this post was submitted on 10 Jul 2026
212 points (95.3% liked)
Linux
14281 readers
296 users here now
A community for everything relating to the GNU/Linux operating system (except the memes!)
Also, check out:
Original icon base courtesy of lewing@isc.tamu.edu and The GIMP
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I had a student who had that, I think. It's like parental controls for adults. She couldn't use any of the software we recommend because it wasn't in the windows store.
Guessing it was in S mode - https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/experience/platform-variants/switching-out-of-s-mode-in-windows
I'm guessing the s stands for shit? otherwise they would say security, probably afraid of making the claim it's actually secure
it's intentionally completely vague so users don't know what they're getting when they buy it.
's mode' limits all application installs to store apps, which microsoft gets their standard fees for.. plus all the sweet user data and tracking that comes along for the ride.
turning 's mode' off (i.e. reverting to a standard install of windows) by 'normal' means requires installing a tool from the 'store' that requires a microsoft account to get, which then gets linked to your install and your pc.. so they get your info one way or the other.