Click bait avoided, a prerelease build of Windows suggests some kind of general advertising in the start menu beyond promoting ads.
The article also calls this a “leak.” Is it really a leak if it’s in the insider Windows build that Microsoft makes freely available to anyone who wants it?
It’s datamining a hidden feature. I’d call that a leek.
Sounds like we need to start developing ad-blockers based directly within the OS.
Those exist. Use dns based adblockers. You can pick from a variety of services already out there or run your own with pihole.
Yeah, though … those don’t always work and it is entirely possible to break them if they become overly “pesky” for the corporations.
Dafuq are you talking about? I’ve been using it on android for years and before that I was editing the appropriate files on windows to forward or block access to certain domains/ips.
It’s all about how you implement it. It’s also about what services you use, for example, geicos app was so fucky that it never wanted to work right even with enough of the app and domains whitelisted. On my pc I tend to use chrome only when I need to access a site but don’t want to whitelist some or all the domains even on a temporary basis, FF basically blocks any and all ads I may come across. My lifes goal is to see as close to zero ads as possible.
I’m guessing that you haven’t actually used them and I’m going to also guess that you have no idea what dns actually is and therefore how ridiculous your claim here is. Do yourself a favor and learn a bit more about how this shit works lest you look like an idiot.
If I implement my service to use the same underlying IP address for the primary service/critical access that I use for advertising services (e.g., I put a load balancer and have Windows Advertising integrated with Windows Update via the same IP addresses), you can’t block the IP without breaking Windows Update.
That’s worse for other ingrained systems, e.g., a news app that actually has to send you content could do this instead of using separate IPs for the advertising service, and then if you want to use their service you have to accept the advertising packets.
If you’re relying on DNS for your blocking as well, it’s entirely possible to distribute the IP address information without ever involving DNS by syncing up the appropriate IPs out of band on some built in IP addresses hard coded in the binary (plenty of things do this sort of thing already for security purposes, they want to minimize the risk of a local DHCP server handing out some garbage DNS record and sending you a virus via their update mechanism).
I could go on.
Do yourself a favor and learn a bit more about how this shit works lest you look like an idiot.
Don’t be a dick; especially if you don’t know what you’re talking about. Thanks.
Or literally just use the existing option in the settings menu that has been there since Windows 10 to turn this shit off.
All of this is clickbait.
Until it turns itself back on during an update. Or hey implement another version that has its own off switch buried somewhere, etc.
It’s bloat and hassle.
You shouldn’t have to do maintenance on a brand new Windows install. Set preferences and install apps? Sure. But expecting everyone to go through a checklist of shit to turn off? Nah. That’s user hostile and so tedious.
Checklists and debloating procedures like that can feel like something an expert would do. And can feel like what a good computer user should do, but that’s a limited mindset that is a niche among all Windows platform users.
Warning, car analogy:
Imagine if you bought a new car and had to scrape a bunch of advertisement decals off it. And you have to remove unneeded features like spoilers that are dragging you down. Oh, and randomly in the middle of the night the dealer tracks your car down and applies new decals that you will want to scrape off your windshield when you get a chance.
Setting preferences is exactly what this is, though.
Having to tell your computer that “My preference is no bloat and marketing.” is a sad state of affairs though.
My whole point is these things shouldn’t need to be configured. Because the bloat and marketing shouldn’t be part of the OS like this.
I’ve worked with a Linux installation that had plenty of bloat and marketing by default too, I spent a fair bit of time combing through it turning off stuff I definitely didn’t want. Whether it “should” or “shouldn’t” doesn’t change that it is.
Other than the dealer sneaking up in the middle of the night to reapply decals, that is sadly exactly what buying a new car is like.
Or, well, at least from what I’ve seen and heard from others. Who has money these days for new cars?
Imagine depending on a company giving you the privilege of turning off ads in the operating system you paid $100USD for.
MS can get bent, I’m sick of advertising. Read the news, ads, watch any video without Adblock, ads, go out in public to enjoy a day out with my family, ads on every road and square foot of space. Now they want to put ads on the main menu of an operating system I only use to for relaxation and entertainment, but they were oh so kind to give me the option of turning them off for now. I’m not waiting for them to decide to remove the option, I’m going to remove myself from the equation.
I already gave these greedy bastards my money, I just want some peace and quiet while I relax, but that’s too much to ask for these days.
Yep. It’s my goal to be as unprofitable a citizen for our corporate overlords as possible.
I want them to lose money by doing business with me.
I want them to go bankrupt so that their future replacements can learn from their mistakes and not repeat them.
If they choose to be user hostile, I’ll match their energy and multiply it. Fuck em.
Think of the corporations!
Clicking a checkbox in a settings menu is so complicated, though!
Simpler to install Linux, a whole new operating system, and try to figure out how to either run your Windows apps there or find new equivalent applications to use.
Additionally, there has been an option in the settings menu since Windows 10 to disable Microsoft fucking with the start menu and settings “app” like this.
I would be shocked if it doesn’t also handle whatever this shit is.
Cool. I switched to Linux and no longer care about Microsoft’s BS. This continues to just reinforce that I made the correct decision.
Based and open source pilled.
Welcome!
I’ve been a linux user for maaaaany years but always dual booted to windows for gaming. Got a new pc recently and this time I ditched the windows partition. Gaming on linux has come a long way the last few years and will only get better. Feels good man.
It’s honestly hard to find a reason not to switch anymore. I switched myself recently and once I get more comfortable with it, I am putting Linux on my kid’s computer as well.
I miss the xda of old, where shitty clickbait articles and ads didn’t rule the front page.
Yeah, used to go-to website for flashing custom ROMs.
It’s really upsetting seeing the internet transform into this commercialized capitalistic thing that used to be fun.
Now I want to continue this by saying there are still communities and places that have kept true to the free and open internet and not all of it has been commercialized. And there are always fun and exciting projects happening, recently I’ve been looking at i2p, it’s similar to Tor but designed to be self contained and not for browsing the open web instead something called eepsites similar to onion sites.
clickbait?
Not exactly? But spoiler: It’s even more ads! This time as search results.
Ha, this click bait article won’t snag me! I’ve been paying attention the past 4 years; there IS ALWAYS something worse on the horizon. Only a fool would suspect otherwise these days.
“we respect your privacy, so please accept the cookies from our 1542 partners”
it’s like I once read: the best advertisement for Linux, or any other system, is Windows
Someone mentioned while I was gaming yesterday and we were discussing Windows 11 and he said “just get an add blocker” and it blew my mind. Like why support a company that thinks “this” is the future? When there are alternatives.
Or just switch to Linux. It works flawlessly with everything except games that with anti-cheat that refuse to support it.
So much simpler than clicking a checkbox in Windows’ settings.
