this post was submitted on 02 May 2024
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    I can't believe a paid OS needs a tool like this. Here's a GUI tool called OFGB (Oh Frick Go Back) to remove all the ads in Windows 11. It's understandable if a free OS or app needs ad support, but this is just crazy github.com/xM4ddy/OFGB

    [Screenshot Of a GUI Tool To Removes Ads From Various Places Around Windows 11]

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    [–] [email protected] 229 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (3 children)

    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.

    [–] [email protected] 87 points 6 months ago (1 children)

    Pretty soon it'll want to use your idle cpu net and disk for undisclosed purposes as part of the EULA.

    [–] [email protected] 53 points 6 months ago

    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

    [–] [email protected] 19 points 6 months ago
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    [–] [email protected] 143 points 6 months ago (5 children)

    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.

    [–] [email protected] 103 points 6 months ago (1 children)

    There is a special place in hell for you lol.

    [–] [email protected] 72 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    If they were fake ads like in GTA and Cyberpunk, it could be fun, provided you could turn them on and off anytime.

    [–] [email protected] 45 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (4 children)

    I'll use the Google Ad platform

    From there I'll encrypt all your files and make you watch an ad per file to access your data

    [–] [email protected] 19 points 6 months ago

    Uh sorry, this is a big file. Here's the second, unskippable ad.

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    [–] [email protected] 34 points 6 months ago (1 children)

    And call the script "Windows"

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    [–] [email protected] 23 points 6 months ago (3 children)

    Na just throw ads into system logs. Or do what Ubuntu does and throw an advert every time you run apt upgrade.

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    [–] [email protected] 110 points 6 months ago (11 children)

    Makes me wonder how long till video game load screens are sold as ad space.

    [–] [email protected] 61 points 6 months ago (1 children)

    Thanks for putting this idea forward to the industry.

    [–] [email protected] 19 points 6 months ago

    Oh, please, do you really think they didn't have this idea already?

    [–] [email protected] 48 points 6 months ago

    Delete this comment

    [–] [email protected] 38 points 6 months ago

    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

    [–] [email protected] 28 points 6 months ago (3 children)

    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.

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    [–] [email protected] 17 points 6 months ago (6 children)

    you ever play a mobile game on an android phone?

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    [–] [email protected] 91 points 6 months ago (4 children)

    they used to call this malware

    [–] [email protected] 32 points 6 months ago

    "It's okay when we do it."

    [–] [email protected] 21 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

    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.

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    [–] [email protected] 57 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    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.

    [–] [email protected] 126 points 6 months ago (9 children)

    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.

    [–] [email protected] 28 points 6 months ago

    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.

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    [–] [email protected] 51 points 6 months ago (1 children)

    But how do I stop all the ads in Linux for penguins and wildebeest?

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    [–] [email protected] 40 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    At this point it would be easier to install a new user friendly linux distro...

    [–] [email protected] 65 points 6 months ago (5 children)

    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.

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    [–] [email protected] 30 points 6 months ago (9 children)

    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...

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    [–] [email protected] 34 points 6 months ago (38 children)

    I have win11 on my gaming pc and i don't see any ads. Maybe because i use local account.

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    [–] [email protected] 33 points 6 months ago (6 children)

    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

    [–] [email protected] 28 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (10 children)

    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.

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    [–] [email protected] 30 points 6 months ago (1 children)

    Settings ads? I had no idea it got THIS bad.

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    [–] [email protected] 29 points 6 months ago (4 children)

    Genuinely where is the line for people still putting up with this stuff?

    [–] [email protected] 44 points 6 months ago (1 children)

    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!

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    [–] [email protected] 23 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

    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!

    [–] [email protected] 20 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    The worst thing about the future is that everything is fucking data mining and ads. Yes, EVERYTHING, from cars to fucking refrigerators.

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    [–] [email protected] 20 points 6 months ago (1 children)

    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...

    [–] [email protected] 41 points 6 months ago (1 children)

    Man win11

    I don’t think it comes with man pages.

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    [–] [email protected] 19 points 6 months ago

    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.

    [–] [email protected] 18 points 6 months ago

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

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