Windows 11 Now Officially Adware as Microsoft Embeds Ads in the Start Menu - You will view ads and you WILL like it!

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Published: Wednesday, 05:38

Microsoft over late-Tuesday started distributing the KB5036980 optional update to Windows 11 users, which effectively makes the operating system adware (software that displays ads to support its author). The update gets the Windows 11 Start Menu to display ads in the "Recommended" section that suggests apps and games for you to download from the Microsoft Store, subscribe to Copilot Pro, etc. While the update is currently optional, the changes contained in it will be made part of next month's "Patch Tuesday" update.

This wouldn't be the first time Microsoft is advertising software, the OEM versions of Windows 11 can be customized by PC manufacturers to pre-install bloatware, or suggest apps or services for users to buy within the Start or Apps menus. You usually uninstall the pre-installed bloatware, and dismiss recommendations. Today's update is different, in that even the Retail versions of Windows (without the bloatware) start receiving ads. Luckily, these ads are not inescapable, you can disable them. Head over to Settings > Personalization > Start, and uncheck the toggle that reads "Show recommendations for tips, app promotions, and more."

 

[Faceless Whore]

Speaking of ads for your eyes I won't be the least bit surprised when somebody inevitably markets smart contact lenses connected to the internet that randomly force you to watch ads when you're wearing them

Someone should invent AI powered lenses that identify ads in your environment and blank them out. (Could charge extra to replace them with porn or anime tiddys.)

 

[Slav Power]

It's not even Linix evangelism

It's imperative you use an operating system that respects your freedoms

>not Linux evangelism
>says the Stallman quote
If I were to follow the same philosophy that Stallman does, I'd be more productive with analog technology like pen and paper.

While yes, Windows is getting worse by the merit of Microsoft constantly adding useless bullshit on top of the perfectly fine OS that is Windows NT, Linux is not getting any better. Wayland is a mess, yet it's being forced down everyone's throat. The XZ backdoor fiasco has put the security of Linux's ecosystem into question. Things like Adobe Suite or MS Office or other sets of software people rely on cannot be ran under Linux, and despite what you may believe, no, FOSS alternatives are not "the same if not better". LibreOffice won't replace MS Office, GIMP and Krita won't replace Photoshop, FreeCAD won't replace AutoCAD, KDenLive won't replace Premiere Pro and the list goes on.

If a newcomer were to ask for a distro to choose, he'll get bombarded with so many choices he won't even bother to try Linux. Linux Mint? Manjaro? Zorin OS? Or maybe some Linux idiot will repeat the same Arch/Gentoo meme again without considering that a newcomer has no idea about it, and will actually try to install Arch/Gentoo only to be disgruntled with Linux and go back to Windows?

Or even worse, a newcomer will enter the pitfall of FOSS evangelism, so no proprietary drivers because they're evil, so his Intel/Nvidia PC will run like shit because someone told him to use a distro that actively avoids everything that the Linux community deems as "evil", such as systemd or proprietary Nvidia drivers, and then he'll once again say "fuck it" and go back to Windows.

As for the spyware argument with WIn11, this is something I find insanely funny. People had the exact same complaint when Win10 first released in 2015. People bitched and moaned how evil it is and how it spies on them. Fast forward to today and you have people bitching and moaning about Win11 being spyware, while they're using Win10, the evil spyware OS, but they got used to it. It always happens with each major Windows release. People bitch and moan about new = bad, but then they accept the new version anyway, with a fringe minority staying on the older version. Happened with 95 > 98, happened with XP > Vista > 7, and now it's happening with 10 > 11.

Last I checked, W11 doesn't even allow you to reorganise your system tray ever since an update in October 2022.
That said, KDE has largely been busy with either getting version 6 out the door and is currently fixing all the bugs. Your best option is putting in a feature request on their forums.

Check again then. Win11 23H2:

Honestly, I'd love to see a poll being done. Out of all the people that complain about Windows 11 being this and that and Linux being better in every way possible, how many of those people are Linux users that haven't touched Windows in years and complain about an OS they didn't even bother to run in a VM to know for themselves if it's as bad as people make it out to be, and won't touch it but will continue to run their mouth like they know everything there is to it?

Because I swear, the amount of shit Win11 gets at this point makes me believe that maybe 5% of the people complaining had first hand experience with Win11 in any way to form a valid opinion of it. It's all Chinese whispers and mass hysteria with no real discussion about the real state of Windows 11 being brought up. It's nowhere near as bad as people make it out to be, but sensible discussion is always drawn out by the screeching of Linux users that believe that if Linux fits their specific use case, it'll fit everyone else's use case.

View attachment 5946724
That is the worst thing I've ever seen. That is gore.

You could do this ever since Windows 95. Some people like having a gigantic taskbar like that. I don't. This is also a valid criticism of Windows 11. The new Win11 taskbar doesn't have 1:1 functionality parity with the old taskbar that's dating back to Windows 95. There wouldn't be a need for people to play with ExplorerPatcher to bring back the Win10 taskbar with dodgy hacks if Microsoft did their due diligence and made sure that all the new stuff they want to deliver with the new WinUI3 taskbar is an addition to what came before it, and that includes taskbar resizing and the ability to move it to any of the four edges of the monitor.

 

[Faceless Whore]

When they make linux viable for gaming without having to run an emulator then most of us will do that.

I'm curious to know how you expect Windows software to run on non-Windows systems without a compatibility layer.

 

[TowinKarz]

Communism is awful, but I'm pretty sure this type of shit wouldn't exist.

It would, and the government would control it and force you to watch it.
The thousands of Lenin statues they tore down after communism fell came from somewhere....

 

[Geddy Lee's Fee and See]

Wayland is a mess, yet it's being forced down everyone's throat.

Most distros ship with X Windows. Wayland still and always will be vaporware. I have yet to see anybody using Wayland outside of developers and retards dumb enough to fall for Drew Devault's autism.

The XZ backdoor fiasco has put the security of Linux's ecosystem into question.

It really didn't. It was a social engineering hack that took years to even get put into the code base and was fixed the instant it was detected, whereas many Windows CVEs are still floating around and active to this day like that one that affected Source games that got all those people hacked a couple weeks back. Turns out having sane security defaults and needing standard UNIX privileges to execute programs is such good design, even MacOS and BSD follow it, not just Linux. Windows is the least secure OS because it not only had CVEs out the ass but because Microsoft developers don't care that it is insecure. There's legacy code from the Win9x days in Windows 11. That's fucking insane.

Things like Adobe Suite or MS Office or other sets of software people rely on cannot be ran under Linux, and despite what you may believe, no, FOSS alternatives are not "the same if not better".

You can use Wine for Adobe Suite and Microsoft Office is basically feature complete to the point that it hasn't changed meaningfully since the Windows 7 days. Libreoffice and Openoffice have the same functionality as it does for the average user. I say this as someone that writes papers and reports with Libreoffice regularly.

LibreOffice won't replace MS Office,

Like I said just now, it basically can and does since the Office packages haven't had any major updates since the mid to late 2000s

GIMP and Krita won't replace Photoshop,KDenLive won't replace Premiere Pro

For professional usage sure . But most professionals are using MacOS for one and the average person can use GIMP or Krita to do what they need as well.

FreeCAD won't replace AutoCAD,

That is a fact I won't even argue. Windows has the sole advantage in CAD software, but most people don't use CAD software anyways so while not a moot poijt, it's overstated.

If a newcomer were to ask for a distro to choose, he'll get bombarded with so many choices he won't even bother to try Linux. Linux Mint? Manjaro? Zorin OS? Or maybe some Linux idiot will repeat the same Arch/Gentoo meme again without considering that a newcomer has no idea about it, and will actually try to install Arch/Gentoo only to be disgruntled with Linux and go back to Windows?

Most people tell beginners to try Ubuntu or Linux Mint. That's my experience. That's the experience of the people I've told about Linux and that is basically the default gotos for starting to use Linux since they are easy to use and install (literally it is just a bunch of prompts to set up your Internet, password and username, locale, some other settings and hard drive usage for the OS) for people that have no experience with Linux. They come with graphical versions of the package manager you can look up packages and click to install them and other quality of life touches that make to easy for a neophyte to get used to the Linux ecosystem.

Or even worse, a newcomer will enter the pitfall of FOSS evangelism, so no proprietary drivers because they're evil, so his Intel/Nvidia PC will run like shit because someone told him to use a distro that actively avoids everything that the Linux community deems as "evil", such as systemd or proprietary Nvidia drivers, and then he'll once again say "fuck it" and go back to Windows.

That's on FOSS Linux systems that no one uses like Trisquel. Even Debian (the Linux distro I use and a distro that used to brown nose Stallman) has nvidia-drivers now in its repos. Turns out not pleasing purists like Stallman is a good thing for the ecosystem. Literally it was just "sudo apt install nvidia-drivers" or something like that. If you can't do that with a graphical or CLI package manager, then you are genuinely a retard. It's easier than even going to NVIDIA's website and trying to find the drivers yourself.

As for the spyware argument with WIn11, this is something I find insanely funny. People had the exact same complaint when Win10 first released in 2015. People bitched and moaned how evil it is and how it spies on them. Fast forward to today and you have people bitching and moaning about Win11 being spyware, while they're using Win10, the evil spyware OS, but they got used to it. It always happens with each major Windows release. People bitch and moan about new = bad, but then they accept the new version anyway, with a fringe minority staying on the older version. Happened with 95 > 98, happened with XP > Vista > 7, and now it's happening with 10 > 11.

Because I don't want to be spied on. Anyone that's sane and has a shred of dignity shouldn't want to be spied on by any person, corporation or government (the last one is a fat chance in hell after the NSA leaks, but the point still stands) and should do their best not to . Turns out most people have very little dignity, especially the people shilling a tech globohomo corporation's product.

In fact Windows 10's telemetry was the reason I switched to Linux in the first place. For what fucking reason does Microsoft need my data as a user past what I give them voluntarily for bug fixes or crashes or things of that nature. Niggercattle like you are why things are getting worse in the world of technology and in the world in general: instead of fighting for your own rights as a human being, you lay down and praise the people abusing you as if they are doing you a favor. No wonder too seeing how you are ac culturally backwards post-Soviet Slav. The lot of you are barely even human and deserve to be put on display as the domestic animals you so dearly want to imitate. I don't want some pajeet at Microsoft looking at my big tiddie Japanese swimsuit ladies and it's fucking right to have that be the case. It was the case since the beginning of PERSONAL computing, but now retards like you are clapping while soulless megacorps are ruining the world for everyone just for a buck. Fuck off, you autistic Windows drone. I can't shit on people that have genuine reasons to use Windows or MacOS, but literally everything you said is bullshit posted by a zealot that loves Microaoft, which is sad, insane and funny. It's the same thing with you defending Microsoft' Duke controller (wherein Microsoft also shat on the world of gaming via the Xbox and making alternative controllers outside of Sony's own a rarity and pushing the always online shit there too). You are basically like that dude that shills Windows constantly but doesn't want anyone to know about his history of scamming people out of their money with malware and had to settle with the state of Washington to not go to jail over it. At least MacOS shills do it because Apple products are a fashion brand. This is just low grade bullshit spewed by zealot or a pajeet being paid to say this shit
.

 

[The Repeated Meme]

View attachment 5946724
That is the worst thing I've ever seen. That is gore.

What's wrong with it?

 

[Anti Alien Alarm]

What's wrong with it?

 

[Sniperwoof]

If we lived in a serious society there would be laws against corporations shoving their cocks down our throats.

Alas sadly we do not.

 

[Dick Mason]

What's wrong with it?

You deserve Windows 11.

 

[Slav Power]

What's wrong with it?

You know, people used to complain that Windows 7's UI had too much wasted space, yet you not only have the large icons enabled, you also have enlarged your taskbar to asinine proportions. Worst of all, you don't have taskbar autohide enabled so all of that screen space you waste for a massive empty taskbar you probably never fill up.

For comparison, here's how my taskbar looks like:

And it's on autohide so it rolls up to two pixels and doesn't waste any screen space.

Two pins for the two most used programs to keep them in order and system tray icons. You don't need anything more.

Get a keyboard launcher like Keypirinha or PowerToys Run and you don't need a Start menu or any silly shortcut icons. You'd be surprised how much faster it is to open your favorite music player by just hitting a keyboard shortcut, typing "fo" and hitting Enter than it is to try and navigate some Start menu or other GUI element with your mouse.

The time is either on my second monitor as a desktop widget or on my browser's title bar which I keep open 99% of the time. I also have a wristwatch if all else fails, still more accurate with radio sync than the constantly drifting NTP synchronization.

Desktop icons are also useless, you have a file manager with bookmarks to look through your files, use that. Less is more. They are an archaic concept much like the start menu from the times when that was considered the most sensible user friendly way of using a PC. Nowadays, if you're a power user, you have better alternatives.

 

[Day of the Cope]

Check again then. Win11 23H2:

Wow, so nice of them to readd a feature they removed after several years.

Honestly, I'd love to see a poll being done. Out of all the people that complain about Windows 11 being this and that and Linux being better in every way possible, how many of those people are Linux users that haven't touched Windows in years and complain about an OS they didn't even bother to run in a VM to know for themselves if it's as bad as people make it out to be, and won't touch it but will continue to run their mouth like they know everything there is to it?

90% of my bitch with Windows has nothing to do with Windows as an operating system and everything to do with Microsoft, their increasing invasive telemetry, and doing shit like adding ads to the start menu.

Because I swear, the amount of shit Win11 gets at this point makes me believe that maybe 5% of the people complaining had first hand experience with Win11 in any way to form a valid opinion of it. It's all Chinese whispers and mass hysteria with no real discussion about the real state of Windows 11 being brought up. It's nowhere near as bad as people make it out to be, but sensible discussion is always drawn out by the screeching of Linux users that believe that if Linux fits their specific use case, it'll fit everyone else's use case.

I can say much of the same for Windrones shitting on Linux. The simple fact of the matter is that the average user is going to use the default experience because "it's good enough and does what I need it to do".

Anyway, I got a concert to catch. Have fun being a Microshill.

 

[Kosher Dill]

No wonder too seeing how you are ac culturally backwards post-Soviet Slav.

As a bag of potato chips, I agree 100% with this.

 

[The Repeated Meme]

You know, people used to complain that Windows 7's UI had too much wasted space, yet you not only have the large icons enabled, you also have enlarged your taskbar to asinine proportions. Worst of all, you don't have taskbar autohide enabled so all of that screen space you waste for a massive empty taskbar you probably never fill up.

The extra space is mainly to accommodate the large amount of quick launch icons I use. I also find the extra space more accessible. The taskbar takes up so much space because I use it for basically everything.

And it's on autohide so it rolls up to two pixels and doesn't waste any screen space.

Fuck that. What do I need all that extra screen space for anyway?

Desktop icons are also useless, you have a file manager with bookmarks to look through your files, use that. Less is more. They are an archaic concept much like the start menu from the times when that was considered the most sensible user friendly way of using a PC. Nowadays, if you're a power user, you have better alternatives.

This I somewhat agree with, but it's just what I'm used to. I rarely ever use any of the desktop icons I have, I usually use quick launch or the desktop bar attachment thing for navigation.

As for the rest of this post:

View attachment 5947311

You deserve Windows 11.

I seriously do not get what the problem is. I've been using Windows the same way for 20 years and never had a problem. What exactly is wrong with this setup? It does everything I need it to do and has done for decades. I don't care if it's 100x more efficient to it xyz way because it's fastest for me because it's what I'm used to.

 

[moocow]

The percentage of the global economy that is occupied entirely by the advertising industry really makes me want to hate capitalism. Communism is awful, but I'm pretty sure this type of shit wouldn't exist.

Sure it does. It's just called "propaganda" instead of "marketing," but the same people fit into either industry interchangeably as the communications czar requires.

 

[The Repeated Meme]

It's unreal how invasive advertising is. It's unreal how little respect they have for your time. There's nothing better to me than a nice relaxing space where there's no fucking noise. But they want nothing to be that. You need ads. Ads for your eyes, ads for your ears, ads shuffled into your search results like a deck of cards. It drives me up the fucking wall. I am not a consumer to be advertised to. Your product is shit. I will buy only things I trust.

I know exactly how you feel and I thank Christ for all the hard work and dedication that developers pour into things like uBlock and Youtube Revanced (any many, many others) to make web browsing and media consumption as unobtrusive as possible, FOR FREE. I really should donate to them. The amount of collective aggravation they've saved me from is invaluable beyond words.

 

[Feline Supremacist]

I've been using Linux, of one sort or another, for almost 20 years. It's come a long way from the days Ubuntu would mail you free disks. Back then part of my job involved testing different OSes and FOSS software in addition to supporting Windows XP/Vista and OSX while using VM Ware Server/Debian to manage our servers. I tested Solaris but dropped it for the high learning curve required of the intended users (I did like it, Illumos is the free successor), Ubuntu/various spins, and Freespire (dead and good riddance) but at the time it had just as high a learning curve for most as Solaris. Not anymore.

I think its pointless to argue which is better, the only answer is what you use your machine for, and what you want it to do. Gaymes? I use Windows and try to fix it as much as I can (I'll be trying out Proton). Art/Film/Work (that requires lots of visuals)? I like OSX (I have three PPC machines and two Intel Macs but I'm that kind of autist). Everyday? I prefer Linux, specifically Linux Mint, because it's the best for my needs-ymmv so maybe X/Kubuntu works better for you. And there's a lot of overlap because if I'm editing video on an OSX machine and I need to go online I can boot into Linux as well, same goes for Windows.

Granted I'm in a position to have my apartment look like the prawn's shack in District 9 (though cleaner, neater and less cluttered) but people give away very modern PCs/Macs on Freecycle sites all the time, especially in large cities-its how I picked up my Intel Macs, and a G5 Power Mac I wanted for learning POWER applications. If you get tired of them just give them away again. I've seen blade servers, racks and POWER/SPARC machines up for grabs.

@Slav Power I have to agree that babby's first foray into Linux can be overwhelming, and more than once I wanted to chuck the PC out the window but I decided to regulate it to the "spare" pc realm and used a lot of live cds/USBs until I hit the jackpot with Mint. Peppermint comes a close second. And of course the Ubuntu forums are shit. But I also spent a lot of time being just as frustrated with Windows. Really depends on what your needs are, and what you want to do; however, I will say that in every OS the command line is boss. Learn to use it.