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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: 2) by Snotnose on Monday August 01 2016, @03:17AM
I should mention when I tried to dual boot this box it was still running Win8.1. The OS version has nothing to do with it, the hardware itself won't let me boot anything from anywhere except the hard drive.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Monday August 01 2016, @03:36AM
If the BIOS is not completely locked down, there should be settings for the boot order, and even if UEFI is required.
If your laptop is sufficiently stubborn, you may need to get one know to work with GNU/Linux.
Being a hipster, I now consider BSD compatibility the ACID test: companies like Nvidia actually release binary drivers for GNU/Linux.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 01 2016, @04:14AM
Here is a tip for forcing a boot menu, holding down shift before clicking restart and then holding it the ENTIRE process and it will bring up the advanced boot menu. If you can't get that to work, go to Settings -> Recovery -> Advanced Startup -> Restart Now. I believe the setting for the firmware is under a submenu, but I cannot recall which off-hand.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by stormreaver on Monday August 01 2016, @01:56PM
The OS version has nothing to do with it, the hardware itself won't let me boot anything from anywhere except the hard drive.
I had the exact same problem when a customer gave me a "broken" Windows 8 laptop that he was going to throw away: firmware reported bad battery and bad hard drive. Windows 8 booting suddenly wouldn't progress beyond the initial splash screen. Couldn't boot from DVD or USB to install Linux. I told him that fixing it would cost more in my time than the laptop was worth at retail, but that I may (or may not) be able to fix it for my own purposes. So he gave it to me.
Linux wouldn't boot from DVD or USB. I found a BIOS option that said something like, "Legacy BIOS support" (I can't remember the exact wording, as this was over a year ago). I switched to that, and the laptop would now boot from DVD.
I booted from a Kubuntu live DVD to see if the hardware was supported, and everything seemed to work fine. I then clicked the install option, and waited. After the installer reached 100% without any hard drive errors (remember, the firmware reported a bad hard drive), I rebooted. Kubuntu loaded and ran just fine.
I unplugged the power cord (remember, the firmware reported a bad battery), and the laptop remained powered on and running. This laptop has been running for over a year now, and my kids sometimes unplug the power for several hours before I get home and find out what happened, but the battery works fine. In fact, everything works exactly as it should.
I recently told my customer about the laptop, and he shook his head in dismay at Windows. I periodically ask him if he has any more "broken" laptops he plans to throw away.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 01 2016, @06:05PM
I wonder what the disk problem was. Did you ever check SMART?
(Score: 2) by stormreaver on Wednesday August 03 2016, @01:45AM
I haven't checked SMART, as the system works perfectly (although slowly, as it has less than a gig of RAM).