
Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads - tasoeur
http://www.howtogeek.com/243263/how-to-disable-ads-on-your-windows-10-lock-screen/
======
fpgaminer
With Windows 10 doing things like this, and Windows 7 being aggressively
deprecated, I decided I finally wanted to ditch Windows as my daily driver. It
was good timing, then, that I watched the "7 Gamers 1 CPU" video from
LinuxTechTips, which showed me how to do it without sacrificing gaming.

Most everything I use runs in Linux, and for the few things that don't I can
spin up a VM. But there's the caveat that is as old as Windows itself ...
gaming. Dual booting isn't an option for me, because I tend to run various
server VMs 24/7\. I also didn't want a second tower just for Windows; that's
non-ideal. But wait! Apparently modern CPUs have this fancy thing called IOMMU
I never knew about, which lets you give direct access to PCI-E devices, like
GPUs, to a VM.

So I bought up a 5820K, a X99 motherboard, and an extra graphics card, and
away I went. I now have Arch Linux running as the host system where I do all
my work. Windows 10 sits in a VM where it's given direct and exclusive access
to a GTX 970 for graphics. So far, things are working well and Windows runs
the benchmark apps just fine.

The end result is that I can use Linux as my daily driver, but flip over to my
Windows VM whenever I want to game. It keeps Windows isolated, which is great
from a privacy/security perspective, I don't have to dual-boot, and best of
all I can spin up different VMs if I want to use the beastly GTX 970 for other
work like machine learning. Thanks to using the 5820K which has a few Xeon
features in it, the entire process when smoothly. The biggest caveat is I
haven't found a DisplayPort switch yet, so I can't hook up the Windows VM to
my primary Cinema monitor, and I haven't nailed down the mouse+keyboard thing
yet. QEMU's virtual mouse+keyboard doesn't normally work with these kinds of
VMs, so you have to hack it in, and even then it likes to randomly stop
working. I could just grab a second set of physical mouse+keyboard but that's
not ideal. Steam Steaming will probably be the best option for now.

~~~
melloclello
Have you considered: you don't really need to play video games anyway

~~~
xj9
You don't really _need_ to do anything that doesn't provide for your economic
well-being. Some things a just for fun and that's great!

~~~
id
You don't _need_ to provide for your economic well-being either.

------
gargravarr
Seems like the only way people want to make money these days is through
invasive advertising without the end-user's explicit consent. Granted the
expectation of free software is driving most of this, but it starts a vicious
cycle because those who get annoyed with them develop countermeasures, which
the creator responds to with more aggressive ads, ad infinitum.

It does start explaining some of the highly controversial telemetry MS was
collecting in Win10 - turning everyone's PCs into billboards.

~~~
api
People want free. Things aren't free. But people want free, so let's give them
"free" and monetize them indirectly with surveillance, invasive advertising,
etc.

The entire Internet has gone down this road since it's _very_ hard to compete
with someone who is giving something away for "free" (note quotes). Free has
given us George Orwell's bidirectional it-watches-you TV set.

~~~
r00fus
I want a fully supported OS that will see upgrades. I'm willing to pay. I
guess that means OSX or Linux for the forseeable future.

I used to think PCs that were sold had some vendor bloatware, but now the OS
itself is bloatware.

Were Stallman & Torvalds simply precient for their viewpoints 20+ years ago?

~~~
mynameisvlad
What's the difference between OSX and Windows, in your mind? It's even more
"free" than Windows is, since you can't buy it separately and all OS updates
for the last few versions have been free.

~~~
r00fus
Telemetry: [http://arstechnica.com/information-
technology/2015/08/even-w...](http://arstechnica.com/information-
technology/2015/08/even-when-told-not-to-windows-10-just-cant-stop-talking-to-
microsoft/)

Can't disable unless it's Win10 Enterprise or Education editions (does any PC
sold come with Win10 enterprise or education editions)?

------
dangrossman
Microsoft added the Spotlight feature last year, and this is pretty much
exactly what it was billed as: if you don't have a lock screen image of your
own, you get random wallpaper images from Bing, and also occasional app offers
and tips. You can upvote/downvote the offers to personalize the suggestions in
the future. It's an app discovery mechanism, and you can turn it off by
picking your own lock screen image. I don't know why it's only in the news
now. This isn't the first time wallpapers for an app have been in the
rotation.

~~~
treehau5
Amazon Kindle does the exact same thing with their "Special Offers"

~~~
ben174
Only on the Kindle With Special Offers which is priced lower than the standard
Kindle. A way more upfront approach. It's literally in the title of the
product that you are purchasing something with advertising on the lock screen.

~~~
dingaling
> Only on the Kindle With Special Offers which is priced lower than the
> standard Kindle.

There is also advertising on-by-default on the full-priced Kindles, but they
call it 'Recommended Content' . It takes-up a chunk of the home screen.

Easy enough to disable but it's still advertising.

------
userbinator
Does anyone find it unpleasant how these new OSs are increasingly embedding
online content everywhere, presumably opening many network connections and
using bandwidth while increasing attack area unnecessarily? The start screen
tiles in Win8, which continue into Win10's start menu, are the most obvious
example here.

It isn't that I hate the Internet or anything like that; I've certainly spent
long hours online visiting various sites. Nonetheless, the idea of some parts
of the OS that --- by default and with no explicit action of the user --- at
some undisclosed time, reaching out somewhere to some server that I have no
idea of, and retrieving content to be rendered on my machine, just doesn't
feel right to me. If some of that "promiscuity" resulted in malware being
installed, it would be extremely difficult to determine the cause; according
to the list in
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10053622](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10053622)
, Windows 10 by default contacts a rather large list of domains, many of which
are third-party and not even Microsoft-controlled.

As I write this post I have a total of _one_ network connection from my
machine, an IM client; and at all times I am aware of what connections it's
making, and which processes are doing it, so there is nothing unaccounted for.
That's the way I like it --- my machine does not "talk to strangers" without
me being unaware.

~~~
H0n3sty
Yes! As Windows moves closer to an ad-supported model it's only going to get
worse. All the bloatware was bad enough, adware is taking the abuse of OS
users to a new level.

------
bendykstra
I was shocked and very worried when ads for Microsoft Office started popping
up in the Action Center (10's centralized notification area) last year. When I
wrote about my concerns on a Windows forum, most pf the responses were along
the lines of, "why are you complaining, Windows 10 is free." If people no
longer feel that they own their operating systems, then there is no check on
Microsoft's behavior. Inevitably, ads will become personalized and telemetry
that Microsoft now uses to improve the operating system will be used to
improve ads. The challenges to privacy that we currently experience online
will expand to the desktop.

~~~
RealCasually
What is the harm done? Of course you don't "own" your operating system. You
also paid nothing for it. I also struggle to grasp the double standard of why
Google, Facebook, et al are able to endlessly track and personalize ads, but
when Microsoft follows a similar model, there is outrage.

~~~
gargravarr
The argument that Win10 is free won't hold for much longer, it's only 'free'
if you upgrade from Win7 or 8. It's already being sold retail in stores for a
similar price to the old versions. And from later this year, people will have
to pay for upgrades too.

On the flipside, you don't "own" your software anyway, you own a license to
use it (EULA).

The double-standard probably has something to do with the ability to block
most of Google's ads and tracking, or use another search platform if you
really want. This is the OS on top of which you'll be using all of your other
software (web platforms included), and it's impossible to control what is
going on in the background.

~~~
seanp2k2
While I agree with the difference, it should still be possible to block these
types of ads with some kind of firewall. Unless the OS is blocking the
blocking at a lower level (which I'd be VERY surprised by), something like
Privoxy and using that as the system proxy for http[s] should be able to knock
these out if they're loaded dynamically. I haven't tested this, so it would
require some inspection and network monitoring to figure out what's serving
these. Some hosts file entries may even be enough.

~~~
opnitro
I think that's different because you are subverted the OS's attempts to
advertise to you. Most people are not willing to go to this level. Changing
search engines is not subverting Google, it's just not using their product.

------
djsumdog
I really don't like this direction that MS is heading. I'd rather they charger
for Windows 10 and newer and not start bundling software and pushing ads by
default.

Also, fuck buying games off the Windows store, Steam and any other service
that locks you into DRM. My steam client in Linux is hopelessly broken due to
updates. Some of my games will still play, but most require the stupid Steam
DRM layer. I should have bought them off Humble instead.

~~~
zodPod
I'm in the same boat. Steam was DESTROYING my PC for a long time. I couldn't
figure out what it was and finally tracked the random spikes and focus losses
to Steam's update service being corrupt. Re-installing Steam means
uninstalling everything you've downloaded with steam, possibly losing save
games and stuff like that, then having to wait for everything to re-download
and install. There are ways around it, which I found later but I had already
screwed up half of my downloaded games because I had assumed that I would be
able to just do a uninstall-reinstall on it without losing all of my stuff.
Total garbage. I will definitely not be using anything like steam, in the
future, if I have any choice in the matter.

~~~
mattmanser
Sorry you got burned, but I installed a whole new primary drive and didn't
have to reinstall all my games. There's also a backup feature that you didn't
use.

Games have also generally always put their saves in your documents folder.

I appreciate it might have been an easy assumption to make, but it's even
right there in google searches instant answer thing[1] so it must be a common
question.

It obviously caused you a lot of hassle but steam's wildly popular and mainly
loved, not total garbage. I'm really only commentating to make it clear to
non-steam users that this poster has a minority opinion on the service, it's
been years since there was any wide user dissatisfaction in steam (mainly when
it first came out).

They even recently added a no-questions-asked refund system if you bought a
game in the last 2 weeks and have played the game less than 2 hours[1].

[1][https://www.google.com/search?q=does+uninstalling+steam+dele...](https://www.google.com/search?q=does+uninstalling+steam+delete+games)
[2][http://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds/](http://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds/)

~~~
slavik81
> Games have also generally always put their saves in your documents folder.

Many games do, but there are still plenty that put them elsewhere. You
probably want to use something like Gamesave Manager [1] to find them all.

[1] [http://www.gamesave-manager.com](http://www.gamesave-manager.com)

------
kozukumi
Ever since switching to Windows 10 I have found myself using Ubuntu more and
more. To the point where I mostly boot Windows 10 once a week just to keep it
and some software up to date.

I like some things about Windows 10, for example the new snap features for
programs is nice, overall the system looks quite nice as well. Their virtual
desktop implementation is kind of lacking but at least it is there. Explorer
is actually quite decent these days as well.

However it just keeps pissing me off. I use SumatraPDF as my PDF reader, it is
a great program. I can't think of a time when it hasn't worked perfectly yet
for the 5th time now Windows has _helpfully_ informed me it _had_ to restore
Edge as the default PDF reader for "reasons", of course I have no idea what
these reasons are!

I have Office 2016 installed and yet the stupid "Get Office 365" bullshit
constantly nags me and _reinstalls_ itself when the Store does some background
updating. I had to hunt down a bloody PowerShell command to _force_ remove it.

Oh yes and in Microsoft's infinite wisdom they auto-install Twitter and Candy
Crush Saga on my so-called "Professional" version of Windows _which I paid for
on a new machine_!

Honestly it is a fucking horrible experience. Their own modern Universal apps
are garbage. They release these totally _shit_ apps with the idea that "oh we
can update constantly via the Store!" but the apps they are releasing are just
plain awful. I have used tech demos that work better ffs.

I honestly can't stand the Windows 10 experience. The new way of doing things
is just horrible. I end up using Windows 10 just like I used Windows 7/8 with
Win32 apps because there are still not any good Universal apps as the platform
is just garbage by the looks of it. I mean if the _maker_ of the platform
can't even make decent apps what does that say about the platform?!

Ubuntu isn't perfect but at least it doesn't fuck with me every other day to
the point where I just want to walk away from the computer.

Yes Linux still has some rough around the edges but I have found that
installing Chrome makes everything web-related "just work" as well as on
Windows. Netflix? Check! Flash? Check! Also TIS-100 has a Linux version so
that keeps me happy :)

~~~
amq
There are Universal apps which I actually like: Mail, Calendar, Weather, Edge,
OneNote, Groove. I feel like your comment is over-exaggerated.

~~~
kozukumi
Weather is the only app that I actually use. Groove is a joke, Edge is a tech
demo and a pretty poor one at that. OneNote is junk compared to the Win32
version. I don't use Mail or Calendar as I find web applications work so much
better for my workflow.

------
CurtHagenlocher
I didn't even realize that it was an advertisement. But if it is, it's not the
first one. The Beatles images shown in December were then probably also
technically ads for the just-released-on-streaming Beatles catalog.

Disclosures: I work at Microsoft and really don't like advertising-supported
products.

------
ccvannorman
I still remember the last time I used Windows (outside of a VM for testing.) I
had been given a Surface to develop on for my video game. At one point, it
started playing an advertisement as a part of the operating experience. My
reaction:

1\. What is happening?

2\. Why is this happening?

3\. How do I shut this off?

4\. Who the hell decided this was a good idea?

5\. Where's the nearest trash bin?

------
nikbackm
That particular example does not seem too bad.

I personally would have just assumed the ad to be yet another random lock
screen image. Which I like for the most part.

~~~
Coincoin
Yeah, by the author's standard, any nice picture would be an ad for the
photographer.

Pretty picture of a New Zeeland countryside? Ad for NZ tourism office.

Pretty picture of a data center chockfull of network equipment and mainframes?
Ad for IBM and Cisco.

Microsoft have been doing that since Bing, show a pretty interesting picture
with a little icon to know where that picture is from. It just happens that
one is from a game.

People are so tired of obnoxious and disgusting ads that they tend to forget
why they hate obnoxious and disgusting ads; because they are obnoxious and
disgusting. Then they go on an irrational crusade about every picture, awesome
viral video, mystery public campaign just because it originates from a
corporation.

------
makecheck
When I was a kid and learning basic manners, there were certain things taught
that separated good from bad.

And you know, advertising methods are starting to look a lot like pure
_rudeness_ to me.

It wouldn’t be socially acceptable to walk up to somebody sitting on a park
bench and just start randomly bothering them. It wouldn’t be socially
acceptable to just start dumping signs all over someone’s front porch and
gluing them to the windows of the house. Why, then, aren’t companies downright
_ashamed_ (and publicly shamed) when they create a product that feels the need
to periodically pop messages in front of the user’s face that are by
definition completely unnecessary to the function of the product?

Build a product; make it nice; make it functional; and make it show things to
the user only when necessary. Anything else is mere distraction, and frankly
taints the product’s perceived value.

We are spiraling down into a cesspool of “free” products that tax users with a
thousand needles every day.

We used to know how to pay $40 for software, or even $10, and demand better.
We need to return to that.

------
stillsut
And look what Google did with Chromecast - beautiful, national geographic
style pictures you could sit and watch for hours. Clearly there's a team
spending money at Google to create the best experience for me.

If I went into a business meeting and Laura Croft showed up as my screen saver
so MS could pocket $0.000001 for showing me an ad I would go ballistic. And
I'm a MS guy. It's these type of shortsighted ad-in-the-os decisions which are
making me doubt the future of MS as a serious company.

~~~
wingerlang
Lara, not Laura.

------
dethos
This is the price for the "free" upgrade to windows 10.

I really don't like this trend of turning your personal computer into a thin
client, where its properties can be manipulated remotely by the vendor like if
it was a web app.

This is why I stayed away of products like Windows 10 and ChromeOS.

~~~
shahidhussain
Why Chrome OS?

~~~
dethos
> ... turning your personal computer into a thin client ...

Because, ChromeOS seems to be mostly about web apps, thus can suffer from the
same issue that this post describes, for example.

------
AdmiralAsshat
Probably a good time to remind people about ReactOS:
[https://www.reactos.org/project-
news/reactos-040-released](https://www.reactos.org/project-
news/reactos-040-released)

One day it may be the only way to use Windows programs without this kind of
end-user harassment.

~~~
simoncion
> One day [ReactOS] may be the only way to use Windows programs without this
> kind of end-user harassment.

There's a _lot_ of code sharing between ReactOS and Wine. For the most part,
Wine works _really_ well to run Windows software... there's no need to run an
_entire_ somewhat-Windows-compatible OS that has limited hardware
compatibility when you're _just_ interested in running a particular Windows
application. [0]

However, I expect that you neither meant to imply that Wine wasn't a good
option for running Windows software, nor that work on Wine was likely to stop
before work on ReactOS stopped. :)

[0] Edit: To be clear, I'm quite aware that the task that the ReactOS devs
face is monumental. I also acknowledge that those devs have put in a _lot_ of
good work over the past ~eighteen years.

------
proactivesvcs
Malware straight to the lock screen now? Wow. This behaviour just goes to show
the advertising industry still has no idea about real-world concerns and
opinions on advertising. I wonder how long it'll take for this to start
getting farmed out to malware brokers/bidding platforms that Microsoft's MSN
uses, such as AppNexus, AdSpirit etc.

~~~
recursive
In your opinion, what is malware?

~~~
proactivesvcs
Microsoft's advertising. Specifically, those they choose to do business with
allowing exploit kits to deliver malware payload, such as cryptolocker-style
viruses.

~~~
recursive
So you're assuming that the channel this tomb raider wallpaper came through is
able to transmit a virus? Or do you have knowledge that it's true?

~~~
proactivesvcs
I know that Microsoft are not to be trusted with advertisements, and this is
advertising. Who knows what executable code, like javascript, fonts or GDI+
objects, are involved with the wallpaper? If not today, what about tomorrow?

------
gravypod
"When the item is free, you are the product" is the lesson of this past
decade. I am at least repeatedly learning this over and over again.

~~~
Zikes
That doesn't necessarily hold true for FOSS, though.

~~~
DrJokepu
Oh man, it's absolutely true for FOSS, unless you develop FOSS purely because
of idealogical reasons, Richard Stallman-style. FOSS development can be turned
into reputation and popularity, which can be turned into cash. It's much
easier to get your startup off the ground (or find a good job or decent
clients as a contractor, etc.) if you have 10,000 Twitter followers, because
you write popular FOSS.

~~~
embik
Which is exactly how FOSS is supposed to work. You give away something free of
charge and available to everyone and you're getting something back from your
users.

That doesn't make the software's user "the product" though. In your case the
developer is making himself the product he tries to sell, not the users. This
is really not comparable to advertisement and data collection.

------
aresant
It's so funny to watch MSFT completely miss the lessons that have turned
Google into the World's Most Valuable Advertising Business.

HEY YOU GUYS LETS PLASTER ADVERTISING ALL OVER ALL OF THE THINGS!

Look at Gmail: [http://imgur.com/M8RF1TV](http://imgur.com/M8RF1TV)

Look at Yahoo Mail: [http://imgur.com/Cjwxspc](http://imgur.com/Cjwxspc)

Look at AOL Mail: [http://imgur.com/ZeaIe1L](http://imgur.com/ZeaIe1L)

Which email product do you use?

Which would you rather use?

The advertising business that is sustainable is owning the user at a moment of
high-intent, aka SEARCH.

Slapping ads all over my login page is a great way render the fat from brand
advertisers into short-term revenue gains at the price of ENRAGING me.

MSFT get the tracking and the ads the fuck out of my kitchen and my OS or at
least give me a REAL way to pay you for a clean, no ad version!

~~~
fnbr
This is the exact reason why Google is so valuable- when I use Google, I'm
actively searching for something, so I'm happy to see relevant ads in my
search results.

If I search "bike shop London," I want to find a bike shop in London, so if I
see an ad for a bike shop in London, I'm ecstatic, and I'll probably go there.

When I go to check my inbox, on the other hand, that's because I want to see
what email I've received. I don't want to see ads there.

This is the inherent problem with Facebook/Twitter- I go to Facebook/Twitter
to find what my friends are up to, not to search for something. I have no
interest in seeing ads in my Facebook/Twitter feed.

~~~
pmalynin
I proactively do not click on adwords or suggested links or anything. In fact
if I see an ad for bikes shops in London I will scroll down and click on the
next link.

~~~
corndoge
Agreed. Clicking advertisements encourages advertising. Google's actual
results are far more relevant than any paid placed advertisement anyway.

~~~
wongarsu
Clicking advertisements also helps to pay for the service you are using for
free. In the case of google search the ads don't significantly diminish the
product, so I'm happy to give google a bit of ad revenue.

~~~
wang_li
>Clicking advertisements also helps to pay for the service you are using for
free.

Yeah, well, I'm part of the 47% in this situation.

------
pasbesoin
Recently, I bought one of the cheapo Amazon tablets to have a "beater" I
didn't need to worry about.

Sure, the price was nice. But the full-page ad upon every lock screen, that is
too easy to trigger into video play when trying to swipe to unlock, has rather
put me off.

I won't be buying another Amazon tablet. And I'm glad I never got one of their
phones -- I shudder to think.

It's _my_ computer / tablet / phone / computing device. The more you work to
make and demonstrate otherwise, the more I'm going to move away from you.

I just hope I keep having a choice. And I have to consider my individual role
in making sure that is the case.

------
jfoster
Seems like the "new Microsoft" honeymoon period has been brought to an abrupt
end.

Did every single Windows 7 user get this? Perhaps they can recover from this
by learning quickly from the backlash that's about to happen.

~~~
exodust
Backlash from needing to go into settings and flick a toggle switch from on to
off? Oh the horror!

~~~
pkorzeniewski
You could say the same about installers bundled with some crapware toolbars
installed by default - you just need to uncheck one checkbox! It's not about
how much effort it requires to turn such bullshit off, to me it's a clear
message from the company that you're just a sucker to be milked as hard as
possible. "Oh, you've turned it off? No problem, we'll be more clever next
time!" I refuse to use anything coming from such companies, even if it means
more effort in everyday life.

------
slavik81
I'm more annoyed that they pop up desktop notifications just to advertise
Office 365.

~~~
r3bl
The irony here is that you still see those ads even if you have a running
Office 365 subscription associated with the same Microsoft account you've used
to create your Windows account.

------
acre88
Aren't plentiful, unrequested ads for games an integral part of Microsoft's
XBox systems? I don't remember hearing too much outrage about those. Is that a
different situation somehow?

~~~
ohitsdom
Great point. I've always had an issue with those ads on the home screen. One
ad that stands out in my memory was a particularly gruesome looking game ad,
something about zombies. I thought it was way too dark for the little kids in
my house to be seeing, but had no way to turn it off.

------
gdulli
Kind of an alarmist headline for what's essentially a screen saver type thing
that's set as the default but can be changed to something else.

------
Animats
Can you buy an single enterprise version of Windows 10 without the ads and the
snooping ("telemetry")? How much does it cost? How do you buy it? Microsoft
makes this info very hard to find.[1]

[1] [https://www.microsoft.com/en-
us/WindowsForBusiness/windows-f...](https://www.microsoft.com/en-
us/WindowsForBusiness/windows-for-enterprise)

~~~
zamalek
As far as I know the W10 machine needs to be also joined to an AD domain for
this to work (the telemetry is disabled via a group policy on the DC).

------
Sideloader
One aspect of OS X I've always appreciated is the absence of bundled bloatware
and obtrusive advertising. Sure, you can disable the ads and uninstall any
unwanted software Microsoft is aggressively pushing on you, but how many
people actually do this?

Most of my parent's friends that I've helped to resolve OS issues don't even
try to find out how to switch off or delete Windows annoyances. Their machines
are bogged down with junk that they don't want or need and some suffer
silently while others complain loudly, but very few from either camp take the
initiative and learn how the OS works.

I don't know what percentage of the Windows owning public is unable or
unwilling to wrest control of their OS from default setting tyranny, but
anecdotal evidence suggests it's a not insignificant number.

------
voltagex_
I haven't seen this on the two devices I have running Windows 10 at home. I
believe opting out of all the personalisation at
[http://choice.microsoft.com](http://choice.microsoft.com) has stopped this
"feature".

------
dba7dba
They are out of their minds. All of them.

Board of directors to ceo to product manager to project managers to designers
to coders to the company that bought the advertising. All of them.

------
leeleelee
I seem to remember some recent articles about MSFT which detailed how they had
really turned things around. They've been missing the boat for years, and
finally got their act together. They had a really aggressive goal for getting
windows 10 on XYZ millions of devices by June or July this year. And
now....this?! This does not fit Satya Nadella's recent narrative. Why would
MSFT do this?

------
sj4nz
As always, the future moves closer and closer to Black Mirror's S01E02.

------
brudgers
Ubuntu baked Amazon products into Unity several years ago. Google
bakes....well, where do I start? Anyway, this is the Microsoft everyone was
screaming for...more just like everyone else. At least Facebook doesn't inject
ads into information about my friends...[puts finger to ear ala Jon
Stewart]...what's that?

------
ck2
For those that want to make sure you never are forced upgraded to Windows 10

[http://ultimateoutsider.com/downloads/](http://ultimateoutsider.com/downloads/)

GWX Control Panel - blocks Windows 7/8 from ever installing W10

------
aikah
They are beating Google at their own game. I wouldn't be surprised if Google
announced a real desktop OS, since they basically pulled the plug on Chrome OS
and Android isn't even fit for Tablet.

Microsoft is basically trying to outgoogle Google, and they are trying to do
that at the OS level, not at the browser level. From a purely strategic
standpoint this is brillant. From a user stand point it's obnoxious of course,
because good luck blocking ads if Microsoft decides Windows won't allow you
to. Clearly web advertising is drying up, so Native ads,i.e. at the OS level
is where the growth is.

EDIT: correction

~~~
Mithaldu
> I wouldn't be surprised if Google announced a real desktop OS

It has taken MS almost all it has to get Windows to the point where it
currently is, while the best thing Google can claim is to have made a browser
using someone else's engine, while skipping 90% of the features that other
browsers have. This works for the web, but on the OS front they cannot
compete.

~~~
akoumis
Sorry which features is it lacking in?

[https://html5test.com/compare/browser/chromemobile-44/firefo...](https://html5test.com/compare/browser/chromemobile-44/firefox-40/ie-
Edge%2013/safari-9.0.html)

~~~
Mithaldu
User interface customizability. It has almost none whatsoever. The rendering
engine and what it supports doesn't matter, since Webkit wasn't made by
Google.

------
toxican
Kind of complete bullshit to do that, but at the same time it's very easy to
disable via settings. It's not as though you have to tinker with the register
or modify your hosts file or whatever else.

~~~
exodust
On the other hand, it's a static Tomb Raider image on your lock screen.

I'd prefer that to say an "arty" photo of a new father holding his newborn
baby to his bare chest in the morning sun or something... That would fill me
with rage.

Tomb Raider image, not so bad.

------
apricot
Amazing. This was exactly what we needed right now as a society. More ads.

------
wangchow
It's easy enough to disable the adds. Also check the Microsoft account and
there are various preferences with toggle buttons associated with "targeted
ads." To be honest, some people like having targeted ads if it's something
consumers may be interested in.. Why not inform them?

And for those who don't like them.. Just go through those settings and change
them. As long as these ads are configurable it's not a big deal.

That being said, if they became something customers can not opt out of that is
a different story.

------
imgabe
I've been using Windows 10 for a while now at work and I haven't seen any ads
yet. I was really enjoying the different pictures on the lock screen and the
way you can like/dislike them to get more of the types of pictures you like.
If they start running ads on it and I have to disable it that's going to be
pretty sad. I mean, not really in the grand scheme of things, but it was a
pleasant, enjoyable feature that made me like Windows. Why ruin it with ads?

------
finishingmove
Well, this is exactly what I would expect if I left any "Give me something
random, I don't want to think too much" option activated. These are the first
things I disable on any OS.

With that said, I recently switched my home PC to Linux. It was not due to the
privacy issues, rather buggy experience (probably due to older hardware).
Overall happy, although the UX in KDE 4 and Gnome 3.1x is still lagging behind
Windows/OS X noticeably IMHO.

~~~
anonbanker
Then switch to a distro using KDE Plasma 5.5, and be _ahead_ of Windows' UX.

------
smegel
Maybe now the Year of the Linux Desktop has truly arrived.

~~~
kbart
At least for me - yes. Currently I'm using dual boot with Ubuntu and Windows
7. But when Win7 expires, no more Windows on my machine(s). There's no way I'm
letting malware, called Windows 10, near my data.

------
JabavuAdams
This is so anti-user it boggles the mind.

------
alistproducer2
I will run Windows 7 as long as I can. When it goes the way of XP, I'll go
back to Linux.

------
pearle
I think I'm finally going back to Windows 7.

I'd rather pay full price for a OS release than become a product.

Of course, another issue is that the Windows Store is completely broken on my
computer and quite a few apps no longer work (including Windows Calculator,
Photos, etc.).

~~~
exodust
Or just turn off the spotlight thing in settings.

~~~
JabavuAdams
This is not how you design good products and tools. If I grab my drill, it's
because I want to make a hole. I don't want to click through even one
annoyance. Also, in the real world, it's one annoyance today, but it'll be
five tomorrow if people don't push back.

Computers are annoying because apologists keep saying things like "just turn
that off".

~~~
exodust
I don't disagree with your general point. But we have here a relatively new
image showcase feature called "spotlight". I'm not really seeing the deception
or poor design if you chose to enable this new feature in the first place.

Edit - I've just found out Spotlight is enabled by default. I don't have
Windows 10, didn't know.

------
blahblah12
Seriously, what is wrong with people? It's SPOTLIGHT UBUNTU shows me ads too .
. calm yourselves down. Ads on installers are normal, also.

If you didn't want microsoft to randomly send you a sign-on wallpaper, then
disable spotlight.

------
cmdrfred
I don't have any data to back this up but it really feels more and more like
the fabled "Year of Linux" to me. Microsoft last it's way when Gates left and
hardware manufacturers are starting to get on board.

------
UK-AL
Heh, I didn't know windows had this feature. I just turned it on.

------
cbd1984
Now, you can be the customer _and_ the product!

Innovation: Only From Microsoft.

------
s_kilk
Not surprised. Some of us have been predicting this for years, but we tended
to get shouted down for committing the Slippery Slope fallacy.

~~~
exodust
Predicting what exactly?

1\. New spotlight feature = on; 2\. Toggle "fun facts and more" = on;

You know that images will stream in from the internet along with "fun facts
and more" whatever that is. And when a Tomb Raider image appears, you're
suddenly in Orwellian future shock mode?

The day MS takes away the toggle so you can't switch ads off, is the day to be
outraged. Not before.

~~~
CamperBob2
_The day MS takes away the toggle so you can 't switch ads off, is the day to
be outraged. Not before._

GWX certainly qualifies as an "ad." Just curious, where is the "toggle switch"
in the "settings" that I can turn "off" to disable GWX?

Oh, there isn't one?

I thought so.

~~~
exodust
Okay... that would annoy me too. I'm still on Windows 7 and haven't seen
anything like that. Not one Windows 10 ad, and I've been doing Windows updates
(manual ones from time to time). On both my laptop and desktop - Win 7 and Win
8, I have yet to see any GWX ad. Maybe I will see it one day.

~~~
vic-traill
This is interesting. In my experience any off-domain (i.e. workgroup) Win 7
installation which is taking Windows Updates (required, not optional) gets the
GWX update. The relevant Update is KB 3035583.

"To install this update, you must have April 2014 update rollup for Windows RT
8.1, Windows 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2 (2919355) installed in Windows
8.1. Or, install Windows 7 SP1" [0]

Apparently it also does not apply to Enterprise Edition. [0]

[0] [https://support.microsoft.com/en-
ca/kb/3035583](https://support.microsoft.com/en-ca/kb/3035583)

------
solnyshok
I just disabled Windows Lockscreen (not to be confused with Login Screen)
right after installation.

------
guardian5x
I don't like the direction they are going. What's next? Sending a U2 Album on
the PCs?

------
ramgorur
I thought they started embedding full screen tomb raider ad through UEFI, my
bad.

------
butz
They should add bitcoin miner next. That way they will make even more money.

------
yuhong
I have suggested before that MS should sell Windows to a non-profit
foundation. It is probably not trivial though.

------
ArbitraryHobo
Has Microsoft gone too far?

~~~
melling
9 out of 10 PC's still run Windows so I guess not.

~~~
sp332
The PC market is shrinking quickly, so maybe they have.

~~~
forgetsusername
> _The PC market is shrinking quickly_

There were 275 million PC units sold in 2015, and approximately the same
number is expected for 2016. Sales were growing until 2011, when they peaked
at around 360 million units. So certainly sales have shrunk, but I wouldn't
describe them as "shrinking quickly", according to forecasts.

~~~
sp332
Shipments were down in 2015 even if you include Apple computers, which
outperformed the rest.
[https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS40909316](https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS40909316)
Things look even worse when you take them out. Which forecasts are you using?

~~~
scholia
IDC PC numbers are depressed partly because it doesn't count tablets/2-in-1s
as PCs, it counts them as tablets.

The story to which you link notes that "The impact for 2016 will be larger as
detachable tablet volume grows, boosting earlier forecasts of PC growth in
2016 from -3.1% to growth of 1 to 2%."

The quote is saying that if you add those "tablets" back, it's predicting that
the PC market will grow this year.

Another important point is that the vast majority of Windows 7/8/8.1 PCs will
run Windows 10, and the upgrade is free. There's very little need for most
users to buy a new PC.

If users only buy a new PC every six years, then Windows PC sales should
halve, compared with a three-year upgrade cycle. It doesn't mean that PC usage
is declining (though it might be), it just means that PCs are lasting twice as
long.

Smartphone sales were, of course, hugely inflated by the fact that they only
lasted for 18 months or so. When people keep their smartphones for three
years, smartphone sales with halve as well.

~~~
sp332
You're right, I'm still not used to Windows running on so many tablets. Also,
tablet sales were also down last year so I didn't expect it to help.
[http://www.businessinsider.com/tablet-sales-down-in-
addition...](http://www.businessinsider.com/tablet-sales-down-in-addition-to-
ipad-2015-10)

~~~
scholia
Windows runs on everything from USB thumbdrivess to supercomputers. Windows 10
also runs on phones and games consoles. The IoT version runs on the Raspberry
Pi etc. I'm not sure how many of those I'd want to count, but Windows 10 on a
Asus T100 looks like a legitimate PC to me, whatever IDC says ;-)

[https://www.asus.com/2-in-1-PCs/ASUS_Transformer_Book_T100TA...](https://www.asus.com/2-in-1-PCs/ASUS_Transformer_Book_T100TA/)

------
ape4
That's terrible. How long until its not an option.

------
draw_down
Wow! This is really just unbelievable to me.

~~~
exodust
Yep, it is quite a spectacular Tomb Raider image.

------
MajesticHobo
Direct link to HTG guide: [http://www.howtogeek.com/243263/how-to-disable-ads-
on-your-w...](http://www.howtogeek.com/243263/how-to-disable-ads-on-your-
windows-10-lock-screen/)

~~~
dang
We changed the URL to that from
[https://mobile.twitter.com/howtogeek/status/7022751534394163...](https://mobile.twitter.com/howtogeek/status/702275153439416322),
which points to it. If someone suggests a better URL for this story, we can
change it again.

~~~
zamalek
Maybe change the title, too? It's absurdly inaccurate, just look at how all
the comments here are completely unrepresentative of what is stipulated in the
article, everyone has read only the title and assumes:

* Ads are popping up on the desktop ("full-screen"). Which they are not - it is restricted to the lock screen. Neither the tweet nor the article mentions "full-screen" _once._

* You can't opt-out of this process. The central point of the entire article is how to opt-out.

* This is new. I personally opted out of this feature a while back.

Possibly something like: "Windows is Showing Lock-Screen Ads (How to Opt-
Out)". As per the guidelines:

 _> Otherwise please use the original title, unless it is misleading or
linkbait._

This post not only fails to adhere to the guidelines, it does the exact
opposite by changing the meaning of the article _entirely._ It should actually
be deleted and I have flagged it due to such a blatant disregard for the
guidelines.

------
mariusmg
What the fuck ? You choose to let Microsoft show you whatever they want on the
login screen and complain their show you an ad ?

Seriously ? Disable the spotlight crap and be on your merry way. Or install
Ubuntu and watch Amazon ads :D

~~~
nacs
Ubuntu has removed the Amazon ads with newer versions.

------
gosukiwi
If only gaming on Linux would be as easy as it is on Windows...

------
kagia
If only it were April fools...

------
jksmith
Does ReactOS plan to copy this business model?

------
fiatjaf
It's funny to read all those irritating comments: "oh, my OS is showing me
ads", people complaining after they got a pirate OS without paying for it.

~~~
arm
Are you joking? Windows 10 actually does cost money. And the people who pay
for it _still_ get to see ads.

