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from the truth-and-advertising dept.
Microsoft made a lot of changes in Windows 10 that helped it put the mistakes of Windows 8 in the rear view mirror. Not all of Microsoft's ideas are good, though. The company has shown a tendency to get a little too casual with how it promotes its services within Windows. You might even call these "ads." Microsoft would, of course, dispute that description. Some of these things that look very much like ads have started showing up in File Explorer. Specifically, Windows 10 has started nagging people to buy a subscription to OneDrive.
Microsoft's OneDrive cloud storage service is built into Windows 10 and tied to your Microsoft account. Everyone gets 5GB of space free, but you can pay to get as much as 1TB for a single user. That also includes an Office 365 subscription. Depending on your needs, that might be a good deal. That does not necessarily mean you want to be made aware of said deal while browsing your files.
The ad appears as a banner at the top of File Explorer, reminding you that OneDrive and Office 365 can be had for a mere $6.99 per month. You can take Microsoft up on the offer or dismiss it. It may just reappear at a later date, though. Some users reported seeing this a few months ago, but the incidence has ticked upward in the last week or so. This is not the first time Microsoft has crammed ads into the Windows UI — there are the lock screen ads disguised as backgrounds, notification ads for Edge, and a strange pop-up ad for Microsoft's personal shopping assistant in Chrome.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 11 2017, @11:01PM (1 child)
but it happens in the paid for versions, too
(Score: 2) by julian on Sunday March 12 2017, @04:46AM
I don't know what I did to avoid them but I haven't gotten any ads on my workstation. It's Windows 10 Professional. I've seen the screenshots of the ads but haven't been able to trigger them myself.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Dunbal on Saturday March 11 2017, @11:07PM (10 children)
Didn't install that malware. Windows 7 SP1 with Windows Updates turned OFF. The risk from Microsoft is greater than the risk from the rest of the net, IMO.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 11 2017, @11:11PM (3 children)
I turned Windows updates off in Windows 8 too when the stories about forced upgrades started surfacing. Thankful that I did.
No doubt Microsoft is trying to spread the FUD about not having updates turned on posing a security risk, but I'll take the lesser of two evils thanks.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 11 2017, @11:46PM
Ditto ditto here. I use Windows to play games, nothing more. If there is some kind of security risk and I get pwn3d, I'll just wipe and reinstall.
Even if it's just games, I'm still not comfortable enough with 10 to really think about installing it more than in passing. Ads in my OS? It's more likely than you think! Good god no thanks.
(Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Sunday March 12 2017, @09:49AM (1 child)
...Microsoft is trying to spread the FUD about not having updates turned on posing a security risk, but I'll take the lesser of two evils thanks.
So your accepting what I've seen described (elsewhere on the interweb) as the evil of two lessers.
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Sunday March 12 2017, @10:42AM
So your accepting what
"YOU'RE" dammit, "you're"! And not "your". We need to be able to edit our own posts for embarrassing moments like these.
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 5, Funny) by wonkey_monkey on Saturday March 11 2017, @11:31PM (5 children)
I thought about trying Windows 10. I decided I'd do a fresh install of Windows 7 to another SSD, then let it upgrade to Windows 10.
During all the switcheroo-ing with the two SSDs, the motherboard decided to fry itself.
It knew, man. It knew.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 2) by driven on Sunday March 12 2017, @01:29AM (4 children)
On a serious note, you may have fried your motherboard via electro-static discharge. Make sure you ground yourself before touching your computer internals. I learned that the hard way when ruined by main logic board on my old MacBook Pro. Costly mistake. And I knew better, it just never seemed to be a problem on older hardware.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 12 2017, @04:53AM (3 children)
Pretty sure we all got that A+ certification back in middle school, bud.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 12 2017, @05:26AM (2 children)
I'm pretty sure the A+ certification didn't exist when I was in middle school (which we called junior high school).
So get off my lawn!
(Score: 2) by art guerrilla on Sunday March 12 2017, @07:22PM (1 child)
i am confused by all the naming conventions of schools...
back in the day, it was as you said: elementary school, junior high school, high school...
(not sure why 'junior high' couldn't be 'senior elementary' school...)
now it is elementary (or primary), middle, high...
but that seems to logically suggest low, middle, high...
(i guess college should be 'super-high' school...)
realistically, maybe should be : goosestepping school, break their spirit school, prepare for the borg school, and abandon all hope ye who enter college...
just sayin'...
(Score: 2) by dry on Monday March 13 2017, @01:42AM
Here it seems to be a reaction to changing demographics. Too many young kids vs older ones so the local high school changed from grades 8-12 to 7-10 and then 6-9 and became a middle school rather then jr high which is traditional 8-10. The other high school is now only senior high or 10-12.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Justin Case on Saturday March 11 2017, @11:32PM (2 children)
I'm so glad I recognized a certain software merchant's fundamentally immutable evil heart decades ago, when I could resolve to avoid it (to the extent possible) throughout my career and 100% on my home network. It has saved me so much grief!
The downside has been having to put up with a tide of apologists who call me all sorts of insults (like your opinion of me will affect my technical decision) only to eventually admit that, well, yeah that thing they did last year was perhaps a bit poor, but OMFG you should see what's coming in the next version! They have so totally learned their lesson plus the new shiny is very very.
The only thing I can't follow is why so many people are such slow learners. And more mystifying: those with the brains and tech savvy to know better, yet they still seek out the Kool Aid and claim that Crap 2.0 is really quite tasty. I mean, they know they're lying, and so does everyone else, so why bother?
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Sunday March 12 2017, @10:01AM (1 child)
But the fundamentally evil software merchant has said that there will never be a "next" version of their crap. Instead the existing crap will be "upgraded" by patches pushed on you bit by bit for the indefinite future.
The advantage of this (to them) is that at some point the "upgrades" will start to cost rent money. If you don't pay it you will get different "upgrades" that will be even worse, probably eventually turning your screen into a big button that just says "BUY NOW". Either way, the "upgrades" will increasingly turn your PC into an advertising platform and purchasing device as fast as they believe Joe Sixpackcan tolerate it without rioting. What you think as an individual won't count - you had your chance to turn off "updates" while you still could.
There are many other advantages to them of course. Eg : They will not need further big media advertising campaigns to sell the next major version, and they will not need to employ a big development team to make those new versions; they will only need to make occasional cosmetic changes and maybe security updates.
(Score: 2) by gottabeme on Sunday March 12 2017, @06:39PM
> you had your chance to turn off "updates" while you still could.
This points to the worst problem: what happens when you have to replace a computer or disk drive and they no longer authorize installations of the older versions (cf. Apple and iOS)? I guess you give up using whatever software required Windows x and doesn't work in WINE. Or do you try to find a crack that works around the authentication (for the software you already paid for!) and risk being infected with a rootkit?
The future seems dark.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 11 2017, @11:39PM (4 children)
And i can say that microsoft has only gotten money from me ONCE in my life.
For the sidewinder 2 joystick.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 12 2017, @02:18AM (3 children)
I'm sure you have bought a pre-built computer at some point in your life.
Whenever you buy a PC with Windows pre-installed? The OEM pays a royalty fee to Microsoft who leases those SLIC keys to manufacturers who then flash them into the BIOS.
Then same hard drive image is used on the assembly line. This windows install when booted inspects SLIC key loaded into memory by the BIOS and detects it's authentic.
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Sunday March 12 2017, @05:32AM
I'm sure you have bought a pre-built computer at some point in your life.
Whenever you buy a PC with Windows pre-installed? The OEM pays a royalty fee to Microsoft who leases those SLIC keys to manufacturers who then flash them into the BIOS.
Then same hard drive image is used on the assembly line. This windows install when booted inspects SLIC key loaded into memory by the BIOS and detects it's authentic.
Actually, with most PC vendors you pay for Windows (built into the price) whether or not that crap is pre-installed [wikipedia.org].
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 12 2017, @08:31AM
Oh, you deluded victim of corporate tech! You think we do not know what they do, and how to circumvent it? We have never bought a pre-built computer. Why? Micro$oft tax. I always, since 1982, have bought my computers in pieces, and then loaded a Free and Libre and Non-spyware proprietary shit Operating Systems. You think we cannot do this? We are legion. We are smarter than Micro$oft. And we will be back. Payback for monopoly is a bitch, dude! Chose which side you are on.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 12 2017, @09:38PM
But i'd rather not pay double for something i can put together with a screwdriver.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Saturday March 11 2017, @11:50PM
They make it really hard to want to upgrade, every time I read about their new telemetry spying coming and going with various "stealth updates". The OS is clearly doing a bunch of nefarious shit in the background I don't want it to. Now they want to show ads in Explorer. Am I going to need an adblock just to run an OS?!
Does anyone know if this new "feature" is going to be part of the LTSB build branch to? That has so far been what I would install even for home and personal usage since it seems to be the the one with the least crap in it, but if this becomes a part of that to then this is whole OS is going to be a giant pass unless some utility comes around that rips out all of this crap. Alternatively I will have to find an explorer replacement and run that instead - I guess I could go back to using DOpus but I really don't want to.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday March 11 2017, @11:54PM (2 children)
...do they work on Linux?
No?!? Then I'm truly glad!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Sunday March 12 2017, @08:12AM (1 child)
Maybe. Does Windows 10's file explorer run under Wine?
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday March 12 2017, @08:42AM
I wouldn't know. GOG doesn't sell it (grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Sulla on Sunday March 12 2017, @12:46AM
I liked XP, then when that ran into issues I did server 2k3. Ran 7 for a while. Finally I had enough issues on my thinkpad that I planned on doing a fresh install, so just went ahead and did slackware. I always knew I should make the switch to linux, but always had excuses about not wanting to go through the learning process/all that. When I thought about how much of 7 I would need to lookup and disable so that it couldn't call home, decided linux was easier.
I still have an old desktop on 7 that will probably stay 7 forever. If it auto "upgrades" I will probably kill the HD with fire.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 12 2017, @12:55AM (3 children)
Microsoft is a dead man walking. Nadella is hammering the nails in the coffin.
Funny thing, IBM will be around long after MS disappear.
(Score: 1) by Hardness on Sunday March 12 2017, @01:41AM (2 children)
http://www.cringely.com/tag/ibm/ [cringely.com]
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Sunday March 12 2017, @05:38AM (1 child)
Why are you posting this? Cringely (Mark Stephens) was a jackass back in the InfoWorld days and has only gotten worse since.
Couldn't you find a better moron to link to?
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 12 2017, @08:51AM
Couldn't you find a better moron to link to?
Au Contraire! There is no better moron than Cringely! Did you not see his TV program on building his own airplane? Total poser.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 12 2017, @01:03AM (5 children)
Back in the day when they were hungry and trying to make great stuff,
they said they worried that they would become arrogant to their customers like IBM of the 70's.
Not to worry, they are waaaaay past that.
That their stuff is junk is not news or interesting at this point.
What is interesting is how hamfisted their 'marketing' attempts to cram stuff the folks don't want are.
It seems like with the cash they have, they could do a better job of pushing their stuff.
It's almost like the folks making the plan want to see a crash.
The inevidable downfall should make an interesting show.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by bzipitidoo on Sunday March 12 2017, @05:00AM (4 children)
MS has always leaned hard on users, experimented to see what people will swallow. Makes me sad seeing how much most people will swallow.
I thought IBM might get the jump on MS by having OS/2 a few years before Windows 95, but no, IBM screwed up even worse than MS and blew their opportunity. I thought the poor quality of Windows ME might provoke some into dumping MS. Nope. Windows 2000 saved them. Maybe the phone home misfeature they added in XP? Nope. How about the antitrust court case, would that finally get peoples' attention, get them to think about dumping MS? Nope. I hoped Vista might finally be disastrous enough to sink MS, with its extreme focus on protecting MAFIAA and their own intellectual property at the expense of reasonable performance, but no. MS fixed Vista enough to reduce the yells to grumbles.
By then, I understood that radical change to the interface, as they tried in Windows 8, wouldn't drive people away either, especially if they backpedaled soon enough, which they did.
The Office file format lock in and upgrade treadmill hasn't shaken people either. Nor have revelations such as the Halloween documents. So of course the messy, corruption riddled effort to ram OOXML through the standards bodies didn't even make a blip on most people's radar. How bad does MS have to get to finally run their customers off?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 12 2017, @10:11AM
Don't forget Apple not hammering them in courts for windows, even if MS had eventually won its platform would have been tainted, nobody would have invested in a system which might at one point become illegal.
Don't forget apple not selling its own OS to intel pcs when it was clearly superior. MS would have retaliated removing office but a VM with office would have been unstoppable.
MS got a lot of help, no wonder they think they can do whatever.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Nuke on Sunday March 12 2017, @10:28AM (1 child)
^^^^ This ^^^^
If I were doing a doctorate in psychology, I would make this phenomenon my thesis. It is the same mass behaviour as was portrayed so well in "1984" by George Orwell - no matter what Big Brother did to people, even torture, they still loved him.
Most people do not give or "need" a reason why they stick with Windows : they never even think about it, to them it is just a fact of life. They take any suggestion that they might use something else like a suggestion that they live on Mars - mostly without even any comment, just blankness.
The more technically minded Windows users (like the guys I work with) might show mild interest in the fact I use Linux, but only an outsiders' passing curiosity like if I said that I spent my holidays swimming in the Arctic. Forget evangelising, I only raise the subject of Linux if it comes up naturally, and if anything I tend to deter people by saying that while it is bullet-proof against malware, it's not much good for games and installing it would invalidate any hardware guarantee, and the PC World repair guys or Geek Squad won't touch it with a bargepole anyway. That clinches it for most people.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Sunday March 12 2017, @05:59PM
I've come to a place where I don't care what OS other people choose, as long as I can use linux or some other open-source OS. They can grumble and complain about how their computer breaks, spies on them, costs a fortune for upgrades every 4 months, etc. I chuckle, shake my head, say that that kind of thing never happens to me with linux, and continue on with my productive day.
If other people choose to be slaves, that's on them. Other people like me choose to be free. Freedom can at times be difficult and costly, but it is infinitely more worth having.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 12 2017, @06:49PM
The only thing that will kill M$ long term is if they fuck up the software stack (which they just might do under Nadella). The only thing keeping anyone on windows is the software, not the OS.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday March 12 2017, @01:46AM
This isn't entirely attributable to tone deafness. In a sad, backwards way, this is what a company that KNOWS it's out of the loop but is too far gone to save itself does in its death throes. This isn't simple arrogance; I genuinely believe someone or several someones had an idea along the lines of "Hey, most people like the smartphone experience, let's do that and monetize it!"
That said, from here on my customers are getting 7 on the bare metal, and if their machine is too new, Linux with a Win7 VM. Fuck this shit.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by stormwyrm on Sunday March 12 2017, @02:01AM (2 children)
Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate.
(Score: 2) by DECbot on Sunday March 12 2017, @04:24AM (1 child)
I sure hope Microsoft patented all the dubious bullshit like ads in the OS and telemetry. I'd hate to see these features in another OS without Microsoft taking them to court. I could happily live in a world where Microsoft owned and aggressively enforced patents on telemetry, OS ads, NSA/CIA backdoors, and the registry.
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 12 2017, @06:51PM
You can rest assured they have, and that they will turn into a patent troll to end all patent trolls when their run finally comes to an end.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 12 2017, @03:05AM (4 children)
There must be some way to disable via GPO. I can't imagine that companies want users adding software to locked down systems. Can anyone chime in with the off switch?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 12 2017, @05:37AM
There's supposed to be an option in the View tab of Folder Options (or however it's called in Win10, it's the place where you can toggle show/hide for file extensions), called sync-something-or-other, that supposedly turns it off. If you check the exact option name, maybe it can help you find the related policy in GPO, if there is one.
(Score: 1) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Sunday March 12 2017, @06:26AM (1 child)
call me naive, but I suspect the corporate (enterprise) version does not include all that crap.
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 12 2017, @05:04PM
Maybe MS sells to the corporate the option to broadcast their own corporate brainwashing messages. Like "QWERTY Systems is your best option" "QWERTY Systems is the leader" "Your are lucky to work for QWERTY Systems, give it all".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 12 2017, @11:10PM
It can be disabled from the normal explorer UI, although they don't call it "ads".
(Score: 2) by Common Joe on Sunday March 12 2017, @07:02AM (1 child)
You can add Windows 10 notification ads. One time (and one time only), I had an ad pop up in my notifications. Back in January, Superbowl was approaching and they wanted me to stream the game.
How often are these ads popping up? Or is Microsoft still testing the waters to see how accepting we are of this stuff?
(Score: 1) by anubi on Sunday March 12 2017, @08:44AM
Well, if our OS goes the way of OTA TV, expect to be presented a series of very annoying exclusive ads every few minutes. They will be likely be given privileges by Microsoft to present the ad at louder-than-normal levels just like TV ads, using lobbied-for rights to keep customers from blocking them.
My main concern is that Microsoft will lobby our Government to force manufactures to make chips that will only boot Microsoft ( trusted ) software.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 3, Funny) by aristarchus on Sunday March 12 2017, @08:58AM (2 children)
You know, it seems to me that we were spammed on a regular basis by some old fart with a "computer repair" business in the past, who claimed that Windows was superior to Linux, because, reasons. He has since recanted on that, but the bastard has never apologized to all Soylentils for his spamming. Hairfeet, if you are out there, we demand that you admit that you were wrong, that you were in the service of evil, and that Darth Bill was your father. And, that you are sorry. We will accept that. If you do not, I for one will welcome our new Microsoft spyware, adware, and CIA collaborator overlords, not. And I will constantly, as I am doing now, remind you of your past sins. Repent, Hairyfeet, repent! Do not make us resort to the soft cushions, the comfy chair, or a decent Linux distro!!!
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Sunday March 12 2017, @06:03PM (1 child)
Don't be a sore winner.
HairyFeet is like a guy who escaped Scientology. He needs a warm blanket, a friendly pat on the shoulder, and a mug of cocoa, not taunts.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Sunday March 12 2017, @10:48PM
Yes, you are probably right. Poor Hairyfeet!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 12 2017, @10:42AM (1 child)
won't take 'em long
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 12 2017, @06:53PM
Actually this already exists in the form of AdGuard IIRC.
(Score: 2) by Sulla on Monday March 13 2017, @01:02AM (1 child)
I remember liking XP when I was a kid and being drug kicking and screaming into 7. I now don't have as big a problem with 7 now that I have become accustomed to it. Is there anyone that prefers 7 to XP, the changes due to changes in tech not withstanding. Seems to me that all micro$oft needed to do to maintain market share is make a 2k/XP/7 tier usable OS that I can play games on and not deal with random shit.
I realize some form of linux is the best answer.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 1) by toddestan on Tuesday March 14 2017, @12:03AM
I still prefer Windows XP to Windows 7. Actually, I prefer Vista's interface over 7 too, as I missed things like the Quicklaunch bar, and never really cared for the Windows 7 dock/icon thing.
Windows 7 never seemed as fast as XP either, especially with things like Windows Explorer which always seemed to constantly get be bogged down by something. I've recently been using an old XP machine for scanning some film with an old slide scanner (that doesn't have drivers for newer versions of Windows or Linux), and it's amazing just how fast and responsive the computer feels despite being an old single core Athlon XP.