I installed Windows 10 in a virtual machine...man, this is straight up dystopian.
I installed Windows 10 in a virtual machine...man, this is straight up dystopian.
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And this is treated as a bad thing?!
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Send only info about your device, its settings and capabilities, and whether it is performing properly.
In other words, even after turning off all the settings, your data still gets collected.
The rest of the installation process wasn't fun either. It was worded in this weird, condescending tone, like "Let's get everything set up for you", and "Let Cortana help you get things done!".
Thank goodness for FLOSS and GNU/Linux.
Yea, it's really shitty.
Enterprise folks don't have this problem because they use the WAIK (or whatever it's called now) to customize the installer.
Anyone can use it, and from what I've read, the Win10 generation of the kit is much easier to use than previous versions (which were pretty bad).
But yea, this stuff is awful.
Checkout things like WinDebloat, Privatezilla, Winaero Tweaker, and LoveWindowsAgain. There's some overlap between them (as they were built for different purposes), but they all pretty much kill telemetry at the service or installed level (as in remove the components providing telemetry).
Yea, it's BS you have to do this. And screw MS for this crap.
One of the many reasons I always run privacy.sexy every time I need to install windows (on both bare metal and inside a VM).
If linux had all these settings on installation everyone would be saying that it's to hard for normies to install
First time?
Piholing the windows telemetry domains helps some. But yeah, you aren’t wrong.
Personally I’m using: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/d43m0nhLInt3r/socialblocklists/master/Windows/windowstelemetryblocklist.txt
But that update date gives me some pause, so someone correct me please.
I love the "Let's finish setting up your device" popup that prevents me from using my VMs regularly.
Like some condescending peddler trying to slam-dunk your agreement as a foregone conclusion.
Come on, buddy, let's do those remaining tasks, let's have Microsoft scan your face, tell Microsoft about your phone, let's go and install those Microsoft apps missing from your phone, and your laptop, too, and then we go buy that Office subscription and have you store your important files on Microsoft's servers and we really need to get around to switching to Microsoft's web browser now.
And the only option you get is "Yes" or "Remind me later."
If you turn it off (and it needs to be turned off in two places), it'll be back on as soon as Microsoft publishes the tiniest update to any of its unwanted services. Harrghrrr! (artery popping noises)
You can use Win10Privacy to bodily castrate nearly all built-in spyware and telemetry.
Downside is that it’s a damn powerful program, with few guardrails, so if you don’t have good knowledge of Windows internals you run a non-trivial risk of accidentally lobotomizing an important feature of your install by enabling the wrong setting. I mean, all settings can be easily reversed, but you gotta know which specific one did the nerfing in order to undo the oopsie.
For example, even the midrange firewall settings are mostly safe, except… a single one of them completely kills Microsoft Office Click-To-Run. It won’t install, and it won’t launch even if you installed it before you applied Win10Privacy. So if Microsoft Office is an essential (Access or Excel absolutely needed, for example), be careful.
I still don't get why people keep defending it. Win+e doesn't even open to a panel that lets me open the c drive without clicking other shit and waiting for it to appear first. An update also just put the search bar back on the task bar when I explicitly disabled it as soon as I got through the bad default options for days during the install. It also added copilot. Auto update is also supposed to be disabled.
While I'm at it fuck every dev that uses libraries/framework/etc that is known to not work in wine. There are thousands of better ways to be a shitty dev.
Oh and that seems to be ltsc or an older win 10 build too! If you want the creeps get a normal win 11 home iso and try it out with a burner account... You might be surprised what they got in charge for you. (A lot of ads and tracking with up selling, tho I don't know how much Home edition costs, pro costs like 130€ or so and has the same crap built in but the ability to make an offline account(they still ask you to "upgrade" to online))
This is why if I ever have to get win10 on a VM on my laptop, I am absolutely not updating, ever. Not even gonna give that VM Internet access. Anything I'd need it for, I can passthrough a thumb drive with the files I need. I would hope to God they don't have a way to hoover up data without internet connection and with no macrohard account connected.
As soon as you start running a pihole on your home network it makes really stop and think and want to eradicate all unnecessary data tracking. Windows was so chatty. Science only knows how much of a consumer profile they create and sell on you for just wanting to use a computer.
Additionally... Smart TV's are the absolute worst too.
Yes I was doing similar a few weeks ago. I was investigating how to get netflix app running on linux, tried a Windows VM, basically stopped at roughly this screen due to bile reaching my mouth.
Ended up installing Zen kernel, switching to KDE(Wayland) and using Waydroid. Far easier than having to read those words or figure out what you actually have to do. I'd assume you have to regularly regedit often to keep this shit under control.
On the wierd condescending tone I also noticed a few years ago at work (compulsory MS) the MS programs started being very rude and overstepping the boundaries of informality: "Want to save this file?" "Fuck you excel, you can't talk to me like that. You think I'd ever be friendly with someone who so wantonly fucks up my data types?"
They must think stockholm syndrome has spread to most of the user base.
The year is 2050
Booting up Windows84
Hello, your NSA overseer is Mr. X
It appears that you have committed 147 thought crimes this week....your accounts shall be ghosted for the time being.
I had a need for one piece of corporate windows program once. Installed Windows AME , only way to really get rid of all crap. All the debloating software and scripts get easily reversed by windows otherwise.
@TheImpressiveX I have W11 cracked in VBox
@TheImpressiveX i found looking glass recently and will definetly try it out, but as I understand this kvm method needs a second GPU for passthrough to Linux.
Every time I have to install Windows, even in VMs I install Atlas with it, getting rid of all bloat and unnecessary shit. But even with that it's a horrible experience compared to what KDE and Gnome deliver.
If you have any basic computer skills it's really not an issue. You can turn off pretty much anything. I can't remember the last time I saw an ad within Windows tbh.
This is just fearmongering at its worst. It's like me saying Linux is only for IT companies running servers because it's unusable for a normal person as the UI is janky and it's all code based.
All of this exists on Macs too, doesn't it?