Microsoft .. the poster child for Linux migration
Privacy
A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.
Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.
Some Rules
- Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn't great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
- Don't promote proprietary software
- Try to keep things on topic
- If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
- Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
- Be nice :)
Related communities
much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)
It is so bad now, with all the ads and background services sucking up your RAM. I don't think you can even use Windows 11 properly with 8GB of RAM.
I know for a fact you can run Windows 11 on 8GB of RAM. I just helped a friend install some software on his 8GB laptop. Now, did I spend five hours uninstalling so many things and snipping Windows down to size? Maybe. But it ran
Dude I was playing Grounded (the original not the second) last week and my computer was so hot it was insane. I used to play that on my 6 year old laptop with no issues 3 year old gaming desktop shouldn't struggle. In fact about a year ago it didn't struggle. At all. Windows is just garbage.
I bailed as soon as they introduced recall.
Haven't used it Sense and it's amazing how much freedom and no bloat you have and never realized it.
how to disable telemetry in windows 11
Install Linux
I'm gonna piggyback off of this to remind everyone to install OpenSnitch and go through the iinitial and super-tedious approve/deny outgoing connections.
there's stuff on linux that, despite being perfectly offline capable and having turned off everything related to clown sync and remote check this and that, still phones home.
I mean most things are just timeserver checks or poking GitHub/flathub/repo servers. Not something you can fully prevent if you value seamless functionality. Fedora has an opt out telemetry ping just to see how many people are using each version, but it comes part of when you run an update and ping their servers for that anyways. If you want it all removed and still have good functionality I really recommend secureblue
Windows deleted all my files that weren't even in one drive this week when one drive had a melt down and killed itself. I stared in disbelief, thanked the heavens I just backed all that shit up recently, laughed, and installed Linux. Didn't even bother to see if I could recover anything. I've been meaning to switch for a long time and just haven't. Windows made it pretty fucking easy.
Linux Mint is surprisingly good. I have a Windows 11 system with RAID, there is no way I can mess around and try to install Linux on it. It would for sure mess up all of my storage.
Just spyware doing spyware things here.
pulls out typewriter
Popped a windows 11 laptop behind a firewall for toubleshooting, it logs all traffic that leaves that subnet.
Instantly flooded my logs with all kinds of bullshit.
ITT: a lot of people trying really hard to justify their use cases for Windows.
Mine is simple: I'm used to it and my favorite games I play only run on linux with specific modifications that I have no time to figure out on a system I am unfamiliar with.
Time is the constraint. As a teen I would have simply taken the time to figure it all out.
Now as a family dad with very limited time I simply need something that works for me instantly out of the box with functionality that is at least familiar. Not just for the OS but any software on it.
I have location services turned off in windows on my work computer and MS word really dislikes it. Whenever I do a side by side window with word included I get a notification (from word) that I should enable my location services in settings
Insanity that word should even think to need location services. Wtf Microsoft, clippy would never.
Always trying to peek on you.
turn off the 'notify when apps request location' setting at the bottom of settings->privacy->location
I had prepared everything to migrate to Linux, cause of this video I finally did so. Installed Bazzite. It went incredible smooth!
One of us!
ONE OF US!
Boy, the good ole days are gone when it comes to Windows.
No such thing ever existed. All of this has been a work in progress for the last 30 years.
The "good old" Windows XP didn't send data to Microsoft every 30 seconds. But not because it was a good operating system or because Microsoft was a nice company.
It was the case only due to lack of resources and infrastructure. That's why every new Windows release featured gradually more spyware. Microsoft was slowly but steadily progressing towards its original goal. That goal never changed.
Some people are severely misinterpreting inability to spy en masse with unwillingness to do so. Microsoft was never unwilling. Not even for a minute.
PSA, for people sticking to Windows:
You can get a reasonable level of privacy by installing Windows Enterprise via RUFUS, which also has options for removing restrictions during installation. Massgravel is used to activate your copy of Windows, the Github also having .ISOs for you to use with RUFUS.
ShutUp10 is a piece of software that goes a step further, allowing you to toggle off many bad things, uninstall Microsoft's AI, and gives a description of what you are tweaking does. The premium version also automatically applies your settings at all times, reverting Microsoft's constant tweaking of your settings.
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I recently attempted my 2nd migration to Linux through ZorinOS, but that didn't work out. There are still issues with reliability and user friendliness. As a power casual, there were too many jagged edges to let me feel good about daily driving Linux. Hopefully, SteamOS will change that within three or four years. Linux will someday be our solution to the Microsoft problem, but that year hasn't yet arrived.
There are still issues with reliability and user friendliness. As a power casual, there were too many jagged edges to let me feel good about daily driving Linux.
Something is very wrong with Zorin then.
Reliability and user friendliness are why I use linux. I work from home, I can't afford to have a computer not be reliable. Its why I use linux, it works, it doesnt change unless I do. As for user friendliness, windows is extremely hostile to decent work flows. It is user unfriendly.
Linux will someday be our solution to the Microsoft problem, but that year hasn’t yet arrived.
It arrived for me about 20 years ago. Your statement is ridiculous today.
For Windows 10 and 11 this is just scratching the surface and is next to useless for all the stuff they leave behind.
Use ShutUpWindows10++ (yes it work on 11 too) and THAT will get the vast majority of the stuff that this video doesn't even touch on.
Please post a correct URL for shutup10++, as I googled it and found github/O-O-ShutUp10 which is most likely a scam.
Does https://codeberg.org/fossarchive/Win11Debloat do the same?
There is zero reason to use Windows now. Linux has gotten so good that even a noob can install distros like Ubuntu and Mint. I have Linux running as my main on an old Zephyrus laptop after it arbitrarily installed W11 without my permission or prompting. Windows is spyware and gets isolated in my network.
You're delusional (saying this as a long time tech support for various new Linux users)
zero for you perhaps, but I unfortunately need Adobe InDesign and Illustrator (and Photoshop but that has more alternatives), or similar software that has the many professional features I use
also need my games and mods to run on Linux... currently ProtonDB says my Steam library is 51% platinum and gold, and then I haven't even addressed older or online games
There is zero reason to use Windows now.
Apparently accessability tools are still lacking for people with vision impairments compared to windows, especially on Wayland.
I'd recommend putting more time into switching to Linux instead of pirating Enterprise versions of Windows and then installing and configuring a bunch of third-party software that is supposed to stop Microsoft from doing all the Microsoft things we don't like. That seems like it's a lot of work and effort too, plus they are actively hostile towards users instead of just "not ready".
a while ago, i watched a youtube video that opened wireshark on brand new installs of ubuntu and windows with no other apps open
comparing a paid operating system and a free operating system that has been said to have privacy issues
guess which one sent 500 packets in under 2 minutes
Remember, support FOSS and not E-corps
Just switch. The whole industry built around Windows is a sham and refusing to switch is the reason it's as bad as it is. It's capitalism 101... Prices keep going up and y'all keep buying. It's no different in this case.
I only use Win11 as a remote game server to play games with Moonlight/Sunshine without worrying about compatibility issues. To work and daily usage, it's Linux all the way.
Just a matter of time until I transition 100% to Linux though. In the meantime I run WinUtil every once in a while to make sure to disable most of that shit.
