. Also, unfortunately, only available in Europe.
My Fairphone had a far from clean android install.
Really? The Fairphone has bloatware on it? Can it at least be removed easily?
Why can't we just have nice things like basic phones and printers without a bunch of fucking trickery?
Bloatware consisting of default apps and google play store. Not what I'd call bloatware.
Ahh. That all sounds fine to me.
Same, but after unlocking the bootloader, it had a very clean LineageOS install.
It's actually sold in the USA /e/OS through Murena https://murena.com/america/shop/smartphones/brand-new/murena-fairphone-4/
Fairphone has made it pretty clear that they have no plans of selling future versions in the U.S. though. They allowed Murena to sell their older Fairphone 4, but the 5 and later versions seem likely to be EU only.
(The EU radio hardware makes EU versions incompatible with U.S. networks, in case anyone was thinking of trying to import one anyway)
Where has this been made clear? Also, I'm using the fp4, it's perfectly up to date with current needs and probably will still be in 5 years.
While they haven't made an official statement on their website, they have indicated in interviews that they don't have any plans to have an official presence in the U.S. This is why a third party company (like Murena) would need to import the phones and handle customer service here.
They also have no plans for the 5 to be altered to function on U.S. networks, making it clear their latest model is not intended for use in the U.S. There is no indication Fairphone has plans to move into the U.S. market. They seem pretty content where they are currently.
They are working on it (or it is part of the DMA) to enable users to uninstall preloaded apps.
You misspelled "Windows will continue to be as fucked up as it is!"
Easy solution: don’t use Windows or if possible nothing from Microsoft at all
Props to EU keeping these assholes in check
Great news. Although it's bizarre that it took an entire continent passing a new law to get to this point.
Not every country in Europe is in the EU
*Most of the best parts of a continent
Neither are these laws voted by EU, rather EC and are applied to all the EEA and even countries currently in the process of accession as they are required by the agreement to keep aligning their laws with EU ones until they reach membership.
Does this EU's Digital Markets Act also applies for Android and all the preinstalled apps by Google and the phone manufacturer?
For anyone looking for something like that right now - https://grapheneos.org/
Been on graphene for a few months now. Aside from a few apps that are over-reliant on the Google ecosystem, it's works fine. Would recommend. Battery is also a lot better with all the tracking and such removed.
GrapheneOS user here, compared to my stock android pixel it's night and day, no sense of my phone spying on me.
I use almost entirely FOSS on the graphene one, I now do most of my daily phone activities on the graphene, and use the stock primarily for work (I refuse to taint the graphene phone just so I can do my job).
The installation was extremely simplistic compared to other custom android versions I've run. It was literally: plug in phone, click button, phone restarted itself, clicked another button, done.
Hey I am also using GrapheneOS. And what you could do for work is setup a second profile that is not allowed to run when not active. That way it is fully isolated environment for work. Add to that that GrapheneOS lets you install Google related things inside a user profile without needing them to have root access. as some work related things might require google services.
I have a second profile set up already, exclusively for Google play services and anything else I don't want on the main profile.
I might make a third exclusively for work, but as it stands the second phone actually makes more sense in that regard in terms of taxation, simplicity of use etc. no faffing about with profile switching, just check which colour phone and then slam that fingerprint down on the sensor.
I do however welcome suggestions, perhaps I should make a post rather than just lurking in the comments for once...
The one issue I have with graphene is the incredibly broken backup, but they know that and are working on replacing it.
Other than that, rock solid.
I've not yet messed with backup, there's nothing on this phone I would miss if it were lost, stolen or broken.
I do however have it's entire contents backed up manually to multiple locations, so even if the worst should happen, it would simply be a matter of transferring to a new device.
More like LineageOS because Graphene is only available on very specific, hyper-expensive devices. Or just expensive if you want one that is already out of support.
It applies to all 'Gatekeepers', including Google.
It does as per the law. I don't know whether Google is compliant as of yet.
''Software you can't uninstall'' should not be a thing.
Lol didn't we do this 20 years ago?
Yeah, but Microsoft liked living on the edge
Oh you!
Everything is new again. It seems.
Great! Now please also make manufacturers give us the option to uninstall/change webview & other such services on android devices.
Isn't a Pixel phone with LineageOS and OpenGapps Nano exactly that?
It is. And I personally commend Google for this - they are pretty much the last manufacturer to truly give your the freedom, without crippling the device to hell and back. Sony and Samsung cripple the cameras when you unlock the boot loader, nearly all Chinese manufacturers don't even give you the choice, Xiaomi has a "wait list".
Say what you want about Google - they still aren't as terrible as others.
Hard to score them 1 to 1. Apple for example is horrendous at controlling "your" system. Always have been. Tried to help a family member upgrade their MacBook SSD and it's been an absolutely horrendous experience and I gave up and told her I couldn't help her because the process of simply running an OS update was so ridiculously convoluted, not to mention the fact that you even need to update it at all to do so. But their devices are fairly private.
Google is just the complete opposite and empowers global surveillance.
How did you determine their devices are "fairly private"? Actually curious.
I disagree with that. Yes, they enable it, but you can turn (nearly) everything off in the settings and with a few ground rules things are quite good.
Take TikTok, Meta or something like that...you can't turn off most of the data harvesting and profiling.
Yes, but one brand with a tiny market share.
If its the law, every android device would have to have this option.
For a pixel their is a much better option named Graphene OS :)
But you can change the webview
By rootin' tootin' my device you mean?
Very funny. No, by installing any other browser that can replace the webview. (almost) Any chrome or Firefox forks can do it.
In dev settings is an option "Webview implementation" where you can pick any.
Yes, but in my stock Samsung only ever shows one option.
Im happy to hear this should be this easy, will look into it, thx.
Edit: ohh, I have to figure out how to install it 'for all users'.
Edit: Im gonna try with adb, can't figure out the install as user 0 part (only as user or work user).
how about fucking autopilot too instead of having to find a registry to disable it.
Edit: I'm dumb and don't know what I was even being mad at. I should have said copilot, that’s what I actually meant. I didn’t realize autopilot was a thing.
What do you mean. Autopilot is an enterprise feature. If you bypass Autopilot you are either circumventing your organization's policy or you bought a computer that was not removed from org properly.
Or you actually bought a 'pro' license in the hopes of being treated less like an insolent child by a device you own.
Autopilot and Pro have absolutely no tie other than Pro being a requirement to leverage the enterprise feature
Ahh shit, Freudian slip...
I thought we were talking about copilot. Microshafts desktop AI tool. Not autopilot, the corporate device deployment/lifecycle/recycling program...
I'd imagine most of the upvotes thought the same.
Yup
gasp
As the sys engineer for an organization that creates the policy....don't do that
I'm going to do it
I'm gonna force my entire company to edge harder because of this policy! Long live edging. I hope they edge over chrome Everytime.
I was given windows 10 pro with the computer I adopted. I didn't realize it was an enterprise feature.
Are we talking about this feature? If yes, you must simply ask company / school in which that computer is assigned to to remove it from their Autopilot list.
I should have said copilot, that's what I actually meant. I didn't realize autopilot was a thing.
Oppossed to me who somehow forgot Copilot is a thing :) Should have realized that.
I have it simply disabled in settings so it does not show up. Maybe it is not completely disabled and some parts of it are still running amd would need to apply policy to disable it, but can't say it bothers me much.
Meh, I purged windows from my systems last month. I will never be forced to (re)install Edge, use the garbage search, or link my pc to a gd Microsoft account again. I've had enough of Microsofts bullshit.
Luckily you don't need Window$. You can install Edge on your Linux distro of choice! Will it then show warnings telling you Edge is the bestest browser when you use it to search for another browser? Who knows, why not try it and find out??? Please someone use Edge on Linux, Micro$oft is now a friend of Linux
Ironically people do actually use Edge on Linux. Beats me lol.
At least they actually got to choose which browser they wanted.
I had it installed briefly to use Bing AI before I discovered Perplexity
One drive is the one that really ruffles my feathers.
It turns itself back on randomly, which wouldn’t be too much of a problem except for that it fucking remaps the desktop.. a file that was previously located at C:\user\desktop\ is now at C:\user\One Drive\desktop…
Note the space in the path, they didn’t even have the decency to use an underscore… \one_drive\… even though it’s one of their own rules in powershell scripting.
For those of us using powershell to automate stuff this remapping is a nightmare and should be illegal.
Too bad I am in the US and will just have to continue to get support calls from time to time when a users desktop gets remapped behind the scenes.
Maybe there is a way using powershell and windows scheduled tasks to check to see if one drive turned itself back on, then auto turn it off and remap the desktop back to normal.
The absurdity of having windows check to see if windows screwed itself up, then if so have it fix itself is just laughable.
OneDrive redirection is hilariously bad. Official Microsoft documentation recommends against using it. Imagine having that little faith in your own product.
Why aren't you string quoting all of your paths anyway? I'm confused because the vast majority of paths wouldn't work the way you're suggesting.
What pisses me off even more is if you start saving too much stuff in your documents/desktop etc you start getting emails from microsoft that your drive is full and you have to purchase more storage (because your harddrive is likely much bigger then your free drive account).
So I know quite a few elderly people who think they now need to pay money to unlock more memory on their computer to save more stuff.
That’s criminal, preying on the elderly. Basically a tech support scam but it’s actually Microsoft running it
That's so weird. I was just praising M$ to myself because I noticed that they are using \OneDrive\ and \Documents\ now and no spaces to be found.
Nice that might have been something they fixed.
Being able to uninstall OneDrive is a game changer. That thing annoys me so much
If you really don't like it, there's a bunch of tutorials online to uninstall it without needing Microsoft's approval. I've removed it a long time ago without any issues.
Oh, I don't care about Windows that much to bother googling things like that.
It lives in a VM so I can run CAD software like LayOut which I use very infrequently.
I've also got a windows partition lying around that gets booted into once per year incase I go to a LAN party, but Steam / Proton has really come a long way so I can probably drop that soon
Finally! Always glad to see the EU forcing Tech Giants to be user friendly
Seriously. The EU is the best thing to happen to the US.
We kinda see California like someone bought the EU on wish.com, so they're heading the right direction
Is this option only available in the EU for EU citizens?
What a coincidence we all just moved to the EU
Correct.
That’s unfortunate to hear for anyone living in North America
Change your Windows settings and you're all set
still not switching to windows
Install Linux, get rid of Windows and be done with the nonsense
I work with Linux on a daily basis, both as a server OS and a desktop OS. Unpopular observation perhaps, but I've yet to find a distro which provides a more stable desktop experience than Windows 11 does for me. I do enough Linux troubleshooting during the day, after work I just want something that works.
I'm curious what distro you use. I put my partner on fedora, she's not very techy, and generally speaking she doesn't really have any issues doing the day to day stuff. The biggest pain point was switching to Firefox and getting its worse profile system to work, but that was not a necessary change just a choice.
I can second Fedora (the KDE version). It's been rock solid for me, it works with all my hardware both old and new.
One of the biggest pluses for me was the ability to move my Firefox and Thunderbird profiles from one OS to another, over the decades.
You definitely had to take a few minutes out to massage the profile system to get the old profile to show up again (basically figuring out how to point back to the existing moved profile, and not the new one that a new install creates), but it was well worth doing so, for the portability that it affords.
I also use the KDE spin of Fedora fwiw
What's wrong with Ubuntu? I've used it daily for years.
Just installed Ubuntu on both my desktop and laptop last week.
Right off the bat, maximized windows widen and slip the left edge behind the dock whenever it locks, which is infuriating.
Optimus doesn’t seem to be working as intended in my laptop. I also get a bunch of LSPCON errors on every startup.
I haven’t checked yet, but from what I’ve heard, HDR support is also lacking on Linux, which is unfortunate because I have a nice monitor.
Use Windows 10 debloater tool.
ShutUpWin10 and AppBuster from German O&O?
Speaking of German privacy tools... Win10privacy is still being updated from the looks of it, so that could be an option too.
Awesome. How do I port this ability over to an American PC?
If I set my region to an EEA country is that good enough or do I need to reinstall windows to get this?
Asking the real questions.
Today is a good day.
… if you’re European
I suddenly feel more European!
Good. Now make it be uninstalled by default.
Or even better: split MS up. And a bunch of other large companies also.
Yeah Microsoft way to big
Can I change my region on an existing install, or do I need to/should I do it on a fresh install?
Other comments have said it needs to be fresh
Thanks for letting me know.
I want this for android phones and chrome, gmail etc without jumping through hoops
I'm assuming that just hopping on a VPN that exits in Europe is not enough to do this right? You probably have to do a fresh install and say that your location is in the EU?
Yes
I'd rather uninstall Chrome, TBH. If you need a Chromium browser, Edge is just better. And Bing is about as good as Google for most searches. Only a handful of things (like default maps) do I switch for. Which is honestly staggering because Bing used to be such shit in comparison. Google has really let itself go.
I used to feel this way, but the aggressiveness at switch Edge pushes every new feature - re-enabling after disabling, constant nags, etc - has really turned me off of it. It's become software I regularly have to argue with.
It doesn't help that out of the box, Edge feels like a browser that my grandmother would have maintained (with so many glued on hotbars/sidebars/shopping popups).
The point isn't so much in which browser you'll prefer to use at the end of the day (that's on you as a consumer to decide), but being able to decide which browser to have installed on your PC in the first place.
Edge is bloated as fuck, just opening it for the first time prompts you with a 3 step dialog you can’t close about how Microsoft value your privacy and which setting you should choose.
Microsoft cares about my privacy?
Since when do they care about privacy?
Ever read 1984 ? War is peace, etc. I didn’t mean to say Microsoft care about privacy, I meant they pretend.
Nice
confused solely Linux user noises
Can you uninstall safari on OSX?
Now we just need a version that comes without bloatware and the windows 2000 theme
One of the reasons I love Linux is that I can install or uninstall any application I want. I don't even need a desktop let alone a web browser.
With Lynx You dont even need a browser to browse.
There is exactly one piece of software that I am using Windows for and that is camtasia.
Last time I booted into windows was to use VR (I haven't yet managed to make it work on Linux mint), and that was 4 months ago.
Glad I switched tbh.
You always could delete onedrive
On a new Windows 11 install, I uninstalled OneDrive straight away and it was a mess. I couldn't get rid of the nagging that it was unable to back up my files as my storage was full when in office documents. I had to reinstall OneDrive but disconnecting it per instructions still didn't fix it. The only thing that made that message go away was deleting files in online OneDrive.
I've been thinking about Windows 10 and how it's support is gonna end in 2025. Might install a Linux distro once it's time.
I've done it but media creation tools are not up to the same snuff.
Well, I'll wait with it for now. Not too long ago, I installed Ubuntu on my spare laptop, but I don't really use it that often. And before I do switch, I'll probably go through everything I use and see what the Linux alternative is, unless of course it already works on it.
A good idea. I rock an Ubuntu variant (Pop_OS!) and generally love it. But wait until you feel comfortable.
I hope this also means not showing the thousand "setup" screen needed to install the os,post install.
That is single-handedly the worst thing ever and only Apple manages to compete with such tactics.
I'd say that everyone should use Linux but that is materially impossible for many folks. Microsoft should just make consumer friendly products instead of this bullshit.
Brussels effect ftw!
I live in the US and my windows 11 doesn’t have any of them. It doesn’t even have the ability to log in with a Microsoft account. It’s so easy nowadays to install programs from GitHub that nuke all the bullshit.
That's funny because Microsoft owns GitHub.
Well it's good although only for EU, for the rest of the world still need to use Windows debloater script for doing same thing (or just install micro win 11 if you hate the hassle)
Well Windows 10 at least lets you create a local user account. you can't even install windows 11 without having a microsoft online account, because you need a Microsoft account to be able to create a local user.
During setup there is a keyboard shortcut to get to command prompt.
Then a command you can use.
Then the machine restarts and you can setup without a Microsoft account.
(For reference I'm on my dual booting Linux phase. I'd like to ditch it altogether but Wayland isn't quite there yet and x never will be.)
Idk how Reddit links are treated here but here are some good methods (I used the test/fake account like 2 weeks ago)
You can also use Rufus to make an installer that automatically bypasses it but I haven’t used it in a while and not sure if it still works.
Is it only Windows 11 that wasn't able to uninstall any of these? Because I've been able to (and have done so) uninstall them on windows 10 since always. Can even disable the telemetry stuff, but only if you have Pro and above since it requires using the group policy manager (which is kinda bullshit IMO; ain't no reason Home shouldn't have access to that).
Seriously we did this in 1998, why this again??
Stupid Edge uses like 2-3 gb on my PC, then it says “you have insufficient data, free up space”
I feel like I'm on Coruscant after the second death star was blown up.
after 'repairing' my edge, enabling 'get updates as fast as you can' and updating everything, I was able to uninstall edge. Rejoice.
I was surprised I was able to uninstall Media Player on Windows 11. I played a video file on my laptop and accidentally selected "always open with". Lo and behold Windows Media Player doesn't play HEVC encoded files (not sure if it was 264 or 265). I thought I would have to tinker with the default program settings but tried "add or remove programs" on a lark and it worked. I then opened the file with VLC as one normally does and life is back in balance.
HEVC actually requires a $1 license you can get from the ms store. It's a royalty thing. OEMs often ship PCs with that license already enabled.
There are more applications than just windows Media Player that won't play hevc files/streams without that license installed.
VLC doesn't really seem to care about those things though and it's better than the default anyways.
Yeah, I should have specified that it could have played it if I paid but I couldn't remember the amount and I'd rather use VLC.
I was planning on doing a clean windows install anyways, is there a way I can "spoof" windows I to thinking I'm in EU, like with vpn etc?
I am pretty sure simply setting region should do the trick.
Me: "I would like to uninstall Edge and use Firefox for everything!"
Netflix: "With Firefox I won't give you best quality even if you pay for it! Use Edge!"
So Edge stays my video streaming browser for now, but only that.
Try to create PWA and forget about ever opening Edge. It of course will still run in background, but maybe this will feel better.
This is one of the few valuable informations I got today.