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I can’t believe a paid OS needs a tool like this. Here’s a GUI tool called OFGB (Oh Frick Go Back) to remove all the ads in Windows 11. It’s understandable if a free OS or app needs ad support, but this is just crazy github.com/xM4ddy/OFGB
[Screenshot Of a GUI Tool To Removes Ads From Various Places Around Windows 11]
Conditioning everyone to see their computers as media consumption kiosks instead of the powerful, productive machines they are. That’s where MS OSes are headed. They tried too early with Windows 8 Metro, but they haven’t lost sight of that concept.
“My TV shows ads so it’s only natural my computer does too.” - I bet a lot of people already think like this.
Pretty soon it’ll want to use your idle cpu net and disk for undisclosed purposes as part of the EULA.
The Telemetry collection service does a good job of that already, especially on laptops where it wakes them from sleep, and eats through the battery while idle in a backpack. I’ve been stung by this many times since Windows 8 - I now unplug then hibernate my last remaining Windows laptop, work-issued.
Also moved as much personal gear as possible over to various Linux distros a while ago, except my PC where some games cannot detect my sim peripherals & freetrack emulation under WINE
Ick
Makes me wonder how long till video game load screens are sold as ad space.
Thanks for putting this idea forward to the industry.
Oh, please, do you really think they didn’t have this idea already?
you ever play a mobile game on an android phone?
“loading” screens
Artificial delay periods that are used to show ads, yeah
Slightly better than artificial delay periods used to discourage behaviors to save costs.
Mr. Zuckerberg, if you think I’m referring to reporting spam messages on Facebook desktop, you’re correct.
Honestly, who really uses Facebook (except for boomers)?
Work :(
Damn
NBA 2K has had ads in it for a while, though I can’t remember if they’re specifically in the loading screen or not.
EA games have done it already, since early 2000s. Practically any EA BIG game has in-game ads for real brands, all over the overworld billboards
Delete this comment
I want to make a script for Linux that adds ads everywhere. It would be tricky with Wayland but not impossible. It could start by installing browser extensions.
There is a special place in hell for you lol.
If they were fake ads like in GTA and Cyberpunk, it could be fun, provided you could turn them on and off anytime.
they used to call this malware
“It’s okay when we do it.”
If its pre-installed, its typically called “Bloatware”.
And I remember having bloatware on my machine going back to the 90s. The first really high quality gaming computer I got was a Sony Vaio and it had tons of bullshit excess software I had to mop out of it before I was ready to really use it.
Is it actually malicious, though? Ads by themselves aren’t malicious.
Adware then, which is generally unacceptable in a large full featured paid product.
Settings ads? I had no idea it got THIS bad.
When it’s against the law to not maximize profit for shareholders we get into some really disgusting territory when you can’t innovate anymore and need to squeeze every dime out of everything.
What the hell is microsuck going to do in another 10 years? Infinite growth is more of a fantasy than working Communism yet we swear it will work somehow…
I have never seen an ad. I’ve not put any effort into debloat. It’s this all just bs?
Edit: Plenty of down votes for asking a question. Great community guys.
Perhaps you just have a different view on what is or is not an ad. For example when I see a link in the start menu for an app that I did not install, I consider that to be an ad. The most common time this happens is for Office. (Or Microsoft 365 or whatever it is called now.) Also, when I see a ‘suggestion’ to sign into a Microsoft account to use OneDrive - I consider that an ad. Microsoft aren’t telling me about OneDrive to improve my life. They are telling me to improve their profits. And when I type something in the start menu to launch an app, any result that comes up that is not something I put on my computer is an ad. It often will suggest particular websites for example.
These are the kinds of thing that we’re talking about. I’m sure if you’re using Windows on a home computer you will have seen these things. (I assume you’re talking about ads in Windows. It would be quite something else if you’d never seen any ad anywhere.)
This is my start menu in Windows 11, so I’m also curious about all the hubbub. I will admit I had to get rid of a load of unwanted links when I first got the computer but I’ve never seen adverts beyond that and that it suggests Microsoft Edge in certain contexts.
You in EU?
Yes!
I have win11 on my gaming pc and i don’t see any ads. Maybe because i use local account.
the more you use the native implementations of stuff, the more you see it. if you for example, dont use edge, dont use the native task bar/start bar, dont use the microsoft store, dont use any of the built in AI tools, then AD visibily would be minimal.
A good chuck of the Ad problems is usually fixed by using 3rd party software, be it completely switching OS, or using non native software.
its like trying to use old internet explorer and complaining about ads, when 3rd party alternatives exist, and of the subset who complains, a chunk refuse to get off IE, and look for ways to mod IE instead of just going 3rd party from the get go.
I mean not using the native taskbar is a bit further than fixing stuff by using third party software. The taskbar is an integral part of the OS. If you’re switching it out then you’re making significant, deep rooted changes to the OS.
its less rewriting the entire task bar, but overriding the functionalities of the start button (in which most of the Ads are displayed in)
It’s kind of embarrassing to see so many linux nerds talk about ads in Windows 11, like navigating the settings menu is difficult.
I use linux and Windows. I haven’t seen an ad in windows since i installed and disabled them.
1: you shouldn’t have to
2: you have to go to like 6 different places to get most of them and there are still ads for microsoft products baked into the settings menu
It’s embarrassing to see people actively defending the wealthiest corporation in the world baking ads directly into your operating system.
It isn’t hard but it is tedious because each of the ad settings is in a different location. Like taskbar has its settings which aren’t configured in the Settings app where you can turn off the ads. Settings has places in search and another in privacy. Look at the OP image. It’s 9 different settings that need to be found and turned off.
9 settings all easily accessible via the search bar in settings.
Idk im not seeing the absolutely gigantic issue that anti-windows people make it out to be - at worst, it’s a minor nuisance.
Look, I agree, but let’s not kid ourselves on our experience not being shitty too 🤣. We’re capable of using it only because we’re really good at computers, but there are literally millions of people who don’t even know or care about knowing how to change desktop background
there are literally millions of people who don’t even know or care about knowing how to change desktop background
I’ll cede “know”, but I heavily dispute “care”.
Plenty of Boomers are painfully aware of how awful the internet has become over the last decade. Hell, they got to experience it before the rest of us precisely because folks who never knew how to migrate off AOL or Yahoo got enshitified first.
My own mom hates using the computer in no small part because she takes too much of what she sees at face value and ends up with tons of spyware, bloat, and scams rampaging across her laptop. I have to clean it out for her every few months, and I’m constantly fighting with her over what’s actually garbage and what she’s convinced she needs.
But the end result is that she just… won’t check her email because she hates it. She won’t answer her phone because she’s afraid of scam callers. She won’t trust ANY website, so she doesn’t use Amazon or Uber or Netflix.
It isn’t that people like my mom don’t care. They care immensely, because modern technology has become unusable for people like her.
Y’all I fucking hate windows but running linux went fine until I had to do some video editing for classwork. Premiere pro, which I had a student license for, obviously out. I go looking for FOSS alternatives because hey i’m sure there’s a good linux video editor. I think I ended up settling on Kdenlive. I tried installing it from the ubuntu app store and that version was missing features. I tried installing it with apt-get and then proceeded to spend the next 5 hours trying to fix a missing dependancy that seemed to have just vanished off the face of fhe earth. I’m sure there are workarounds but “able to look through the error logs of the apt-get and track down the problem” apparently wasn’t tech-savvy enough to have a video editor, one of the most important types of professional software IMO. (also i spent so much money on games cause proton doesn’t play nice with piracy very often). I think lonux is perfect for thw really basic user or for the hyper advanced superuser types, but when you’re in the middle it can be a real bitch to work with.
DaVinci provides Linux binaries
Blender is low key the best video editor on Linux for future reference
Ooh, I didn’t know you could edit videos in Blender. I’ve been looking to learn how to do editing and Blender’s already a little familiar. Thanks!
Blender does fucking everything lol, insane how much is packed into that amazing piece of FOSS
About the piracy part - try using Heroic or Lutris. Lutris has worked for me every single time without fail, but I did need to take some effort into understanding how wine/proton works on the surface level. Try using GE (glorious eggroll) versions of proton/wine too.
While I agree with you that video editing under Linux is seriously lacking, I think that your conclusion
lonux is perfect for thw really basic user or for the hyper advanced superuser types
is not justified. There are not that many people who need to use a video editor.
The problem is it’s not just video editing, like I would daily Linux if fusion 360 ran natively on Linux, if steam VR wasn’t broken, if Adobe apps were made for Linux, and if the slicer I use for 3d printing wasn’t such a pain to get running on nix. As things sit now I use Linux for my laptops but for my main desktop I feel pretty stuck with Windows for now, I dual boot but 90% of the time it’s in windows.
Again, none of the things you listed are that commonly used. Most of the PC users don’t do 3D modeling or VR.
Those are both very popular things as of the last 5 years, but basically the point is that everyone has hobbies and quite a bit are PC focused and require software that is not made for Linux and it kinda sucks that devs aren’t making Linux builds of their software because it stands in the way of daily driving Linux on our main PCs
Skill issue + Ubuntu kinda sucks these days
If you need something in a pinch to substitute a tool you memorized, skill issue is a valid excuse to reject Linux.
or maybe you should try to push yourself harder out of your adobe comfort zone and make some fucking lemonade, and btw do yourself a favor and switch to something else that doesn’t have snaps built-in, something like Fedora or linux mint
i use windows 11 without that tool and i never get ads like that
clickbait posts are awful
I mean Windows is a free OS. You can freely download and install it without paying and receive nothing but a watermark in exchange.
It’s become more and more like Android over the years where “you are the product” so this is unsurprising.
most people pay for it when they buy their computer.
Sure but you can also download and install it entirely for free.
Just because they aren’t as punitive anymore doesn’t mean its free.
I mean, for all intents and purposes, it is.
