Look what they need to mimic a fraction of our unshittified experience

Conditioning everyone to see their computers as media consumption kiosks instead of the powerful, productive machines they are. That's where MS OSes are headed. They tried too early with Windows 8 Metro, but they haven't lost sight of that concept.
"My TV shows ads so it's only natural my computer does too." - I bet a lot of people already think like this.
- Pretty soon it'll want to use your idle cpu net and disk for undisclosed purposes as part of the EULA.
  
  The Telemetry collection service does a good job of that already, especially on laptops where it wakes them from sleep, and eats through the battery while idle in a backpack. I've been stung by this many times since Windows 8 - I now unplug then hibernate my last remaining Windows laptop, work-issued.
  Also moved as much personal gear as possible over to various Linux distros a while ago, except my PC where some games cannot detect my sim peripherals & freetrack emulation under WINE
- Ick
- Pretty insightful, and quite possible as people are being trained on the “app experience” vs computing proper.

I want to make a script for Linux that adds ads everywhere. It would be tricky with Wayland but not impossible. It could start by installing browser extensions.
- There is a special place in hell for you lol.
  
  If they were fake ads like in GTA and Cyberpunk, it could be fun, provided you could turn them on and off anytime.
- And call the script "Windows"
  
  I was thinking more along the lines of "optimizer"
- Na just throw ads into system logs. Or do what Ubuntu does and throw an advert every time you run apt upgrade.
  
  Have you tried installing any packages from NPM recently?
- Make it for Hannah Montana Linux plz!
- Like this? What would an ENSH*TTIFIED Linux distro look like?

Makes me wonder how long till video game load screens are sold as ad space.
- Thanks for putting this idea forward to the industry.
  
  Oh, please, do you really think they didn't have this idea already?
- Delete this comment
- EA games have done it already, since early 2000s. Practically any EA BIG game has in-game ads for real brands, all over the overworld billboards
- NBA 2K has had ads in it for a while, though I can't remember if they're specifically in the loading screen or not.
  
  I think EA also did this with the ad boards around the pitch in FIFA one year IIRC
- you ever play a mobile game on an android phone?
  
  "loading" screens
- .
- Just dont look at Ubisoft. 💀
  Ad/promotion appeared in offline games whenever you opened the map...
- Makes me wonder how many seconds till they realise the users won't be able to tell if the game is still loading or it's just monetised delay. Bonus points if a user finds out, lobbies to get it banned and then they just include bullshit extra processing to justify it.
  The future looks so bright.
  
  If its a pc game people will just find a way to turn that off and tell everyone else how to do it.
- https://finalfantasyxv.fandom.com/wiki/Cup_Noodles
  They also had a bunch of Coleman camping gear as a major feature of the game.
  As ad placement went, I thought it was kinda charming and cute. More like a goofy Superbowl ad than an obnoxious "BUY ME NOW!!!" splash screen or pop-up insert. But I'm glad the latest FF7 Remakes didn't continue this trend.

they used to call this malware
- "It's okay when we do it."
- If its pre-installed, its typically called "Bloatware".
  And I remember having bloatware on my machine going back to the 90s. The first really high quality gaming computer I got was a Sony Vaio and it had tons of bullshit excess software I had to mop out of it before I was ready to really use it.
- Is it actually malicious, though? Ads by themselves aren't malicious.
  
  Adware then, which is generally unacceptable in a large full featured paid product.

How the heck did those tools developers figure out how to remove those various ads in windows? Did they do it the hard way, fired up a debugger to reverse engineer how those ads were displayed? That takes some dedication. We in the Linux land have it easy because the source code is available to mess with.
- It's not difficult. Corporations won't put up with this shit and MS knows it, so there are (almost) always documented registry entries or GPO policies you can set to disable this crap.
  But you shouldn't fucking have to. Which is why I'm now on Tumbleweed instead of Windows for my daily driver.
  
  Most likely this IMO, with all the driver and executable signing/integrity checks nowadays I doubt they can get away with patching the system files a la Windows XP style.
  
  Couldn't M$ make corporations deal with it anyways? It's really not like they could just switch to Linux or Mac with their very specific BS piece of software of which every company has their own that runs on Windows only.
  
  This is the third reference to the tumbleweed distro I’ve read today. Sounds like I have a new VM to set up!
  
  Hell yeah brother!) tumbleweed ftw! P.S my top 3 distros is debian tumbleweed gentoo because of WIDE architecture support meaning you can launch it on almost ANY pc out there
- Great question!

But how do I stop all the ads in Linux for penguins and wildebeest?
- Plays unskippable FSF anthem by Stallman
  Join us now and share the software,
  You'll be freeee hackers, you'll be FreEEeeEeEeeee....

At this point it would be easier to install a new user friendly linux distro...
- I love Linux as much as the next guy, but installing a new OS is not easier than downloading a single program and clicking check boxes. No need to be hyperbolic, Windows is bad enough as it is.
  
  Yeah it is easier dude. with windows you have to install the new OS and then open edge and download Firefox then go download the program and check the boxes. With linux mint you install the OS. Idk sounds easier to me
- It boggles my mind how many Windows users refuse to switch to something else and insist on patching together Microsoft's intentionally broken excuse of an operating system...
  
  The usual, I would but games (and proprietary software for work)
  I run a Linux machine literally next to my Windows desktop and yeah it's 98% for my daily usually but that's still a week worth of "Not working" for my year.
  Fallout 3 was hard enough to get working on Windows many moons ago but even with all the "Use Lutris" or "Use Heroic" cries, it'd be easier to run a whole Windows VM than to get it running natively and in the forty minutes of time I have to game, I'd rather just play the game sometimes.
  So, if I have to play in their Sandbox, I'm gonna shit in it first so they don't try to come play too.
  Plus, VR and all that.
  
  Sometimes you don't know how bad your ex really is until you're in a new relationship
  
  For me it's simply laziness, and the fact that I don't use the OS apart from explorer. I think that's the thing for a lot of people the actively use so few parts of the OS that the question wether the OS is intrusive, bloatware free or efficient isn't part of their concern. They, me included, don't tinker, don't optimize, don't script etc. I just start the programs thati use. I probably will give Linux another go with my next PC build though.
  
  The truth is that most people don't really care. A lot of them don't even know what an OS is, they just need a machine that lets them browse the internet, write documents, and maybe play some games. An ad is maybe an annoyance to them, but not one that's going to make them install a new OS. It's not because they're dumb or ignorant, it just doesn't rank that high on their list of priorities (even if we think it should). I think being in these communities kind of makes us forget that a lot of people don't think that much about tech.
  I do think that easy to install/use Linux distros could one day start changing some minds, but that distro won't be one that's popular with current Linux users. You'd basically need something that very rarely requires you to touch a terminal, even for troubleshooting, because that's where people will nope right out.
  On the other hand, this is why stuff like that "look at all the data Google has on you" video are important. For us it's a yeah duh moment, but the average Chromebook user probably has no idea and is rightly surprised about it. Reach people in terms they can understand.
  
  The devil you know vs the devil you don't, I guess. Comfort etc.
  
  Lol right I saw a post about tiny11 iso I was like wtf thats way harder then just installing linux. Microsoft got people brainwashed

I have win11 on my gaming pc and i don't see any ads. Maybe because i use local account.
- Don't you have any news, and other suggestions on the taskbar, lock screen etc? Also, are you in the EU?
  
  No. I am from asia
- I think I finally found it. There aren't (officially) any ads in windows 11 yet, they just changed the wording of the toggle for the start menu to add ads as part of the toggle.
  https://www.xda-developers.com/windows-11-start-menu-ads-avoid/
- the more you use the native implementations of stuff, the more you see it. if you for example, dont use edge, dont use the native task bar/start bar, dont use the microsoft store, dont use any of the built in AI tools, then AD visibily would be minimal.
  A good chuck of the Ad problems is usually fixed by using 3rd party software, be it completely switching OS, or using non native software.
  its like trying to use old internet explorer and complaining about ads, when 3rd party alternatives exist, and of the subset who complains, a chunk refuse to get off IE, and look for ways to mod IE instead of just going 3rd party from the get go.
  
  I mean not using the native taskbar is a bit further than fixing stuff by using third party software. The taskbar is an integral part of the OS. If you’re switching it out then you’re making significant, deep rooted changes to the OS.
- Same. I main a Manjaro mini-PC but have a separate Windows gaming rig. No ads. I did use a reg key to disable start menu web search a while back but otherwise haven’t made any system changes.
- Same but I setup my install by pretending I'm from the UK and that's the only difference I can see
- It's kind of embarrassing to see so many linux nerds talk about ads in Windows 11, like navigating the settings menu is difficult.
  I use linux and Windows. I haven't seen an ad in windows since i installed and disabled them.
  
  1: you shouldn't have to
  2: you have to go to like 6 different places to get most of them and there are still ads for microsoft products baked into the settings menu
  
  It isn't hard but it is tedious because each of the ad settings is in a different location. Like taskbar has its settings which aren't configured in the Settings app where you can turn off the ads. Settings has places in search and another in privacy. Look at the OP image. It's 9 different settings that need to be found and turned off.

Look, I agree, but let's not kid ourselves on our experience not being shitty too 🤣. We're capable of using it only because we're really good at computers, but there are literally millions of people who don't even know or care about knowing how to change desktop background
- there are literally millions of people who don’t even know or care about knowing how to change desktop background
  I'll cede "know", but I heavily dispute "care".
  Plenty of Boomers are painfully aware of how awful the internet has become over the last decade. Hell, they got to experience it before the rest of us precisely because folks who never knew how to migrate off AOL or Yahoo got enshitified first.
  My own mom hates using the computer in no small part because she takes too much of what she sees at face value and ends up with tons of spyware, bloat, and scams rampaging across her laptop. I have to clean it out for her every few months, and I'm constantly fighting with her over what's actually garbage and what she's convinced she needs.
  But the end result is that she just... won't check her email because she hates it. She won't answer her phone because she's afraid of scam callers. She won't trust ANY website, so she doesn't use Amazon or Uber or Netflix.
  It isn't that people like my mom don't care. They care immensely, because modern technology has become unusable for people like her.
  
  Put linux on her computer, i think it would make her a lot less annoyed
  
  I think this is a too much pessimistic point of view. People with difficulties will be people with difficulties, but the fact is that the boomers actually are a little incompetent at it, simply hecause they had to deal with many more pressing things. They wouldn't be stupid to learn as much as your average person wouldn't be, they're just understandably lazy. I too am lazy, so I'll never cook as well as my grandma.
- It's not too bad. They probably wouldn't have Windows either if they had to set it up themselves. My dad has been using Ubuntu for years, but he doesn't know it. It's just a laptop that works as far as he's concerned.
- I would argue there are facets to many people's life that they leave "at default" because they "don't care enough to fix it how they want".
  Take random Linux User XYZ; They still have to nudge their front door to get it open after unlocking, because they're not a home improvement afficionado that wants to look up door repair videos on YouTube and attempt to put a stabilizer of some kind on the hinge. Or, they might accept the terrible interface in their car because they don't know of easy ways to get it replaced with something simpler. Or, they don't have their money invested anywhere because they don't like/trust researching investment tips.
  For us, it's just that computers are something we'll always tune to our preference. For others, it's other things.
- I just saw a post the other day from a guy who dumped fedora because it couldn't be installed with a Bluetooth mouse.
  Allegedly the installer requires a mouse click, and he had no other pointing device. They also said the keyboard navigation was not helpful and was also unable to switch to a console to manually pair his mouse.
  
  I think it might be possible to get around all their menus with just tab and enter, but it's less of a pain with a mouse last I tried.
  He's right, the installer should either make mice work or have a GUI that doesn't expect them.
  
  I think I vaguely remember something about that, but I would be pretty upset if the keyboard navigation was unusable. It is almost as bad as the stupid mouse enabled BIOSs that never work. It doesn't even work on the Dell laptop I have for work. The keyboard navigation is always extra special in those cases and involves a lot of button mashing to get to the correct thing, if I can figure it out at all.
  I don't use wired mice either and had to dig the old gaming mouse out recently so I could get to some menus on a new machine to pair the mouse. I have done the mouse pairing thing through console and it isn't the best experience, especially if you are trying to figure out if things are working in the first place. For me, I could figure it out. For a new user, you are asking a lot.
  Just give me an old school OS installer with simple menus, easy keyboard navigation, and the bare minimum guidance needed to not entirely fuck it up.

Settings ads? I had no idea it got THIS bad.
- When it's against the law to not maximize profit for shareholders we get into some really disgusting territory when you can't innovate anymore and need to squeeze every dime out of everything.
  What the hell is microsuck going to do in another 10 years? Infinite growth is more of a fantasy than working Communism yet we swear it will work somehow...

Genuinely where is the line for people still putting up with this stuff?
- I think that it's one of the benefits of monopoly. People don't think "I wonder if I should start checking out alternatives?" but instead "Damn, that's annoying. I wonder if there's a way to fix this?" Alternatives never even enter their head. See, there's already a tool for the problem in the post!
  
  Yeah sadly, whenever you say PC / Laptop people associate it with windows. You buy one of these, its windows. People dont even know what else is out there.
- Yeah that went out the window when American corpos found out during the pandemic they can literally just keep raising prices for shittier product and Americans just… keep buying it
  Welcome to the end of human society, we’re just getting started. Should have chosen a birthdate a few decades earlier, too bad!
  
  The worst thing about the future is that everything is fucking data mining and ads. Yes, EVERYTHING, from cars to fucking refrigerators.
  
  For bullshit like spinning rims or golf clubs that wouldn't surprise me but it's not like I can just choose not to eat. I HAVE to buy food.
- I think for many people, me included the OS is more or less invisible bc I use so few OS elements. File browser and that's it. Hardly any other gui feature comes to mind that isn't a third party program.
- Putting up with the ads or putting up with the workarounds?
  Since I've been running debloated windows since win 7 it has never bothered me to run a few scripts after install or use a modded iso. But if that wasn't an option I'm not sure if the last few games holding me to windows would be enough.

Lol. I was on 11, haven't seen the ads, probably due to nextdns, even ran the beta versions. But 24.04 came out and upon testing it seems my WiFi isn't crapping out like if used to so I guess I'll stay.
Man win11.. Wtf...
- Man win11
  I don’t think it comes with man pages.
  
  I mean, technically powershell "get-help" but... yeah.

- most people pay for it when they buy their computer.
- MacOS is free and has been for years. Still no bullshit.
- Agreed, they don't even have the cash cow that some other free OSes have in their app stores.

I have used the Chris Titus debloat tool before and it works pretty well.
Really the fact that this is necessary at all is disgusting. Start Menu ads are straight up AIDS. Not to mention curated news feeds in Start and other places. Why not just tell me what my opinions and purchasing habits should be, and eliminate the middleman?
I feel like even novice Windows users would be better off with Pop! OS and Wine at this point.

Sure, but Microsoft has favorable ESG reporting. Your move Nix.

Does anyone know if the EU protects against this? I am in Europe (well Switzerland, so technically not EU, but GDPR etc. nonetheless) and using windows 11 as my daily driver on two machines (one with beta) I have never seen ads.
EDIT: except for the 'finish setting up' stuff after bigger updates, those I do get.
- EU gets Windows 11 'N'. It's gdpr compliantnane doesn't include the ads. I don't know about the telemetry though.
  
  Anyone can install Windows N, just select it during the installation
  I'd still recommend debloating it using some script though
  
  I live in North America, I happen to have bought a Windows 10 license from Microsoft's website.
  If I install the "N" version of Windows 10, my license key doesn't work.
  That being said, give it a try, if it works, great, if not, just install the non-N version and debloat.
  GL everyone.

Ok this is just absurd if there's really file explorer ads

Someone actually downvoted this. That person is a loser and a bootlicker. Sucks to be you!
- Maybe cuz it’s a Windows meme?
  But totally also a Linux meme :) so maybe that was Nadella

If you absolutely MUST use Windows, use it with AtlasOS.
Otherwise, Debian w/ KDE Plasma is your panacea.
- It disables security features!
  That was what I read.
- I’ve read about that one
  https://atlasos.net
  Then there was a similar tool and some discussion about one or the other being either buggy or problematic?
  Also - I remember NTlite or similar was out there and lots of talk of Chris Titus’ debloater - haven’t used any at least not in over 5 years
  
  That was probably Atlas, it disables a bunch of security features as part of debloating, so I wouldn't recommend it unless it's an offline device
- I hadn't heard of Atlas... Looks like it's a debloating tool? Does it work well?
  Debian FTW

Does anyone happen to know what Mastodon client this is? I'm assuming this is on iOS
- TIL you can view and reply to lemmy posts from mastodon
  
  That's the point of the fediverse and activitypub - posts from one platform are federated to other compatible platforms. I know this also includes kbin, but there's probably other platforms.
- Yah, Ivory
  
  Unfortunately requires a subscription :(

Y'all I fucking hate windows but running linux went fine until I had to do some video editing for classwork. Premiere pro, which I had a student license for, obviously out. I go looking for FOSS alternatives because hey i'm sure there's a good linux video editor. I think I ended up settling on Kdenlive. I tried installing it from the ubuntu app store and that version was missing features. I tried installing it with apt-get and then proceeded to spend the next 5 hours trying to fix a missing dependancy that seemed to have just vanished off the face of fhe earth. I'm sure there are workarounds but "able to look through the error logs of the apt-get and track down the problem" apparently wasn't tech-savvy enough to have a video editor, one of the most important types of professional software IMO. (also i spent so much money on games cause proton doesn't play nice with piracy very often). I think lonux is perfect for thw really basic user or for the hyper advanced superuser types, but when you're in the middle it can be a real bitch to work with.
- DaVinci provides Linux binaries
- Blender is low key the best video editor on Linux for future reference
  
  Ooh, I didn't know you could edit videos in Blender. I've been looking to learn how to do editing and Blender's already a little familiar. Thanks!
- While I agree with you that video editing under Linux is seriously lacking, I think that your conclusion
  lonux is perfect for thw really basic user or for the hyper advanced superuser types
  is not justified. There are not that many people who need to use a video editor.
  
  The problem is it's not just video editing, like I would daily Linux if fusion 360 ran natively on Linux, if steam VR wasn't broken, if Adobe apps were made for Linux, and if the slicer I use for 3d printing wasn't such a pain to get running on nix. As things sit now I use Linux for my laptops but for my main desktop I feel pretty stuck with Windows for now, I dual boot but 90% of the time it's in windows.
- Try DaVinci Resolve.
  Also I don't know where you're getting you're piracy from because the only game I've ever found where a crack was confirmed not playing right in Wine was Codex's Denuvo Crack for Puyo Puyo Tetris 1
- Did you try flatpak?
- About the piracy part - try using Heroic or Lutris. Lutris has worked for me every single time without fail, but I did need to take some effort into understanding how wine/proton works on the surface level. Try using GE (glorious eggroll) versions of proton/wine too.
- Skill issue + Ubuntu kinda sucks these days
  
  If you need something in a pinch to substitute a tool you memorized, skill issue is a valid excuse to reject Linux.

I would love another plug and play experience like I get with windows so I can spend my very limited time on playing the games I like out of the box. Any ideas on how I would do that please?
- Get a Steam Deck.
  No seriously, Steam Decks run on an immutable Arch (edit: I thought my steam deck was a Ubuntu distribution until just now when someone corrected me, see how much of a fool I am and yet I still find my steam deck easy to use when I am exhausted and don’t want to troubleshoot/learn new shit!) distro of Linux. Immutable means every update addresses the core of the operating system in a way that you can’t fuck up anywhere as easily as a normal operating system.
  The desktop UI is great, there is a flatpak App Store pre-installed, I mean you can search for Xonotic or any other utility you need and install it in 30 seconds flat. It is just a Linux desktop with decent presets.
  The thing is the Steam Deck doesn’t boot to desktop, it boots to a big picture mode where the UI looks like a console. It is easy to browse your games and it feels like you are using a very focused, locked down device from the likes of Apple or Nintendo, not a full blown portable Ubuntu computer running a slick wrapper around one of the most extensible constructions of software ever made (no unfortunately the Steam Deck isn’t a LISP machine).
  The clever bit though is that SteamOS (basically a Ubuntu distro) has Proton which is designed to emulate windows (closely related to the other windows emulator WINE). This allows you to play the vast majority of windows games on your Steam Deck and because the windows games are ran in a virtual environment…. when you press the power button to sleep your Steam Deck it just pauses that virtual environment which means that ALLL kinds of games old and new that were never designed to be abruptly paused and resumed end up with wayyyyyyy less issues on the Steam Deck than they would if you were running them in Windows natively and trying to do the same thing (with say a microsoft Surface or something).
  I regularly play Steel Panthers WinspWW2 on my Steam Deck. I run it on dosbox which either comes preinstalled on the Steam Deck or is available on the “app store” I can’t remember (not really a store because no one is selling anything).
  https://www.shrapnelgames.com/Camo_Workshop/WW2/WW2_page.html
  ^look how shit this website looks, this is an ANCIENT game running on DOS and it honestly barely runs on native windows anyways, you can’t full screen it without it crashing on windows.
  All I had to do was add the launch file to steam and now I can open up my steam deck, scroll down to WinspWW2 and start playing the best turn based tactical strategy game ever made… on the go….. that came out in 1995 and has been updated continually since and is basically being kept functioning by an elaborate janky lifesupport system that most people with windows computers don’t even want to bother with because the experience of playing the game is too annoying….
  It just runs on my Steam Deck tho!
  The virtual dos environment lets me not have to worry if the game will crash when I pause and alt tab to a different program or abruptly put my device to sleep without giving the game time to save or something…. the Steam Deck just suspends the virtual environment and from the perspective of WinspWW2 no change needs to happen. The program just sits open and frozen waiting for me to press the power button on my Steam Deck and keep playing.
  Not saying you have to do nerdy shit with your steam deck, what I am saying is that you can do whatever you want to with your steam deck and not have to worry that a company like Microsoft is going to take a dump on a nice thing you had worked out between you and your gaming setup.
  Get the Steam Deck it is the best of both worlds, slick and polished when you want it to be, customizable and extensible when you need it to be.
  
  (W)INE (I)s (N)ot an (E)mulator. It's not a virtual environment either. It's just a compatibility layer that wires up calls to Windows libraries to their Linux counterparts. Proton is an enhanced fork of WINE.
  Sleep mode is just... sleep mode, and consumes 10% of your battery per day.
  DosBox runs on Windows, too.
  The Steam Deck is a weak ass PC. I love mine, but it does not compare to a modest gaming PC.
  I haven't gamed on Windows since buying my Deck, but you're testimonial here isn't very convincing. It's a portable gaming device that requires a dock (or hub) to even play on a monitor. It's underpowered by design. Not even all top Steam games run on it.
  
  Arch not Ubuntu
  
  I never considered old DOS games until now. Thank you!
  
  I haven't looked at a steam deck but will have to see about it. I am keyboard and mouse though I have tried control pads before and I cannot use them
- I installed pop_os after Ubuntu murdered itself for undisclosed reasons, quite a nice experience and my setup is notorious for windows because of my mismatch of components. (10+ years of difference in components)
  
  I will take a look thank you
- First, I'd take a look to see if there are any games you really want to play to make sure they're Linux compatible. ProtonDB is a great resource for this. The amount of games that work on Linux is actually pretty great, and the coverage is only increasing. That said, the biggest gap comes from games that require anti-cheat software, since that tends to require Windows. It sucks, since it's a one-sided decision from publishers, and there's not much to do besides keep Windows around, at least in a dual-boot. If you're mostly a single-player gamer, you're probably good to go. If you play AAA competitive multiplayer games, you're probably out of luck. Best to check before getting started.
  Secondly, I'd take a look at Nobara. It's designed from the ground up to deliver what you want: a plug-and-play, out-of-the-box experience geared towards gaming. I can't speak from personal experience, but I've heard good things. I've also heard good things about Pop_OS, which I think makes gaming a priority, too. Linux Mint is also great for offering a smooth transition, but I'm just not sure if there are any hurdles for gaming specifically.
  I'll also add that, while you might need to do some tinkering on Linux, even the regular distros don't actually have it that bad. For the most part, it's enabling an option on Steam, maybe downloading a package, maybe some settings here and there. Yeah, Windows still has it smoother, but it might be worth it to not have to fight Windows elsewhere, like with all the ads and privacy invasions. YMMV. For me, the juice is worth the squeeze, because the squeeze isn't actually that hard once you get a little know-how. :P
  Also... you can dual boot. Say you need Windows for some games, or don't want to futz at all to get them running. You could do that to game or use whatever software only works with Windows, then reboot into Linux for more basic computing. Maybe it's not worth the hassle of rebooting for you, but it's yet another option if you don't want to compromise on gaming, but also don't want to deal with Windows the rest of the time.
- I solved this by getting an Xbox. I start a game, and it works (as long as there's no mandatory updates...). No worrying about system specs, graphics drivers, or anything like that.
  I was all about PC gaming in my teens and 20s. These days, I work all day and have much less free time, and want a gaming system that just works with minimal effort. Consoles handle that nicely.

Not sure if my AdBlock is responsible for not knowing about any of these ads even existing or EU.

lol windows

If only they knew how badly recived ads are inside of a free OS and how careful KDE's devs had to be to ask for donations once a year in a permanently dismissable standard system notification.

I have never seen an ad. I've not put any effort into debloat. It's this all just bs?
Edit: Plenty of down votes for asking a question. Great community guys.
- Not BS but you're probably from EU. Microsoft cannot do this shit there.
  
  That may be it.
- Perhaps you just have a different view on what is or is not an ad. For example when I see a link in the start menu for an app that I did not install, I consider that to be an ad. The most common time this happens is for Office. (Or Microsoft 365 or whatever it is called now.) Also, when I see a 'suggestion' to sign into a Microsoft account to use OneDrive - I consider that an ad. Microsoft aren't telling me about OneDrive to improve my life. They are telling me to improve their profits. And when I type something in the start menu to launch an app, any result that comes up that is not something I put on my computer is an ad. It often will suggest particular websites for example.
  These are the kinds of thing that we're talking about. I'm sure if you're using Windows on a home computer you will have seen these things. (I assume you're talking about ads in Windows. It would be quite something else if you'd never seen any ad anywhere.)
  
  This is my start menu in Windows 11, so I'm also curious about all the hubbub. I will admit I had to get rid of a load of unwanted links when I first got the computer but I've never seen adverts beyond that and that it suggests Microsoft Edge in certain contexts.
  
  Like muhyb says it's likely because EU don't allow this.
  
  Perhaps you just have a different view on what is or is not an ad.
  Always fucks me up when I use someone else's computer and immediately get assaulted by the fucking candy crush ad in the start menu, start grumbling about it and/or ask if they want me to disable it, and the person goes "idk I never noticed it lol"
- I'm in the same boat. USA here and only the initial start menu tiles had junk but removed them long ago. Next time I go on my computer I'll look closer. Maybe my brain just auto filters ads out at this point.

I haven't paid for windows since like 2014. The fuck are you guys doing that you haven't gotten a free legitimate license?

i use windows 11 without that tool and i never get ads like that
clickbait posts are awful
- I think it's just for the cheap version of Windows, like "Home" or whatever.
- "I've never died, so death is just a myth"

Yeah, these Linux ads are getting really annoying.
- How dare people post about Linux in /c/linuxmemes
  
  I read it as a joke, like to think lemmy doesn't need that dumb /s nonsense