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There's an opportunity here for a young, ambitious programmer -- create a PowerShell script that automatically goes through the Windows registry, creating/reset

by lutusp 10y ago

There's an opportunity here for a young, ambitious programmer -- create a PowerShell script that automatically goes through the Windows registry, creating/resetting options to disable all advertising (Start menu, File Explorer, OneDrive, Edge's annoying gripes when you launch a competing browser, and others). I suggest this because as time passes the manual approach to disabling the many sources of Windows advertising is becoming somewhat baroque. Such a script would be a great public service. I won't personally benefit -- I've run Linux exclusively for almost 20 years -- but when I visit Windows in connection with my work, I feel compassion for those who put up with it. I think, "Wait ... people pay to be abused this way?"

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
jlgaddis 10y ago
You can easily find an overwhelming number of projects similar to what you describe on Github and across the web. The problem is that Microsoft is constantly adding and/or changing the options, settings, registry keys, etc., and they don't exactly publish a nicely compiled, authoritative list of all of them. The folks writing these scripts (or even just documenting the settings) are working by trial and error, reverse engineering, and so on, to find the relevant knobs to tweak and switches to flip to get rid of these "features". If they do manage to get lucky and come up with a working solution, it's out-of-date as soon as the next update drops. Like you, this advertising isn't a problem for me. I was introduced to Linux in 1995 and it's been my primary operating system (along with a few OS X "phases") since then. I have friends and family, however, who can't switch (for various reasons), and so it still annoys me to no end that Microsoft does this kind of stuff.
- Arizhel 10y ago
  It doesn't annoy me, it makes me laugh. As for friends and family, I've already switched two of them to Mint/KDE and they're both quite happy with it as it suits their limited needs extremely well (web browsing, simple document editing, watching DVDs) and is extremely reliable.
zzleeper 10y ago
Most of this already exists in tronscript: https://www.reddit.com/r/TronScript/comments/5y2we4/tron_v1001_20170307_bugfixes_and_definition/ https://www.reddit.com/r/TronScript/comments/5y2we4/tron_v10... Edit: and also on blackbird: http://www.getblackbird.net/screenshots/ http://www.getblackbird.net/screenshots/

by lutusp 10y ago

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

jlgaddis 10y ago

You can easily find an overwhelming number of projects similar to what you describe on Github and across the web. The problem is that Microsoft is constantly adding and/or changing the options, settings, registry keys, etc., and they don't exactly publish a nicely compiled, authoritative list of all of them. The folks writing these scripts (or even just documenting the settings) are working by trial and error, reverse engineering, and so on, to find the relevant knobs to tweak and switches to flip to get rid of these "features". If they do manage to get lucky and come up with a working solution, it's out-of-date as soon as the next update drops. Like you, this advertising isn't a problem for me. I was introduced to Linux in 1995 and it's been my primary operating system (along with a few OS X "phases") since then. I have friends and family, however, who can't switch (for various reasons), and so it still annoys me to no end that Microsoft does this kind of stuff.

Arizhel 10y ago
It doesn't annoy me, it makes me laugh. As for friends and family, I've already switched two of them to Mint/KDE and they're both quite happy with it as it suits their limited needs extremely well (web browsing, simple document editing, watching DVDs) and is extremely reliable.

zzleeper 10y ago

Most of this already exists in tronscript: https://www.reddit.com/r/TronScript/comments/5y2we4/tron_v1001_20170307_bugfixes_and_definition/ https://www.reddit.com/r/TronScript/comments/5y2we4/tron_v10... Edit: and also on blackbird: http://www.getblackbird.net/screenshots/ http://www.getblackbird.net/screenshots/