Microsoft now permits uninstalling Edge, Bing, and OneDrive to adhere to the EU's Digital Markets Act. ( www.ghacks.net )

These changes are only applicable to users in the EEA. For those outside the region, Windows will continue to function as it is!

The changes to Windows for DMA-compliance include:

  • You can now uninstall Edge and Bing web search using the built-in settings. Earlier, the option was greyed out.
  • Third-party web search application developers can now utilize the Windows search box in the taskbar using the instructions provided by Microsoft and choose any web browser to show results from the web.
  • Microsoft will no longer sign-in users to Edge, Bing, and Microsoft Start services during the initial Windows setup experience.
  • Data collected about the functioning of non-Microsoft apps, primarily bug detection and its effects on the OS, from Windows PCs will not be used for competitive purposes.
  • Microsoft, from now on, will need explicit user consent before combining data from the OS and other sources. It will also deliver new consent screens where required.
Decipher0771 ,

Seriously we did this in 1998, why this again??

Chee_Koala ,

after ‘repairing’ my edge, enabling ‘get updates as fast as you can’ and updating everything, I was able to uninstall edge. Rejoice.

DAMunzy ,

I was surprised I was able to uninstall Media Player on Windows 11. I played a video file on my laptop and accidentally selected “always open with”. Lo and behold Windows Media Player doesn’t play HEVC encoded files (not sure if it was 264 or 265). I thought I would have to tinker with the default program settings but tried “add or remove programs” on a lark and it worked. I then opened the file with VLC as one normally does and life is back in balance.

Inktvip ,

HEVC actually requires a $1 license you can get from the ms store. It’s a royalty thing. OEMs often ship PCs with that license already enabled.

There are more applications than just windows Media Player that won’t play hevc files/streams without that license installed.

VLC doesn’t really seem to care about those things though and it’s better than the default anyways.

DAMunzy ,

Yeah, I should have specified that it could have played it if I paid but I couldn’t remember the amount and I’d rather use VLC.

apfelwoiSchoppen ,
@apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world avatar

I’d say that everyone should use Linux but that is materially impossible for many folks. Microsoft should just make consumer friendly products instead of this bullshit.

Benchamoneh ,

If I set my region to an EEA country is that good enough or do I need to reinstall windows to get this?

ExfilBravo ,

Asking the real questions.

atk007 ,

Well Windows 10 at least lets you create a local user account. you can’t even install windows 11 without having a microsoft online account, because you need a Microsoft account to be able to create a local user.

Ross_audio ,

During setup there is a keyboard shortcut to get to command prompt.

Then a command you can use.

Then the machine restarts and you can setup without a Microsoft account.

(For reference I’m on my dual booting Linux phase. I’d like to ditch it altogether but Wayland isn’t quite there yet and x never will be.)

smolyeet ,

Idk how Reddit links are treated here but here are some good methods (I used the test/fake account like 2 weeks ago)

You can also use Rufus to make an installer that automatically bypasses it but I haven’t used it in a while and not sure if it still works.

glasgitarrewelt ,

Who puts up with this shit anyway? Go buy an Apple. You can eat it while installing Linux.

Joelk111 ,

Had me in the first half.

I stick around with Windows due to shitty DRM and VR compatibility. It’s been a couple years since I last tried Linux, so maybe it’s gotten better. I should probably try it again.

potentiallynotfelix ,
@potentiallynotfelix@iusearchlinux.fyi avatar

ALVR is totally capable at playing steamvr games if you have a quest headset, and htc headsets work aswell as valve indexes

Joelk111 ,

I’ll have to look into ALVR. I’ve got an Index.

I also remembered that I wouldn’t be able to play The Crew 2 due to shitty DRM, as well as Forza Horizon, unless I re-purchase it on Steam, as the windows store edition doesn’t work on Linux (from what I understand). I really don’t want to dual-boot again. I’ll wait just a bit longer for Linux to get better and windows to get more enshitified.

potentiallynotfelix ,
@potentiallynotfelix@iusearchlinux.fyi avatar

The valve index has native linux support so you don’t need alvr or anything, its the same setup process as windows. And for most games with drm, pirate them. its just better.

Joelk111 ,

That’d be wild if it works. Might have to try Linux just for that.

The DRM and Anticheat (that I forgot to mention) games are online, so piracy isn’t really an option so that’s still an issue :/

potentiallynotfelix ,
@potentiallynotfelix@iusearchlinux.fyi avatar

forza 5 cracked works fine if you dont want multiplayer, and the crew might get a crack but still hasnt been cracked to this day

Mr_Blott ,

It’s been a couple years since I last tried Linux, so maybe it’s gotten better

Have been seeing this same comment for two decades now so I’m guessing -

Narrator - “It hadn’t”

Joelk111 ,

It has. It’s been two or three years. In that time the SteamDeck has launched, bringing huge attention to Linux.

The question is whether the things that I want to play have improved.

minibyte ,

That’s great, I’m in! Now, workflow – how do I install Adobe Audition?

glasgitarrewelt ,

That’s the neat part - you don’t! Fuck Adobe.

revisable677 ,

Finally! Always glad to see the EU forcing Tech Giants to be user friendly

guacupado ,

Seriously. The EU is the best thing to happen to the US.

Mr_Blott ,

We kinda see California like someone bought the EU on wish.com, so they’re heading the right direction

Kalysta ,

Awesome. How do I port this ability over to an American PC?

art ,
@art@lemmy.world avatar

One of the reasons I love Linux is that I can install or uninstall any application I want. I don’t even need a desktop let alone a web browser.

bartolomeo ,

https://suppo.fi/pictrs/image/e53b4360-947b-4cc0-8f1f-79090a655e39.jpeg

PixeIOrange ,

With Lynx You dont even need a browser to browse.

UmeU ,

One drive is the one that really ruffles my feathers.

It turns itself back on randomly, which wouldn’t be too much of a problem except for that it fucking remaps the desktop
 a file that was previously located at C:\user\desktop\ is now at C:\user\One Drive\desktop


Note the space in the path, they didn’t even have the decency to use an underscore
 \one_drive\
 even though it’s one of their own rules in powershell scripting.

For those of us using powershell to automate stuff this remapping is a nightmare and should be illegal.

Too bad I am in the US and will just have to continue to get support calls from time to time when a users desktop gets remapped behind the scenes.

Maybe there is a way using powershell and windows scheduled tasks to check to see if one drive turned itself back on, then auto turn it off and remap the desktop back to normal.

The absurdity of having windows check to see if windows screwed itself up, then if so have it fix itself is just laughable.

OfficerBribe ,

Sounds like a weird behavior, are you using Microsoft account for sign-in? Maybe that somehow triggers enabling sync back. Switch to local account if you do not want any benefits MS account gives.

That OneDrive feature is called Known Folder Move and it can be easily disabled. In theory it’s a great feature for most, but I dislike it as well.

I have OneDrive disabled and have never seen it restart automatically.

UmeU ,

I have like 10 machines at 5 different locations. In order to share my 365 subscription across multiple machines, I have to have them signed into a Microsoft account. I need excel and ms access working on all my machines.

It’s happen twice since I implemented windows 11, both times after major windows updates.

Not too much trouble to re disable one drive and switch everything back to normal but it breaks a bunch of stuff for me when it happens.

QuaternionsRock ,

OneDrive redirection is hilariously bad. Official Microsoft documentation recommends against using it. Imagine having that little faith in your own product.

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/d1c10fca-d2a3-402c-b332-1b4211d21b31.jpeg

Simon ,

Why aren’t you string quoting all of your paths anyway? I’m confused because the vast majority of paths wouldn’t work the way you’re suggesting.

squozenode ,

Yeah, I reflexively double quote every path. It’s still stupid though.

UmeU ,

Even something as simple as:

move-item “C:\Users\computername\Desktop\afiletomove.csv” (“C:\Users\computername\Desktop\destinationFolder\newFileName (0:MMddyyyy).csv” -f (get-date))

Stops working as intended when your desktop no longer resides at that path.

Also, I have the same functions running on multiple machines with different names so I have to dynamically resolve the path and piece it together using strings.

Simon ,

Okay, so if your source path changes, your script stops working? Who knew. Try ([Environment]::GetFolderPath(“Desktop”))

UmeU ,

I am using that already, but if I recall, it’s the space in the path ‘\one drive\’ that makes that not work correctly.

Edit: I am actually using $Env:UserName

Simon ,

Yeah the deeper path might help.

Basically the thing to remember about powershell that separates it from other scripts is you want to pipe pipe pipe your data as far as possible so it stays an object, and then output a string at the very end - there’s no tons of awk sed string manipulation like in bash, partly because of what you pointed out with how terminal input is interpreted.

UmeU ,

It’s only happened twice, after updates, that windows turned one drive back on and remapped my desktops. In those cases I have just turned it back off and remapped back to normal. Then env:username works again and I think the only difference is the space in the path with one drive, though it could be something else breaking when the desktop gets remapped.

I’m probably using powershell all wrong anyways because I am an amateur.

I use it to grab a file from an sftp by calling on winSCP, then convert from csv to xlsx using the excel module, then run a bunch of VBA to reformat the file, then save the xlsx with a date stamp. I use task scheduler to run it daily and I have it on like 10 machines.

Works great when one drive doesn’t mess with my desktop path.

kylian0087 ,

You know you can completely disable onedrive using GPOs?. I have done so on a DC i have but it shut also be possible using local GPOs.

DAMunzy ,

That’s so weird. I was just praising M$ to myself because I noticed that they are using \OneDrive\ and \Documents\ now and no spaces to be found.

UmeU ,

Nice that might have been something they fixed.

trustnoone ,

What pisses me off even more is if you start saving too much stuff in your documents/desktop etc you start getting emails from microsoft that your drive is full and you have to purchase more storage (because your harddrive is likely much bigger then your free drive account).

So I know quite a few elderly people who think they now need to pay money to unlock more memory on their computer to save more stuff.

AnUnusualRelic ,
@AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world avatar

I’m always surprised at how brazen the corporations are in the US. That kind of shit wouldn’t fly in Europe.

I spend so much more time reading labels in the US than in Europe (with so much head shaking).

UmeU ,

That’s criminal, preying on the elderly. Basically a tech support scam but it’s actually Microsoft running it

PieMePlenty ,

Can you uninstall safari on OSX?

anon5621 ,

Possible to uninstall any system app actually, if disable system integrity protection.

turkishdelight ,

‘‘Software you can’t uninstall’’ should not be a thing.

kylian0087 ,

Absolutely agree. Look at Linux. Want to uninstall the kernel? No problem! If it is a good idea you can argue about.

weeahnn ,
@weeahnn@lemmy.world avatar

I’ve been thinking about Windows 10 and how it’s support is gonna end in 2025. Might install a Linux distro once it’s time.

apfelwoiSchoppen ,
@apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world avatar

I’ve done it but media creation tools are not up to the same snuff.

weeahnn ,
@weeahnn@lemmy.world avatar

Well, I’ll wait with it for now. Not too long ago, I installed Ubuntu on my spare laptop, but I don’t really use it that often. And before I do switch, I’ll probably go through everything I use and see what the Linux alternative is, unless of course it already works on it.

apfelwoiSchoppen , (edited )
@apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world avatar

A good idea. I rock an Ubuntu variant (Pop_OS!) and generally love it. But wait until you feel comfortable.

phoenixz ,

Install Linux, get rid of Windows and be done with the nonsense

Aganim ,

I work with Linux on a daily basis, both as a server OS and a desktop OS. Unpopular observation perhaps, but I’ve yet to find a distro which provides a more stable desktop experience than Windows 11 does for me. I do enough Linux troubleshooting during the day, after work I just want something that works.

offspec ,

I’m curious what distro you use. I put my partner on fedora, she’s not very techy, and generally speaking she doesn’t really have any issues doing the day to day stuff. The biggest pain point was switching to Firefox and getting its worse profile system to work, but that was not a necessary change just a choice.

CosmicCleric , (edited )
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

I put my partner on fedora, she’s not very techy, and generally speaking she doesn’t really have any issues doing the day to day stuff.

I can second Fedora (the KDE version). It’s been rock solid for me, it works with all my hardware both old and new.

The biggest pain point was switching to Firefox and getting its worse profile system to work, but that was not a necessary change just a choice.

One of the biggest pluses for me was the ability to move my Firefox and Thunderbird profiles from one OS to another, over the decades.

You definitely had to take a few minutes out to massage the profile system to get the old profile to show up again (basically figuring out how to point back to the existing moved profile, and not the new one that a new install creates), but it was well worth doing so, for the portability that it affords.

offspec ,

I also use the KDE spin of Fedora fwiw

asdfasdfasdf ,

What’s wrong with Ubuntu? I’ve used it daily for years.

QuaternionsRock ,

Just installed Ubuntu on both my desktop and laptop last week.

Right off the bat, maximized windows widen and slip the left edge behind the dock whenever it locks, which is infuriating.

Optimus doesn’t seem to be working as intended in my laptop. I also get a bunch of LSPCON errors on every startup.

I haven’t checked yet, but from what I’ve heard, HDR support is also lacking on Linux, which is unfortunate because I have a nice monitor.

asdfasdfasdf ,

I get those are problems for you, but Windows also has many problems. No OS is perfect.

Of those issues, I think the vast majority of users will not have any idea what Optimus or LSPCON are, and wouldn’t care too much about HDR support.

The maximized windows thing - yeah I agree. It’s crazy to me that they haven’t fixed this.

squozenode ,

I can’t stand dock shenanigans, I just froze it to never hide except with full screen video.

phoenixz ,

How do you have an unstable desktop? What card and or programs are you using?

In 20 years of desktops I’ve had issues with Nvidia cards, yes, and currently my KDE has a weird rendering issue where a specific window of my editor can flicker like once or twice a day, which is fixed by clicking it.

KDE4 was a hot mess back in the day after initial release, but it seems they learned their lesson and 6 seems quite fine (upgrading to that soon myself) I’ve mostly done fedora and Ubuntu desktops and honestly they’re a breeze.

So what exactly is it that you’re using that you have so many problems?

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