Microsoft Recall is now an explorer.exe dependency
TLDR:
Windows 11 v24H2 and beyond will have Recall installed on every system. Attempting to remove Recall will now break some file explorer features such as tabs.
YT Video (5min)
This is absolutely insane
My condolences to all Windows 11 users.
It's becoming common knowledge that:
"I assume every online service is not if; it's when is it going to be breached? Right? So I operate under that assumption, that everything is going to be breached at some point. And so that's why Recall was so scary to me where it's like, I don't care how secure they say it is, like you look at Spectre and Meltdown no one thought these things were going to affect millions of CPUs and here we are, right?
[Level1Techs] Microsoft Is KILLING Windows | ft. Steve @GamersNexus
I guess I just have to keep Windows 10 with a custom group policy that disables all updates either forever or until I learn Linux.
Linux gaming is getting to the point that I could consider the switch, but I hear scary stories about Nvidia drivers.
I have a GTX 1080 and I've been gaming on Linux for over a year now. No issues. Only thing that you cant do is some of the new generation window managers (wayland) but even that is working well in the nvidia drivers that arent on stable yet. In any case, the previous generations window managers work great and if wayland doesnt work properly for you, you can just as easily do without it.
Point is, its worth it to make the switch. I set my partner up with Linux Mint when their machine didnt qualify for windows updates anymore and they've had no problems, games and all. And they would never touch the command line.
Would recommend
Nvidia drivers are mostly OK now.
I use Garuda and NVIDIA gives me no troubles
If you have a new NVIDIA GPU (Turing+), you can use the new open kernel module. If you have older ones, I guess you're stuck with the proprietary or bad unofficial open source ones. The open kernel module works good and gets the job done. No need to be afraid of it. I get over 1000fps in (optimized) minecraft with shaders. I couldn't do that in windows.
Running EndeavourOS with Nvidia on Wayland for some months now. Prior to 555 it was a bit janky at times. Since then, and now with 560, the only issue I'm having is related to sleep/hibernation mode. Game wise everything runs fine.
I made the switch with my old 1080ti the newer GPUs work even better and mine has given me almost 0 issues with Linux mint. It’s worth the dive. Mint also “just works” so it’s super easy to get into from Windows.
It may have been the case in the past but Ive used both the GTX 680 and RTX 3060 on Fedora with no issue whatsoever. I have veen using the nvidia peoprietary drivers and they work well.
You can run Windows in virtual machine, you know.
It would be the best if you could have dedicated GPU for it, to be able to run games with nearly 100% performance.
I've had no significant driver issues with Mint and a 2080, myself. I switched back in February, and most things -- games included -- just work. The few that didn't, were easy to fix with some searching on stackoverflow and reddit (about the only thing that site is good for now).
if an idiot like me can do it, so can you.
As others have already pointed out Nvidia drivers aren't that bad. The only game I've had issues with is Star Wars Outlaws, but I think that has more to do with the game itself than Nvidia drivers (It's not exactly a stable experience on Windows either).
The only big thing holding Linux gaming back is anti-cheat, but that's mostly because AAA developers don't want to allow anti-cheat on Linux. It's worth checking out if your favorite online game can be played on Linux.
I guess it depends on what you do, but as an awerage user - not really much to learn in terms of Linux. No special knowledge needed to use it like a normal person. I had to reformat some drives so Linux can use them and learning about Heroic games launcher, Lutris and Bottles to run non-steam games and windows software amd learn about compatibility layer built into Steam.
Otherwise it just works. Using Linux Mint. Didn't boot to Windows pretty much since I installed it - there was no need.
Try a Live USB and find out for yourself if your distro of choice plays nice with your rig. You could have your answer in an hour or so of following YouTube tutorials.
Worst thing is you may have to learn downgrade commands on PopOS if a game breaks with driver updates.
I moved to Linux Mint after a brief stint with Manjaro. I don't prefer the Cinnamon interface, but gaming has been perfect. Bottles, allows me to install GOG Galaxy and the games run. I even modded Skyrim using a manual process and a ton of animation mods, that worked alright a lot of times with Vortex ( for the most part).
Linux can handle NTFS partitions, and just take a small line to fix if they are open during a crash. Flatpak software is really stable to install and keep installed.
I haven't yet had a problem with steam games.
The only problem I have is with streaming services forcing Windows usage, so I got a VPN and raised the Jolly Roger to watch streaming services.
My 3080 plays games fine, and the few times it got a little slow I rebooted and it all worked fine. Discord calls and Twitch work fine. I even take my VA Online appointments with no issues.
It's closer to going back to Windows 7 or XP, with a decent free office software.
Nvidia drivers are the reason I end up going back to windows every time. Once installed they work fine, but installation and updating were always fraught with issues, and would inevitably break and piss me off to the point I gave up and went back to windows.
Haven't tried since I got my amd card, but maybe Nvidia Linux drivers are less terrible than they had been.
Microsoft has been the single most effective marketing asset for GNU/Linux distributions in recent years.
Well Valve was doing too well with the steam deck in that area so they had to trump them, second place is just the first loser.
Valve is holding the carrot, Microsoft the stick.
Tbf in recent decades.
Even tho googled-android should have been even more so, but the hardware licence fuckshittery is a huge obstacle.
So true. I got fed up with all this Recall and AI BS and recently replaced Win 11 (which I upgraded to by accident) with PopOS. No issues so far and PopOS is much faster than Windows.
PC gamer for a lot of my life. My old Win8.1 system is slowly dieing and I can play less and less games....win 11 has made me decide to leave the hobby. I may grab a Steamdeck, but I think I am done with PC gaming (and consoles are just shit PCs now). I have a Linux work PC, but I am not bothering with making a gaming Linux rig when I can just go the Steamdeck route.
Just want to add that most games just work on Linux now. Valve has done some amazing work on this front. The Steam deck, or really any gaming PC with Steam, are perfectly good gaming boxes. Check out Proton DB if you want game-specific info.
absolutely. I had tried Linux on various machines long ago but was one of the people that was put off by older distro's learning curves - I'm now daily driving Linux on both my laptop and desktop and the main push for the switch is microsoft fucking around with settings, installing candy crush after updates (on a paid OS), adding more and more dumb, unsolicited, privacy invading AI bullshit with every feature update, and running like shit on a perfectly adequate machine.
Modern Linux, with flatpak support? I haven't looked back once - had to help a friend fix something on a win11 desktop recently and was reminded of every reason I made the switch. Even if I had to jump in the terminal every day like long ago, it would still be worth it to not have bing, copilot, and edge rammed down my throat, whether I want them or not.
Windows is getting so shitty that completely non-technical users are tired of it.... as soon as somewhat open minded users start to experiment and realise that Linux feature and UX parity has been achieved - I hope microsoft fucking collapses and we can all finally walk into the sunlight that open source OSes and software represent.
Not effective enough, it seems.
I'm so fucking glad I switched to Linux this year.
Thank goodness for Linux.
After all the fud and opposition they've pushed against it over the years. It's nice to see them finally do things to help it.
Quick edit to add that it couldn't come at a better time now that there are companies like system 76 out there. Making Linux compatible systems that ship with Linux that you can actually recommend to someone who is a novice to pick up. They may be on a more expensive side. But what's your privacy worth?
Switched a few months ago and glad I did
Okay, this might be a non-issue: https://github.com/ChrisTitusTech/winutil/issues/2697#issuecomment-2403792309
To those that arrive here from any Youtube or Twitter posts, please know that disabling Recall via DISM works fine, and preserves the modern File Explorer (though some might consider this an anti-feature). CBS correctly disables it, and the disablement is preserved through reboots, just like with any other feature.
Edit: of course, the big problem here is that it's still present (even disabled) and hence malware could turn it back on without you realising. Ugh.
A lot of unpopular "features" and behaviors used to have DISM, policy, or registry workarounds. And MS seems to love to kill those workarounds during later updates.
If MS isn't letting people uninstall it, there's a reason for it, and I'd be willing to bet that users will one day find that it has been magically re-enabled by an update.
Malware could also reinstall it to be fair, or just create screenshots on its own.
Still smells fishy that Explorer has it as a dependency, "disabled" or not.
Recall is malware, at least according to Malwarebytes!
Malware, or “malicious software,” is an umbrella term that refers to any malicious program or code that is harmful to systems.
(though some might consider this an anti-feature)
To be fair, not everyone would say that, and the only reason you would call it an "anti-feature" is if you had an accurate understanding of the issues.
Its odd to call Windows Update "Malware".
Windows Update is 100% malware by definition. Remember when Windows 7 had a free upgrade to Windows 10? It would force itself into the update queue with regular updates regardless of the user's permission, and even after x days after the user explicitly said they didn't want Windows 10. I worked in a computer repair shop in that time. The Windows 10 upgrade that people didn't want or agree to often failed, breaking the machine. Sometimes we could recover the installation. Sometimes the OS had to be reinstalled. It was intentionally pushing software in deceiving ways to unconsenting users that broke their machine.
Linux is here to welcome you
Man, I cling to Windows like nobody else, as I didn't have any advertising issues and such, but this will be the final straw.
It's already enough of a spying system but I refuse to have it as a spy on crack.
Time to read into distros.
As far as Linux distros are concerned, really, any distro is just a package manager with repos and a set of default utilities. Essentially, a distro is an opinion on how you should use your system, not a law. Now prepare for my ADHD-fuelled stream of consciousness (which I wrote instead of getting any work done, yay):
Stay away from Arch and Gentoo for your first distro. These are basically meme distros, especially Gentoo. They allow for a lot of flexibility and building a really minimal install, but come with install-time complexity you really don't need. Try them later on if you're interested. Stay away from nixOS for now too, although it's also awesome.
Essentially, you have two main packaging types: RPM (used by Fedora/RedHat's dnf, previously yum and (Open)SuSE's zypper) and deb (used by apt mostly, dunno if others).
Either one is fine, but I think you'll probably find more software available as debs. But the difference barely exists and with GUI apps you can usually install a flatpak anyway (more on this later).
Everything deb/apt comes from the Debian lineage.
You have Debian, the granddaddy of stability, releases come every few years and are tested thoroughly. After package freeze, only bugfixes and security updates usually get added. Then you have Ubuntu, a fork of Debian with more frequent releases as well as Long-Term Support releases every 2 years. Ubuntu used to be the most recommended beginner distro, but it's no longer the case - not just because it has ads in it, but also because it pushes Snaps over Flatpaks AND occasionally tries to force Snaps over regular packages (again, more on this later).
Then, much like Ubuntu has forked Debian, others have forked Ubuntu. There's Linux Mint - used to have the same release cadence as Ubuntu, but now they only base their releases off Ubuntu LTS versions. Really, it's Ubuntu without all the commercial stuff Ubuntu's been pushing. And they maintain their own desktop environment(s), but you can get those elsewhere too. There's also Pop!_OS which is developed by System76, a laptop manufacturer. It used to come with its' own customizations on top of Gnome, but now they're creating their own desktop environment altogether, which is currently in Alpha 2. And then there's KDE Neon, which is also based on Ubuntu LTS, but it ships the latest version of KDE Plasma desktop environment, rather than whatever version is in the latest Ubuntu LTS.
On the rpm side, you mostly have two families for non-enterprise users: Fedora, which has a similar release cadence to Ubuntu, but apparently keeps packages more up to date between releases and OpenSuSE, which has Leap (new versions every year, with critical bugfixes and security updates in the meantime) and Tumbleweed, which is rolling release, so you just get the latest version of every package that has been tested, rather than having to wait for a new release. Tumbleweed gets updated just about every day. There's also Slowroll, which gets big updates monthly, but can still get bugfixes between those.
For just about any distro, you can get just about any desktop environment. Ubuntu and Fedora default to Gnome. KDE Neon is pretty much just meant to be used with KDE Plasma. Pop!_OS defaults to customized Gnome unless you get the alpha version of the new COSMIC desktop. OpenSUSE defaults to KDE Plasma.
For Ubuntu you get variants like Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, etc, for whatever desktop you want, or you can switch alter (apt install kubuntu-desktop for an example). For Fedora, you can get a Fedora Spin, like Fedora KDE Spin for an example. Or you can similarly switch: dnf install @kde-desktop-environment. Same goes for all of them, really.
Desktop environments: The two big ones are KDE Plasma (close to Windows in default appearance, but a lot more customizable, and more functional straight out of the box) and Gnome, which as of Gnome 3 is just... unique, I guess. It's different. Then on the "Help I'm running this on a computer from 2004" side you have things like XFCE and LXQT. (Xubuntu, Lubuntu get their names from these). Those work just fine too, just a bit less eye candy. There are a lot more of less mainstream ones like Budgie or Enlightenment, but you can worry about those later.
Now, why did I mention Flatpaks and Snaps earlier? Those are sandboxed package managers. A package comes with a sandbox of its' own, and Flatpak or Snap keeps a copy of all the libraries it depends on, instead of using system libraries. This means that 1) There's never a version conflict between what's installed on your system and what the application uses and 2) You have multiple copies of some libraries (Flatpak and Snap both I think do try to deduplicate though so if two applications use the same version of a dependency, it keeps one copy stored). 3) You can install applications your distro doesn't even have a package for.
Both also keep system resources out of reach of the applications, so they're more secure to some degree if you don't trust an application. This comes with limitations, too - sometimes you NEED your application to have access to something that's limited in Flatpak or Snap. You can sorta fix this with flatseal for Flatpak, but it's not perfect.
The real problem with Snap, besides having a proprietary backend vs Flatpak where you can use either Flathub or another application store with it, is that Ubuntu is starting to force it upon you - including for applications you may not want to run in a sandbox at all. You'll run apt install firefox and it'll play a trick on you and install the Snap instead of the deb. You lose some control over your system and how you use it. You can override this, but it's possibly more work than you'd want to take on as a brand new Linux user.
At the end of the day, I recommend using either OpenSuSE Tumbleweed (if you want latest and greatest always), Fedora, Linux Mint, or Pop!_OS. If you really want the latest and greatest KDE Plasma and don't want Tumbleweed, then KDE Neon might make sense for you.
There's plenty to read up on but I think starting with any is a good place. You'll find stuff you dislike. I'd recommend setting up ventoy on a USB (it will let you have several linux images on one thumb drive) and testing out most importantly the desktop environment (DE).
Main ones being KDE, GNOME, and cinnamon that comes with Mint (which is a great first distro to test).
If you end up having questions feel free to DM me
I try to jump on Linux for years, it breaks so often for me I really lost all faith...
Check out Aeon and Fedora Silverblue. I'm installing Aeon on Desktops and MicroOS on Servers. My computer needs to be a reliable tool. Immutable distros make it exactly that.
The last thing I want to do in my free time or during my work day is be forced to fiddle with some poorly documented and/or implemented idiocy on my personal computer because I forgot to cast the correct incantation prior to updating something. I'm not a masochist.
EDIT To the hesitant but hopeful Windows+Nvidia user: give Fedora Kinoite a try. Check my reply to @independantiste@sh.itjust.works below for details.
Things seem to have improved in the last 5 years, so maybe give it another shot. I'm on Fedora 40 with gnome and lots of extensions, and I'm constantly tinkering with it to make it look just right (for fun, not that I feel like I have to). Nothing catastrophic has happened yet!🤞
unfortunately it isn't. I cannot imagine a less welcoming and beginner friendly community. the reason no one uses Linux is because your communities are indecipherable and you all act like everyone is or should be an engineer in computing.
I spent much of yesterday getting Debian to work on my old MacBook.
In theory it's relatively straightforward, but there are so many little niggles and roadblocks that it really sours the experience.
I set up a user account upon install, as it asked me to, but when I tried to do something with sudo it just kept telling me that I wasn't in the Sudoers group. Mine is the only account on the machine, why isn't that set up by default? So I searched for a solution, which appears to have a bunch of different ways to do it, but none of them quite worked, or worked first time. The first few solutions involved using the terminal, but in the end it was easier to open the document in the file manager and edit it as a root user. Linux users are hard for using a terminal when they could just open a document in a text editor.
In the end I got everything set up how I wanted, but it probably shouldn't have taken a whole day of irritation.
No, we don't. When people use words you don't understand to ask and answer their own questions, the solution is simple - say that you are a newbie and ask your question in your words. Just ask additional questions when you don't understand something. Politely, and not like "you nerds, nothing works, help me asap".
EDIT: Who downvoted this? People really expect others to specifically limit their speech to what a random lurker can understand? And think that using words they don't understand for interactions not involving them makes a community toxic?
Dear Troll, if that were the case askubuntu wouldn't be a thing.
Have you tried Linux Mint Cinnamon? It's about as beginner-friendly as it gets, has help forums, a dedicated chat built-in for getting help, a welcome screen that walks you through how to do updates/backups/firewall/etc, and works out of the box. I'm an ex-Windows user and I've been using Mint for almost a year now with practically no issue.
That's a horribly wrong idea of us that everyone seems to have.
how the fuck could they have possibly done things in a way that makes explorer tabs depend on recall?
if they can’t even separate out recall from the rest of the operating system then i have absolutely no faith it will be secure.
It's so you can't rip Recall out without ruining Explorer, and possibly other things
how the fuck could they have possibly done things in a way that makes explorer tabs depend on recall?
It's very clearly an intentional move to keep it installed.
it was vastly easier to install linux mint than it is to figure out registry editing or whatever the fuck i'd need to avoid this
Nah, mate, Linux is hard, you need to know what a Wayland is. In comparison, Windows is very simple and lightweight, you only have to run a dozen Powershell scripts and edit the registry weekly to get rid of ads.
And some Windows update would "accidentally" undo that anyways.
This is where some Windows shill says "you only need to fix it once!" as if this is your only computer ever, and the only problem you need to fix. And then Windows changes it back to their default in next year's update.
And as if it's entirely reasonable for the maker of your OS to intentionally work against your ability to control your own hardware and what runs on it.
The difference between Linux and Windows is on Linux you're working with the operating system to make modifications and taking advantage of its vast resources (extensive wikis on major distos, terminal auto completion with fish and zsh, preconfigured defaults when installing through the package manager, etc). Meanwhile on Windows you're actively working against the system in order to disable unwanted features like AI and telemetry.
(Also I would recommend looking into Debian, the software may be a tad bit old but its the most stable distribution)
Happy Debian daily driver here. I would never ever recommend raw Debian to a garden variety would-be Linux convert.
If you think something like Debian is something a Linux illiterate can just pick up and start using proficiently, you're severely out of touch with how most computer users actually think about their machines. If you even so much as know the name of your file explorer program, you're in a completely different league.
Debian prides itself on being a lean, no bloat, and stable environment made only of truly free software (with the ability to opt-in to nonfree software). To people like us, that's a clean, blank canvas on a rock-solid, reliable foundation that won't enshittify. But to most people, it's an austere, outdated, and unfashionable wasteland full of flaky, ugly tooling.
Debian can be polished to any standard one likes, but you're expected to do it yourself. Most people just aren't in the game to play it like that. Debian saddles questions of choice almost no one is asking, or frankly, even knew was a question that was ask*-able*. Mandatory customizeability is a flaw, not a feature.
I am absolutely team "just steer them to Mint". All the goodness of Debian snuck into their OS like medicine in a kid's dessert, wrapped up in something they might actually find palatable. Debian itself can be saved for when, or shall I say if, the user eventually goes poking under the hood to discover how the machine actually ticks.
Also I would recommend looking into Debian, the software may be a tad bit old but its the most stable distribution
I daily drive Mint, which is in the Debian family. Highly recommend it as it is geared for a 'works out of the box' experience for people. And the default UI (Cinnamon) is very familiar to Windows users. Complete with a task bar, tray, and searchable start menu.
Pure Debian is more of a server OS, and not something one should recommend as a daily driver. It's not deficient in that, but it takes a fair bit of work to get it up and running for daily use.
I absolutely love Linux mint. I use it daily for dev work, but I’d also install it on my mother’s old laptop so she could keep using Facebook on it or whatever.
I'm thinking of changing my life (to require less of rot-affected computing) and moving to FreeBSD. Even Linux is hard in small ways, even if worlds easier than Windows. Would be OpenBSD if not for games.
What the actual fuck, microsoft?
"We're entitled to everything to do, every scrap of data, everything you create, so we can feed our AI to make even more money, because you are making the mistake of using our product. If someone does hack our systems and steals all your data, who fucking cares? You aren't me. I still get paid."
-Microsuck execs.
Windows Debloat Tool:
https://github.com/LeDragoX/Win-Debloat-Tools
I run this on any new Win install. I also suggest Portmaster so you know where your data is going (I use it on Linux too!)
However, if you can, it is really worth switching to Linux. Linux is built as a tool by the people using the tool. Windows is making a product. Enough said.
If people would like to "try Linux before you buy," check out DistroSea. It spins up a virtual machine of whatever distro and flavour you choose to try.
There are a surprising and growing number of Linux compatible tools. Software is usually why people have a hard time switching. If you're dependent on Photoshop/Adobe, check out:
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve
Gamers should check out:
This site shows how well games run on Proton (compatibility tool) and people offer solutions to get them running if there's any snags.
DaVinci Resolve is not a replacement for Photoshop/Adobe as a whole, but it is a decent replacement for Adobe products AfterEffects and Premier.
For Photoshop alternatives, I'd start with GIMP for photo editing or Krita for illustration and digital painting.
I'm still on Windows because my drawing app of choice is Clip Studio Paint, which has no Linux version. I've read and watched several guides to getting CSP running on Linux, but it still scares me off.
But this Recall thing is so insidious to me... I might try to get it working on Linux anyway.
For Photoshop alternatives, I'd start with GIMP for photo editing
I have always felt that GIMP was the ultimate software Camel. As in, designed by a committee to include everything and the kitchen sink without any coherent UI/UX.
It’s the software industry’s 1965 Lada masquerading as a 2024 model.
If it wasn’t for Paint.NET still missing vectorized/sprite-based text (it instantly rasterizes text the moment focus leaves it), I don’t think I could ever use GIMP.
I love Krita!! I put my specialty software into a virtual machine, aka the shame box. You can disable networking for it. 😈
I've been a LONG time user of Adobe, grew up with PhotoDeluxe and pre-suite Photoshop and used every version of Cretive Suite since my parents ran a graphic design business. I made all my high school essays in InDesign CS4. Suffice to say, growing bitter over proprietary software in the last few years has been painful but I'm doing my best to move to only FOSS.
There was a point in time I tried replacing Premiere with DaVinci Resolve, but I quickly noticed it was oriented for color correction, and some of its features for composition were locked behind Fusion. These days, if you can believe it, I do all my video editing in Blender. It's still got a long way to go, but since v4 the VSE has gotten really good. I'd like to try kdenlive when I finish migrating to Linux, but on Windows it basically doesn't support GPU encoding which is a dealbreaker for me.
Adobe Fresco is replaced quite well by Krita. It has a learning curve but is far more powerful as a result. I'm still learning but I'm impressed.
I don't really like Scribus, but I don't really have a need for software like InDesign, so I haven't had to worry about it.
I've used Inkscape way back just because it was portable when Illustrator wasn't. It was pretty minimal back then but I can see it's grown greatly in depth. The workflow is enough to be disruptive, but not too badly to work through I think.
And finally the titan, Photoshop. It's such a massive and ubiquitous software that it simply cannot be replaced by any single program. At least since I moved to drawing in Fresco I don't use PS for that, but again Krita is a fine replacement. Pixel art in PS is very normal too, but that's replaced quite nicely by Aseprite, it's more capable in that space and still quite easy to use if you don't know its features. It's the photo editing and general purpose image editing that's the real challenge. I keep hoping that version 3 of GIMP will magically fix its problems, but in the meantime it's frustratingly clear that it's built by software engineers, not artists, but it's often made out that it's everybody else's burden to forget everything they know and start from scratch to learn its special workflow. There's an interesting patch someone made called PhotoGIMP that's supposed to improve that, but I haven't spent enough time with it to really say. Currently my only alternative is Photopea. It works great right now, but I don't like that it's a web app and not FOSS. I really hope I can eventually find an alternative that I can finally be comfortable with.
For me I would start with affinity while not in linux but it's OK on wine can be a bit buggy tho but you need to compile a custom version of wine and no hardware acceleration support and it's possible they are gonna release a linux build as well.
Just want to weigh in on Resolve. I was able to get the free version running on Mint, but the free version can't do H.264. I then bought Resolve Studio, but activating the license did not work so I ended up on Windows for video editing.
I also had to switch back to Windows for Affinity, as I have been using Photoshop for years and I have yet to find another piece of software (excluding Affinity) I can move at speed in.
Once I get the content creation off Windows, I can probably leave it behind for good.
Linux is built as a tool by the people using the tool.
And that's exactly how it feels to non-programmers or not-enthusiasts jus trying to exist.
And those devs (not all but more or less most) will troubleshoot and gear it towards how they see fit with less newbie testing.
And all the webapps work well on Linux, so you have the MS office apps and the apple iCloud apps (by just having an account there). Even for photo editing, there are web app solutions, these days.
Ahahaha, holly fucking shit.
They literally added some OS in their spyware.
Welp. Time to buy a NAS to back up all my stuff and rebuild this pc with Linux.
NAS is just a Linux machine with fancy storage.
\
(I know thats technically not an accurate statement but Im standing by it, I know what I said)
But for a one-time backup of one pc you just need a disk tbh - and even that one can be the single one in your current pc if you are able to make a partition for either backup or for Linux.
Like, space permitting, just carve our a partition & transfer there what you would to NAS (or external disk drive, or an additional drive connected to the pc).
\
If space is a bit tighter just carve out the few gigs needed to install Linux on that (nowdays for most users "it's fine"). Then must boot into Linux & use the rest is the drive as is.
\
Ofc if you have full disc encryption, raid etc this solutions are slightly more complicated.
I remember them doing this with Internet Explorer back in the 90s.
"We can't remove this thing we don't want to remove! Look! It's hastily integrated with the OS! We can't remove it ever!"
For years... well pretty much since I had a PC, I had a Windows partition. Why? Well because I (sadly) paid for the damn thing (damn OEM deals). Plus, I admit, sometimes they were things that only ran on Windows.
For few years now though, everything, literally, from the latest tech gadget to playing games to VR, works on Linux.
Few weeks ago I deleted the Windows partition. I didn't have to. I didn't boot on it for months. It didn't affect me.
Still, I now feel ... safer, more relaxed, coherent.
When I see shit like that, I feel even better!
VR works on Linux? Thru Steamvr?
Depends on the headset, they don't all work on Linux unfortunately.
It was mostly working 2 years ago when I tried it last. I just had some weird frame dropping issues at the time that I can only imagine were fixed by now. This post is making me want to try VR again on my linux install
Yes, I even play VR Windows games on Linux., the latest one released just weeks ago being Subside.
I'm using a Valve Index but with ALVR even standalone HMDs, e.g. (sadly from Meta) the cheap Quests line. You can find a lot more details on https://lvra.gitlab.io
Yea about a year ago I switched entirely over to Linux. I am a system engineer so I have to deal with windows at work all the time but on my computer, I feel calm. Like I don't have to worry about my operating system. Windows is getting in the way more than it's helping 99% of the time now.
Even Windows exes work on Linux now. It took me some time and learning but I got Wine to work with some program from my walkie talkie's manufacturer and it involves serial programming over USB.
Indeed but I very rarely, if ever need it except for some games. Usually there are FLOSS equivalent of most software. They are sometimes worst but often just as good and, obviously, they can be modified. So Wine and Proton are amazing but hopefully needed less and less.
That's my situation, except I haven't deleted my partition yet, mostly because it sits on a separate physical disk. Maybe one day…
I have windows on another physical disk and I plan to delete my windows partition in 2025 and start a software raid 0 configuration, sadly linux is not yet ready.
The best windows debloater is delete system32 and install Linux,.
Explorer has had so many dependencies attached to it that if even one of them sneezes, the entire desktop environment crashes and has to restart.
Actually insane when you think about it. Why the hell is a file explorer the root process of the desktop??????
I've only ever forced stopped thunar once and it was because I was messing with some thumbnail settings. Naturally the rest of my system worked as normal, as well as the other thunar windows open lol.
Looking at you microsoft store rdp manager. Crashing explorer when I dare to leave something in the clipboard.
There is a setting somewhere IIRC (or at least there was) where you can separate file browser processes from the "main" explorer.exe process so you can kill individual Explorer windows but not the whole environment.
Yes. It is (or at least it was, don't know about Windows 11) in the Folder Settings.
Looks like I picked the right year to switch to Linux on my primary pc.
Switching to Free Software is kind of like planting a tree: the best time was years ago (because you'd be over the learning curve). The second-best time is now.
That said, it's getting so much better every year. It's already ahead of Windows in user-friendlyness IMO, but every year I'm amazed by how much cooler it gets.
The only thing I can say is that on Linux, you get excited by the thought of updating your system. It's like a Christmas feeling instead of a Monday one.
Agree. And as someone who planted that tree 25 years ago, the shade sure is nice year after year.
Same here.
I'm using Arch btw
I made the jump last year. There will be ups and downs but I don't plan on using another OS on my computers ever.
So.. how does this exist in corporate environments where PCI DSS is necessary? Is the government also going to have to deal with fallout from this?
I wonder if there will ever be a point where legislation dictates features from an os vendor.. we lost control of our hardware when they started forcing updates. I'm sure someone will hack a DLL or something to allow explorer to run but kill this component... But should we really need to hack our systems to protect ourselves from spying?
Inb4 Linux - I ran Slackware in the early 90s, and my server still runs a deb based distro.. but when I want to play Forza, I'm pretty limited with my choices, etc.
Microsoft: We're going to arbitrarily require TPM and SecureBoot and say that makes Windows 11 more secure even though that's a feature of your motherboard, not our operating system.
Also Microsoft: In Windows 11 the file explorer program depends on a program that periodically sends us screenshots of your screen.
So secure!
I've been wondering this too. Will there be a way for company policy admins to somehow remove this fully? I work in an industry that deals with very sensitive and private information - no way in hell this would ever even remotely be allowed or pass any audits. Even just existing but being disabled could be problematic.
But big companies aside, how will this impact small companies who have no real in house IT? The potential for it to be capturing and storing stuff like, as you say anything required by PCI compliance, could turn into a nightmare. We also know this will inevitably be hacked or used by spyware somehow, someday, too no matter how secure they say it may be. So now a bad actor can recall an entire day work and data capture from a worker?
Wondering the same here. I work in an extremely regulated industry as well. We have MS as a strategic partner but haven't even deployed win 11 yet.
That said we have a deal to use co-pilot and also chatGPT. Both in a unique version that is compliant with company policies. Co-pilot integration into teams is not quite recall level but similar, think video transcripts, meeting and chat summaries, etc. I have no clue how this works practically but I assume there are some strict contracts regarding training data and data usage in place.
From my understanding, you can prevent Recall from running just fine, you only can't remove it.
OS level malware. I suspect it will be turned on in an update a few years down the road. And then MS will be caught, say "whoops my bad!" And pay a 100 million dollar fine after their new valuation on the stock market of 5 trillion dollars.
how the fuck do you even begin making recall a dependency for explorer?
Easy. For example: You could take something stupid like the controller for the background colour, move it into the recall.exe and have the file explorer reference the function inside the recall.exe. So whenever someone deletes the recall.exe the file explorer will crash because it can't find how to set it's background.
It's complete bullshit, but it would work. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
screw Microsoft..i hope people will consider to switch to Linux
I have a long term project to migrate my machines, and the introduction of recall pressured me to move faster, but I still have some hurdles to overcome that just require a time sink on my part.
Yay am dualbooting linux with windows 10 but man I love the flexibility of linux.
I'm on win10. I use win11 at work and I'm fine with it but there's no way in hell recall is going on my home machine and equally no way in hell I'm getting a computer just to get win 11. Im fine using Linux. I will definitely do that before put with with this bs
I switched to Linux mint about 6mo ago now. No regrets. Works so smooth
I'm done with the project requiring me to keep Windows. But going back to Linux after 15 years is like starting new. Ik mint was always considered one of the best for novices. Any others?
I love winutil. Makes debloating windows a lot easier.
Does it remove recall?
Installs Debian.
MIT license:
Explore a beautiful Windows-first design. Manage all your files with increased productivity. Work across multiple folders with tabs. And so much more.
It looks nice, and has extra features like tabs, tagging 7zip/archive management, cloud drives, git integration, comparing file hashes, etc.
The only issue I had was performance, it took a long time to start each time. I'm planning on trying it again sometime later
Whoa. I wonder if explorer can be ripped out entirely and replace with this
explorer.exe is still used for desktop and probably other stuff as well, so it might not be possible without using 3rd party shell replacement and not many exist.
So, I just bought a new laptop. It came with Windows 11. But anyways, I'm writing this comment from a freshly installed Bazzite Linux OS.
No judgement here; but it always bothers me when a laptop only comes with Windows preinstalled, when 1) it makes the device more expensive, and 2) I don't need it.
I didn't have much choice. Where I am imports are heavily restricted and the market is not very keen on alternatives anyways. I already had a slim number of options to begin with. Importing a linux first brand, a used thinkpad or a fancy framework as is the fashion on the first world would've cost me about three times what I paid for the model I got, and I already got it with a bit of overcharge. Just on port fees, taxes, etc. Trust me, I did my research and this was the best performance and compatibility with linux for money I could get where I am. Windows 11 license cost is not even a factor, we just don't get a choice to not factor it in the price.
Glad I moved away from Windows on all my personal computers. Fedora with Plasma is so similar to Windows and so much better. If my non-tech partner can use it, then anyone can.
Only problem is that Windows is better at resizing content on high resolution (4K) monitors. And ordering multiple monitors on the login screen doesn't always work right, but it's fine once logged in. And it takes a bit more to set up than preinstalled Windows that's on most computers when you buy them. But if it was preinstalled and set up already for the hardware like Windows usually is, it would be way better for nearly everyone.
I’m not sure how it works for KDE and sddm but on gdm it is possible to copy the monitors.xml config file to a certain directory to fix that. After doing so, the login and lock screen settings are synced between the desktop environment and display manager. Not sure how to do it for sddm but I’m sure there’s a way, maybe a script with the correct xrandr commands could solve that.
Edit: monitors.xml, not x11.conf
I hope every SWE looks at this and remembers how not to conduct oneself.
I doubt it's the engineers who are demanding that this atrocity exist.
The issue is that people who find an issue with it and don't want to do it will get told off by management. Then management just replaces them with someone who is willing to do it (for job safety, or simply because they don't care)
Thats just how big tech is
Wow this doesn't affect me at all thank fully
Who is fully?
Someone deserving of his thanks, clearly
As much as I would love this to kick MS in the backside, it won’t. The public at large has no idea what this is or why it’s bad and evil. They will buy a computer, it will come with Windows, and they’ll use it like they always have. Companies and Govts will gripe initially, but give in because their ancient VB enterprise apps only run on Windows.
Fuuuuuck....well....my laptop was my last windows device. It came with 11 installed, and the only reason I keep using 11 is because I have had no success in running my DAW in wine. Guess it's time to give it a go again....
If DAW means Digital Audio Workstation, have you tried Ardour?
I've been using Fruityloops for over 20 years. I've tried loads of stuff, but my workflow is pretty stuck in the FL ecosystem. I haven't tried Ardour yet, definitely willing to give it a go, but when I'm in the mood to punch something out really quick, I already know all the keybinds, how things interact etc etc. I've started using Sunvox a bit. It's a modular synth/tracker runs one everything shy of an actual potato....I think doom is the only thing I know about that runs on more systems than Sunvox. But it's painful when I want to just diddle something quick that's stuck in my head.
Might be a stupid question but this requires a NPU right? I told some fellas about it and there response was something like does not matter because they have older hardware so it can't run anyway. So what happens to win 11 PCs with no NPU?
AFAIK Windows 11 requires TPM 2.0, which in and of itself limits hardware ('cos who cares about ewaste, right?), but am unaware of anything hardware-specific for "AI".
Your PC needs the following minimum system requirements for Recall:
- A Copilot+ PC
That links to https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/copilot-plus-pcs#faq1
Copilot+ PCs are a new class of Windows 11 AI PCs that are powered by a turbocharged neural processing unit (NPU) – a specialised computer chip for AI-intensive processes like real-time translations and image generation – that can perform more than 40 trillion operations per second (TOPS).
Recall does not utilize NPU, people got it running on pre X Elite Arm PCs.
Is it possible to disable this organization-wide for the handful of windows devices we have? Or do we have to subscribe to some kind of device management service from MSFT? We currently use standard o365 subscriptions
From the video sounds like it can be prevented from running, just not removed.
So, iirc, recall was a copilot+ PC "feature". Will this recall integration be the case on "normal" x86 PCs as well?
I moved all my personal stuff over to linux Windows about a year and a half ago. Unfortunately, there's still a few things in my life that requires windows...
Edit: I can't type, apparently
The companies will do anything to make having the ai capacities built locally an acceptable thing via "cool" features like this or apples, and I think it is because once the devices can do the processing locally, it allows them to stop processing it themselves on their servers. This will also allow them to use microphone and why not camera data as additional data points without having to send and process the actual microphone data. The only local software is open source AI implementations that are being used by FOSS applications, with no network access.
To me this isn't about shareholder value and buzzwords, this is just the excuse to shove it into the OS. It's a more long term game they are playing: the one of reducing their costs and improving the value/accuracy of the data that they get, since it will be pre-digested 100% locally in the background, which is not limited by network latency and bandwidth.
What happens if you copy explorer.exe from a prior release of Windows and replace the recall-infested version?
At that point why bother? Either accept it and move on, or axe the partition and start browsing forums full of furry pfp gentleanimals advising you on how to fix your latest issue with your new linux installation.
Incompatible DLLs most likely.
What's an alternative to explorer?
Unfortunately, just switch to Linux is not an option.
You can prevent recall from running and collecting data, you just can't remove it entirely without breaking some features. I don't think you can replace the file explorer, it's your desktop n stuff as well as file exploring, but preventing recall from running might be your best bet. Or, alternatively, if you don't use the features that you lose in file explorer by removing recall then you might be fine just removing recall and continuing on.
I was thinking about disabling explorer from running or at least kill it at boot up. And then using an alternative file explorer and task bar.
Good thing I don't use Tabs.
Good thing I don't use explorer. (Free commander ftw!)
THIS IS WHY I AM STILL ON WINDOWS 10 AND DUALBOOTING LINUX
Judging by the comments in this thread this will be the one defining mistake that kills Microsoft.
Nah, Lemmy is not really representative of the wider Windows userbase. The willingness to switch away from Windows is definitely going to be far higher in those who were willing to switch away from Reddit.
It will, however, add more users to the critical mass that has previously prevented Linux from being mainstream. Already we are seeing more and more software adoption. The average Facebook/word processor user can use Linux with no issues. And the average gamer can use Linux with minimal problems as well. Hell, the dominant PC gaming handheld runs Linux, not Windows. That itself is damning.
This was not the case 10 years ago, and it is clear what path is being forged.
Just use explorer patcher on win,10 22h2, fixed
Just like systemd became a dependency for stuff that never needed it in the first place...
I guess you were downvoted because Recall is a closed-source privacy nightmare, and systemd, for all its flaws, is open source.
Does it relate to your statement? No. But people will take pitchforks if you compare the two, I fancy.
I fancy
I'm not saying you aren't fancy, but grab a pitchfork and start fencing with it!!
(But yes, I was a bit confused by downvotes too but your explanation makes sense - which is weird bcs now that I understand it as such I'm def in the pitchfork crowd, even if I think we should be either way more lenient or give waaay more funding for the open sauce peeps providing us the rescue we don't deserve)
Oh my fucking god.
If I still knew anyone who uses Windows I would be laughing at them.
Wow you must not be very social. Windows is the most used OS by a long shot.
You are correct, I am not very social.
EDIT: I am also not of the mind that just because something is common and popular doesn't mean it isn't stupid, broken and horrible.
... Working as a DB admin / analyst at MSFT through the Windows 8 release also didn't help.
3 weeks. 3 weeks where we couldn't do a goddamned bit of work because SQL manager didn't work properly and you couldn't have more than 2 panes open at once.
They really, truly thought that taking the windows out of Windows would be just fine for desktop users. We had to argue with people until they stopped lying and admitted that a Win 7 style mode did exist and was useable underneath the Win 8 interface, and they reluctantly made it easier to switch to without following 3 pages of procedures.
MSFT fucking sucks.
Its more than just 'I'm not very social', its also, 'I have a grudge against MSFT from working for them for pennies and being gaslit and lied to routinely, obviously, without shame, for years.'
Google may be getting a looksy from the DOJ for being a monopoly, and now MSFT is doing the same shit that got them antitrusted 20ish years ago, again, on steroids.
I pray that the marinara may flow, that the noodly appendage of the meatball'd one strikes down this objectively evil giant megacorp.
The freaking out over an optional feature that you need specific hardware for anyway is unreal.
If Fedora had announced this as a feature you'd have wanked yourselves into a coma.
If it's an explorer.exe dependency, it's not an optional feature.
Eh? What's this bold assumption that people would like this "feature" if fedora introduced it?