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Microsoft Windows 10 Pro Edition Will Have Some Group Policy Settings Removed
For their forthcoming Anniversary update, Microsoft have decided to remove some Group Policy settings from all editions of the operating system except for Windows 10 Enterprise. These Policies affect your ability to control "Cloud Content", "Personalization", and "Windows Store".
The corresponding Registry keys for these policies will also be removed. Manually adding those keys back into non-Enterprise editions of Win10 will have no effect.
Looking at the list of Policies to be removed, many home/power users of this operating system will almost certainly be up in arms and annoyed at this move, but it seems they are just innocent bystanders in a bigger game/pressure-tactic Microsoft is playing out with the corporate and business world.
Unfortunately for home/power users, purchasing a license to use the Windows 10 Enterprise edition is all but impossible. Divorcing from the MS Windows ecosystem may end up being the only palatable option for many such users.
Here is the list of Policies to be removed:
- Cloud Content > "Turn off Microsoft consumer experiences" -- personalized recommendations from Microsoft ...notifications about your Microsoft account.
- Cloud Content > "Do not show Windows tips" -- may see contextual popups ...Microsoft uses diagnostic, telemetry and usage data to determine which tips to show.
- Personalization > "Force a specific default lock screen and logon image"
- Personalization > "Prevent changing lock screen and logon image"
- Personalization > "Do not display the lock screen" -- before signing in, users will see their selected tile and must dismiss the lock screen using touch, keyboard or mouse drag.
- Store > "Disable all apps from Windows Store" -- turns off launch of all apps from Windows Store that came pre-installed or were downloaded; also will turn off Windows Store.
[Continues...]
Microsoft faces two new lawsuits over aggressive Windows 10 upgrade tactics
Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956
Microsoft is facing two more lawsuits over the company's questionable Windows 10 upgrade tactics. Both suits are seeking class-action status.
The first suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Florida. It alleges that Microsoft's Windows 10 upgrade prompts "violated laws governing unsolicited electronic advertisements," as reported by The Seattle Times . The suit also says Microsoft's tactics are against the Federal Trade Commission's rules on deceptive and unfair practices. The second suit was filed in June in Haifa, Israel alleging that Microsoft installed Windows 10 on users' computers without consent. Microsoft already paid out a $10,000 award in a previous U.S. suit over similar circumstances.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by SomeGuy on Sunday July 31 2016, @10:14PM
All of these options have one thing in common. Advertising and "monetization" of Windows. The whole purpose of the "lock screen" advertising! Telemetry? Data used to figure out what to advertise to you! Windows Store? Well, once you see the advertising you have to be able to buy it, right?
Windows has gotten way too creepy now.
Microsoft isn't even selling software any more, they are an advertising company.
That whole Windows 10 upgrade push to get absurd numbers of people using it in a short amount of time? The whole thing smells of resume fodder. I'm guessing Statya and few others will be jumping that sinking ship soon.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Sunday July 31 2016, @11:10PM
Welcome to Mindle!
That's why you can't even give away a Kindle anymore. Completely fucked up with advertisements, both on the device and in-app, and extremely dangerous to root and custom flash. Basically, if you don't know the inner workings, say hello to a brick.
Except.... I can still install other operating systems fairly easily (except for an Intel NUC) on PC hardware. Hello ReactOS :)
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 5, Informative) by stormwyrm on Sunday July 31 2016, @11:51PM
Sadly with UEFI Secure Boot even that may soon end. I would much rather not pay Microsoft a single cent for their misbegotten software, and the fact that laptops untainted by Windows 10 are becoming harder and harder to come by is really pissing me off. I'd buy gear from System76 or some other similar manufacturer but getting things like that shipped to Manila is a big headache and cost. Maybe I'll buy one next time someone I know at company HQ in Denver travels here, or if I travel there again soon. Failing that, a Mac laptop is becoming more and more attractive. Much as I dislike Apple they are beginning to look increasingly more attractive an option.
ReactOS? Last I heard they weren't even alpha quality. If you really needed to run Windows software your best bet is still Wine on GNU/Linux. Dunno how well that runs on the BSDs though.
Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 01 2016, @01:03PM
Something funny I found out about Apple/OSX is that in spite of the walled garden, it's hilariously easy to pirate software on it. Easier than Windows even.
My girlfriend recently got a used Mac pretty cheaply. She likes OSX. She has a total moral flexibility toward software piracy. I do too. In a couple hours of work, I got about $600 worth of various "office" and "photo editing" software for her for free. No torrents or cracks either. They're legit versions of the software that I just found ways to get to work fully functionally with library preloads and other hacks I put together myself. Even with the "time == money" argument, it still proved to be worthwhile.
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Monday August 01 2016, @01:08PM
PC-BSD is still a little dodgy in my opinion, but it has a lot of customized stuff builtin for WINE, at least, for gaming purposes. I got Payday 2 running pretty nicely without really touching anything configuration wise. Of course, they put out a native Linux client two weeks after I did so, but so it goes.
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 01 2016, @12:52AM
What is it about the Intel NUC that makes installing non-Windows operating systems difficult? Isn't it simply a miniature standard PC?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 01 2016, @01:56AM
I have installed both windows 7 and Fedora 23 (dual boot) on an Intel NUC. No problem. Works great.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 01 2016, @02:13AM
(Score: 4, Insightful) by edIII on Monday August 01 2016, @03:15PM
What you linked to is a complete fucking lie. I've spent hours trying to install every fucking flavor of everything from that list on that worthless piece of shit (DN2820FYKH). It's MS only, so it's been sitting gathering dust since I bought it. It's 1 trillion percent locked by Secure boot, and none of those flavors listed will work on it. If your OS isn't directly signed by MS, then it will not install. So yeah, I could probably get Redhat working, but that's because they now suck Microsoft's cock for it.
As far as I am concerned, it was bricked by Secure Boot leaving the factory, and I won't buy Intel again unless I can see a lot of evidence online (including how-tos and videos showing it is possible) of it working. Basically, if that hardware isn't referenced by the distribution itself as something that can support it, I won't fucking buy it.
Don't ever assume Linux/BSD will run on an Intel anymore. It's a very unsafe and expensive assumption.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Aiwendil on Monday August 01 2016, @05:13PM
Ehm, did you read the page about proper bios/uefi-settings? (and made sure you used a new enough firmware, it was shipped with 0015 originally, and didn't support other OSes until 0025)
DN2820FYKH happens to be the model my mom uses, and she runs ubuntu just fine on it.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Monday August 01 2016, @07:14PM
Ubuntu got on its knees and sucked Microsoft's cock for the signed keys, that's why. They got on their knees early in the game. Ubuntu is infected with systemd anyways, and I've never liked Ubuntu. I meant to say a Linux distribution without it, or even possibly a BSD variant. Ubuntu was never an option for me, and I was looking for headless actually to use as an embedded device for a project. Gentoo and OpenSUSE were listed, and those were options I was willing to use at the time.
Yes, I spent a good deal of time researching the proper bios and uefi settings. Also, yes, I made sure about the BIOS updates. The release you mentioned happened in Feb 2014, so I know I have at least that high for the BIOS revision without checking (purchased and updated in late 2014). I even spent a lot of time trying to install different flavors not listed in the supported operating systems, but nothing would ever boot. Except Microsoft, that will boot, which is exactly what was intended.
I'm too tired and busy to sue them/bomb a building or whatever. I just don't purchase Intel direct anymore, and support projects like Purism instead. Death to secure boot, or Microsoft-Only-Boot.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 01 2016, @09:11AM
I remember visiting the bookstore ( Barnes and Noble, I think ), and saw a Kindle ( or was it a NOOK?). It was such a nice looking machine, and the salesman really wanted to seal a deal to get me one. However, the more I played with it, the more I felt I was playing with a lock. It wasn't gonna let me *do* anything.
Its job was to look pretty and tell me no, but nicely.
It was a "HAL9000" to me. ( "I'm sorry, Dave, I can't do that".) It was programmed to carry out someone else's agenda at my expense. By the time I had completed my examination of the device, I had placed its value to me below zero, meaning if they had flat given me one, all I felt I could really do with it was maybe salvage the battery and power supply - that is if I took it at all.
The one handed to me would not even browse the web.
In my case they did not need to keep them behind the counter... if I had found a brand new one on the sidewalk, I would have left it there. I do not believe it was useful for a thing but enforcing the purchase of licensed and controlled content.
(Score: 3, Informative) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Monday August 01 2016, @10:19AM
I have one of the earlier version kindles - a 2010 or 2011 2nd gen kindle DX. It's a proper ebook rather than a tablet. Slow-refreshing B&W epaper with no backlight, a physical keyboard & wifi, battery life measured in weeks (even after however many years I've had it) It even has a fairly primitive web browser on it.
I was reluctant to use ebooks when they first came out (mainly for DRM reasons) but I was converted within minutes of opening this one. It's great. You can buy DRMed books direct off the amazon store if you want, but you can also acquire your own non-DRMed material and transfer it by email or USB. Works beautifully with Calibre, to which you can add seamless DRM-stripping functionality.
Just searched ebay for a similar model, interestingly they seem to have maintained or even increased their value from when they were first launched.
(Score: 2) by WizardFusion on Monday August 01 2016, @09:53AM
What's wrong with the Intel NUC.? I have three of them running VMware ESXi.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by edIII on Monday August 01 2016, @06:58PM
The one I have is bricked by Secure Boot. Every Linux OS it listed on the specifications turned out to not install. While I can get an OS to install on a NUC with some effort, it will never, ever, boot. That is because it isn't signed by Microsoft and there is absolutely no way to disable secure boot on it. You can turn secure boot off, but it still gives the exact same complaint, which indicates secure boot is actually still running. You can't turn secure boot off on this model, and it's locked into MS operating systems. Which completely fucking sucks, because you can't even run Windows 7 Pro now without extreme efforts to defeat Microsoft's demands to jam advertising and telemetry down our throats.
I've heard plenty of people say you can get Linux on a NUC. Well not *this* model, and not for lack of trying, let me tell you.
There are apparently many different NUCs. Mine is the DN2820FYKH that I fell for because it was a Newegg exclusive and was priced very well. It's still sitting on my desk actually; I use it as paper weight at the moment because the fan is blowing around my notes :)
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by WizardFusion on Tuesday August 02 2016, @08:54AM
Ah, that sucks. Any chance you can still send it back and get a proper model? :)
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday August 01 2016, @11:53AM
Completely fucked up with advertisements, both on the device and in-app
Wait, what? I am not in the market for an e-ink kindle but I did just verify a few seconds ago that its $120 for spam and $140 for spamless. AFAIK the spamless version really is spamless, it would be interesting to know if the spamless version really is full of spam.
I'm surprised amazon makes so little money off spam. You'd like to think customer torture is worth more than $20 but apparently it isn't.
Also you threw me on the "in-app" by that you mean on kindle hardware not the android app. The android app has no ads. Call me crazy but I like the kindle app UI and use calibre and/or just drop .mobi (and other format) ebooks into a certain directory and they just work, pretty nice. I'm not like morally opposed to MOON and the other ebook readers I've tried, I just always seem to go back to the kindle app. Also I subscribe to 2600 and some other magazines on kindle app because "why not".
(Score: 2) by Celestial on Monday August 01 2016, @05:22PM
I can confirm that there are no advertisements on the $140 Kindle Paperwhite 3. I paid an extra $20 for no ads, there danged well better be no ads. Thankfully, there are not.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Monday August 01 2016, @07:01PM
Well, I would never ever buy anything from Amazon in the first place, so their extortion fee would have never been paid. Any company offering the extortion fee is instantly boycotted by my wallet. I don't pay extra to not be raped, thank you.
I'm sitting here with gifted hardware; A 7-inch Kindle Fire and a 10-inch Kindle Fire. Both completely fucking useless because of the spam, and the dangerous difficulties in getting a custom Android flashed onto it. Probably going to put them up on Craigslist for cheap.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday August 01 2016, @07:30PM
I'm sitting here with gifted hardware; A 7-inch Kindle Fire and a 10-inch Kindle Fire. Both completely fucking useless because of the spam
A bit of google indicates a lot of confusion about Amazon ads that can be eliminated for $20 on the "manage your devices" account page, vs 3rd party spam apps that flood any android device unless you're careful much like having a windows desktop vs free apps that spam you to death unless you pay while you use them.
Its possible a simple factory reset and utter hard wipe of the devices would fix 3rd party spam.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Monday August 01 2016, @08:13PM
3rd party? I apologize, the SPAM is direct from Amazon. I consider all advertisements, regardless of source, to be SPAM. If I paid the $20, I would still be getting the lockscreen advertisements I presume? In any case, I don't think I should have to pay anything to unlock the device for a custom android OS on it. I have zero interest in Amazon at any level.
The hardware is now mine, but it isn't usable.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 03 2016, @03:36AM
delete all the crap. never let it connect.
they're nice readers. just don't let it on the net or it turns to shit.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 01 2016, @01:52AM
The PRO now stands for PROMOTIONAL
(Score: 3, Informative) by Hyperturtle on Monday August 01 2016, @01:55AM
Resume fodder?
Those guys are going to be rich, they already are! You're the product! Those guys don't care about your *opinion*, they care about ad image displays per unit!
Worse still, they have now donned the One Ring and announced their mastery over it -- with any version of windows 10 available to the IT pro and common person, outside of a large business -- Microsoft can install anything they want on your PC with Windows 10, and you *can't do anything about it*. If ads get us upset, what about people living under oppressive regimes? This puts companies that sell spyware to governments out of business; think of their jobs!
If there ever was a time to not let down the guard with windows updates, now is the time.
Don't be fooled that windows 10 isn't free anymore -- they may not be able to push these same ads to you on 7 and 8 in the same way, but chances are many people will be logging into o365 and skype and will be uniquely identifiable. They are sure as heck going to capture as much about you as they can so that when you are on a system they can properly communicate to you through -- look out. Windows 10 is a new delivery mechanism, but it isn't the only one collecting.
Remember, they do state in the EULA they comply with all local and federal governmental laws. They wouldn't do anything illegal and the only thing any of these sorts of spyware companies get in trouble for... are tax related.
I guess the real harm that is punishable by law is when someone exploits you without paying first.
I remember when I was shocked when I learned what SMS (their original patch management software) could do; turn things off in group policy, change backgrounds, remove the ability to log off or reset--all sorts of things. Power that would be horrible to put in the wrong hands--I recall some people getting jailed for pushing SMS out over cable modem networks and screwing with entire communities.
Now, MS has control of the very same things--by default and as a feature-- and is presently selling everyone out after luring them in with FREE. And most people will grumble and accept it.
You have to inconvenience people signifcantly to get them to rise up against a power -- eroding their rights or privileges slowly is a time tested way to keep people compliant. George Orwell even outlined this in Animal Farm. People may wake up and realize what is going on, but it may already be too late; you're already exploited as a product (and if you are the poor horse realizing what his reward is... glue)
This also sort of reminds me of invasion of the body snatchers, too. In the end, even the people you trust will fall and betray you if you haven't fallen already. Online privacy and security is very much like that with the social networking expectations and how google and microsoft are treating their products.
Or maybe there is a utopia in this ad dominated internet? Maybe I won't see ads I find to be unpleasant?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Hairyfeet on Monday August 01 2016, @05:21AM
Stay with 7/8.1 and by the time they hit EOL old Nutella will hopefully be FIRED and they will get someone in that actually wants the company to stay afloat.
Its sad as Ballmernator nearly cratered the company trying to become Apple and now Nutella is trying to nuke what is left trying to become Google...sigh.
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.