
Windows 10 is bringing ads to File Explorer – how to turn them off - doener
https://thenextweb.com/apps/2017/03/10/windows-10-is-bringing-shitty-ads-to-file-explorer-heres-how-to-turn-them-off/
======
grawlinson
Here's a better idea - show Microsoft that you don't accept this type of
behaviour by switching products/services.

I'm aware that Windows 10 is a "free" OS, but trying to ram this type of
behaviour down my throat is despicable unethical behaviour and I don't condone
it. It is why I've switched to Linux for my daily computing needs.

~~~
dc3k
> trying to ram this type of behaviour down my throat is despicable unethical
> behaviour and I don't condone it. It is why I've switched to Linux for my
> daily computing needs.

Last time I used Linux (well, Ubuntu specifically) every time I searched for
anything in the file system I would see at least half a dozen ads for products
on Amazon. Significantly worse than anything I've ever seen in Windows 10
personally. Uninstalled it and never using it again.

~~~
vacri
Yes, one distro (of dozens people use) tried running ads once, it was a PR
disaster, and they stopped doing it quite a while back.

~~~
mattmanser
That a bit like saying "Google, one of dozens of browser makers".

Ubuntu has 50% market share.

~~~
vacri
If you want to be pedantic about it, why not focus on the ads being half a
decade ago and not in the past couple of LTS releases?

------
csdreamer7
> how to turn them off

Switch to Linux.

Windows 10 Home is now $119 and tracks you. Microsoft is trying to sell you a
product and monetize your behavior. They are pursuing a way to maintain their
cash cow and have an avenue to push Google out.

~~~
chc
This works well if your hobbies include manually editing obscure config files
and replacing perfectly good hardware, and if your hobbies do not include
playing games.

I frequently explore the possibility of switching to Linux, and while it's not
the garbage fire it was 15 years ago, it's still just not a peer to Windows
for the way I use my computer.

~~~
cm2187
I agree. Linux is a world full of obscure acronyms and undiscoverable CLI
commands. RTFM or nothing. I would like to switch to Linux (particularly when
I read these things) but I just don't have the time to learn all the basic
things the hard way and deal with all the compatibility issues.

~~~
boondaburrah
See, this is exactly the problem I have with Windows. It's full of obscure
exes and undiscoverable settings (wtf is the registry? fuck). It's like I'd
have to have years of experience (since 98 or something) to understand fully.
Also it has compatibility issues out the butt with hardware that 'justworks'
on linux.

With windows 10, this has gotten /way/ worse. Sure bluetooth works out of the
box, but sometimes it just disapperates. I'm doing like, rain dances and
getting tons of wrong answers out of google, only to find out that somehow
Windows decided to turn the radio off, and there's actually no way to re-
enable it except booting into linux because when the radio's off, windows says
the hardware is physically /not there/.

I install it for a while, play some steam games, then usually just boot it out
and go back to linux.

It's generally hard to switch operating systems, not just one way.

~~~
pgug
I agree that Windows is insanely hard to use. I helped someone get their new
windows computer up and running and I spent more than an hour figuring how to
make it not open MSN.com every time it booted, I had to edit some registry
key.

------
Keverw
Are the ads only for storage service? At first I was thinking we'd start
seeing banner ads like we do on blogs. If it's only Microsoft pushing their
own integrated services I don't really have much of a problem, but for
software I paid for showing third party ads when I never ever had an
expectation of such a thing then I do agree it is very horrible.

The "Not now" button does seem like a anti-pattern instead of a simple no.
Reminds me on how iOS apps bug you over and over again to rate them. I assume
in X amount of time, it would show the banner again? I think it should be like
"Learn More" or "Dismiss". Then have Dismiss never show it again on that
device(unless they did like a reinstall of the OS). I'm sure it's useful to
know it's available, especially to non tech people but you shouldn't have to
jump into a long list of settings to stop it.

Imagine some day your car dashboard updates and starts showing banner ads for
deals at near by places when the car never did it in the first place. That'd
be kinda creepy too.

~~~
dboreham
The only one I've seen was for their storage services. I admit it surprised me
initially, but I suppose it could be worse. Hopefully it does not go the way
of Skype which (for me) is almost entirely unusable on Windows these days due
(I assume) to the ads locking up/hanging the process.

~~~
skeletonjelly
[https://gist.github.com/joielechong/d0042338fd3132013aec4ee5...](https://gist.github.com/joielechong/d0042338fd3132013aec4ee56045e558)

------
kabdib
We're doing some qualification of Windows Server 2016, which we use to run
some business logic [insert history here]. Imagine my surprise when I found
some Cortana-related processes running on one of the test boxes.

Cortana. On an OS that's supposed to be a _server_. I can tell that I'm going
to have a ton of fun locking this stupid thing down. Also, seeing a process
named "NetworkSpy" got fun, fast; whoever named that thing sure knew how to
get my attention.

I like the core Windows OS; it's a nice kernel. But there's a lot of crap on
top of it, and their testing is getting worse. Ask me about Remote Desktop
regressions... well, don't. It's the weekend and I want to forget.

~~~
morrbo
The forced restarts on a server are funny too. As is the feedback information
to Microsoft (which iirc can not be turned off completely, only to basic,
maybe there is a registry/gpo hack but i havent played with this yet).

Can't set the "active hours" to more than 12 hours to prevent restarting when
it dictates, so end up disabling the update service entirely which is a
complete anti-pattern to what they were trying to "achieve". I mean, the
active hours stuff is a good idea, but for the love of god in a server
environment it should be easy to disable automatic restarts.

~~~
Mithaldu
> The forced restarts on a server are funny too.

If you're already using Windows Server, have it serviced by someone trained in
it, and you won't see forced restarts. If i can have 100% control of it on my
pro system with only out-of-the-box tools, including selection of which
updates i want to install and which not, then so can you on the server
version.

~~~
morrbo
As i said below i am more on about MS even considering this as a default
option for a server environment, not about the lack of control.

~~~
Mithaldu
For one: There is no lack of control. I don't know about Home, but from Pro
and up you have full and fine-grained control available if you use the correct
APIs.

For the other: This is primarily a shift in their philosophy of considering
every user someone who would happily endanger the entire internet for their
convenience. If you're not the type of person to have received notification of
this change as part of your training and/or doesn't double-check it as part of
their job duties, they expect you to be the type of person who lets their
servers go unpatched and infected by worms sending out spam and DDOS attacks
for years.

Mind, they're not saying this out loud, but their actions speak very loud.

~~~
Meph504
Might want to check that, anniversary update simple made many of the previous
group policy functions, and API calls, only functional on educational and
enterprise versions.

~~~
Mithaldu
Nope, i'm using them on an up-to-date pro version. They work.

A lot of that is also misreporting and half truths by journos who don't give a
damn about anything but being the first to get the clicks with the most
exciting headline. For example the group policy update configuration was
changed with the anniversary update to not reflect in the user update ui, but
still works perfectly fine and is still reflected in the group policy ui.

------
frik
When will Microsoft stop with this shit, and do a 180 degree U-turn? What does
it need?

It's unbelievable how MSFT turned Windows from the great Win7 to the worst
spyware operating system in human history aka Win10 in just 5 years. Is it
just greed? Is it that they failed with Mobile (WinPhone is dead and has 0.1%
world wide market share) and Android amd iOS have a bigger market share than
Windows 7? (Win10 has way smaller market share). On desktop Windows 7 has like
50% market share, where as Win10 is around 20%. Is it that they failed with
XBoxOne, now Sony and Nintendo eat MSFT former console market share as
breakfast.

I bought two highend notebooks one a MacBookPro, the other with Win7 Pro
preinstalled. The will last for the next five years. I stay with Office 2010
and additionally installed LibreOffice. I skip Win8 and Win10, and I am
running Linux in VMs.

What's really disgusting is that in future many smaller companies like law
firms, doctors will leak your private confidential data to Microsoft - as
Windows 10 collects audio from connected microphones, collect keystrokes from
connected keyboards, and indexes all files on local drives and sends a lot of
data home to many different domains (some are owned by Microsoft, some have
very dubious names and owners).

~~~
cube2222
Well, I think we should calm down from the paranoia a little bit. Nobody has
ever proven any actual spying on windows 10 (it's actually a very secure
system)

What everybody's talking about are metrics. Anonymous usage metrics. And trust
me, as a user and programmer I know of no company that doesn't collect metrics
like that. It's totally common.

Between, as far as I know, from the next update "creators" (this or next
month) you can actually turn them off too.

~~~
frik
As a MSFT employee: Provide a proof that Win10 is not sending home the data I
mentioned.

Oh wait, it has been documented by third parties.

Win10 has a whitelist in the signed 64bit kernel mode network driver, so you
can't stop it except by putting a hardware firewall in front of your Win10 box
- good luck with your Win10 notebook.

If an app sends home metrics, it can be stopped with a software firewall. If
you can't trust your operating system any more, it's a whole different
ballpark.

Adware and spyware companies with their unwanted toolbars and what not got
problems with the US law since 2004. Win10 is an adware and spyware per
definition, see news article of this HN thread.

~~~
cube2222
I haven't denied the metrics. But please provide proof of it sending home non-
anonymus data the kind you mentioned. Also, as I said, it should be possible
to turn it off soon.

~~~
hueving
Unless the metrics are sent over tor, they aren't really anonymous. How many
times have companies claimed they've anonymized data only to find out it was
trivial to correlate it with something else?

------
NelsonMinar
Note there's ads in lots of other parts of Windows 10 too: the Start menu
tiles, the preloaded programs, and the Notifications area. There are different
ways to turn each of these off. They are multiplying.

Fuck everything about this. My computer is my tool and my work environment.

~~~
LeoPanthera
The lock/login screen too.

~~~
aptwebapps
We've gotten quite attached to the random login screen pictures in our house.
At some point they started adding textual explanations after you clicked so
you could read a little about what you were looking at. I was surprised how
disappointed I was yesterday when instead of the usual explanations it was an
ad for some Adobe product. I'm used to ads in the browser but this was
personal somehow.

------
rebootthesystem
This sucks, of course. Yet all the comments on this thread saying the solution
is to simply switch platforms ignore something very fundamental.

I like to say "Nobody goes to Home Depot to buy a drill bit; what they want to
buy is a hole."

I don't use Windows because I want to use Windows. I use it because there are
things I need to do that can only be done with it.

The "just switch to Linux" reaction is an understandable engineering reaction.
And, frankly, if your world is limited to web development and some forms of
embedded development it might make a ton of sense. Yet, from a business
perspective it makes no sense outside of scenarios that fit Linux well.

For others it isn't that simple. What would the Linux proponents suggest we do
with hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in software not available on
any other platform? Solidworks, Siemens NX, Altium Designer, FEA and other
simulation tools, CAM and other manufacturing tools, an myriad other
applications ranging from business to medicine to engineering that depend on
this platform.

The goal of a business is to deliver goods and services, not to play with
operating systems. The operating system is irrelevant. It's all about the
software that runs on it and the utility it provides to users. As an aside,
this, I believe, is exactly where Apple has gone wrong. By insisting on having
totalitarian control over everything on their platforms they have effectively
limited the utility of their devices. At the same time, this is what makes
them so good for a certain range of utilization scenarios.

We use Windows because it is the only way to buy a hole. We could not care
less what OS is under the hood. All we care about is the hole we need to
drill.

And, frankly, Microsoft has been making a better product with time. I've been
using MS products since DOS on the original IBM PC (I bought one when they
came out for $3,200). Save missteps here and there, MS software has always
improved with time. What they need is our feedback in order to make it even
better. The criticism is fair, of course.

~~~
pdkl95
> an understandable engineering reaction

The point about switching to an alternative isn't an engineering reaction,
it's a _political_ suggestion that is based on sending the right message. When
MS does something you find objectionable, the way to signal that you strongly
disagree in a capitalist system is to vote with your wallet. Continuing to use
Window only sends the message that the recent changes are acceptable.

> For others it isn't that simple.

I'm sure it isn't, but that was one of the risks in building a business that
depends critically on a product you have zero control over. MS has a very long
history of doing things their own way, and usually in their own interest.

> What would the Linux proponents suggest we do with hundreds of thousands of
> dollars invested in software not available on any other platform?

Accept that you _may_ have made hundreds of thousands of dollars in bad
investments? You invested in tools that depends fundamentally on a risky
platform. Investing in new tools and/or rebuilding your business to not
depends on tools that are risky or unavailable will probably be time consuming
and expensive. Do you want to start paying those costs now? Or do you want to
continue using Windows, encourage MS to abuse their product even more, and
generally throw more time and money at your current situation? I suggest
paying for past mistakes _now_ , because problems tend to get more expensive
when you ignore them.

\--

Note that none of the above comments mentioned Linux. I do recommend moving to
a Free (as in speech) platform, but the point about switching is to _leave
MS_. Often there _isn 't_ any alternative; fortunately Linux/BSD and a lot of
really good _does_ exist, so you have _an_ alternative, even if it isn't
perfect.

~~~
H4CK3RM4N
Free as in speech is the only point where Windows is still _ok_ , it's free as
in beer and free as in freedom where it falls down.

~~~
pdkl95
Windows is not Free Software, and this entire discussion is about Microsoft's
decisions that ignore the wishes of the actual owner of the computer.

Microsoft is forcing changes onto other people's property. If this was a
physical product you bought, the manufacturer forcing changes onto _your
property_ would be considered _vandalism_. Of course, apologists will try to
shift the blame to the victim - the users lacking technical training - by
pointing to dark patterns in the setup or "EULA".

Microsoft isn't the worst offender re: platform freedom, but calling windows
"free" ignores decades of bad behavior, the current moves to lock down Windows
while adding spyware and other miss-features, and the simple fact that
proprietary software outside your control is by definition "not free".

------
funkyy
Funny that Satya Nadella is praised on HN for his business sense and
revolutionary thinking, yet when something like this happens, no one seems to
remember about him. He is a CEO, it's his signature that allows this. Think
about all Windows 10 spying, stupid updates policy etc. next time you praise
him.

~~~
Arizhel
I don't understand your problem: the Windows 10 spying, "stupid" updates
policy, etc., are all good examples of Nadella's excellent business sense and
revolutionary thinking. He's finally cast off this obsolete, idiotic thinking
about not pissing off your customers, and realizes that Windows users aren't
going to switch to another OS no matter what, so it makes perfect business
sense to milk them for every penny they're worth with ads, spying, forced
updates, etc. He's doing an excellent job, though personally I think he could
do even better (though it'll make Windows users even more unhappy, but that's
their problem).

------
aphextron
I'm so divided on Microsoft these days. On the one hand they are doing all the
right things in terms of supporting FOSS and making Windows into a truly great
OS. But then they pull stuff like this and you remember it's Microsoft.

I think this is just the price we are going to pay for "evergreen" operating
systems. As a consumer, you now only buy Windows once. Microsoft has to make
up for these lost sales so it makes sense. I don't agree with it, but having
to toggle off advertising is not going to keep me from using what I consider
to be the best operating system for my needs.

~~~
ParkerK
>On the one hand they are doing all the right things in terms of supporting
FOSS

Could always end up as Embrace, extend, extinguish v2.0 - but here's hoping
they get it right this time

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend_and_extinguish](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend_and_extinguish)

~~~
7952
The best embrace and extend strategy would be to include lots of FOSS software
pre-installed, and have an app store with more open source options. Windows
could then be sold as a "batteries included" premium product. The average
consumer would have no idea that the software was initially developed by
someone else, and why would they even care. It would show a clear advantage
over IOs and Android. And it is what a lot of customers actually want.

------
AsyncAwait
I again see a lot of outdated comments about Linux here. Not saying there
aren't problems, but as somebody who uses macOS every day, it's nothing I
haven't experienced on other OSes as well. Give it a shot yourself and make up
your own mind.

If you're thinking about switching, I'd recommend you looking past stock
Ubuntu, it is no longer the premiere distro in the community, instead
consider:

First off, pick supported hardware - you'll do that for Windows and macOS as
well. Use known hardware, like Intel, use DELL XPS or system76, it will save
you a lot of frustration.

Ubuntu MATE - [https://ubuntu-mate.org](https://ubuntu-mate.org) \- If you
need the Ubuntu ecosystem, UM offers a more polished experience, if not as
much eye candy.

Arch Linux - [https://www.archlinux.org](https://www.archlinux.org) \- Before
you skip this, no it's not unstable, at all, I clock one of my systems at 3+
years without an issue, the rolling release is great and the AUR makes any
software just a command away. No fuss, just works.

The ArchWiki is the best resource on all things Linux, it' great.

Fedora - [https://getfedora.org](https://getfedora.org) \- If you want stock
GNOME.

KDE - [https://neon.kde.org](https://neon.kde.org) \- If you want upstream
KDE.

------
askvictor
'Sync provider notifications' sounds like a useful API for cloud file services
such as Dropbox or Drive to be able to communicate with the user. If that's
what is actually for, and some other part of ms thought it might be a good
place to push OneDrive, it will probably have the unfortunate effect of people
turning off an otherwise useful part of windows.

------
alistproducer2
Serious question: does MS sell a version of Window 10 outright that doesn't
include all of the snooping? I've been a Windows user my whole life but I will
NEVER use an OS that collects data on the OS level.

~~~
LeoPanthera
The LTSB edition is supposed to be this version, except it still includes the
ads for OneDrive, so who knows what they're doing.

~~~
criddell
Consumers can't buy that edition though.

~~~
LeoPanthera
Right. For consumers, there is no version of Windows 10 where telemetry can be
switched off.

I use the "Shutup10" tool to disable everything can be disabled, but I don't
use Windows 10 as my everyday OS.

------
owebmaster
> how to turn them off

If you feel the urge to turn it off, switch to GNU/Linux. Turn annoying things
off is not a solution, it is an excuse.

~~~
alkonaut
I think many people would find at least as many annoyances in Linux within the
first hours of use. Things like multi display with different dpi isn't great
in windows but the story in Linux is worse.

I think the difference is in what people find annoying. I find technical
issues such as driver support, font rendering or dpi scaling 10x more annoying
than an occasional ad or a fear of snooping.

It's more an individual choice of what kind of annoyance you prefer. If there
was an OS with great ivory tower polish and great attitude towards integrity
and openness I'd be interested. Right now you just have to choose one or the
other.

------
ksk
With everyone salivating at shoving ads in peoples faces at every opportunity,
not doing so is probably 'leaving money on the table' for MS. It sucks that
digital advertising is a moneymaker. IMHO it would be beneficial for the tech
world if Google/FB become unprofitable.

------
mankash666
To be honest, I don't mind a plug or two about relevant Microsoft products
within the OS. However, tracking usage and serving customized ads at the OS
layer is unpleasant. So, I'm OK with how things are. I'm not disabling
anything and giving MS the benefit of doubt that they won't turn my OS into an
advertising and tracking channel

------
cadecairos
I ditched File Explorer for Directory Opus a while back, no regrets,
especially now that there are ads baked in.

~~~
moogly
Same. I haven't even opened Explorer for several years.

------
lutusp
There's an opportunity here for a young, ambitious programmer -- create a
PowerShell script that automatically goes through the Windows registry,
creating/resetting options to disable all advertising (Start menu, File
Explorer, OneDrive, Edge's annoying gripes when you launch a competing
browser, and others). I suggest this because as time passes the manual
approach to disabling the many sources of Windows advertising is becoming
somewhat baroque. Such a script would be a great public service.

I won't personally benefit -- I've run Linux exclusively for almost 20 years
-- but when I visit Windows in connection with my work, I feel compassion for
those who put up with it. I think, "Wait ... people _pay_ to be abused this
way?"

~~~
jlgaddis
You can easily find an overwhelming number of projects similar to what you
describe on Github and across the web.

The problem is that Microsoft is constantly adding and/or changing the
options, settings, registry keys, etc., and they don't exactly publish a
nicely compiled, authoritative list of all of them.

The folks writing these scripts (or even just documenting the settings) are
working by trial and error, reverse engineering, and so on, to find the
relevant knobs to tweak and switches to flip to get rid of these "features".

If they do manage to get lucky and come up with a working solution, it's out-
of-date as soon as the next update drops.

Like you, this advertising isn't a problem for me. I was introduced to Linux
in 1995 and it's been my primary operating system (along with a few OS X
"phases") since then. I have friends and family, however, who can't switch
(for various reasons), and so it still annoys me to no end that Microsoft does
this kind of stuff.

~~~
Arizhel
It doesn't annoy me, it makes me laugh. As for friends and family, I've
already switched two of them to Mint/KDE and they're both quite happy with it
as it suits their limited needs extremely well (web browsing, simple document
editing, watching DVDs) and is extremely reliable.

------
unholiness
In browsers, ad blockers are being used more and more commonly for even non-
technical folks.

In native apps mobile apps, there are some okay ad-blocking solutions.

But when the ads are baked into the operating system itself... I have a hard
time seeing Microsoft or Apple losing the ad blocking battle.

So, instead of getting ads somewhat sandboxed inside a browser, in the future
we may be getting ads inside the start menu, inside spotlight, on the
toolbar... and instead of semi-directly funding content providers, the ad
space will only ever be funneling money to the these same huge companies to
spend as they see fit. Bleeech.

~~~
omginternets
>I have a hard time seeing Microsoft or Apple losing the ad blocking battle

At the risk of hijacking your comment, what's the present situation with
regards to running Linux on Apple hardware?

I quite like my Macbook and am generally tolerant of MacOS (mostly because
it's POSIX-y enough to feel familiar), but would definitely consider
installing a Linux distro depending on how well it worked.

~~~
H4CK3RM4N
Your only real issue would be with Broadcom drivers(they aren't too bad
though). I tried Fedora a while ago and everything worked from my first boot
up(including keyboard backlights). Honestly, I'm not too worried about Apple
and privacy/advertising for now, after they made photos.app do image
processing on decide, and the lack of current iOS exploits in Vault 7.

------
motyar
Switch to Linux. Its easier than you think.

or Switch to Mac if you can.

------
ap46
All the more necessitates the need to create a light-weight VM on top of which
7 + macOS can run. With better hardware we could abstract the hardware
underneath the OS for legacy apps & switch to *nix at a click/shortcut.

------
stevebmark
Feeling better every day about ignoring upgrade from 7 > 10 constant spam.

------
smcl
Is this on Pro as well? I was tempted to get a dedicated windows laptop but if
even Windows 10 Pro contains this nonsense then I may have to reconsider.

Also - I know an OS is different from a webpage, but slamming a company for
having "shitty" ads when you've got some obnoxious full-screen ads of your own
is pretty funny: [http://imgur.com/a/3eJ4H](http://imgur.com/a/3eJ4H)

------
xkxx
It was my first thought and after I checked the comments it seems like a
general consensus of HN that the best way to turn them off is to switch to
some other OS.

~~~
AnthonyMouse
The problem is that Microsoft doesn't really want you to turn them off, and is
now on rolling releases, so there is no longer a one-time fix. You can turn it
off now but next week they'll be back because they changed something and the
old setting is no longer effective. The only permanent fix is to switch to a
different OS.

------
bubblethink
Is it possible to run Windows Server on desktop/laptop in order to avoid all
the windows 10 nonsense (cortana, telemetry, ads etc.) ?

~~~
jlgaddis
It should be.

It's been several years ago and I don't keep up-to-date on Windows server tech
anymore but, at the time, I knew many people (devs, mostly) who chose to run
Windows Server 2008 on their desktop instead of Windows 7.

It was quite easy to do because 7 & 2008 shared so much of the underlying
code. I'm not sure if the same is still true (e.g., with 10 and 2012/2016).

------
good_vibes
I guess have to stay with Mac and make it a Linux machine. Glad I saw this, I
had a ZenBook in my Amazon 'save for later' cart.

~~~
DoofusOfDeath
You may have done yourself a favor.

I have a Zenbook Pro UX501VW, and getting Linux to run well on it has been
unusually challenging. Although as time goes on and newer Linux kernels and
nVidia drivers come along, a fresh install should get easier.

~~~
good_vibes
Wow, thanks. Already had a rough year with Apple. My MBP is about a year old
and Apple already had to give me a new display and logic board for it!

I wanted to ditch my iPhone and Macbook this year. I still may after I do some
more research on an encrypted Linux setup.

~~~
DoofusOfDeath
You're welcome. Just to be clear: The ZenBook Pro UX510VW _is_ a nice Linux
laptop, once properly configured. If you're okay with a investing several
hours of setup, it could well be one of your better options.

Here's a quick rundown of the issues I remember encountering, in case it
matters. (I was setting it up a few months ago, so I would have been trying to
install Ubuntu 16.10 and Mint 18.1.)

(1) I can't remember all the details, but I was unable to install either
Ubuntu 16.10 or Linux Mint 18.1 using the traditional BIOS-based installer. I
had to use a UEFI-based one instead. (Which wasn't a big deal, but I had no
past experience with UEFI, so I had to read up on it first.)

(2) The trackpad jumped around a lot. I found an easy solution at [1]. IIRC, I
had the problem initially with the 4.4 kernel that came with the Linux distros
mentioned above. The problem might be fixed on its own with more recent
kernels.

(3) The laptop has both nVidia and (built-in) Intel graphics chips. The
ability to switch between them is pretty seamless, except for the need to log
out and back in again in order to go back and forth. However, this only worked
well for me when using nVidia's proprietary driver, which in turn prevented me
from (easily) using very recent Linux kernels (4.10+). Supposedly there are
other ways to get this working (Bumblebee, et al), but making that work
required more effort than I wanted to invest.

(4) The laptop has two connectors for external monitors: a USB-C, and HDMI. My
monitor accepts DVI and HDMI. IIRC, I tried three ways of connecting the
laptop to my monitor (a Dell U2412M):

    
    
       (a) HDMI --> HDMI
       
       (b) HDMI --> (adapter) --> DVI
    
       (c) USB-C --> (adapter) --> HDMI
    

Of those three, only (c) worked. Regarding (a) and (b), I can only guess as to
where the blame lies.

(5) The laptop has a high-DPI display, which many Linux apps have trouble with
[2]. Those problem aren't peculiar to this laptop, but mention the issue
because a lower-DPI laptop display wouldn't have this trouble. For one app I
use (Intel VTune, which uses Gtk2), the only really workable solution was is
to use an external monitor when using that app.

Another consequence of the high-DPI display is that the virtual terminals
(e.g., the terminal you get when you hit Ctrl-Alt-F1 ) have _really_ small
text. Which can make it a real hassle when you have to fix graphics-driver
problems, etc. There may be an easy fix for this; I haven't checked.

(6) When I'm fiddling with graphics drivers, sometimes the laptop's fan runs
loud and stays on until the next time I reboot. When I've got the graphics
drivers working right, this problem doesn't occur.

[1] [https://github.com/vlasenko/hid-asus-
dkms.git](https://github.com/vlasenko/hid-asus-dkms.git)

[2] [http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/linux-hidpi-support-for-
gnome-k...](http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/linux-hidpi-support-for-gnome-kde-
xfce-cinnamon-and-firefox/)

------
alephu5
When I get a new computer with Windows preinstalled, the first thing I do is
split the hard disk and put a nice Linux distro on. On the odd occasion I need
to use Windows it's really no big deal having to navigate the ocean of bloat
and whatever else. I don't even mind being tracked on these disparate
occasions.

------
jaxn
This is very disheartening.

As a direct result, I am spending some time tonight researching running Linux
on my Suface Book.

I have been impressed with what seems like a new Microsoft. I even made the
switch from OSX to a Surface Book as my primary laptop. I used OSX for a
decade and ran Linux as my primary OS before that.

~~~
bubblethink
>As a direct result, I am spending some time tonight researching running Linux
on my Suface Book.

Probably not the best hardware to run Linux on. There's an entire subreddit
comprised of woes of people trying this
[https://www.reddit.com/r/SurfaceLinux/](https://www.reddit.com/r/SurfaceLinux/)
. Try something very new like Fedora 25/upcoming 26 or the upcoming Ubuntu
17.04.

~~~
exergy
I don't exactly have the surface book, I have the surface pro 3, but I'm able
to dual boot with Xubuntu and Mint without too much trouble. Of course, it
wouldn't be Linux if wifi wasn't tricky to set up, but touch works, Bluetooth
works, the detachable keyboard also works.

------
PleaseHelpMe
When some articles bashing Edge or some other Windows features appear on
Hackernews, there is always someone in the comment stating "I work for
Microsoft". "Microsoft employee here"... then protect the product. I am dying
to see one that protects this.

------
mherrmann
If you're fed up with Explorer, you might also look into alternative file
managers. I'm developing one: [https://fman.io](https://fman.io)

~~~
lessclue
Nice, but it'd be better if the homepage mentioned that its not a free
product. Also, it's unclear how long the evaluation version lasts.

------
youdontknowtho
I actually like windows 10, but this is really lame.

* yes, I'm being pedantic, but the ad for one drive is in the file explorer, not the file system. Its doesn't appear in the command line.

~~~
Arizhel
You're right of course, but to most users, File Explorer is the normal window
into the filesystem so to them the two terms are interchangeable in a
colloquial sense.

------
besselheim
Doesn't seem that big a deal, it's an upsell for Microsoft's own file
synchronization services, not some third party ad. And you can easily disable
it.

~~~
Klathmon
It's amazing how much this story has blown up, along with the "Google home has
ads" story.

In both cases they seem almost insane how many people are up in arms about
this. It's them pushing a service of theirs in their os.

Apple does it, Google does it, Ubuntu does it, everyone does it. And it's such
a non issue. They are promoting a service that is very tied in to the OS that
a lot of people want and don't know exist.

Maybe I'm the weird one, but it just seems like a hit piece when so many
websites started reporting on this so hard and it's not even a big deal to
me...

~~~
cyberpunk
You think it's not a big deal that you pay microsoft $119 for an OS and
they're injecting ads into the local file browser?

How are those being targetted?

Ads on sites and apps -- yeah okay. We got to pay the rent for the content
we're viewing..

Ads baked into the OS, especially one you'be paid for, is disturbing.. For me
anyway..

I've not used windows in a long time, but I'm kind of dissapointed in the way
they've been going. They appeared to be going in a good direction with the new
guy after balmer -- for a while I thought they'd buy github.. More OSS, some
cool tech -- but they've been slowly getting into the data business and when
that happens by degrees it's hard for people to be outraged enough to call
them on it.

Don't stand for this shit. Even if we don't, though, it won't make much of a
difference since we're the minority who can even understand what's
happening...

~~~
Klathmon
I guess I just don't think of it as an ad.

Just like how Apple pushes their cloud storage, Google pushes drive, even Foss
software pushes or bumps other complementary packages.

They are being "targeted" because you are already running the software, so if
it's saving your shit to a paid account, just hide it, if it's not then show
it. No tracking or nefarious stuff needed.

If they were really truly​ putting ads in explorer, I'd be right there with
everyone shouting about how bad it is, but this isn't doing that, it's telling
you they offer cloud storage.

~~~
cyberpunk
Yeah, I'll admit I didn't read the article before commenting..

It's a popup slinging integrated cloud storage? Mef. I'm with ya. Who cares.

~~~
Klathmon
And I don't blame you for reacting how you did from the headlines.

They are all worded like MS is putting banner ads for "hot singles in your
area" in your OS... And this story has been covered by every single major tech
news site the same way... It's odd.

~~~
cyberpunk
Maybe the problem is in that that we wouldn't be that suprised if they did,
eh?

It's coming, eventually.

~~~
mobiplayer
Can I borrow your crystal ball?

------
eveningcoffee
This is not acceptable

------
randiantech
The very same info was published just a couple of days ago.

------
ForFreedom
But then would they be reading any content on the computer itself if the
adverts are targeted?

------
AdeptusAquinas
Some irony in finding it hard to read the article through all its ad popups on
the mobile version

------
Pica_soO
A funny game of whack the registry and group policy. Best of all its free.

------
taf2
Sucks to be a windows user

------
shmerl
Switch to Linux. Problem solved ;)

------
asadlionpk
Everyone panicking should know that macOS has this too.

~~~
tempodox
This is plainly wrong. You are disseminating misinformation.

~~~
asadlionpk
It gives me an annoying 'disk is full' message every day even when I have
plenty of it left. And clicking it opens up Storage Management utility which
simply upsells me iCloud upgrade as the top 'Recommendation'.

------
Sir_Cmpwn
No, we're talking about an OS shipping with _ads_ (that you can turn off) and
an OS shipping with a theme that some people don't like (that you can change).
One of these is a gross breach of trust on the part of the OS. You know the
difference, cut the crap.

~~~
dang
> _You know the difference, cut the crap._

This kind of incivility isn't allowed here, regardless of how strongly you
feel or how wrong the other person is. Same with "Don't be an ass" elsewhere
in the thread. Your comments would have been fine with such bits edited out.
Please do that in the future.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

We detached this comment from
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13905313](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13905313)
and marked it off-topic.

------
amaks
Interesting. Chromebooks are cheaper and ChromeOS doesn't shove ads to users'
faces. Who's scroogled now?

~~~
brians
Of course not. It tracks your behavior, and adds the ads later. Why is that
better, exactly?

~~~
amaks
Which is so much better, at least to me, to see targeted ads instead of some
generic crap subscription for $7.99/mo.

------
perfectstorm
Not sure why this is a big deal. you can turn it off.

HBO subscribers are shown ads (for other HBO shows) at the beginning of the
play. I believe that happens with Amazon Prime Videos as well.

Google shows ads for Chrome browser when you google from a different browser.

how is this any different ?

~~~
jolux
Because you pay Microsoft to use Windows, and you pay them a lot. With HBO
streaming you can always skip past those ads, and I've never seen them on
Prime videos (if you could again you can skip past them). With Google, they're
giving you the service for free, so ads are expected.

If I'm going to shell out $120 for a Windows license, I don't want to see
goddamn ads built into the fucking operating system.

~~~
perfectstorm
Google started playing ads on their $129 Google Home just the other day
([http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/3/16/14948696/go...](http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/3/16/14948696/google-
home-assistant-advertising-beauty-and-the-beast)).

Apple shows ads to older iPhone users ([https://9to5mac.com/2015/12/11/apple-
advertising-iphone-6s-t...](https://9to5mac.com/2015/12/11/apple-advertising-
iphone-6s-to-older-iphone-owners-through-app-store-popups/)).

how is this any different ? Actually Windows can at least be turned off.

~~~
jolux
Google is a goddamn ad company, I expect that kind of bullshit from them.

Does that Apple ad come up more than once? If it does, yeah that's pretty
annoying and disappointing too.

