Paint now has built-in AI image bullshit.
Death to Microsoft.
Can’t get rid of Bing web search.
Can’t get rid of recommendations in start menu.
You can disable all that by adding a reg key under HKCU somewhere (can’t remember where exactly off the top of my head). I think you should be able to write to that without admin.
If you can sneak open shell onto your machine I would highly recommend it. It’ll give you a classic start menu from the pre-win8 days and then you can just disable the w11 search bar.
Same
I fucking hate windows, but I have to know windows and macOS for work. I hate windows so much.
Random question, but is there some bit of software like “Windows 11 unshitify” that will just remove ads, AI, and OneDrive?
Not that I’ve found. You can uninstall onedrive and cortana. Ads can be mostly disabled. Copilot can be disabled by editing the registry.
Yeah, it’s called installing a Linux distro (lmao)
But seriously, you can remove a lot of the annoying stuff, like the “Bing!” integration, etc. through regedit commands in command prompt/windows terminal. However, a lot of it gets reinstalled or restored (Microsoft probably calls it “fixing” registry errors…). Plus, there’s an inherent level of “danger” involved when do regedits especially via terminal commands if you’re unfamiliar with what the commands do.
I just view Windows as a dead OS at this point. It hogs resources like crazy, installs tons of spyware and what I’d call malware, and hasn’t really added anything innovative in over a decade. Maybe longer. The windows experience has been basically the same since Windows 7 later updates until now, except it has gotten more cluttered, more ads, just more shit. I dunno what else to say beyond “Consider Linux.”
There’s scripts, but the pattern since Windows 8 is that there’s a cat and mouse game between users trying to unshitify Windows and Microsoft reshitifying Windows to make those third party tools no longer work. You pretty much have to constantly monitor those tools, and a lot of times, people eventually burn out, which means that you need to find new tools made by different people.
IMO the app Everything is necessary if you want to search through your files on Windows 11. Typing in the name of a program I know I have and the first item being “web search” drove me nuts.
Typing in the name of a program I know I have and the first item being “web search” drove me nuts.
Haven’t used Microsoft in a while, what the fuck?
Everything is incredibly useful, however, let me further recommend everything toolbar. It allows for even easier integration into Windows 10/11. The standalone “everything” is relegated to the little notifications area in the bottom right (whatever that’s called. And no I don’t care enough to look it up).
I’ve just started using Linux as my daily OS for non-gaming purposes. MX Linux specifically. It’s Debian with some minimal packages added with the idea being speed and low resource usage from the OS. I was using antiX (I think is the name) but it lacked full support for some of the stuff I needed when doing (light) dev stuff. I work with docker engine, re-writing python code, etc. I like MX Linux though. I also like Debian just generally. If you’re sick of windows, person who may be reading this, try out Linux. It’s come a long way! And there’s a billion flavors of it to offer something for anyone.
Is there an idiot-proof version that doesn’t require hours of troubleshooting to figure out why my Webcam isn’t turning on?
Of what? Linux? I dunno. Try Ubuntu I suppose. Some purists (who are mostly annoying if we’re all honest) shit on it for including non-FOSS packages (or something along those lines- honestly don’t even keep up with the current en vogue complaints). But it works well for end users and is similar (feeling) in operation to Windows.
Manjaro is another option that includes a bunch of “angers the purists, but works regardless” things. I don’t even know why people hate manjaro tbh. Something vague about not using standard arch packages.
I use debian because it’s light, but this is also inconvenient if like you said specific drivers are a concern. Last time I played with Manjaro, it had a ton of built-in Windows drivers support. You could play most games on it as well. It was all pretty smooth from my memory. Although it’s not gonna be perfect unless you’re using drivers or programs written explicitly for Linux. Now days this seems to he more common to see though. I can’t remember the last thing I just straight up absolutely couldn’t make work in Linux.
Pop OS is worth trying. It has a lot of “just works” stuff built in.
Since Linux lets you try it out before you actually install, you can check whether the webcam works before you commit to it.
I’ve never had a problem with webcam on any of my computers FWIW.
