Windows 10 Users Seeing Full-Screen Ads As Screen Savers

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For those of you that don't know, you can turn this "feature" off. Right click on the desktop, select lock screen and turn off the "get fun facts, tips, tricks and more on your lock screen" button.


Just because you don’t have to lay out money for software, that doesn’t necessarily make it “free.” In the last few days, users of Windows 10 have noticed full-screen ads on their lock screen if they happen to be using “Windows Spotlight” to put pretty pictures there. Fortunately, you can banish the ads from your screen, without even having to pay.
 
The screen saver part is new, but I remember getting annoyed at seeing suggested apps from the store early on. I found that option to turn it off pretty quickly. I hate that it's on by default.
 
I don't have that switch, but I don't have the ads either. [shrug]
 
The question is how many times will you have to "turn the option off" after MS changes it back to default before MS decides it's in "your best interest" if it was always on and can never be turned off?
 
I wish M$ didnt make windows 10 free in exchange for ads and product placement. I would have gladly paid for it if it didnt include spying crap and popups. No i dont want apps from your crappy store or link my xbox account that i dont even use anymore.
 
zero2dash said:
I don't have that switch, but I don't have the ads either. [shrug]
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I think background option this was added to the November update, but it should be there for all versions of 10 (Home, Pro and Enterprise) 1511 and later. The Home version defaults to Windows Spotlight, Pro and to Picture. There's also a slideshow option that will display a slideshow of images in a given directory.
 
nvgrim said:
I wish M$ didnt make windows 10 free in exchange for ads and product placement. I would have gladly paid for it if it didnt include spying crap and popups. No i dont want apps from your crappy store or link my xbox account that i dont even use anymore.
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The thing is that the few who would pay does really make up for the fact that Microsoft's licensing model particularly the consumer space isn't sustainable. The overwhelming consumers just don't buy OSes or OS upgrades these days. Even on the consumer OEM side many copies of Windows are totally free to them now on cheaper and smaller screen devices.
 
I love the fact that those who hate Microsoft the most here are also totally unaware that Microsoft keeps making billions in profits anyways. :D I guess most of it may be motivated by jealousy?

nvgrim said:
I wish M$ didnt make windows 10 free in exchange for ads and product placement. I would have gladly paid for it if it didnt include spying crap and popups. No i dont want apps from your crappy store or link my xbox account that i dont even use anymore.
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Good thing they did not do that then so you can go right living without worry now. :D Strange, I do not see ads, popups or spying on my computer.

Locks screen are not screen savers Steve.
 
My lock screen is disabled so not seeing these, but this is indefensible. Core OS and features should never show ads. I can see apps doing this but not the base features in the OS - free or paid.

Windows! We know how to make it better and better! :wtf:

Don't know, this version of Windows is starting to feel very much like a baby born from a brother and sister. Could still be cute at birth but is also messed up.
 
ManofGod said:
I love the fact that those who hate Microsoft the most here are also totally unaware that Microsoft keeps making billions in profits anyways. :D I guess most of it may be motivated by jealousy?



Good thing they did not do that then so you can go right living without worry now. :D Strange, I do not see ads, popups or spying on my computer.

Locks screen are not screen savers Steve.
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The start menu by default is full of bs like the store,news, etc. You have to remove all that crap to make it look like a normal start menu. There is telemetry spying in windows 10, this is a known thing and there is even a tool (destroy windows spying) that removes all that crap. Cortana? that thing is useless. If they could have just made it a better windows 7 without all the added crap it woulld be so much better. I have it on my laptop and i never use my laptop anymore, my desktop is still win 7 and thats never going to change unless i have to.
 
nvgrim said:
I wish M$ didnt make windows 10 free in exchange for ads and product placement. I would have gladly paid for it if it didnt include spying crap and popups. No i dont want apps from your crappy store or link my xbox account that i dont even use anymore.
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Could not have said it better myself.
 
nvgrim said:
Cortana? that thing is useless.
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So useless, Apple is now going to bring Siri to OS X: With Siri coming to OS X, Apple is finally making the Mac exciting again. I find Cortana for more useful that useless. There are a lot of common things that she can do easily and well, open programs, set reminders and times, web search, text messaging, email, package tracking, etc. It's extensible and can be used in apps. It's the kind of thing that classic desktop users may not like, but many average people can find a lot of convenience in it if they know what it can.
 
Have to admit I've stopped using my Windows 10 equipped laptop. Windows is just getting too heavy on the maintenance. Tiresome. Switched over to the Dell 13 Chromebook. Does most of what I need without ANY hassle or nasty surprises. Updates happen in seconds etc. etc. It's not till you use a device like that you realise what a total mess Windows has become.
 
It's a good thing it's free seeing as I'd be damn scared about future sales if I was management. But they are running over customer confidence and satisfaction with a bulldozer.
 
I haven't see it yet, but I've heard of others seeing it. Not cool. Ads on an OS are not cool. This is NOT the way to monetize Windows. The Windows with Bing or whatever, maybe. But, not the full fledged consumer release.

ManofGod said:
I love the fact that those who hate Microsoft the most here are also totally unaware that Microsoft keeps making billions in profits anyways. :D I guess most of it may be motivated by jealousy?
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Yea, jealousy. If you don't like something, you're just jealous. Are you out of high school yet, Miss? Seriously, they are fully aware MSFT is making billions in profits and I'm sure most of it is not due to jealousy. They seem to be pissing off a lot of people lately, even those of use that are constantly praising them. They've made some recent changes to the MVP program for consumer faced products, and it's angered a lot that work closely with Microsoft. They really are not treating the consumer side of Windows very well at all... Jealousy? Far from it. I love Windows, and seeing them cause so much frustration for the end users is irritating. A lot of consumers have an connection to Windows and when that is challenged, of course there is some anger.
 
nvgrim said:
I wish M$ didnt make windows 10 free in exchange for ads and product placement. I would have gladly paid for it if it didnt include spying crap and popup
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Except it's only free as an upgrade, and even then only temporarily (in theory). Does a new $200 Pro license come without ads and data mining?
 
SpongeBob said:
It's a good thing it's free seeing as I'd be damn scared about future sales if I was management. But they are running over customer confidence and satisfaction with a bulldozer.
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But that's just it. Future sales to consumers were on the decline no matter what. Consumers don't buy operating systems, not directly anymore. Even OEMs are paying less and less for Windows as Microsoft had to compete with cheaper devices that also didn't have an OS cost to the OEM.
 
ManofGod said:
I love the fact that those who hate Microsoft the most here are also totally unaware that Microsoft keeps making billions in profits anyways. :D I guess most of it may be motivated by jealousy?
Click to expand...

The kind of brilliant retort one might expect from a twelve year old.

The reality is people that actually "hate" a company probably aren't using their products. The reality is MS continues to alienate longtime Windows customers with their desperation to break into mobile and data collection / advertising, removing more and more choice with every new marketing iteration of Windows. And it's not that they aren't right to try breaking into mobile, but they're going about it completely hamfisted and it's turning people off.
 
This only applies if you have it set to basically show random images from Microsoft - and now people are getting bitchy about which images are shown? Also these images are not like traditional ads, they just show a picture that still fills it's purpose by being easy on the eyes, with maybe a single unobtrusive small line of text that a user can click on. If this bugs people, just change the setting. What is the big deal?
 
GotNoRice said:
What is the big deal?
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It's not. The average person wouldn't even care. There's three options for the lock screen, four if you count being able to disable the lock screen via Group Policy and the option to not display the ads and other info. Honestly, I don't mind seeing this kind of stuff because just knowing what's out there as far as apps is useful. I've found stuff I used either through ads or blogs highlighting new apps. If there weren't options to control it then that's something to angry about for those that would care.

And at the end of the day, all of this "spying" or "adware" debate is about the inability to turn off all the telemetry with one setting. That's all this is.
 
heatlesssun said:
It's not. The average person wouldn't even care. There's three options for the lock screen, four if you count being able to disable the lock screen via Group Policy and the option to not display the ads and other info. Honestly, I don't mind seeing this kind of stuff because just knowing what's out there as far as apps is useful. I've found stuff I used either through ads or blogs highlighting new apps. If there weren't options to control it then that's something to angry about for those that would care.

And at the end of the day, all of this "spying" or "adware" debate is about the inability to turn off all the telemetry with one setting. That's all this is.
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Sorry I do not want to see adverts when I turn on my PC... get enough of them inside of MS products as it is now...
 
Windows 10.1

owmyballs.jpg


People don't want ads in their base OS. Text ads or otherwise. Go into Windows Store, and they are expected. It's a store front. In the OS itself? No. Not by default.

Windows 10 is not "free". It's available for free for a limited time to current users of 7+. This is the paid version of Windows, just during a promo period. Offer a free version (no previous version required) and ads can be there. Similar to Kindle & Kindle with Special Offers. You KNOW you're getting ads there.
 
YeuEmMaiMai said:
Sorry I do not want to see adverts when I turn on my PC... get enough of them inside of MS products as it is now...
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And for people that really care about this it can be turned off. This is the default for the Home version. But I do have this turned on several of my Windows 10 machines as well as the show suggested apps in Start on all. The way some people go one about these things its like there's this constant barrage of ads and pops constantly and I've seen nothing like this. On a dozen different machines from Enterprise to Home, small tablets to 2 and 3 screen desktops.
 
Ur_Mom said:
People don't want ads in their base OS. Text ads or otherwise. Go into Windows Store, and they are expected. It's a store front. In the OS itself? No. Not by default.
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If they were as invasive as the image you linked of course. This is something most people wouldn't even notice.
 
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The current state of Windows and it's data logging and advertisements are a DIRECT reflection on our society where people think it's OK to push crap onto peoples' machines and monitor everything they do. we have moved away from an honest business model to one based upon nickeling and diming everyone to death aka revenue streams...
 
heatlesssun said:
So useless, Apple is now going to bring Siri to OS X: With Siri coming to OS X, Apple is finally making the Mac exciting again. I find Cortana for more useful that useless. There are a lot of common things that she can do easily and well, open programs, set reminders and times, web search, text messaging, email, package tracking, etc. It's extensible and can be used in apps. It's the kind of thing that classic desktop users may not like, but many average people can find a lot of convenience in it if they know what it can.
Click to expand...
yep its useless just as siri is or hey google. These wannabe AI technologies that they put on phones are stupid and clunky. You probably shave a few seconds off your time by having it do stuff for you and thats if it gets your voice input correct. I will not be impressed with any of that tech until its a true AI which wont happen for a very long time if ever. All siri and cotana are just a glorified version of microsoft sam/bonzi buddy.
 
This article is pretty stupid. The whole picture looks like exactly what you would expect to see if you're letting Windows Spotlight select your lock screen image. The "full-screen ad" is actually a tiny little text box you have to click on to see the ad. It's about as unobtrusive as you can get, especially in an age where you regularly see full-screen ads make pages unusable on a phone, or video ads that auto-play with sound. I would be willing to bet that most of the people using Windows Spotlight didn't even notice there was an ad on their lock screen, but surely you can channel all this rage you people have over a text box to those far more obtrusive methods I know you see every single day on the web.
 
oh, now post are censored/removed here?

Nice one H.
 
nvgrim said:
yep its useless just as siri is or hey google. These wannabe AI technologies that they put on phones are stupid and clunky. You probably shave a few seconds off your time by having it do stuff for you and thats if it gets your voice input correct. I will not be impressed with any of that tech until its a true AI which wont happen for a very long time if ever. All siri and cotana are just a glorified version of microsoft sam/bonzi buddy.
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Don't forget to add Google Now to that list of glorified bonze buddies.
 
heatlesssun said:
And for people that really care about this it can be turned off. This is the default for the Home version. But I do have this turned on several of my Windows 10 machines as well as the show suggested apps in Start on all. The way some people go one about these things its like there's this constant barrage of ads and pops constantly and I've seen nothing like this. On a dozen different machines from Enterprise to Home, small tablets to 2 and 3 screen desktops.
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one should NEVER have to go through that kind of step

you, sir, are part of the problem... thinking it's OK for MS to do whatever they want...
 
heatlesssun said:
If they were as invasive as the image you linked of course. This is something most people wouldn't even notice.
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What is the point of an ad if people won't notice it? ;)

Some people want a nice, slim, functioning OS without all that stuff. People even used classic themes to make things simple. Adding more and more, trying to monetize it in any way possible, is becoming annoying. The way they are going, with the ads, telemetry, etc., it diminishes my trust in Microsoft. This "telemetry" they are collecting - when are they going to sell that to third parties to further monetize that data?

Noticed or not, most consumers don't want it. It's being forced via updates. Don't want it? You have to downgrade. This is a huge issue for Windows 10 and it's constant updates. They can update and add anything they want.

I just see it as losing trust with consumers. People are talking about it, and aside from a small minority, they aren't very supporting of it.
 
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