Tldr: Remote desktop, Cortana, camera, people app are all getting uninstall buttons.
What about FUCKING TEAMS
You could always uninstall Teams and still can, regularly via the Settings app.
Fun fact, if you have Teams uninstalled, hitting Windows key + c will conveniently install it again. Yay!
Why remote desktop? I can understand the rest. But who uninstalls default apps and doesn’t use remote desktop?
Very few people use remote desktop.
I would have used it but it’s only available on Pro/Enterprise versions. But that led me to finding Parsec so all ended well.
Remote Desktop App vs Remote Desktop Connection.
I agree with that “and”
Remote Desktop is dead. Azure killed it. TeamViewer is the replacement (and yes you have to pay for it) or you pick another third party vendor for your RDP needs.
The only exposure I have to windows now is in an Amazon virtual environment so I want aware of this. It seems strange seeing as RDP is a simple and robust solution… Unlike TeamViewer.
I think the list of “apps” (AKA junk) people would actually like to deinstall is quite a bit longer.
How about uninstalling edge? It is only needed to download Firefox, anyway.
What the hell is wrong with remote desktop and the camera app?
Nothing. But having the option to uninstall them like any other app is nice for whenever it might be relevant.
Wait, so of the five apps they will “let” you uninstall now, one makes little sense to have in the consumer edition (remote desktop - which is effectively enabled in Pro only) and one is getting deprecated (Cortana - bye bye!).
It sure took them a while, but they seem to finally allow folks to personalize their experience. I’m not going to complain about it, though – this is definitely a good change.
Not far enough. It’d be lovely if I could scale Windows down to almost 7 gigs or so (what windows 10 is, probably should be lower) But the thing is Windows in general is just a bloated piece of crap that continues to grow.
Great. Now give them a couple more years to learn they shouldn’t be installed by default in the first place.
Maybe someday they’ll discover checkboxes and use them to not have to install these apps in the first place.
“What’s a checkbox? Oh, you mean that thing we use to trick users into ‘consenting’ to telemetry?”
I think I’ve got it! So on install, we make a checkbox that says:
- do not install web search in the start menu, but also I consent to Microsoft collecting creepy levels of data about me
The more steam deck and proton get games working on linux, the less need I have for this bloated windows.
It’s truly ridiculous how much Linux gaming leapfrogged with the Steam Deck. I’m contemplating installing a debian partition for my main PC since I don’t really play a lot of games that need anti-cheat.
The madlads really did it.
It’s a very general advice, but for gaming rolling release distros are usually best. Gaming community on Linux usually favors Fedora or Arch-based distros.
I installed Fedora on a seperate SSD, and I now dual-boot alongside Windows 11. It took a bit of time and tweaking until I felt comfortable with using Fedora as my daily driver, but it’s been great.
Everything is smooth and fast, and I have all the apps I need. Well, almost. I subscribe to Game Pass, and have a couple of Steam games that don’t run on Linux, so I have to boot into Windows when I want to play those games. Other than that, it’s all great.
Yeah gamers are 95% good to switch.
Gamers and microshit have incompetiable values.
If devs started making anticheat for Linux it would get closer.
If they stopped making launchers it would be easier too.
how do i game on linux without a steam deck? (for windows games)
Is really just: 1 - Install any Linux Distro 2 - See if you have the drivers for your hardware already installed 3 - Install Steam 4 - Change the setting for Enable Steam Play on Steam 5 - Download the game and play it.
Of course, like in windows, something could go wrong and you need to tinker a little bit to fix it but for the vast majority is just like that.
Just adding: if you have an AMD GPU, the drivers are now included in the Linux kernel, so there is no manual install needed for those. For nvidia, you do still have to jump through some install hoops.
The easiest way is to install Steam on your Linux distribution of choice. Next you activate steam play in the steam settings to use the proton compability tool which allows playing windows games on Linux. You can check ProtonDB to see how well your game should work and see if tinkering or additional settings might be needed. A lot of steam games will just work. If you don’t want to use steam, you can also try Lutris or Wine directly, but this approach will need ALOT more setting up and tinkering.
Linux gaming will sometimes cost you more effort but I think it’s worth it to get away from Microsoft and have my freedom to set up my system how I like. Feel free to ask if you have more questions.
Been a Linux-only gamer for a year now. The hype is real and PC gaming has changed forever. Most people just hesitate to actually leave Windows behind, but the grass on the other side is much, much greener.
I made the switch and everything I want to play works. Some of it needed a bit of tweaking, though. Luckily instructions exist, and some began working with new Proton updates. It’s a good time to be a gamer on Linux.
I just hope feature parity happens before MS make their move to reduce windows pcs to literally zero clients that simply stream ´your´ OS to your screen from the cloud.
Don’t need a pc for much but god damn if I don’t want to play my games on my pic when I want. Online, offline, whatever.
It’s pretty much at parity. The only straggler I am aware of is ray tracing on the AMD side (supported on their driver package, but not yet with the driver included in the Linux kernel). I never use it anyway because I have a 6600 XT and don’t want to play a slideshow.
I’m all for less bloat ware, but come one. The camera app or remote desktop are the least shitty ones. Its borderline to call them even bloatware.
Windows 11 ships with a shitty featureless version of the remote desktop client. You have to download the “real” or “full” version from the Windows app store.
I found this out incidentally a few weeks ago and it is annoying having the app you need and some random imposter app with the same name clogging up search / start menu.
Have they fixed the store version so it can do multiple monitors yet? Also local folder redirects?
I mean I’ve never used either of those apps and my computer doesn’t even have a camera.
Sounds like textbook bloatware to me… 🤷♀️
“if I don’t use it, it’s useless”
Bloatware doesn’t necessarily mean it’s useless, but if even a reasonable percent of people don’t want or need it or shouldn’t be preinstalled. That’s bloatware.
For bloatware to be a meaningful term, I think it needs to go beyond just some arbitrary percent of users don’t need or use it. For an OS, having baseline apps which are useful across a wide variety of hardware setups and use cases is reasonable, even if they don’t apply in your particular situation. Bloat would be superfluous apps that replicate baseline features or baseline apps that have grown in scope beyond what’s strictly necessary.
Remote desktop and camera apps are pretty primary pieces of functionality, whether or not you use or need them. Windows is bloated garbage in general but those apps are not really a part of that imo… I don’t know if there’s really a precise definition of bloatware but I sort of think of it mostly as something that takes up your system resources rather than just hard drive space. Something that runs all or most of the time even though it doesn’t actually provide much value
It’s bloat because a lot of people will never make use of it, so it’s taking up more space (bloating it) for no appreciable gain. It should be easy to install if you do want to make use of it, but not literally every piece of software should be installed just because some people will use it.
It coming pre-installed is also harmful to third parties. Many will just choose the MS version because it’s already there, rather than potentially find another group who’s made similar (maybe even better) software for the same purpose.
By that definition
grepandawkare bloat on Linux.At least I can uninstall either of those programs with a single command
i’d wager those tools are “indirectly used” by other used software … that should also be included into the definition.
Agreement. But they are not removing them so much as adding the option to uninstall them right? So functionally it’s thereof needed still.
RDC could be a good option to uninstall for businesses where the machine acts as a terminal and you don’t want those devices launching RDC to begin with Not sure why it hasn’t been allowed already.
Every company I’ve worked for so far had me use RDC at some point, either to connect to a server or to an app.
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To be clear, they seem to be saying that those apps will still be preinstalled. They’ll just be easier to uninstall if you want to do so.
"option for the first time to uninstall the Camera app, Cortana app, Photos app, People app, and the Remote Desktop client. "
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Let’s cut the crap: it’s not that they “realized” nobody wants it – it’s that they’ve come to accept the blowback against their reputation has gotten too big to outweigh the potential pros of preinstalled bloatware supporting their strategy.
I mean, every OS out there beyond (maybe?) some hardcore Linux distros preinstalls this stuff though. Some (but not all) will let you remove it. None really make it “easy” or give you choices during install.
I think it’s just easier to treat all apps the same than special casing some and then having to install other hacks to get around the first ones for managed systems. It’s cheaper to treat them all the same.
All Linux distros give you the choice of installing and uninstalling whatever you want.
Yeah, but when you boot a linux machine the cpu goes down to 0% load after you log in and stays there. Microsofts bloat runs in the background constantly. A windows laptop turns the fan on randomly when the lid was closed for a fucking day.
They always knew, they just didn’t care.
Or they thought forcing them on you made them money and care about nothing else. Now they’ve realized it’s a net negative.
They will just be replaced with something else that you can’t remove.
Im running Windows 11 on my new laptop. Every major update it’s like:
- PLZ LET EDGE BE UR BROWSER
- BRO PLZ, OFFICE SUBSCRIPTION
- LOCATION?
- Let me just install tiktok and FB apps.
My laptop officially supports Ubuntu, think I might make the switch full time. I don’t game on my laptop and most of it’s use is browser, plex and emails…
First off love the way you described them. Secondly, it reminds me of how microsoft keeps trying to charge my empty fake credit card I use for Xbox game pass. (You need to put a credit card to get any free month so I use a dummy). I get an email when they charge it literally twice a week like PLEASE JUST A SCRAP OF MONEY
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I’ve got a scheduled task that checks every 3 seconds if edge is running and kills it. It’s Called fuckedge.ps1
They’ve always realized, they’ve just never cared.
They did care, they just cared about the money instead.
Yeah what a weird title, they know exactly what they are doing.
Using Windows primarily for gaming, I eventually got tired of some of the issues I had with it (ads appearing in the start menu). I gave Linux a try and it was so so for a while. I kept going back and forth but it’s been 2 years now and I haven’t had Windows installed and can play 90% of my games without issue. I wouldn’t recommend it for everyone. But for those that primarily use their computer for gaming and non-windows specific applications (like web browsing or other various things), Linux is offering some competition for desktop people.
linux seems to work pretty well until it doesnt and then it really doesnt work. seems that there’s still some hardware incompatibility issues
That’s why I stopped using it at home (apart from stuff like like NAS, routers, etc).
This was a few years ago so perhaps it’s been addressed now. I installed Ubuntu and downloaded Steam to install. It wouldn’t. I can’t remember exactly why but I had to find answers online and quickly gave up.
I turned that laptop on over a year later and Ubuntu was out of date and needed upgrading. It couldn’t install the latest version because it needed to upgrade to versions in between, some of which have been moved to archive. I installed Windows 10 instead.
I’m responsible for a couple of Linux servers at work so I’m sure I could have addressed these issues at home, but I really couldn’t be bothered when I have better things to spend my time on. I just wanted a working Laptop that gets used occasionally.
I agree completely. I’ve been lucky enough to have only an issue where Steam keeps my computer from sleeping regardless of power save settings. I’ve had friends that have tried the same set up as me, and for some reason the computer fails to boot after a simple upgrade (apt upgrade). So I really do mean it when I wouldn’t recommend it. But if someones feeling adventurous it can be fun to try out and see if it works for you.
What games fall into the 10% that don’t play?
(Genuinely asking–I’ve been considering the switch.)
It’s mostly going to be games that use anti-cheat software (though some work on Linux.)
So if you’re someone who likes to bounce around to the hot new competitive online multiplayer title then Linux probably wont serve your needs right now. If you can’t think of a single esports title you want to play, once you install Steam and Lutris you’ll probably find nearly everything you want to play works.
That’s awesome news for me then, I hate PVP. Mostly do RPG stuff and things like Crusader Kings III, Rimworld, Stellaris, etc.
Are you (or anyone else) aware of how things like No Man’s Sky might run, or the new Baldur’s Gate, or (if anyone can make a guess) Starfield?
BG 3 runs on the Steam deck, mostly without issues (except for those that aren’t Linux related, like text being hard to read due to the small display and lower frame rate due to the portable hardware).
I run No Man’s Sky on Nobara Linux, installed it on my old laptop that barely gets by on Windows. Really breathed new life into it and I haven’t had troubles.
Just installed it on steam after checking the box for proton compatibility. You might need to run a task kill command if it gets stuck in a DirectX install loop on launch but other than that it’s been smooth sailing for me.
I can say offhand that No Man’s Sky put a lot of extra time and effort into their Steam Deck support so that definitely works. Otherwise your best bet is to check either the Steam listing for a game (check the Deck Verified rating. Anything rated “playable” or “verified” should work pretty seemlesly on any Linux gamingPC) or https://www.protondb.com/ (a user run listing of the compatibility of different games. A good resource and often has some troubleshooting advice. Unfortunately it can often have outdated or just inaccurate information as it’s all based on user reports. Still usually a pretty good indication of compatibility.) There’s no indication on either regarding Starfield compatibility. Given that it’s probably too resource intensive for the Deck it may not get as much special attention from Valve as something like Elden Ring (which ran better on Linux than any other platform after it was out for a few days and Valve had added a patch to Proton to fix an issue that the developers took longer to patch in the game itself.) Chances are pretty good it’ll work though (assuming your hardware can run it.) The Steam page for Baldur’s Gate 3 says it’s Steam Deck Verified so it’ll just work so long as you launch it through Steam. Here’s the protondb page for reference https://www.protondb.com/app/1086940 . Crusader Kings III, Rimworld and Stellaris apparently all have native Linux ports so, while you may find reasons to prefer running the Windows versions with Proton, you don’t actually need to check for any special compatibility. They just are Linux games.
Most of the Paradox games support Linux natively. I play Europa Universalis 4, Stellaris, Crusader Kings 2 (haven’t bought 3 yet but it has native support), Hearts of Iron 4. Victoria 2 doesn’t have native support and I didn’t get Vic 3 but it is supported. Rimworld is native, so is Factorio.
Have a look at what you want to play on protondb.com and figure out if gaming on Linux works for you. Baldur’s Gate 3 has a gold rating (gold being one level lower than platinum - the best rating for non-native games) which for all practical purposes should work.
EDIT: I recommend installing Proton Glorious Eggroll in addition to the native Proton on Steam if you can’t get a game running with the native Proton despite protondb reports saying the game works. The installation is fairly straightforward, just read and follow the installation instructions on the page.
Unless that “hot new competetive title” is CS2. CS2 runs on Linux natively.
Games using Easy CheatEngine (or something like it)
Mostly games with anticheat or very new games. Everything else pretty much just works especially older games. I needed to visit pcgamingwiki all the time to get older games to work on windows but for linux I mostly just visit protondb and find out I don’t need to do anything or need to just put in launch command. System shock 1 was the only game I had to actually go through a process to get it running with audio.
I mean, System Shock is old enough that even on Windows you probably had to futz around with it to get it working, lol.
The biggest one I miss, and it works, but the anti-cheat keeps me from my favorite servers is anything from the Red Orchestra series. I really enjoy their newer game Rising Storm 2 but the vast majority of the servers are protected with an anti-cheat that keeps me from joining. I’ve found a couple servers that don’t use the anti-cheat and I can play on those, but they’re not quite the same as some of the servers I have as favorites that are playable on Windows. Otherwise, most things generally work good, biggest problem is with launchers, and even those can be bypassed or fixed, but I’ve gotten to the point in my life where I just want things to work without having to remember what config files I’ve changed or futz with that may break in the future. The other games that I’ve had that don’t work may as well now, but honestly I’ve forgotten what they were. One that I don’t play, that I know a lot of people do is Destiny and I saw that they’ll ban you if you try on Linux. But I’ve only heard that as I haven’t played that on PC.
Check out protondb.com for a pretty great resource in what games work/kind of work/don’t work on linux (with proton specifically, which is how most people play Windows games on Linux). It’s far more accurate than even Steam’s own “verification” system for Steam Deck.
It’s pretty amazing what they’ve done with it over the past few years.
I would but the only thing holding me back is the lack of HDR support in Linux. Windows 11 is currently the only desktop OS to implement it properly (10’s HDR is a joke), so I’m stuck with it
The ads in Windows 11 are a dogshit feature, but you can turn them off in the settings.
Yea I’ve always found that complaint odd. I just assumed everyone who makes it also has the activate windows watermark, and thus can’t access the option.
a beta build of Windows 11 in the Canary Channel includes the option for the first time to uninstall the Camera app, Cortana app, Photos app, People app, and the Remote Desktop client.
Still no Microsoft edge though…
No longer providing a browser with a consumer operating system is a bad idea. How would you install another browser?
They just need to stop plugging and advertising it so relentlessly.
The package manag- oh it’s windows right
It has built in package manager now (
winget install Mozilla.Firefoxwould install Firefox on clean Win11 installation).IK I was just poking fun at windows, but the average user (a grandma or other non-tech literate person) won’t know it even exists, plus it doesn’t resolve the issue that, aside from a few maybe legal scripts, you can’t uninstall edge. Still a step in the good direction though.
So YoU hAvE tO uSe ThE cOmManD lInE
No, the cli is just a wrapper around the microsoft store app
This is interesting news to me. I’ll have to poke around to see if Windows 10 got one too.
Sure it’s okay they come with a browser, but you should be able to uninstall edge after you’ve downloaded another browser
That’s the Windows 95 lawsuit all over again. They forced internet explorer on people, got sued for creating & exploiting a monopoly, lost, and had to offer people the chance to remove it.
They claimed it’s integral part of the OS, and so were forced to un-integrate it.
I’m sure they will find a way to give users a choice to get rid of Edge, if they
really wanted towere forced yet again.
it’s crazy to think that you can’t just uninstall some apps in the first place even though it would be technologically possible
This is all so foreign to me now. I’m not forced to keep anything on Linux.
How to tell if someone uses Linux? Don’t worry they will tell you.
The Linux and FOSS circlejerk will never end. I’m saying this as someone that uses Linux.
let me know if you want to hang out and jerk off sometime
You know what, I don’t want it to end either. Its great entertainment, both the Linux circlejerkers constantly shoehorning Linux everywhere, and the responding circlejerkers making fun of them, as if the former doesn’t wear it like a badge of honor. Its circlejerking all the way down. A downwards-helix-jerking if you will.
I use Linux btw.
I use Arch BTW. Sorry couldn’t help myself.
I dual boot steamos which I believe is built on arch lol but I don’t use Linux for much tbh I’m a carpet installer and I’m just into tech stuff as a hobby lol
Fuck, editing for proper formatting.
Literally no one cares
I care, that makes one!
I care because I use Arch BTW too
A vegan, Linux using crossfitter walks up to you. What do they tell you about first?
I use Arch btw?
How to tell if someone uses Windows? Don’t worry, they will loudly bitch about how it sucks then proceed to shit on Linux users.
(This isn’t you it’s just something I’m seeing a lot more often lately)
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Seems pretty appropriate in a thread complaining about an operating system.
Sometimes people aren’t looking for a solution and just want to grumble
Article on subject
Someone brings up something relevant to the subject
REEEEE
I mean it’s relevant to windows like taco bell is to McDonald’s.
Plenty of people here don’t use windows so I guess you don’t want diverse discussion on a niche site. Okay makes sense.
It should tell people something that so many Linux users are happy enough with it to want to talk about it.
Computer OS veganism.
If meat eaters complained about meat as much as Windows users complained about Windows…
I don’t understand why A) Linux users can’t be excited to share something they are passionate about and B) Windows users aren’t interested in hearing about an alternative when Windows sucks so bad.
Unlike veganism though it is actually correct
What is “incorrect” about veganism?
Nothing actually, I was just making a stab at vegans because they get so much flak lol.
I actually think the choice to go vegan is awesome, really it’s the ones that just shit on others that rubs me the wrong way, a good bit of Linux users do this as well. Personally I would never use windows unless it was absolutely necessary (I am a DJ and Producer in my freetime and I had a “pooprietary” controller that only worked with traktor, but now Mixxx has support for it so we cool now)
Even then, whenever I did have to use windows for that specific use case, I had it on a dedicated machine running an extremely stripped down version of windows (ameliorated) and it wasn’t a machine that I connected to the internet.
That being said though, I seriously respect people’s freedoms and even if I have different ideas or opinions than someone else, I’m not going to tell them they’re wrong unless it could harm them or something like that.
That being said though, and this could just be me, I think going vegan would be more difficult than switching to Linux in today’s day and age. With Linux you just need to find alternatives and integrate them into your workflow (there’s layers to that of course). With veganism, you have to inspect every single product to make sure it doesn’t contain animal products (which also has layers to it).
Hell with Linux, you can even use WINE to use windows programs, veganism doesn’t have anything like that! You can’t just wrap a cheeseburger in lettuce and call it vegan!
It’s honestly pretty awesome, genuine vegans are really strong people, and although the radical ones had put a sour taste in my mouth at first, over the years as I learned the hardships of their way of life, they definitely have earned my respect!
It’s the new iOS vs Android with everyone acting like tribal high schoolers weeee
Yeah, I was painfully reminded of that when Ubuntu helpfully uninstalled xwayland for me on an ‘apt upgrade’…
Not even systemd?
I just googled “Linux distro without systemd” and google gave me a list of 11 right off the bat without even having to click any links. So yeah, not even systemd.
You can just install another init system
I’m not forced to keep anything on Linux
KNoteshas entered the chat…Edit: apparently it’s not
KNotesproper - just the built-in KDE sticky notes applet that is bundled with the environment and is impossible to remove if you want to use KDE Plasma.I have KDE and I don’t even have KNotes on my laptop. What do you mean?
It’s the integrated AI spying on you that is real concern
I’m a CG artist and I dual boot Fedora on my workstation and run it on my file/license server. I’m very familiar with Linux and it’s great for a lot of things.
A ton of my software runs much better than on windows and I would stay in it if I could, but unfortunately I have software needs that don’t run on Linux and can’t work in a VM in full capacity.
MacBook / Linux Server combo is meta.
I’m sorry, but “I dual boot Fedora,” has to be one of the most hipster/nechbeard sounding phrases I’ve ever heard. Not to besmorch your choice at all, just the way it sounds is hilarious.
Windows 11 Pro, now with NOTHING installed. Windows 11 Pro plus, now with firefox pre-installed so you can clame your system never had edge on it!
Is there a way to disable the ads, news and recommendations yet? Until then I’m not upgrading.
Tbf you can disable all of that so there is barely (if any) difference to win10 in regards to this.
Can you point me in the direction of how disable truly all of it? I don’t want news/ads/recommendations in the start button, bottom bar, icon tray, search results etc.
WinAeroTweaker will let you decide what junk you want to disable.
Disabling all of those are standard settings in Windows 10 and 11.
Most are just right click on the icon/taskbar, opening settings and finding the setting that disables it.
Not entirely. There are many, many hidden telemetry settings that normal users can’t access. It’s why stuff like WPD (windows privacy dashboard) exist. Windows doesn’t let you uninstall most of that stuff either.
Linux is miles better
Who
Linux
Totally agree.
What’s a Linux? The guy from LTT tech tips?
No no, you’re thinking of Linus. He’s the inventor of Linux. Linus Torvalds.
Lemme just compile a response to tbis real quick…
I guess you wanted to make a funny comment, but your computer forcibly rebooted for an update, eh?
