6 ms·

I recently switched from Edge to Firefox. Edge used to be great, but all "features" it has added the past year is not features I need, like sending my text inpu

by tored 4y ago

I recently switched from Edge to Firefox. Edge used to be great, but all "features" it has added the past year is not features I need, like sending my text input to Microsoft, showing online shopping suggestions, discover features, sidebar apps and what not. Edge also has a annoying bug in combination with AMD graphics card where the bottom of the screen flickers when watching certain video content in Edge, like Netflix (YouTube works). This bug has been there for months and still not fixed. I also recently downgraded from Windows 11 to Windows 10. Windows 11 was just too intrusive and many non-configurable features. Windows 11 is also slower, has more bugs and more unstable than Windows 10. I'm guessing that we need to abandon Microsoft's products when Windows 10 reaches end of life, not something I looking forward too because I'm not a big fan of Linux desktop nor the Mac desktop.

l8rlump 4y ago
Didn't you hear? 2023 is the year of Linux on the desktop.
300bps 4y ago
I recently switched from Edge to Firefox Right there with you. Somewhere in my comment history here six years ago was my suggestion for Microsoft to give up on Internet Explorer and create their own fork of Chromium. They could’ve gotten massive adoption if they did it right. Instead I had to turn off their useless auto-coupon feature, be ever vigilant to keep them from switching my search provider to Bing, frequently turn off the distracting new tab content, etc. Switched to Firefox and planning to dual-boot Windows 11 and Ubuntu soon.
- Qem 4y ago
  > Switched to Firefox and planning to dual-boot Windows 11 and Ubuntu soon. It doesn't help Microsoft apparently also managed to make dual boot more difficulty. Some years ago it was quite seamless, you could rely on automatic partition and it just worked. Today windows messes with the Linux bootloader after install, and to make it work I have to resort to advanced partition mode.
  - cf100clunk 4y ago
    Yep, also see the section called ''About dual-boot with Windows and "fast-boot" enabled'' here if you rely on an Intel WiFi device: https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users/drivers/iwlwifi https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users/drivers/iwlwifi
  - WalterBright 4y ago
    I gave up on dual boot long ago. I just bought another box and networked it to the main one.
- andrepd 4y ago
  Why even go through all that trouble in the first place?
  - Datagenerator 4y ago
    Just add two OS'es to UEFI BIOS. Bootloaders easily break.
    - pxc 4y ago
      Windows doesn't support multiple EFI System Partitions on one system¹, and it will nuke the default EFI boot image (bootx64.efi) on the ESP it uses whenever it updates or does startup repair. So if you do this make sure you have configured the Linux system to write EFI variables and know that if you ever clear them, you may lose the ability to boot Linux until you perform a repair. Dual booting sucks. Don't do it, especially if you're new to Linux. -- 1: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-client/windows-security/cannot-boot-windows-on-primary-hard-disk-uefi https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-clien...
      - soupbowl 4y ago
        Buy a second SSD, install linux and duel boot by switching UEFI boot option. You can even reboot into UEFI from windows and Linux. It's about as easy as it gets with minimal effort. Or you can setup an efi bootloader on Linux disk that allows you to launch windows instead. These days duel booting is easier than ever, duel booting via a single hard drive has always been a clumsy way to do it.
      - 300bps 4y ago
        Dual booting sucks. Don't do it, especially if you're new to Linux. I’m gonna give it a go. I first installed Linux from a shareware CD I purchased from my local Micro Center in 1996. Still remember Slackware fondly! And qmail - great email program.
        pxc 4y ago
sandworm101 4y ago
Edge's only real feature is that it works... sometimes. I use it only when i run across some work-related thing where edge is literally the only option, like stupid configs whereby msoffice runs inside the browser. Instead of just downloading a pdf i have to trick edge into "printing" a docx to a pdf format that i can then actually read like a sane person. When edge dies i will be first to dance on its grave.
- rolph 4y ago
  wear a pair of throwaway shoes when you do; im sure that grave will be decorated with fluids and semi-solids of biological origin.
CamperBob2 4y ago
The Windows 10 LTSC IoT Edition still has 10 years of support, and you can apparently hack it to continue working until the 2038 bug takes the digital world down. Looking into this now.
- sitzkrieg 4y ago
  the massgrave activation scripts work great and will perma register w a real license from ms servers. only thing id advise, if you use a pihole turn it off while running it as many popular lists block the activation servers (or related)
gloryjulio 4y ago
I use edge only as double page endless scrolling pdf reader. Haven't found the alternative yet
- gjvc 4y ago
  Chrome has two-page view for .pdf files.
  - gloryjulio 4y ago
    Not sure which extension you are referring to. Just tried and couldn't open pdf with chrome
    - itishappy 4y ago
      No extension. It should work by default. Two page view is in the menu at the top right.
    - Andrex 4y ago
      Hit Ctrl+O in Chrome and pick the file. Sometimes server MIME types (or the download attribute on anchor links) force a download instead of letting Chrome just load the PDF directly. But it can definitely open local PDFs, I chucked Acrobat in the trash years ago when I found out.

by tored 4y ago

l8rlump 4y ago

Didn't you hear? 2023 is the year of Linux on the desktop.

300bps 4y ago

I recently switched from Edge to Firefox Right there with you. Somewhere in my comment history here six years ago was my suggestion for Microsoft to give up on Internet Explorer and create their own fork of Chromium. They could’ve gotten massive adoption if they did it right. Instead I had to turn off their useless auto-coupon feature, be ever vigilant to keep them from switching my search provider to Bing, frequently turn off the distracting new tab content, etc. Switched to Firefox and planning to dual-boot Windows 11 and Ubuntu soon.

Qem 4y ago
> Switched to Firefox and planning to dual-boot Windows 11 and Ubuntu soon. It doesn't help Microsoft apparently also managed to make dual boot more difficulty. Some years ago it was quite seamless, you could rely on automatic partition and it just worked. Today windows messes with the Linux bootloader after install, and to make it work I have to resort to advanced partition mode.
- cf100clunk 4y ago
  Yep, also see the section called ''About dual-boot with Windows and "fast-boot" enabled'' here if you rely on an Intel WiFi device: https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users/drivers/iwlwifi https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users/drivers/iwlwifi
- WalterBright 4y ago
  I gave up on dual boot long ago. I just bought another box and networked it to the main one.
andrepd 4y ago
Why even go through all that trouble in the first place?
- Datagenerator 4y ago
  Just add two OS'es to UEFI BIOS. Bootloaders easily break.
  - pxc 4y ago
    Windows doesn't support multiple EFI System Partitions on one system¹, and it will nuke the default EFI boot image (bootx64.efi) on the ESP it uses whenever it updates or does startup repair. So if you do this make sure you have configured the Linux system to write EFI variables and know that if you ever clear them, you may lose the ability to boot Linux until you perform a repair. Dual booting sucks. Don't do it, especially if you're new to Linux. -- 1: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-client/windows-security/cannot-boot-windows-on-primary-hard-disk-uefi https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-clien...
    - soupbowl 4y ago
      Buy a second SSD, install linux and duel boot by switching UEFI boot option. You can even reboot into UEFI from windows and Linux. It's about as easy as it gets with minimal effort. Or you can setup an efi bootloader on Linux disk that allows you to launch windows instead. These days duel booting is easier than ever, duel booting via a single hard drive has always been a clumsy way to do it.
    - 300bps 4y ago
      Dual booting sucks. Don't do it, especially if you're new to Linux. I’m gonna give it a go. I first installed Linux from a shareware CD I purchased from my local Micro Center in 1996. Still remember Slackware fondly! And qmail - great email program.
      - pxc 4y ago

sandworm101 4y ago

Edge's only real feature is that it works... sometimes. I use it only when i run across some work-related thing where edge is literally the only option, like stupid configs whereby msoffice runs inside the browser. Instead of just downloading a pdf i have to trick edge into "printing" a docx to a pdf format that i can then actually read like a sane person. When edge dies i will be first to dance on its grave.

rolph 4y ago
wear a pair of throwaway shoes when you do; im sure that grave will be decorated with fluids and semi-solids of biological origin.

CamperBob2 4y ago

The Windows 10 LTSC IoT Edition still has 10 years of support, and you can apparently hack it to continue working until the 2038 bug takes the digital world down. Looking into this now.

sitzkrieg 4y ago
the massgrave activation scripts work great and will perma register w a real license from ms servers. only thing id advise, if you use a pihole turn it off while running it as many popular lists block the activation servers (or related)

gloryjulio 4y ago

I use edge only as double page endless scrolling pdf reader. Haven't found the alternative yet

gjvc 4y ago
Chrome has two-page view for .pdf files.
- gloryjulio 4y ago
  Not sure which extension you are referring to. Just tried and couldn't open pdf with chrome
  - itishappy 4y ago
    No extension. It should work by default. Two page view is in the menu at the top right.
  - Andrex 4y ago
    Hit Ctrl+O in Chrome and pick the file. Sometimes server MIME types (or the download attribute on anchor links) force a download instead of letting Chrome just load the PDF directly. But it can definitely open local PDFs, I chucked Acrobat in the trash years ago when I found out.