9mo ago

Microsoft is blocking Windows Customization Tools

www.neowin.net Microsoft blocks even more customization apps in Windows 11 version 24H2

Microsoft appears to be blocking even more apps for customizing the user interface in Windows 11 24H2. Users noticed that ExplorerPatcher joined the recently blocked StartAllBack app.

TLDR: StartAllBack, ExplorerPatcher and some other projects are being blocked on 24H2.

One more reason to switch to Linux

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256 comments

I really hate having the taskbar permanently affixed to the bottom of my screen. I've had it on the left side for decades now. They are really throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Someone at Microsoft "Customization is the enemy of progress!"
- I’m on 10 and been a top taskbar guy for years. Are you saying 11 forces you to have taskbar only on bottom?
  
  Correct
  
  Welp fuck. Guess I’ll start looking at Linux but every company I’ve worked for in the past 10 years is ALL Microsoft all the way
  
  Wine does a Lotta shit. I know I have an NTFS drive running on my debian-family machine.
  
  I have no idea what you’re trying to say
  
  Basically, they like to drink wine.
  No. I'm kidding. WINE stands for WINE Is Not an Emulator, and it allows you to run Windows applications on a Linux machine. It's far from perfect, but it can be a lifesaver when switching from Windows to Linux. What user melpomenesclevage is trying to say, is that you can use WINE to significantly blunt the blow / daily usability learning curve when switching, to keep some of your familiar applications as is.
  Edit: here's their site https://www.winehq.org/ the also explain it much better than I.
  
  How you explained it helped a lot. So it basically is a windows emulator but isn't for legal reasons? Lol
  
  Haha no, it's technically not an emulator. Emulation means having a whole fake CPU that runs your software. Wine doesn't do that, instead it makes the windows exe run in Linux and provides an API so the calls your windows program makes run natively.
  Tldr emulation is slow, wine makes your programs run natively.
  I switched to Linux for gaming a year ago and I have been blown away by how good it is.
  
  Not really an emulator, though the end result is similar. WINE translates the instructions sent between the OS and software to languages each other understands. It's like a Babel Fish for Windows programs and the Linux OS.
  
  You can run a lot of windows apps on Linux even if they don't say they're compatible, with a tool called WINE
  Also, it matters less if youre a little tipsy.
  
  Sadly, wine does nothing for my work application.
  
  Then wait until windows breaks it or it technically functions trapped in an unusable shell, and lose everything.
- In Win98 we were able to put the taskbar anywhere natively and even could split those quick launch toolbars out of it and put it on another side by itself. I can't believe MS is constantly removing features. I'm a Linux user for decades now, but I still also use Windows at work and it's always bothered me MS re-invents the wheel so often and every time the wheel looks a bit more like a rectangle.
  
  The taskbar was movable since it was first introduced in Win95. I’ve always had a top taskbar, and will continue to do so in Linux.
  
  I have been missing the ability to split the quick launch and dock it since XP was the last time you could. I had a dedicated auto hiding bar on the right where I put shortcuts to all of my most used folders and applications. I have looked for solutions that brought that functionality back off and on, but never found anything.
  Most things are close, but not quite right, and/or very "bloated" (for what I want it to do, not necessarily for what it was designed to do). It's so dumb.
  
  Just a slight correction, Vista was the last time you could split toolbars off of the taskbar like that, its taskbar was basically the same as XP still. The redesign in 7 was when we lost that ability.
  Will say the docked toolbars did look significantly worse in vista as they all got an wide aero border
  
  Huh, thinking about it I'm not sure if I ever really ran Vista on my main desktop at home, so that would make sense. I think I went from my roided out XP x64 image to win 7 despite using Vista quite a bit when working on customer's PCs. Thanks for the correction, cheers.
- Why? Why even fucking do this? What do they get? And why is their default ux so aggressively terrible?
  
  They want you to use the search instead of a functional interface. That's why they keep making the interface worse.
  It lets them spy on you through bing, allows them to fill the results with ads, and lets them hide system applications unless you know exactly how to find them.
  It's also them gearing up towards funneling the entire UX through copilot for largely the same reasons.
  The entire goal is to flip the operating system from the slave of the user to the master of the content.
  
  As to how rationales go, this is the clearest.
  I hate it.
  
  Yeah that sounds probable, and I'm worried what happens to all the data on windows machines when they do.
  
  Almost plausible, except their search doesn’t fucking work either. I have repeatedly had the experience of typing the exact name of a program I know I have installed only for it not to appear in the incremental results. Sometimes programs will appear if you type less than the full name but then disappear if you dare type all of it. Sometimes the only way for me to find programs I want is to use an alternative launcher like the one in PowerToys. The last time start menu search actually worked was Windows 8.1. I fucking hate it, and it has driven me to make the leap to Linux for my personal computer, I am loving it so far.
  
  That's.... Exactly what I was talking about. Master of the content.
  I am fully aware that the windows search hides things that you are actually searching for. Particularly if they are system preference apps, and it always goes to bing first regardless.
  Also, I bailed as well. I use windows for work and school, otherwise I'm on linux.
  
  Yeah, I think I was actually agreeing with you, I just had a rant that wanted to get out lol
  
  Oh God, I wish that you are wrong! Because if you're right, that answer is horrifying!
- Hmmm, maybe Windows hired some of the GNOME developers
  
  Not even gnome is this fucking awful.
  
  Gnome is nothing like Windows. I honestly can't think of a DE further away from how windows works than Gnome lol. It's KDE and Cinnamon that copied the tried and tested Windows UX paradigm, perhaps you have your DEs muddled...
  The whole ethos of Gnome is throwing out the Windows workflow and going with a completely reimagined one completely unshackled from traditional UX.
  Is this just one of those gnome=evilsuperbad comments
  
  Not the person you replied to, but I think I get his meaning.
  Windows/MS obviously has strong opinion on how the desktop should look like and behave and they're shoveling it to the user hard. Gnome tends to do the same thing, although the UI/UX is completely different. Yet the similarity is in the forceful pushing said concept to the user whether user likes it or not.
  Sure there are plugins for gnome so you can customize it a lot after all, but it requires some tinkering and your regular not tech savvy user won't ever find a way to do so.
  //edit: not hating on gnome. I kind of like its concept and used it for some time, although I don't use it myself as my daily driver now.
  
  The difference being that people go out of their way to use Gnome. People opt in to the developers vision because they see it as a good one.
  Nothing is forced. Gnome doesn't "force" you to do anything, or to use their product. And they allow any customisation you want, they're just clear that they don't provide any support for stuff that you mess around with.
  Windows isn't like that at all.
  
  I don't really agree. Imagine you were happy user of old Gnome 2, like e.g. my father. Then out of sudden Gnome 3 came, totally different in every aspect. What were your options? Either deal with it or get something different. Experienced users might (easily) overcome this, but regular user struggle. In case of my dad it meant return to windows...
  Sure gnome doesn't force you to use it. Neither does MS with windows. You're free to install whatever you like, even TempleOS if you want.
  
  Well you could also disagree that the earth revolves around the sun, but it doesn't make it so.
  MS does force you to use windows. They used anti-competitive practices to place themselves in a monopoly position. They forced their products into schools and governments, they forced it on OEMs, etc.
  Gnome devs aren't your slaves. It's their project and they're allowed to have preferences. If you don't like their decisions, cool. Don't use it.
  If you don't like what they do, don't install gnome. The same goes for anything else in the FOSS world.
  
  What a novel idea. I'm also allowed to have preferences and post them on the Internet. I'm also allowed to have bad takes.
  It doesn't change the fact that GNOME and Windows are defaults in certain spheres of computing. Which tends to people removed about the choices those projects make. Certainly as a home user I'm not forced to use them but what about as an employee or student. But I'm your worldview I should opt to be homeless and uneducated.
  Anyway, my comment wasn't entirely fuck GNOME. Their design philosophy is minimalism and simplicity sometimes at the behest of options. Which is not unlike the choice Windows made here. However, that's not too say that it's always a bad choice, KDE may have too many options. But, yes, I was being a bit tongue in cheek.
  Thanks,
  Original guy you replied to
  
  Of course you're allowed to have preferences and talk about it. I encourage you to do so, I love talking about this stuff and I love seeing people do the same.
  But it's really tiring when the conversation, 100% of the time devolves to KDE users hating on Gnome for zero reason. As if there's only space for one DE and having a choice in the matter is wrong.
  If you don't like Gnome, just don't use it. And try to accept that just because you don't like it doesn't mean it's wrong.
  Trying to equate Windows being a default with Gnome being a default is crazy and you know it. I'm not even going to bother explaining why, it should be so obvious.
  KDE is the default in plenty of situations too. It doesn't mean it's forced either.
  I also never said you should be homeless or uneducated. Please don't lie. All I said was that you aren't forced to use Gnome. Because you aren't. You're lying there.
  Nobody is forcing you to use Gnome.
  
  It's interesting how I never said anything inherently bad about GNOME or good about KDE. I understand the meme is tiring for you and the rest I'll agree to disagree on. I'm aware open source software is not forcing anything for anyone.
  Lastly I'm not lying, it's hyperbole. I'm just using an extreme example to point out how you're stonewalling any response given to you with similar bs.
  
  You remarking that Microsoft must have hired Gnome devs was clearly meant as an insult. Don't play dumb.
  You didn't come onto a submission about MS doing something shitty and say "Microsoft must have hired Gnome devs" as a compliment.
  Gnome wasn't even mentioned, you just shoehorned it in because you wanted to be one of the weird subset of KDE users that get angry that Gnome exists, for some reason.
  And again, it didn't make sense anyway. Gnome is nothing like Windows, it's KDE and Cinnamon that are Windows UX clones.
- Really, did they actually take that feature away. Every executive to touch windows 11 needs fired.
  
  We just need to stop using this garbage. Its not going to get better. Migrate to Linux and hope for support.
- Same. Not being able to move the taskbar, alongside all the other downgrades to it and the start menu is what got me to check out Linux as a desktop OS for real, and not just out of curiosity. So far, I don't see going back.
  And I was even one of the few dozen people who loved Win8. At least there the points that got criticized were due to sweeping and bold changes. Win11 on the other hand feels like the same as 10 but with arbitrary features removed in the core part of the OS.
- I've had it up top for years. Windows 11 is unusable in the current state. The new shell is utter garbage. And they messed up the control panel even more than I thourght possible.

256 comments