![[H]ard|Forum](/styles/hardforum/xenforo/logo_dark.png){kind=logo}
How to Disable Advertising in Windows 10 File Explorer
- Thread starter Zarathustra[H]
- Start date
heatlesssun
Extremely [H]
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2005
- Messages
- 44,154
I've never said that what Microsoft is doing here is the perfect solution. But the idea that hundreds of millions of devices can just be deployed with NO IDEA of how they are running? That simply doesn't work today. I would love an option where people could opt of telemetry and not receive any benefit from telemetry. That's the best of everything except then well, another conspiracy. It's beyond irresponsible in this age to deploy software on a global scale and say "privacy", can't be monitored because of.
But the user wants to opt out.
heatlesssun
Extremely [H]
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2005
- Messages
- 44,154
Fine, opt out of all it, including any bug fixes and improvements derived from those that opted in. Which obviously isn't possible.
Why is that?
heatlesssun
Extremely [H]
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2005
- Messages
- 44,154
Simple. Why benefit from something one thinks is evil and wrong?
Why not? The user desires a secure system, and the company has a moral obligation to provide it since that's what they're selling. IMO the user is not obligated to send crash reports in without being consulted. They may contain sensitive information that is none of Microsoft's business in handling.
heatlesssun
Extremely [H]
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2005
- Messages
- 44,154
I was proposing a hypothetical scenario. No one writes code that's widely deployed and deals with all of the problems from human interfacing these days. That's stupid and dangerous.
"This program shit while filing your taxes. Would you like to send the mostly filled out PDF across the internet into a bug bucket?" [yes] [No]
or
{shhh. we just sent it to the cloud for funzies.}
heatlesssun
Extremely [H]
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2005
- Messages
- 44,154
Let's say the program didn't shit while filing taxes. Let's say the developer is cut off from all telemetry. Let's say you tax information was comprised anyway. It happens. It will happen. Somewhere along the line, you HAVE to monitor the result of code to maintain security these days. You can wait and sit for it to happen or you can be more proactive. Desktop Linux folks today have some protection from obscurity. If they get what they may or not want, I really have no idea if desktop Linux folks really want more users by their attitude, but with more use comes more surface area for attack.
This is simply a far more complex issue than gets discussed. The idea that you deploy something like Windows and that it's inherently more secure by the vendor ignoring what's going on with it is insane. Like in this day and age, "We'll make Windows more secure, by always waiting for manual feedback of problems." That's just nonsense.
and I just have to disagree. I think there are enough users, like yourself, that would happily click "Send Crash Report" to get the issue identified, and yet the user is given the choice to not if they don't feel like it. In your line of absolutes, then they can also deal with consistent crashing if that's what they chose.
We're probably at another one of those "agree to disagree" moments, so I'll take my leave unless you have an intriguing rebuttal.
heatlesssun
Extremely [H]
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2005
- Messages
- 44,154
It's far from an absolute. I don't want ANYONE to feel like they are being spied upon. I simply think that in the realm of all risk that it's not nearly as big of an issue that's been promoted by Windows 10 haters. There are TONS of risk in using a connected device no matter the OS and there's just no way in hell no automated telemetry period is a good thing today.
Not really. The idea that there'd be a billion plus Linux devices out there and that all of them had NO telemetry what so ever, right. Just wait for manual feedback for each and every issue. Sure. That's what I mean about over hyping stuff. At some point you have to automate things to gain efficiency. That's kind a big reason why we use computers in the first place. I don't agree with everything Microsoft does but I also don't see who ZERO automate telemetry for something like Windows is a great thing. It's not absolutes, it's many shades of gray.
I think that's why so many people in place like this fantasize about Amiga's and other totally obsolete tech. Far less complex and connected than what we have today. A day when you could handle all of the issues manually. When there weren't millions of programs and hardware configurations to deal with.
Pretty cool ha! Took less time to download and implement a zero telemetry Win 10 OS then to bitch about it LOL.
Lol. Like a bug fix has ever been released thanks to those bug reports. I still get crashes and offers to send in the crash reports on 10 year old microsoft software.
Did you personally audit what this third party software does?
Disabling "Show sync provider notifications" was the only way to make it stop. The banner would appear every day, the first time File Explorer was opened after startup or waking up from sleep. I never opened the OneDrive application or created an account. My laptop is signed in with a Microsoft account, but my desktop is not and both were getting the advertisements. After I started getting them, I installed Office365 ProPlus with a custom configuration.xml that would not install the extra programs and uninstall OneDrive the proper way. I disabled the advertising ID and telemetry services after I started getting ads (previously was set to Basic). However, I did have Google Drive installed on both computers to sync my documents, so I might have been selected for targeted advertisements from Microsoft's anti-competitive marketing department.
I always sent crash reports in Windows 7. The problem is when the telemetry is set to Basic, it's doing more than crash reports, so people are going to disable it.
This is the one of your more obtuse posts. lol
There are legit ways for software companies to fix bugs without sending themselves telemetry. One is atually hiring testers. The people MS has been liquidating. A even better option is to run a robust b ug reporting system... lots of people avoid reporting bugs to MS due to the terrible process involved in doing so, and that they often require telemetry info to be uploaded.
Even better yet if you want proper bug reporting, open source the stupid OS. Googles Android project does a much better job of solving bugs, at far lower cost. MS model is outdated. Even they are saying they don't expect to make another version of windows. Perhaps its time to open source the OS and make money on services. Its the more profitable model.
I know now you will post with them, MS can't open source windows bla bla. Of course they could, they could even keep selling it. https://source.android.com/source/life-of-a-bug.html Googles Android project is a model in how to do it right. Of course I doubt MS could really open source their OS and expect the same level of support Google enjoys from other companies.
Last edited:
heatlesssun
Extremely [H]
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2005
- Messages
- 44,154
Internal testing isn't the same thing as real time performance data, and that kind of data does have value. Look, I'm not saying that there shouldn't be options to turn this off but at the same time it's not a bad thing for a developer to have real time metrics on a piece of software as complex and widely deployed as Microsoft.
It's not an either or situation, it's not all about spying.
I don't disagree sending some data to a developer can make it easier for a developer to fix some issues. MS main issue is they have went so far and been so vague in what is being sent that no one trusts them anymore. Meaning they get less meaningful data as people either shut tings off if they have the option... or worse for MS find ways to disable it, possibly breaking things in other ways.
The advantage they would have open sourcing their OS... is that many major bugs would be caught sooner before the software was ever in end users hands. Most major bugs in something like Android and even to a lesser extend it OS X get caught by developers early, and as those developers have a good idea how things work they can properly report the issue and suggest a proper fix, or a least point the companies engineers in the right direction. MS is at a major disadvantage in that regard.
MS has decided they want to end new OS development and switch to a Rolling style windows release from here out. The issue is all the other Rolling style OSs have open sourced cores and the amount of work provided by outside developers tracking down bugs and correcting obtuse core operation is exponentially better (and cheaper to manage). I know I have said lots of crazy sounding things about MS adopting the Linux kernel for windows and other things that make people laugh on the face of it... really though I don't see how MS expects to fully switch to a full on rolling release version of windows and keep pace with Google and Apple... they are getting a lot more work done on their core systems at far lower cost. MS can't keep up with that. They will either fall further and further behind tech wise, or people will get sick of them releasing buggy updates all the time.
How to get me to upgrade to Windows 10 in 3 Easy steps.
1) Put back full administrator control in Pro Versions.
2) Keep Win 10 home just like it is.
3) Make Win 10 Pro a Paid for copy without all the advertising/spying bullshit. I happily paid for Windows 3.11 - Windows 7 and i would happily pay again to not have crap I don't want in the system. (I don't mind the usual performance metrics and stuff that has been in every single version of Windows since 95).
People who want a free OS, get a free OS. People who want control over the OS and their domain pay for those exact features.
1) Put back full administrator control in Pro Versions.
2) Keep Win 10 home just like it is.
3) Make Win 10 Pro a Paid for copy without all the advertising/spying bullshit. I happily paid for Windows 3.11 - Windows 7 and i would happily pay again to not have crap I don't want in the system. (I don't mind the usual performance metrics and stuff that has been in every single version of Windows since 95).
People who want a free OS, get a free OS. People who want control over the OS and their domain pay for those exact features.
Vermillion
Supreme [H]ardness
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2007
- Messages
- 4,415
You can also add Solus to that list. Great little distro. https://solus-project.com/
7 weeks and my house goes 100% Windows free. The wife is the last holdout due to grad school but only 7 weeks left on her internshipt. After that she doesn't need or want the spontaneous update reboots anymore and I certainly don't need her asking me about the new ads that are popping up. I don't game anymore so I don't need Windows period. Even if i did though I sure as shit wouldn't be using Windows 10.
Telemetry has it's place. The problem is the way MS has handled it is completely bullshit yet people give them a pass and keep right on letting MS get away with it.
I have zero problems being part of telemetry as long as I can see and control the data. All we have right now is "this is what we collect. trust us." Yeah, MS doesn't have the track record to be trusted.
I simply want an on/off switch or an easy way to actually view the data that is being sent. That's all MS has ever needed to do and all this issue goes away. Instead they just keep adding more ads or removing features while ignoring the glaring issues.
Cool. I am not very current on their project. Last I remember they where a debian based spin using gnome. Seems like they have moved on to supporting their own core rolling distro with their own desktop. It looks a lot like a tweaked version of gnome. Smaller distro but does seem solid. I'll have to download an image and test it out. Thanks.
zero2dash
Supreme [H]ardness
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2007
- Messages
- 6,100
[Ding ding ding] Oh what's this? My bullshit meter is going off!
It's open source. You can scrub through the code and find the telemetry if you want.
Go right ahead.
Show me a websearch of a Linux distro outrage when telemetry was found out about (and wasn't reverted). The last (and only time, IIRC) that I've seen that happen, is when Ubuntu, plain ol Ubuntu (not MATE, not Kubuntu, not Xubuntu, not any of the other 'official flavors') added Amazon hits to Unity's search box, and enabled it by default. People went apeshit. Now, it's disabled by default. It's opt in. I'm glad it's now opt in, but I wouldn't mind so much if I search for something and it hits Amazon's servers, because the fact remains, the rest of Ubuntu (even then, if opted in to), doesn't go anywhere outside of my local box; not to Amazon, not to Canonical, not to Redmond, not to anywhere.
So please - show me. Give me another example where Linux devices have telemetry, forced telemetry, not opt-out-able telemetry. Go ahead and bring up Android, which can be used without a Google account.
Just when I thought it was safe...just when I thought, maybe, just maybe...you pull out that little nugget right there. Your colors are showing again.
I've been a Microsoft apologist going back to the ME days, but no way on God's green Earth would I pull out some of the nuggets that you do.
Last edited:
I've got a death grip on Win7 for my main system. I rolled NVME and USB3 drivers into the install image, and it's running great on my Skylake system. Through a recent comedy of errors I ended up with parts to build 2 1366 systems, so I put Kububtu on one and added my old GTX 770. I've been playing Pillars of Eternity on Kubuntu and it runs flawlessly. It was a pain in the ass installing it, though. After downloading the install files from GOG I had to download scripts, open a terminal and build the Debian packages (4 of them). After 15 minutes of that, I had to install each of the 4 packages via command line. 30 minutes after downloading the install files I was able to run the game, once I found the shortcut in the KDE menu. With Kubuntu running the game I'm currently playing, I have little need of my Windows system.
Do Linux developers not grasp the concept of a goddamn exe file? Download, click, run. Some people swear by the command line. Fine, knock yourself out. Linux can only be a viable desktop OS until the user has to open a terminal. Once that's required, 99+% of users are finished with it. Overclocking sucks. Want to monitor temperatures? Good luck. Want to test stability? Prime95 via command line. Want to network and share files between Linux and Windows? You get better odds in Vegas. Linux has come a LONG way since I first tinkered with Red Hat in 2000. It's still not ready for primetime. I'm going to keep at it, though, because I do not accept the malware built into Win10, and 7 & 8.1 won't last forever.
Do Linux developers not grasp the concept of a goddamn exe file? Download, click, run. Some people swear by the command line. Fine, knock yourself out. Linux can only be a viable desktop OS until the user has to open a terminal. Once that's required, 99+% of users are finished with it. Overclocking sucks. Want to monitor temperatures? Good luck. Want to test stability? Prime95 via command line. Want to network and share files between Linux and Windows? You get better odds in Vegas. Linux has come a LONG way since I first tinkered with Red Hat in 2000. It's still not ready for primetime. I'm going to keep at it, though, because I do not accept the malware built into Win10, and 7 & 8.1 won't last forever.
zero2dash
Supreme [H]ardness
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2007
- Messages
- 6,100
That's what a .deb file is for. Double click, authenticate, app installs. Supported by Ubuntu and every compatible flavor thereof, because it's a Debian file.
Incorrect. See above.
Coincidentally, most distros have a software center (or similar) where you can click to install apps, all from a GUI.
Ubuntu MATE has arguably the best one, not only based on simplicity, but because it opens on 1st boot, by default. IOW, "you can't miss it". Very simple.
You don't even have to open a browser to go to a site to find a .deb file.
StoleMyOwnCar
2[H]4U
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2013
- Messages
- 2,997
As far as Windows versions, personally, I'm just using Windows 8.1 (or whatever the lastest revision is, I don't really keep track). With the classic start menu, I generally don't have any issues with Win 8 at all, and it's pretty stable at this point, much stable than Windows 7 actually. I don't know if I'll ever upgrade to Windows 10, though. I don't see many (if any) compelling reasons to get spied on and have ads sold to me in my freaking file explorer as a daily routine. Microsoft's whole business strategy is simply unacceptable to me at this ponit.
Yep, much like early days Vista, early Windows 8 was obviously a train wreck. But by 8.1 it was actually decent so long as you installed a Start Menu replacement.
And compared to Windows 10 with all of its gotchas, it turns out 8.1 is currently the best version of WIndows you can run: the best of Windows 7 (UI) and the best of 10 (kernel improvements from 8/8.1) without all the baggage of 10 (telemetry/user tracking, forced updates resetting everything, cortana, advertisements baked into the OS core, and not-even-good-enough-for-phones app store shovelware).
Last edited:
So I went home and checked again, and my son's system has the advert, so we all disabled the sync thingy. I still didn't have the advert, but no sense in waiting. I'm wanting more and more to get that copy of platinum...lol
westrock2000
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Jun 3, 2005
- Messages
- 9,433
The alternative is what Apple does and most of the people on here bitch about that even more. Apple just asks YOU the consumer to pay the profit up front. I'm ok with that. At least it's honest.
.exe files are a terrible solution that allows morons to bone their systems. (I am half joking)
Most every distro has an app center. Most Linux gaming is done through steam which is all one click install. Outside of steam sure gaming is harder to support as different core distros have different ways of dealing with clean package installs. It is an area the Linux community of distros is working on... support for the concept isn't 100% as some really do believe what I just stated about the idea of .exe files.
I agree though a universal install package needs to be adopted for widespread adoption of linux in general. Most users yes do want to just download programs and install... there are a few standards in development. I think the key will be having those downloads tie into existing distro app stores properly for uninstall and clean updating ect. The moment apt updates and the like don't update everything on a system I think a big advantage for Linux dies. In Manjaro my favorite distro their GUI package manager has tabs for Manjaro packages and AUR (arch) packages making it easy to update both or either. I know manjaros developers are planning to add tabs for some of the downloaded package formates in the work, other distros are planning the same. So that is one area we should see improve, hopefully the majority settle on one package container. It will make it much easier for a lot of developers as well, especially commercial developers that aren't making it easy for open source people to incorporate their work into distro package databases.
Some sites do sell windows versions of games in compressed packages and the like. You may have less of an issue with that due to familiarity but its still not as user friendly as a app store like steam even in windows. Never mind downloading patches or dlc, windows gaming isn't always clean either.
Not every distro requires a ton of command line usage.... unless your looking to perform power user functions. In which case get used to the command line and understand how your machine works.
I know most people have gotten used to not seeing command lines since MS got rid of them. Say what you will about the MS-DOS days... at least most people that used those machines had at least a bit of an understanding of how their systems where setup and functioned.
Last edited:
Am I missing the point here? I disable all of these 'tracking features' with every new Windows install, and then immediately remove everything that MS lets me 'right-click -> uninstall' and I haven't seen anything going out from my network that was out of the ordinary. Unless W10 Enterprise (which comes with may more start menu bullshit) from MSDN is immune?
BulletDust
Supreme [H]ardness
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2016
- Messages
- 6,057
.exe files are a terrible solution that allows morons to bone their systems. (I am half joking)
Most every distro has an app center. Most Linux gaming is done through steam which is all one click install. Outside of steam sure gaming is harder to support as different core distros have different ways of dealing with clean package installs. It is an area the Linux community of distros is working on... support for the concept isn't 100% as some really do believe what I just stated about the idea of .exe files.
I agree though a universal install package needs to be adopted for widespread adoption of linux in general. Most users yes do want to just download programs and install... there are a few standards in development. I think the key will be having those downloads tie into existing distro app stores properly for uninstall and clean updating ect. The moment apt updates and the like don't update everything on a system I think a big advantage for Linux dies. In Manjaro my favorite distro their GUI package manager has tabs for Manjaro packages and AUR (arch) packages making it easy to update both or either. I know manjaros developers are planning to add tabs for some of the downloaded package formates in the work, other distros are planning the same. So that is one area we should see improve, hopefully the majority settle on one package container. It will make it much easier for a lot of developers as well, especially commercial developers that aren't making it easy for open source people to incorporate their work into distro package databases.
Some sites do sell windows versions of games in compressed packages and the like. You may have less of an issue with that due to familiarity but its still not as user friendly as a app store like steam even in windows. Never mind downloading patches or dlc, windows gaming isn't always clean either.
Not every distro requires a ton of command line usage.... unless your looking to perform power user functions. In which case get used to the command line and understand how your machine works.
.exe is not the problem, the issue is the ease that some obscure .msi package can be downloaded from some corner of the internet and installed on a Windows machine. The meatbag running the machine is a definite issue, however, signed repositories under Linux do offer a measurable improvement in security as opposed to random files downloaded from some link on some site.
In relation to package managers under Linux, .deb and .rpm are the main two package managers and are no harder to use than .msi installers. Every software package I've ever downloaded as a .deb installer has also provided the option to download and install the .rpm equivalent, the minuscule fragmentation is not an issue in my experience.
I've added a number of PPA's to my Linux install and I've never once encountered a dependency issue. It's something we were discussing in the Linux forum no so long ago and the general consensus was that if you avoid PPA's that update OS components and avoid PPA's titled "BOBS BEST LEETZ SOFTWRZ!!!" you should be fine. Updating video card drivers via PPA is a great way to install GPU drivers and I've never had an issue with the PPA method of installation regarding graphics drivers.
Arch uses Pacman, however it's rare to find software packaged under pacman as most software available for Arch is available under the AUR. IMO Arch is the chosen distro for the diehard FOSS enthusiast, rarely would they download and install proprietary software using a package manager. That may be a bit of an over generalisation in relation to Arch users, but it's the way I see it. Sorry Arch users!
Snap packaging and it's derivatives are a great idea, and I can only see positives in Snap packaging from both a security, ease of packaging and peace of mind perspective - But I dunno, for some reason I prefer .deb or apt installers, I guess it's just what I'm used to after all these years.
No doubt you already know all of these points, just providing another perspective in relation to interesting discussion.
Last edited:
Ya that is fair I was thinking more of the newer stuff like snap packaging when I refer to it not being all that standardized at this point. Yet you are right .deb and rpm really is pretty much the standard linux install right now isn't it.
If you run a debian or redhat based distros I guess .deb and rpm pretty much are Linux .msi packages. I guess I know why I didn't think about it... even though I work with .rpm distros like suse and cent I just rarely if ever go about downloading software outside of the distros main databases, yum / zypper lock it down. I also haven't really use a debian based distro in awhile... installing Mint here and there for friends/fam only half counts.
I have mainly been using Arch and or its derivatives the last year or so on my personal machines I have sort of forgotten about having to use PPA repositories for drivers. Although I have heard that PPA distros have pretty much semi official GPU PPAs these days. Arch and the AUR your not wrong its a world of its own and arch does attract a pretty die hard open source type in general. I love pacman and yaourt but of course they offer a lot most people don't really need... and having to make packages all the time is more time consuming then a lot of other distros update processes. Now that I type that out... I still haven't really given gentoo a run though, perhaps that is next weekends entertainment. lol