this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2024
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I'm so confused by the ads thing. I don't think I've noticed any since upgrading to Win 11. Are they only on certain editions or something?
That’s what confuses me. There are absolutely ads, it’s just fake installed apps. But amount of ads are exactly the same as windows 10. They’re in all the same places, same types (mostly the start menu). Shit you could say 10 has more since that awful edge desktop widget doesn’t exist by default on 11 as far as I’m aware.
Do people just have such deeply debloated windows 10 installs that they’ve forgotten what windows 10 is actually like? Maybe it’s because it’s been 1.5 years without a major update that reinstalls all the garbage automatically?
My start menu is a glorious thing with zero ads. No programs are listen in those shite block tile things. Removed them all and shrank the start menu to be the same size and feel as ptevious windows versions. In fact, I never even use the start menu for anything anymore but typing CMD.
They killed it for me the day it started searching the web instead of the system. I just navigate to the install folders like I always have years and run programs with the actual exe.
Man I’m programmed to just ctrl+r and type cmd lol
Windows key is 1 less button I need to press
Got me there!
Web search can be disabled with a few registry keys.
Not using it is easier
I think the key is I simply never interact with the OS outside of opening the search bar or PowerToys Run to type in the program I want to open, clicking on desktop shortcuts, or going into Control Panel. All the places they try to sneak ads in I literally just don't use because there are other, faster ways to get there.
https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-remove-most-annoying-ads-from-windows
check out how many settings you have to search and disable to turn off MOST of the ads in windows. It's completely ridiculous.
lol
they keep moving that shit around, too. seems like i'm always finding some new crevice they've hidden some setting they don't want you to know about.
What? I was expecting registry edits from your description. Actually hidden shit. Those examples are all right where you should expect those settings to be.
That really isn't that many settings, and while it would be nice to have a collected "ads" settings page, those are all located sanely. You just need to pay a modicum of attention to where the ads are on your system, then go to the associated settings page.
Do people in general just not ever go through the settings when they first get something new? I feel like that's the equivalent of buying some flat packed Ikea furniture and complaining about how shit it is after you throw away the instructions and can't figure out how it needs to be put together.
Basically, yeah. Lots of people just mindlessly click next to be finished as fast as possible instead of looking at the page and seeing what it turns on by default.
This was my thought as well. Pretty sure I already have all of that turned off but I would have done that as part of the install and brief customizing of the UI. Can't say I ever used a guide or anything, or even considered it unusual for modern software.
There aren't more ads than 10 because MS has added those ads to 10 with each update over the years.
Weather bug in taskbar is an ad server. You click on it and it brings up bing stories to get you to click them and see ads. The search bar now has a little daily decoration. Click it for ads. The search menu has bing news- again to bait you into clicking one and seeing an ad.
All of that is disabled on my system.
And all of these are easily disabled with GPO, registry edits, and other basic system administration means.
One shouldn't have to disable ads in any OS. They shouldn't exist in the first place.
Ah, that likely explains it. I know when installing I hit "no" on anything that sounds remotely marketing related and I turned off search and weather because they just don't add any value and I like a clean screen. So I think the only ads I get are the small, unobtrusive ones on the lock screen, which I can't say I'm bothered by in the slightest. I barely even notice them since it isn't like I stare at the lock screen.