TLDR:
Windows 11 v24H2 and beyond will have Recall installed on every system. Attempting to remove Recall will now break some file explorer features such as tabs.

YT Video (5min)

Invidious Link

Original Github Issue

  • recursive_recursion they/them
    link
    fedilink
    English
    294
    edit-2
    5 months ago

    This is absolutely insane
    My condolences to all Windows 11 users.

    It’s becoming common knowledge that:

    • It’s not a matter of if but when will xyz service/application be breached and what are the potential damages it could do to me and others?

    "I assume every online service is not if; it’s when is it going to be breached? Right? So I operate under that assumption, that everything is going to be breached at some point. And so that’s why Recall was so scary to me where it’s like, I don’t care how secure they say it is, like you look at Spectre and Meltdown no one thought these things were going to affect millions of CPUs and here we are, right?

    • Steve from Gamers Nexus

    [Level1Techs] Microsoft Is KILLING Windows | ft. Steve @GamersNexus

    • @BreadstickNinja@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      745 months ago

      I guess I just have to keep Windows 10 with a custom group policy that disables all updates either forever or until I learn Linux.

      Linux gaming is getting to the point that I could consider the switch, but I hear scary stories about Nvidia drivers.

        • riquisimo
          link
          fedilink
          English
          85 months ago

          I had minor issues when I first installed, but I worked them all out.

          Install and give it a week. Seven days. If you can’t get it all figured out by then head back to windows. If you can figure it out, you probably won’t go back.

      • @Cenotaph@mander.xyz
        link
        fedilink
        English
        325 months ago

        I have a GTX 1080 and I’ve been gaming on Linux for over a year now. No issues. Only thing that you cant do is some of the new generation window managers (wayland) but even that is working well in the nvidia drivers that arent on stable yet. In any case, the previous generations window managers work great and if wayland doesnt work properly for you, you can just as easily do without it.

        Point is, its worth it to make the switch. I set my partner up with Linux Mint when their machine didnt qualify for windows updates anymore and they’ve had no problems, games and all. And they would never touch the command line.

        Would recommend

        • mesa
          link
          fedilink
          English
          65 months ago

          Yep same with PoPOS. Great little distro. It’s been my daily driver for years now.

        • @mPony@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          15 months ago

          hey GTX1080 user! Have you been able to get any games running with RTX? I picked mine up used a while back, and I kinda stopped PC gaming ages ago, but it’d be nice to use these features if I could. I haven’t been able to get RTX Portal or RTX Quake 2 to work right via Steam, so i figured the card/drivers just can’t handle it and I should just play vanilla DOOM instead.

          • @Cenotaph@mander.xyz
            link
            fedilink
            English
            45 months ago

            My understanding is the 1080 predated the RTX stuff by a generation, even when I was on Windows I don’t think the Nvidia drivers for the 1080 supported RTX well, if at all

        • ditty
          link
          fedilink
          English
          15 months ago

          Including for sleep and hibernate? Those are what I’ve run into issues with with EndeavourOS and Garuda with my NVIDIA gpu

      • @Senseless@feddit.org
        link
        fedilink
        English
        95 months ago

        Running EndeavourOS with Nvidia on Wayland for some months now. Prior to 555 it was a bit janky at times. Since then, and now with 560, the only issue I’m having is related to sleep/hibernation mode. Game wise everything runs fine.

      • asudox
        link
        fedilink
        English
        9
        edit-2
        5 months ago

        If you have a new NVIDIA GPU (Turing+), you can use the new open kernel module. If you have older ones, I guess you’re stuck with the proprietary or bad unofficial open source ones. The open kernel module works good and gets the job done. No need to be afraid of it. I get over 1000fps in (optimized) minecraft with shaders. I couldn’t do that in windows.

      • @WhiteHairSuperSaiyan@lemmynsfw.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        85 months ago

        I made the switch with my old 1080ti the newer GPUs work even better and mine has given me almost 0 issues with Linux mint. It’s worth the dive. Mint also “just works” so it’s super easy to get into from Windows.

      • The Hobbyist
        link
        fedilink
        English
        65 months ago

        It may have been the case in the past but Ive used both the GTX 680 and RTX 3060 on Fedora with no issue whatsoever. I have veen using the nvidia peoprietary drivers and they work well.

      • @Matriks404@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        3
        edit-2
        5 months ago

        You can run Windows in virtual machine, you know.

        It would be the best if you could have dedicated GPU for it, to be able to run games with nearly 100% performance.

      • @illi@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        2
        edit-2
        5 months ago

        I guess it depends on what you do, but as an awerage user - not really much to learn in terms of Linux. No special knowledge needed to use it like a normal person. I had to reformat some drives so Linux can use them and learning about Heroic games launcher, Lutris and Bottles to run non-steam games and windows software amd learn about compatibility layer built into Steam.

        Otherwise it just works. Using Linux Mint. Didn’t boot to Windows pretty much since I installed it - there was no need.

      • @archonet@lemy.lol
        link
        fedilink
        English
        2
        edit-2
        5 months ago

        I’ve had no significant driver issues with Mint and a 2080, myself. I switched back in February, and most things – games included – just work. The few that didn’t, were easy to fix with some searching on stackoverflow and reddit (about the only thing that site is good for now).

        if an idiot like me can do it, so can you.

      • @RedditRefugee69@lemmynsfw.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        25 months ago

        Try a Live USB and find out for yourself if your distro of choice plays nice with your rig. You could have your answer in an hour or so of following YouTube tutorials.

      • @GoodEye8@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        25 months ago

        As others have already pointed out Nvidia drivers aren’t that bad. The only game I’ve had issues with is Star Wars Outlaws, but I think that has more to do with the game itself than Nvidia drivers (It’s not exactly a stable experience on Windows either).

        The only big thing holding Linux gaming back is anti-cheat, but that’s mostly because AAA developers don’t want to allow anti-cheat on Linux. It’s worth checking out if your favorite online game can be played on Linux.

      • @Crismus@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        15 months ago

        I moved to Linux Mint after a brief stint with Manjaro. I don’t prefer the Cinnamon interface, but gaming has been perfect. Bottles, allows me to install GOG Galaxy and the games run. I even modded Skyrim using a manual process and a ton of animation mods, that worked alright a lot of times with Vortex ( for the most part).

        Linux can handle NTFS partitions, and just take a small line to fix if they are open during a crash. Flatpak software is really stable to install and keep installed.

        I haven’t yet had a problem with steam games.

        The only problem I have is with streaming services forcing Windows usage, so I got a VPN and raised the Jolly Roger to watch streaming services.

        My 3080 plays games fine, and the few times it got a little slow I rebooted and it all worked fine. Discord calls and Twitch work fine. I even take my VA Online appointments with no issues.

        It’s closer to going back to Windows 7 or XP, with a decent free office software.

      • @Passerby6497@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        05 months ago

        Nvidia drivers are the reason I end up going back to windows every time. Once installed they work fine, but installation and updating were always fraught with issues, and would inevitably break and piss me off to the point I gave up and went back to windows.

        Haven’t tried since I got my amd card, but maybe Nvidia Linux drivers are less terrible than they had been.

  • Remmy
    link
    fedilink
    English
    2715 months ago

    Microsoft has been the single most effective marketing asset for GNU/Linux distributions in recent years.

    • @kameecoding@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      725 months ago

      Well Valve was doing too well with the steam deck in that area so they had to trump them, second place is just the first loser.

    • @Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      16
      edit-2
      5 months ago

      Tbf in recent decades.

      Even tho googled-android should have been even more so, but the hardware licence fuckshittery is a huge obstacle.

    • @fuzzyfirefox@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      155 months ago

      So true. I got fed up with all this Recall and AI BS and recently replaced Win 11 (which I upgraded to by accident) with PopOS. No issues so far and PopOS is much faster than Windows.

    • @Freefall@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      105 months ago

      PC gamer for a lot of my life. My old Win8.1 system is slowly dieing and I can play less and less games…win 11 has made me decide to leave the hobby. I may grab a Steamdeck, but I think I am done with PC gaming (and consoles are just shit PCs now). I have a Linux work PC, but I am not bothering with making a gaming Linux rig when I can just go the Steamdeck route.

      • FartsWithAnAccent
        link
        fedilink
        English
        265 months ago

        Steam Deck is great, 10/10, would recommend, but you could also just load Linux on your old system and keep using it.

        • @Freefall@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          45 months ago

          I can better justify taking the out presented and using the Steamdeck for my fix. It will be cathartic lol

      • BombOmOm
        link
        fedilink
        English
        35 months ago

        Just want to add that most games just work on Linux now. Valve has done some amazing work on this front. The Steam deck, or really any gaming PC with Steam, are perfectly good gaming boxes. Check out Proton DB if you want game-specific info.

    • @discount_door_garlic@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      65 months ago

      absolutely. I had tried Linux on various machines long ago but was one of the people that was put off by older distro’s learning curves - I’m now daily driving Linux on both my laptop and desktop and the main push for the switch is microsoft fucking around with settings, installing candy crush after updates (on a paid OS), adding more and more dumb, unsolicited, privacy invading AI bullshit with every feature update, and running like shit on a perfectly adequate machine.

      Modern Linux, with flatpak support? I haven’t looked back once - had to help a friend fix something on a win11 desktop recently and was reminded of every reason I made the switch. Even if I had to jump in the terminal every day like long ago, it would still be worth it to not have bing, copilot, and edge rammed down my throat, whether I want them or not.

      Windows is getting so shitty that completely non-technical users are tired of it… as soon as somewhat open minded users start to experiment and realise that Linux feature and UX parity has been achieved - I hope microsoft fucking collapses and we can all finally walk into the sunlight that open source OSes and software represent.

    • @Eldritch@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      69
      edit-2
      5 months ago

      After all the fud and opposition they’ve pushed against it over the years. It’s nice to see them finally do things to help it.

      Quick edit to add that it couldn’t come at a better time now that there are companies like system 76 out there. Making Linux compatible systems that ship with Linux that you can actually recommend to someone who is a novice to pick up. They may be on a more expensive side. But what’s your privacy worth?

        • Dark Arc
          link
          fedilink
          English
          20
          edit-2
          5 months ago

          Their laptops are built on third party chassis. I have their keyboard and that thing is SOLID. I expect their desktops (that are custom made) are also quite solid.

          Laptops… I’d lean frame.work if you know your way around a Linux installer. That said, there are rumors that system76 is working on a custom laptop chassis (still, framework is hard to beat for modularity).

          Edit: while not specifically QC related… I suspect the things that aren’t really custom built for them might not get the same level of care/might be more on their supplier depending on the issue.

          • @yonder@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            English
            6
            edit-2
            5 months ago

            IIRC Framework can preinstall fedora for you since it’s officially supported. I use Fedora on an AMD Framework 13 and its been very smooth. Even the fingerprint sensor works.

            EDIT: They will not install linux for unfortunately but it is still supported

          • @ownsauce@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            6
            edit-2
            5 months ago

            Also have their keyboard and its amazing. I’ll be doing the same, System76 Desktop and Framework Laptop for my next upgrades.

            • Dark Arc
              link
              fedilink
              English
              25 months ago

              I build my own desktops, but they do sell their case individually. I’ll definitely be considering that for my next upgrade.

          • @NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            English
            3
            edit-2
            5 months ago

            I have a Gazelle12 from 2018 and it’s chassis is dogshit, but when I did my research before purchasing I saw a lot of reviews. They all pointed out that the case was made of flimsy plastic, so I was aware ahead of time of that potential problem. The Oryx Pro was the next Model up for several hundreds more, though. Ultimately, I am happy with my laptop even if I have to disassemble it just to repair the chassis with epoxy periodically. It’s 6 years later and the specs are still more than adequate for 99% of my needs, except for my specific intel processor which isn’t supported by Win11. I consider that a feature as oppose to a problem. The software bloat and planned obsolessence through slowdowns of software on Windows based computers are things I do not miss one bit.

            They have since changed their model lineup and I bet the build quality on the other models today aee much better then the Gazelle of 2018.

        • ℍ𝕂-𝟞𝟝
          link
          fedilink
          English
          35 months ago

          I switched to a Framework 13 after having a system76 Darter Pro, and it’s a whole other league. Incredibly well-built, feels great, runs great, flashy as hell, even the fingerprint reader works out of the box with Fedora KDE.

          I’m sudoing in the terminal with my fingers! It’s magic! And it just works!

          Also, I managed to drop it in the most stupid way so it bent the whole case, and I could get it fixed for 200 EUR, one day shipping and 20 minutes of work by myself, and that was a full casing swap, so bottom assembly plus keyboard assembly, whole case but the mobo and the stuff on it.

          This is what having a laptop should work like. That’s what they took from you.

      • Otter
        link
        fedilink
        English
        15 months ago

        Privacy, security, intellectual property

      • @gwen@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        15 months ago

        After all the fud and opposition they’ve pushed against it over the years.

        what did they do?? i havent heard of this before damn

        • @Jesus_666@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          165 months ago

          They did PR campaigns against Linux and OpenOffice for quite some time – until cloud computing took off and it turned out they could earn more money by supporting Linux than by fighting it.

          In fact, Microsoft weren’t happy about FOSS in general. I can still remember when they tried to make “shared source” a thing: They made their own ersatz OSI with its own set of licenses, some of which didn’t grant proper reuse rights – like only allowing you to use the source code to write Windows applications.

  • Australis13
    link
    fedilink
    1965 months ago

    Okay, this might be a non-issue: https://github.com/ChrisTitusTech/winutil/issues/2697#issuecomment-2403792309

    To those that arrive here from any Youtube or Twitter posts, please know that disabling Recall via DISM works fine, and preserves the modern File Explorer (though some might consider this an anti-feature). CBS correctly disables it, and the disablement is preserved through reboots, just like with any other feature.

    Edit: of course, the big problem here is that it’s still present (even disabled) and hence malware could turn it back on without you realising. Ugh.

    • @RobertoOberto@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      885 months ago

      A lot of unpopular “features” and behaviors used to have DISM, policy, or registry workarounds. And MS seems to love to kill those workarounds during later updates.

      If MS isn’t letting people uninstall it, there’s a reason for it, and I’d be willing to bet that users will one day find that it has been magically re-enabled by an update.

      • @Cornelius_Wangenheim@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        40
        edit-2
        5 months ago

        There will 100% be a policy to disable it. Microsoft may shit on their retail users, but there’s no way they’d force it on their enterprise clients. It’s a security and compliance nightmare and they know it.

        • @doctortran@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          275 months ago

          Problem is disabling it will likely be locked behind the Enterprise edition.

          Kind of like the “Recommended” section in the Start menu. There is actually a way to disable that entirely…if you have an Enterprise license. There is no way to do it on any other version.

          I said it was back when they took Group Policy out of the Home edition: the long term goal is to make truly controlling Windows a premium feature that only corporations can afford, and you see that with the slow elimination of many of those settings.

          • bean
            link
            fedilink
            English
            15 months ago

            So how can users band together to buy enterprise licenses from each other?

    • @narc0tic_bird@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      525 months ago

      Malware could also reinstall it to be fair, or just create screenshots on its own.

      Still smells fishy that Explorer has it as a dependency, “disabled” or not.

      • Pasta Dental
        link
        fedilink
        English
        335 months ago

        Recall is malware, at least according to Malwarebytes!

        Malware, or “malicious software,” is an umbrella term that refers to any malicious program or code that is harmful to systems.

    • @Excrubulent@slrpnk.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      55 months ago

      (though some might consider this an anti-feature)

      To be fair, not everyone would say that, and the only reason you would call it an “anti-feature” is if you had an accurate understanding of the issues.

        • @frazorth@feddit.uk
          link
          fedilink
          English
          95 months ago

          Yeah, you are already running Windows.

          If you still consider Windows Update malware then you completely missed the other 90% of your hostile environment.

      • @DannyBoy@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        125 months ago

        Windows Update is 100% malware by definition. Remember when Windows 7 had a free upgrade to Windows 10? It would force itself into the update queue with regular updates regardless of the user’s permission, and even after x days after the user explicitly said they didn’t want Windows 10. I worked in a computer repair shop in that time. The Windows 10 upgrade that people didn’t want or agree to often failed, breaking the machine. Sometimes we could recover the installation. Sometimes the OS had to be reinstalled. It was intentionally pushing software in deceiving ways to unconsenting users that broke their machine.

        • @frazorth@feddit.uk
          link
          fedilink
          English
          55 months ago

          All of Windows is malware. By default you have adverts in your start menu, you have pop ups (which is not the same thing as Windows Update, pop ups are a service provided by Explorer) which maliciously install unwanted web browsers.

          You can’t support Trump and then claim that only a small part of his following is due to racist bigots.

          You can’t support AI and claim that only a small part of it damages the atmosphere.

          You can’t support Windows and claim that only part of it is malware.

          Windows 100% enables and supports this nefarious behaviour. It’s the abusive spouse trapping you before beating the shit out of you for your own good.

  • @affiliate@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    1705 months ago

    how the fuck could they have possibly done things in a way that makes explorer tabs depend on recall?

    if they can’t even separate out recall from the rest of the operating system then i have absolutely no faith it will be secure.

      • @Valmond@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        62
        edit-2
        5 months ago

        Internet explorer did similar things, try to remove it and the OS would just crash.

        Edit: just remembered it also had direct memory access to make it faster (well, less slow) which was so insanely unsecure on so many levels.

        • @SkyeStarfall@lemmy.blahaj.zone
          link
          fedilink
          English
          405 months ago

          A browser, which is like the prime attack vector for malware and other nasty stuff, having direct memory access is so hilarious in hindsight

          These days you try to sandbox everything as much as possible in the browser since the internet is like the least trusted environment there is

        • nickwitha_k (he/him)
          link
          fedilink
          English
          45 months ago

          it also had direct memory access to make it faster

          WHAT?!! That’s a special level of wbject disregard for security.

    • @octopus_ink@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      215 months ago

      how the fuck could they have possibly done things in a way that makes explorer tabs depend on recall?

      It’s very clearly an intentional move to keep it installed.

  • Match!!
    link
    fedilink
    English
    1645 months ago

    it was vastly easier to install linux mint than it is to figure out registry editing or whatever the fuck i’d need to avoid this

    • Something Burger 🍔
      link
      fedilink
      English
      935 months ago

      Nah, mate, Linux is hard, you need to know what a Wayland is. In comparison, Windows is very simple and lightweight, you only have to run a dozen Powershell scripts and edit the registry weekly to get rid of ads.

    • @explodicle@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      375 months ago

      This is where some Windows shill says “you only need to fix it once!” as if this is your only computer ever, and the only problem you need to fix. And then Windows changes it back to their default in next year’s update.

      • @octopus_ink@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        175 months ago

        And as if it’s entirely reasonable for the maker of your OS to intentionally work against your ability to control your own hardware and what runs on it.

    • @kittenzrulz123@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      link
      fedilink
      English
      34
      edit-2
      5 months ago

      The difference between Linux and Windows is on Linux you’re working with the operating system to make modifications and taking advantage of its vast resources (extensive wikis on major distos, terminal auto completion with fish and zsh, preconfigured defaults when installing through the package manager, etc). Meanwhile on Windows you’re actively working against the system in order to disable unwanted features like AI and telemetry.

      (Also I would recommend looking into Debian, the software may be a tad bit old but its the most stable distribution)

      • @pixelscript@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        28
        edit-2
        5 months ago

        Happy Debian daily driver here. I would never ever recommend raw Debian to a garden variety would-be Linux convert.

        If you think something like Debian is something a Linux illiterate can just pick up and start using proficiently, you’re severely out of touch with how most computer users actually think about their machines. If you even so much as know the name of your file explorer program, you’re in a completely different league.

        Debian prides itself on being a lean, no bloat, and stable environment made only of truly free software (with the ability to opt-in to nonfree software). To people like us, that’s a clean, blank canvas on a rock-solid, reliable foundation that won’t enshittify. But to most people, it’s an austere, outdated, and unfashionable wasteland full of flaky, ugly tooling.

        Debian can be polished to any standard one likes, but you’re expected to do it yourself. Most people just aren’t in the game to play it like that. Debian saddles questions of choice almost no one is asking, or frankly, even knew was a question that was ask*-able*. Mandatory customizeability is a flaw, not a feature.

        I am absolutely team “just steer them to Mint”. All the goodness of Debian snuck into their OS like medicine in a kid’s dessert, wrapped up in something they might actually find palatable. Debian itself can be saved for when, or shall I say if, the user eventually goes poking under the hood to discover how the machine actually ticks.

      • @Lobreeze@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        20
        edit-2
        5 months ago

        Debian is probably one of the worst choices for someone looking to try Linux, especially for gaming.

        Nothing better than setting everything up only to find you can’t install some new thing because your xyz is too old

        • @Omniforous@mander.xyz
          link
          fedilink
          English
          45 months ago

          I was on Debian Sid for a year or 2 and gaming was working perfectly until I did an update that uninstalled my GUI and WiFi drivers. I’m on Mint now and it’s been smooth sailing so far

        • @ITGuyLevi@programming.dev
          link
          fedilink
          English
          35 months ago

          Debian is always my first choice, but I’m not playing the newest stuff (Far Cry 5/7D2D/Ark/etc), while it hasn’t been ‘smooth sailing’, I haven’t found anything that just refuses to play.

        • @kittenzrulz123@lemmy.blahaj.zone
          link
          fedilink
          English
          15 months ago

          Anyone whos new to gaming on Linux is probably using the Steam Flatpak, also stability is more important for newer users then a few utilities that power users (like myself) enjoy.

      • BombOmOm
        link
        fedilink
        English
        1
        edit-2
        5 months ago

        Also I would recommend looking into Debian, the software may be a tad bit old but its the most stable distribution

        I daily drive Mint, which is in the Debian family. Highly recommend it as it is geared for a ‘works out of the box’ experience for people. And the default UI (Cinnamon) is very familiar to Windows users. Complete with a task bar, tray, and searchable start menu.

        Pure Debian is more of a server OS, and not something one should recommend as a daily driver. It’s not deficient in that, but it takes a fair bit of work to get it up and running for daily use.

    • @Zink@programming.dev
      link
      fedilink
      English
      155 months ago

      I absolutely love Linux mint. I use it daily for dev work, but I’d also install it on my mother’s old laptop so she could keep using Facebook on it or whatever.

      • @TheLastOfHisName@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        45 months ago

        I’ve been very impressed by the out-of-the-box experience with Pop!_OS. My Steam games work, and I have Elder Scrolls Online running through Lutris.

        So far, everything just works.

        • @Zink@programming.dev
          link
          fedilink
          English
          25 months ago

          I have to admit that one does look really good too.

          I have a couple of old windows machines at home, so eventually (maybe as a winter project) I’ll need to decide if I want to try some other distros long term.

          • melroy
            link
            fedilink
            45 months ago

            For the people who doesn’t get it (I notice your /s, so you do get it): It’s has a hidden joke. Mate can also mean “friend”. So “Welcome to Linux Mint mate!” can mean two things at the same time. Hence my reply: “Maybe Cinnamon mate!”, where “Cinnamon” refers to “Linux Mint Cinnamon”, but mate just refers to friend/buddy. But Mate can also mean MATE, a classic desktop environment for Linux Mint.

    • @rottingleaf@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      -45 months ago

      I’m thinking of changing my life (to require less of rot-affected computing) and moving to FreeBSD. Even Linux is hard in small ways, even if worlds easier than Windows. Would be OpenBSD if not for games.

      • Aniki 🌱🌿
        link
        fedilink
        English
        165 months ago

        Mate you think BSD is better than Linux for ease-of-configuration – in what fucking universe?!

        • @rottingleaf@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          -4
          edit-2
          5 months ago

          I dunno

          in what fucking universe

          “BSD” is one thing, so can’t answer your question.

          If you meant that Linux has a lot of graphical configurators to do things - GUI is not necessarily easier than editing config files, because config files can be clean and compact and examples well-commented, and documentation can actually describe how to use the bloody thing. It’s just that in Linux this is not the case. While GUI configurators can be hardly usable nonsense and yes, in Linux they mostly are.

          And this difference in wide strokes is indeed common for all 4 BSDs against Linux for things that differ between operating systems.

          The rest sucks just as badly.

          EDIT: I wonder if any person upvoting/downvoting these comments has ever tried the things they are about.

  • @fossilesque@mander.xyz
    link
    fedilink
    English
    75
    edit-2
    5 months ago

    Windows Debloat Tool:

    https://github.com/LeDragoX/Win-Debloat-Tools

    I run this on any new Win install. I also suggest Portmaster so you know where your data is going (I use it on Linux too!)

    https://safing.io/

    However, if you can, it is really worth switching to Linux. Linux is built as a tool by the people using the tool. Windows is making a product. Enough said.

    If people would like to “try Linux before you buy,” check out DistroSea. It spins up a virtual machine of whatever distro and flavour you choose to try.

    https://distrosea.com/

    There are a surprising and growing number of Linux compatible tools. Software is usually why people have a hard time switching. If you’re dependent on Photoshop/Adobe, check out:

    https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve

    Gamers should check out:

    https://www.protondb.com/

    This site shows how well games run on Proton (compatibility tool) and people offer solutions to get them running if there’s any snags.

    • @Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      3
      edit-2
      5 months ago

      NAS is just a Linux machine with fancy storage.
      (I know thats technically not an accurate statement but Im standing by it, I know what I said)

      But for a one-time backup of one pc you just need a disk tbh - and even that one can be the single one in your current pc if you are able to make a partition for either backup or for Linux.

      Like, space permitting, just carve our a partition & transfer there what you would to NAS (or external disk drive, or an additional drive connected to the pc).
      If space is a bit tighter just carve out the few gigs needed to install Linux on that (nowdays for most users “it’s fine”). Then must boot into Linux & use the rest is the drive as is.
      Ofc if you have full disc encryption, raid etc this solutions are slightly more complicated.

      • @DasAlbatross@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        35 months ago

        I wanted to but a NAS system anyways to do house backups and stuff.

        And this system is RAIDed so getting everything on to the NAS will be easiest and start the process of setting up backups for the home.

        • @Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          2
          edit-2
          5 months ago

          Yes, another lost soul coming home to the self-hosted community!!

          May I PSA/strongly suggest going FOSS early on?
          (So not getting a closed software NAS)

          Good luck on your journey!

  • @Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    635 months ago

    I remember them doing this with Internet Explorer back in the 90s.

    “We can’t remove this thing we don’t want to remove! Look! It’s hastily integrated with the OS! We can’t remove it ever!”

  • @utopiah@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    52
    edit-2
    5 months ago

    For years… well pretty much since I had a PC, I had a Windows partition. Why? Well because I (sadly) paid for the damn thing (damn OEM deals). Plus, I admit, sometimes they were things that only ran on Windows.

    For few years now though, everything, literally, from the latest tech gadget to playing games to VR, works on Linux.

    Few weeks ago I deleted the Windows partition. I didn’t have to. I didn’t boot on it for months. It didn’t affect me.

    Still, I now feel … safer, more relaxed, coherent.

    When I see shit like that, I feel even better!

      • BrightCandle
        link
        fedilink
        English
        6
        edit-2
        5 months ago

        Depends on the headset, they don’t all work on Linux unfortunately.

      • @xthexder@l.sw0.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        45 months ago

        It was mostly working 2 years ago when I tried it last. I just had some weird frame dropping issues at the time that I can only imagine were fixed by now. This post is making me want to try VR again on my linux install

      • @utopiah@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        4
        edit-2
        5 months ago

        Yes, I even play VR Windows games on Linux., the latest one released just weeks ago being Subside.

        I’m using a Valve Index but with ALVR even standalone HMDs, e.g. (sadly from Meta) the cheap Quests line. You can find a lot more details on https://lvra.gitlab.io

    • @SynopsisTantilize@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      65 months ago

      Yea about a year ago I switched entirely over to Linux. I am a system engineer so I have to deal with windows at work all the time but on my computer, I feel calm. Like I don’t have to worry about my operating system. Windows is getting in the way more than it’s helping 99% of the time now.

    • JackbyDev
      link
      fedilink
      English
      45 months ago

      Even Windows exes work on Linux now. It took me some time and learning but I got Wine to work with some program from my walkie talkie’s manufacturer and it involves serial programming over USB.

      • @utopiah@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        05 months ago

        Indeed but I very rarely, if ever need it except for some games. Usually there are FLOSS equivalent of most software. They are sometimes worst but often just as good and, obviously, they can be modified. So Wine and Proton are amazing but hopefully needed less and less.

    • Rolling Resistance
      link
      fedilink
      English
      45 months ago

      That’s my situation, except I haven’t deleted my partition yet, mostly because it sits on a separate physical disk. Maybe one day…

    • @Mwa@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      15 months ago

      I have windows on another physical disk and I plan to delete my windows partition in 2025 and start a software raid 0 configuration, sadly linux is not yet ready.

  • @mlg@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    425 months ago

    Explorer has had so many dependencies attached to it that if even one of them sneezes, the entire desktop environment crashes and has to restart.

    Actually insane when you think about it. Why the hell is a file explorer the root process of the desktop???

    I’ve only ever forced stopped thunar once and it was because I was messing with some thumbnail settings. Naturally the rest of my system worked as normal, as well as the other thunar windows open lol.

    • Dark Arc
      link
      fedilink
      English
      335 months ago

      You’ve got until late 2025 before 10 stops receiving security updates. I would not stay long after that.

            • @vividspecter@lemm.ee
              link
              fedilink
              English
              155 months ago

              But yes, Im pretty sure my little server I use explicitly for jellyfin will be fine

              I’m not sure why you wouldn’t use Linux for that. You can make some arguments against Linux on the desktop (although I don’t agree) but Linux as a server has been clearly superior for a long time.

                • Dark Arc
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  115 months ago

                  Because it will run jellyfin, with fewer system resources, and still get security updates (that you can configure to auto install at the correct time) for … free.

                  You also won’t at some point find yourself running such an old version of Windows that jellyfin no longer updates unless you buy the latest version of Windows.

                  You can just go download Ubuntu desktop LTS and do everything by just opening a terminal, plopping that one liner, and letting it run: https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/installation/linux/#repository-automatic

                  I’ll flip the script and ask “why in the world would you use Windows for something that doesn’t require it?”

    • @grue@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      245 months ago

      Switching to Free Software is kind of like planting a tree: the best time was years ago (because you’d be over the learning curve). The second-best time is now.

      • ℍ𝕂-𝟞𝟝
        link
        fedilink
        English
        25 months ago

        That said, it’s getting so much better every year. It’s already ahead of Windows in user-friendlyness IMO, but every year I’m amazed by how much cooler it gets.

        The only thing I can say is that on Linux, you get excited by the thought of updating your system. It’s like a Christmas feeling instead of a Monday one.

      • @RaccoonBall@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        15 months ago

        Agree. And as someone who planted that tree 25 years ago, the shade sure is nice year after year.

    • @macattack@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      45 months ago

      I made the jump last year. There will be ups and downs but I don’t plan on using another OS on my computers ever.