this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2024

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967

Microsoft is bringing annoying Windows 11 Start menu ads to Windows 10 (www.neowin.net)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

267 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Let's put it this way; when Microsoft announced its plans to start adding features to Windows 10 once again, despite the operating system's inevitable demise in October 2025, everyone expected slightly different things to see ported over from Windows 11. Sadly, the latest addition to Windows 10 is one of the most annoying changes coming from Windows 11's Start menu.

Earlier this year, Microsoft introduced a so-called "Account Manager" for Windows 11 that appears on the screen when you click your profile picture on the Start menu. Instead of just showing you buttons for logging out, locking your device or switching profiles, it displays Microsoft 365 ads. All the actually useful buttons are now hidden behind a three-dot submenu (apparently, my 43-inch display does not have enough space to accommodate them). Now, the "Account Manager" is coming to Windows 10 users.

The change was spotted in the latest Windows 10 preview builds from the Beta and Release Preview Channels. It works in the same way as Windows 11, and it is disabled by default for now because the submenu with sign-out and lock buttons does not work.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience. For what it's worth, I haven't run into laptop problems like those you described.

You've reminded me that people who declare "linux isn't ready" often make the same mistakes:

Expecting Linux to work 100%, with no effort, on random hardware that was built specifically for Windows.
Expecting random google results to yield good guidance on a subject that's well understood by a tiny fraction of those who know Windows. The web is an ocean of bad advice (but there are some worthwhile islands).
Expecting to be able to manage any new operating system as well as the one you've been running your life with for decades.

Proficiency with any tool takes practice. More so when you don't have an abundance of good mentors and pre-packaged solutions for what you want to do with it. That doesn't make the tool bad. It doesn't mean it lacks usability. It mostly just means that you haven't learned how to use it yet.

Edit: Split the rest into a separate comment, since it wasn't really addressing anyone specific.

[+] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

[removed by mod]

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Thats ALL PCs.

Nope. (example) (example) (example)

(And if you don't like ready-made PCs, you can always build your own.)

Alright, fair enough. But then within the linux operating system, it should make those islands official sources for quality information. Make them easier to find.

Heh. It would be nice to have such things handed to us on a platter, wouldn't it?

In reality, there is no central organization in a position to speak for the whole linux ecosystem, and a great deal of the work and knowledge comes from unpaid volunteers acting on their own. Standing out from the noise on the internet is harder than you might think.

However, there are companies selling direct support, and communities focused on specific topics, and wikis run by some of the most popular linux distributions, and classes, and books, and various other good information sources.

And, even if you have no money to spend, you will eventually come across some of the community-maintained gems just by regularly dedicating time to learning. Finding good info gets easier with practice.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I’ve run Linux on custom built gaming computers. You still get all the same problems that dude is talking about. And no, forums and wikis are not a replacement for the os just working. A good analogy for Linux that a friend came up with. “Linux is a tank, it can blast through anything, you can do tons with it. But it doesn’t come with a cup holder. You decide to install one. But when you do so the shift lever doesn’t work anymore. So you move the shift knob over, now the AC doesn’t work. You fix that and now the tank won’t turn right, unless the AC is off.” You get the point.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

I switched over to Linux because I was tired of fighting Windows to make it behave the way I wanted while struggling to solve obscure issues because of meaningless error messages. I use my Linux machine for gaming/work and everything in between. The only reason I boot into Windows these days is for VSTs and Photoshop.

And I'm not suggesting that Linux just works and never has any issues, but it's ludicrous to suggest that Linux doesn't work in a way that Windows just does. If Windows just worked I wouldn't have to fix stupid issues for my family and friends all the fucking time.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

You still get all the same problems that dude is talking about.

Actually, I don't.

And no, forums and wikis are not a replacement for the os just working.

Nobody suggested that.

You get the point.

I get what you're trying to express, but I also have more than a little experience to the contrary. I'm almost curious what you and your friend did that led to things breaking as you described, but it's not important here. Obviously, your mileage may vary, as with any operating system.

In any case, some people would rather learn new things than keep suffering Microsoft's ads, spyware, and bloat. You don't have to be one of them.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

However, there are companies selling direct support, and communities focused on specific topics, and wikis run by some of the most popular linux distributions, and classes, and books, and various other good information sources.

You literally said that.

I use Linux all the time. I have an unraid server in my basement with about 50 docker containers. I run Debian to run a lemmy instance. I use windows for gaming, and I use Mac for software dev. Linux works fantastic for servers. As a desktop os it’s shit.

As for “what we did that led to Linux breaking”, that’s just a hilarious question. Go to your Linux wikis and forums and read there. It will literally just break plugging in the wrong device. This isn’t a “my friend and I”. This is every software dev I’ve ever talked to that has used Linux, including ones that currently use it.

Your last comment there is the exact point I’m trying to make. If you have to learn anything in order to literally make the OS function (e.g. even set up a monitor) then Linux will never go mainstream. That’s just a fact.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

You literally said that.

I wrote several paragraphs in a conversation spanning multiple comments, and you picked out a tiny fragment of one sentence, stripped it of context, and somehow reinterpreted it into a suggestion that forums and wikis are a replacement for an OS "just working". That's your straw man, not mine.

Bye bye.