But they layer so many unwanted services and bloatware on top that it makes it hard to use. Being forced to be online to log in and forced use of OneDrive confuses new users just as much
It sounds like you’ve read about but not used windows for a while tbh. The going online thing is true, but its not exactly confusing. Not sure what you mean by onedrive, I uninstalled it years ago.
I installed Windows on a device yesterday. I had to switch to the command prompt and type in “OOBE\BYPASSNRO” in order to just not connect it to the internet and skip the Microsoft sign in prompt. And that seems to work for the most part. Sending diagnostic data is still required and not optional but ah well.
A few days ago on another friend’s setup, he didn’t know that this option existed (who does really), so he signed up for a Microsoft account, logged in and his Documents and other folders were automatically getting synced to OneDrive. Now, for you and me, we understand that just uninstalling OneDrive should fix that or even just disable that feature itself. But this is opt-out and not opt-in. And he doesn’t really understand it’s getting synced, he simply sees that there’s oddly increased data usage. This is the kind of person who will have recall enabled without ever realising it exists or even using it, but will still have it as a potential security issue waiting to happen on his setup.
It’s all the opt-ins that Microsoft does. Everything defaults to “yes, do that worst thing possible”. And you and me will probably switch it off, but we’re not the average person. The average person doesn’t understand or care.
Why would you skip online login? It protects your laptop from being stolen, it syncs settings between devices, etc. Do you skip online logins for Android and iOS phones too? Of course you don’t!
Linux Mint and Zorin OS work out of the box for most users. Usually the most complicated part is just the installation process (which can be an absolute pain if the starting system has Intel RST, Secure Boot and Fast Boot all enabled). Of course, more advanced users always can run the risk of breaking something (I accidentally broke my system irreparably at one point when I did a dumb and formatted my Swap for some reason and had to reinstall) but that’s also true of Windows.
Okay, zorin os , not complicated part is not true.
On any Linux 1., try to find where is program main executable is 2. Put that at startup, so thatbsoftwre starts at login 3. Connect HDD and ensure that it’s available in ALL programs , without touching terminal.
These things are trivial in windows.
Linux or the v n zonrin works out of box if you just want to surf Internet.
Isn’t surfing the web the main use case for a large portion of the PC/Laptop user base? Pretty sure for wide swaths of people, “executable”, “startup program” and “HDD” have no meaning. Not saying that’s “right” or “wrong”, just that that’s my observation. You could make the argument that they might as well switch to Chromebook, and in fact, many do.
For intermediate users, there’s a graphical startup program menu for selecting startup apps, at least in Mint Cinnamon. Usually programs for me won’t be able to access my HDD only if I did an even more advanced thing and made a docker instance without permissions - other than that, I’ve been able to connect programs like Steam (Flatpack) to my external HDD without issue. But maybe that’s just Mint, idk.
Idk, I installed fedora 40 some time ago, and many things were broken out of the box. In that regard windows seems a bit more friendly to a new user
But they layer so many unwanted services and bloatware on top that it makes it hard to use. Being forced to be online to log in and forced use of OneDrive confuses new users just as much
It sounds like you’ve read about but not used windows for a while tbh. The going online thing is true, but its not exactly confusing. Not sure what you mean by onedrive, I uninstalled it years ago.
I think you haven’t installed (not used) windows in a while if you don’t understand what he means by the forced onedrive
It’s my daily on 3 of 6 machines, 2 are installs from the last year
I installed Windows on a device yesterday. I had to switch to the command prompt and type in “OOBE\BYPASSNRO” in order to just not connect it to the internet and skip the Microsoft sign in prompt. And that seems to work for the most part. Sending diagnostic data is still required and not optional but ah well.
A few days ago on another friend’s setup, he didn’t know that this option existed (who does really), so he signed up for a Microsoft account, logged in and his Documents and other folders were automatically getting synced to OneDrive. Now, for you and me, we understand that just uninstalling OneDrive should fix that or even just disable that feature itself. But this is opt-out and not opt-in. And he doesn’t really understand it’s getting synced, he simply sees that there’s oddly increased data usage. This is the kind of person who will have recall enabled without ever realising it exists or even using it, but will still have it as a potential security issue waiting to happen on his setup.
It’s all the opt-ins that Microsoft does. Everything defaults to “yes, do that worst thing possible”. And you and me will probably switch it off, but we’re not the average person. The average person doesn’t understand or care.
You’re not forced to use either of those, IIRC. Just set it up without connecting to the internet or without signing in.
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No, there are no facilities for installing W11 offline or without a MS account anymore. MS removed those.
Can still use the “Shift + F10 and type OOBE/BYPASSNRO” option. A non-online method is still necessary for corporate environments that use Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) or other tools to image computers in bulk. See more details here: https://www.tomshardware.com/software/windows/door-slammed-on-last-remaining-easy-windows-11-local-account-setup-workaround
But god forbid someone ever has to open a Linux terminal.
Not any more
I don’t think you RC
The last time I had to setup a Windows profile (late last year on my then-new laptop), that was the case. Has that changed?
Why would you skip online login? It protects your laptop from being stolen, it syncs settings between devices, etc. Do you skip online logins for Android and iOS phones too? Of course you don’t!
yes, I do
“Online login protects your laptop from being stolen” is the most unhinged broken logic I’ve read in a while ngl
Are you trolling? Or completely ignorant?
Linux Mint and Zorin OS work out of the box for most users. Usually the most complicated part is just the installation process (which can be an absolute pain if the starting system has Intel RST, Secure Boot and Fast Boot all enabled). Of course, more advanced users always can run the risk of breaking something (I accidentally broke my system irreparably at one point when I did a dumb and formatted my Swap for some reason and had to reinstall) but that’s also true of Windows.
Okay, zorin os , not complicated part is not true. On any Linux 1., try to find where is program main executable is 2. Put that at startup, so thatbsoftwre starts at login 3. Connect HDD and ensure that it’s available in ALL programs , without touching terminal. These things are trivial in windows. Linux or the v n zonrin works out of box if you just want to surf Internet.
Isn’t surfing the web the main use case for a large portion of the PC/Laptop user base? Pretty sure for wide swaths of people, “executable”, “startup program” and “HDD” have no meaning. Not saying that’s “right” or “wrong”, just that that’s my observation. You could make the argument that they might as well switch to Chromebook, and in fact, many do.
For intermediate users, there’s a graphical startup program menu for selecting startup apps, at least in Mint Cinnamon. Usually programs for me won’t be able to access my HDD only if I did an even more advanced thing and made a docker instance without permissions - other than that, I’ve been able to connect programs like Steam (Flatpack) to my external HDD without issue. But maybe that’s just Mint, idk.
Most desktops have a graphical startup editor