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If you have an email ending in @hotmail.com, @live.com or @outlook.com (or any other Microsoft-related domain), please consider changing it to another email provider; Microsoft decided to instantly block the server's IP, so emails can't be sent to these addresses.
If you use an @yahoo.com email or any related Yahoo services, they have blocked us also due to "user complaints"
-UE
If you use an @yahoo.com email or any related Yahoo services, they have blocked us also due to "user complaints"
-UE
Comments
MalwareBytes and AdwCleaner didn't find anything.
I found some XBox Game Bar thing installed for no obvious reason and a random RemoteFX warning (I didn't know what RemoteFX was before this), I thought they had to do with malware but nope, they're normal intrusive Windows things, or at least the former is.
I installed Avast and it works, but the UI fails to load so I can't know if it's found anything. The real problem is that this also applies to the uninstaller, and of course uninstalling an antivirus like a virus would is not a straightforward task, and keeping it will cause it to interfere with other solutions I try. I feel like the computer world is ganging up on me.
I've noticed Windows takes longer to start up but that began exactly after an update so it's probably unrelated.
Reading some more of the Reimage thing, I got an ad for that but it's not what I have, it's scareware that doesn't try to hide itself.
Anyhows, I installed BitDefender (twice), I'm running a scan right now, I guess the computer should be okay after it's finished, maybe? It's not obvious what the malware does and nothing suspicious has happened since I installed Avast, so maybe it'll be fine.
Internet last words.
I like how Microsofts Spamware frequently interferes with trying to figure out if something is Malware or not.
Goodness gracious no.
I think eventually I'll need to stop accepting all of this nonsense Mozilla thrusts at users with a slight bristle and switch to something else, but that probably won't be anytime soon.
For example, it's missing...Windows Update.
The Group Policy Editor / PolicyPlus setting for Automatic Updates, at Enabled: 2 - Notify for download and auto install, does not work properly. An update has downloaded without notifying me and is now telling me it will be applied once I restart my computer.
The next thing I will try is to outright disable Automatic Updates via that same setting.
Ideas I have not yet tried:
* set my connection as metered
* other third-party app such as Sledgehammer: https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/wumt_wrapper_script.html
The problem with allowing forced updates to one's operating system/program/etc. is that forced updates fundamentally mean that whoever is pushing the update is able to run nearly arbitrary code on one's machine.
There are important reasons for this distrust, such as:
* What if the update introduces an unintended bug that breaks something that is critical to whatever I'm working on?
* What if the update introduces a feature that is intrusive to the user experience and that I can't get rid of? (Forced updates themselves are arguably already in this category; advertising -- including trial versions of software and app store integration -- is another example. Another example is if I change the system UI fonts; I've done this even though it's increasingly difficult to do it, because SegoeUI's sans-serif nature is rather obnoxious sometimes and arguably even introduces a security flaw due to the user having trouble differentiating lowercase L and uppercase i.)
* What if the update changes the user interface in such a way that interrupts the user's workflow? (For example, what if the update introduces an entirely new Start Menu style and there's no way to go back to the old one that I am already used to using?)
* What if the update introduces something that intrudes on privacy? (For example, what if Cortana becomes turned back on? It is a service that listens to its surroundings, after all.)
* What if the update (intentionally, not by mistake) decides that something I am doing is illegal/undesirable and prevents me from doing it?
* What if the update introduces a new security flaw? (Old versions generally have their security flaws fixed by updates, but updates are not infallible.)
These reasons are why it's important to have a way to disable forced updates.
I might be more amenable to updates if they came from some sort of open-source source like with Linux. With Windows I'm basically relying on Microsoft being a benevolent dictator. I can presume on faith that they're most likely consumed with dealing with software bugs and security issues, but that doesn't prevent them from wanting -- or being legally obligated to, for that matter -- to defeat various means of making the computer do what I want. (After all, the EULA says that they can...)
> let Windows 10 update
> open up gpedit.msc
dialog box pop up: the column number is partly obscured so is not entirely certain.
After pressing OK, another dialog box pops up saying the same thing.
Also, Windows Update is now missing from the Local Group Policy Editor (i.e. gpedit.msc).
Have you tried services.msc? There's Windows Update and some other time-trigger thing that turns Windows Update back on if you don't turn off both at the same time (there might be more in the newer updates).
Yeah I noticed that Group Policy Editor seemed to get more and more nerfed with each update (before I got rid of them).
I mean, more generally, I'm sure there's at least one update that required fixing the whole system via an external USB key from a few years ago.
Microsoft only cares about "user workflow" if their advertising this as a feature (inevitably by changing something).
Or just general location services? Remember the fun days when computer's weren't trying to trace your every move?
oh i see
(tl;dr hold shift when dragging)
but...why would you make pinning the default behavior when opening with is much more useful and pinning less useful
"How come I can't call you in Skype?"
"You just clicked on the advertisement."
"Huh?"
"These things on the left are part of the user interface. These things on the right are advertisements."
"How can I get rid of the advertisements?"
"You can't. This is what happens when you depend on commercialized services."
Yeah, it's much worse than this.
Bookmarks are all screwed up, and you can't customize the new homescreen at all unless you use "Collections". Tabs are now ridiculous, switching them is jarring, and of course none of this can be fixed.
I've switched back to the native Samsung browser.
Microsoft Edge is much better at PDFs than desktop Firefox and this isn't even a thing one should be 'better' at than the other to start with.
my goodness was Twitter always filled with *this many* ads?
i thought it was just, like, one ad near the top of the feed, and that's it
now it's like one ad every five tweets
Plus, using your own twitter homepage is the most pointless thing. Rather than show you the content people you follow in chronological order it... well basically doesn't do that.
It's actually better to just use your own bookmarks.
This just happened to me -- Windows 10 is nagging me to set up a Microsoft account.
Unfortunately, the method of disabling the nagging that this page describes? It's gone. That setting is *gone*.
So I have to look elsewhere.
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-disable-get-even-more-out-windows-notification-windows-10-may-2020-update
Wait, this is still saying the same thing. Look elsewhere again.
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-other_settings/how-do-i-disable-the-screen-that-nags-me-to-use-a/042e7205-42a5-4634-b5a0-ededa76d8460
Okay, official Microsoft site, and it's someone posting in September 2020. Maybe Microsoft just disabled the visible setting switch but -- oh wait, the registry setting is gone too.
One of the posts says to create a certain registry value and set it to zero. Except, like that other poster replied...it's already set to zero on my machine.
It suggests this:
https://www.majorgeeks.com/content/page/how_to_disable_get_even_more_out_of_windows.html
...but that key is already zero on my machine.
So there's also this:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/ijvaqc/disable_suggest_ways_i_can_finish_setting_up_my/
Two of those keys are already zero. Let's try setting the third one to zero. Hopefully it will work, but I doubt that, personally.
ah Updates...
You know I cannot believe how many companies are setting up their customer services via social media rather than by phone/e-mail.
The solution is to use another browser and stop giving away information to Google.
In a strange turn of events it seems I may have to start using the mobile version of Microsoft Edge.
But, Quick Launch is better than pinning things to the taskbar.
This is because when you put a program in Quick Launch, you can then drag a file onto it to have it open via that program. If you do this to a pinned application, you instead pin the file to that application's entry on the taskbar.
Thankfully, there's an option on the main menu of the page to view the desktop version of the page.
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/msoffice_other-msoffice_custom-msoversion_other/disable-office-on-line-ctrlshiftaltwin-shortcut/edfd9f4e-6a20-4ab7-9ddd-de0a62c3c646
Yes, Ctrl+Shift+Alt+Winkey = reinstall and open up Microsoft Office, specifically the sampler edition.
https://www.tenforums.com/microsoft-office-365/154729-disable-shift-ctrl-windows-alt-opening-login-office.html
https://superuser.com/questions/1457073/how-do-i-disable-specific-windows-10-office-keyboard-shortcut-ctrlshiftwinal
These offer the following commands to be inserted into an elevated command prompt:
The first one is for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and the second one is for HKEY_CURRENT_USER. I did the latter first and it worked, though it produces a momentary "background process" icon on my cursor, not sure why. (Hopefully it just means that it runs something that turns out to be an empty process.) But I smacked the other one into my registry too.
No wonder it was running like molasses.
Time to try a metered connection setting.
Correction, it is STILL running like molasses.
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/35656-set-ethernet-connection-metered-unmetered-windows-10-a.html
IT WAS RUNNING SMOOTHLY UNTIL YOU MESSED WITH IT