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Windows users report appearance of unwanted HP app
- soraminazuki 3y agoThe OS automatically downloading HP crapware is already bad enough even if I had one of their printers. But this is a new low. It's sad how the most popular desktop operating system sees users as nothing more than targets for exploitation. It wasn't this bad even in the EEE days.
- starbugs 3y ago> To be clear, not all users are affected. Our test Windows 10 PC was far too busy suggesting that we should take a look at Copilot to bother with the HP Smart app nonsense. The author seems to agree.
- gumballindie 3y ago> Our test Windows 10 PC was far too busy suggesting that we should take a look at Copilot I suspect that's because copilot adoption is low - to no surprise since it errors often and steals people's code.
- Maken 3y agoThe issue is not if the software is bad or good.
- cqqxo4zV46cp 3y agoYou likely aren’t even referring to the right product. Microsoft 365 Copilot is not GitHub Copilot, but good on you for getting your snark in.
- bayindirh 3y agoThe GP is correct though. It steals your code.
- slowmotiony 3y agoAnd it does error quite often
- bayindirh 3y agoI don't know. I don't use it. I'm not even using GitHub for my primary software development.
- chalsprhebaodu 3y agoYou need a GitHub account but you don’t need to use GitHub otherwise (e.g. for source control) in order to use Copilot.
- treyd 3y ago> It wasn't this bad even in the EEE days. This phrasing seems to imply that we are no longer in the EEE days.
- intelVISA 3y agoThis is late stage EEE, or the fabled final 4th E: Exploit.
- fransje26 3y agoM̶o̶s̶t̶ ̶p̶o̶p̶u̶l̶a̶r̶ desktop operating system Most used desktop operating system. There, fixed it for you.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- jug 3y agoIt’s apparently a bug. Now, the QA on Windows Update is another topic.
- pjmlp 3y agoThere is no QA when the team is no longer around, and devs are supposed to make up for it. https://www.reddit.com/r/Surface/comments/3s14un/just_a_reminder_that_one_year_ago_microsoft_fired/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Surface/comments/3s14un/just_a_remi...
- MichaelZuo 3y agoIt seems they mostly gave up caring about software quality?
- pjmlp 3y agoAs someone that got burned with the whole WinRT stuff, and eventually returned to distributed computing, I would say they still care, but only on the products that give them money. Windows nowadays doesn't give them money, at least not enough to really care, Azure, XBox, Office do. I wouldn't be surprised if WSL2, with enough work, eventually grows up to be Xenix 2.0.
- soraminazuki 3y agoI get that, but an innocent bug is hardly the issue here. It's the job of the operating system vendor to provide a good experience by ensuring that common hardware works without having to install any additional bloatware. Instead, MS is forcing whatever crap hardware vendors made down the users' throat.
- netsharc 3y agohttps://www.xda-developers.com/windows-update-bug-renaming-printers-m101-m106/ https://www.xda-developers.com/windows-update-bug-renaming-p... Seems like some buggy software/pattern matching identifies all (many?) printers as a particular HP model, and Windows Update "conveniently" installs the HP driver and crapware for it...
- intelVISA 3y agoRCE as a service?
- formerly_proven 3y agoYou can even distribute your own anti-uninstall service like Nahimic does and it's still A-OK as a Windows Update package that's simply force-installed when driver updates are enabled.
- blueflow 3y agoAmateurs. Android phones have been downloading unwarranted Food and Shoe delivery apps for years.
- prmoustache 3y agoNot really. Some vendors preinstall a number of apps but none will install new ones on your back.
- blueflow 3y agoI have an Redmi Note that had "Google Lens" installed on it twice without me warranting it[1]. And i remember that some years ago, a S3 Mini suddenly had the Zalando App installed after an "Firmware Upgrade". Its easy to see because the new icons pop up at the end of the menu after the apps that you installed intentionally. [1] Probably this https://xiaomi.eu/community/threads/any-way-to-get-rid-of-google-lens.50505/ https://xiaomi.eu/community/threads/any-way-to-get-rid-of-go...
- dmichulke 3y agoMy LineageOS phone is technically an Android, and there have been no unwa(rra)nted downloads. You probably mean Android consumer phones. Is this the case for every major brand?
- seszett 3y agoMy own phone is on LineageOS, but we have a few Samsung phones at work and they don't have special apps other than the Samsung browser, music, etc apps, nothing particularly obnoxious. My phone was on Xiaomi's MIUI before and although Xiaomi includes many extra apps, some of them useless to me, there were no ads or third-party apps either and even the useless ones somewhat made sense (for Xiaomi's domotics system, etc). I seem to remember that Xiaomi specifically disabled ads on phones in Europe though, so maybe that's not the case in the US.
- imp0cat 3y ago
- DeathArrow 3y agoWell, the author certainly doesn't own an Android phone to witness the ton of crapware it installs.
- mkl 3y agoI've had Android phones since 2010 and none of them have ever installed anything by themselves.
- borissk 3y agoMany Android phones install a ton of apps at the end of the initial setup - stuff like FB, LI, Spotify, Microsoft OneDrive, etc.
- AlecSchueler 3y agoWhile that's true those things are added in by the vendors rather than Android itself, is my understanding.
- HenryBemis 3y agoYes and anyone who is actually bothered by the bloatware (I've switched to Android for a decade or so) can look up what adb can do (or cough up a few $ and buy some convenient alternative like ADB AppContro - just keep it firewalled). Every new Android device I get goes through a serious bloatware-removal phase before I let it hit the internet. Then the battery lasts so much longer, there are no notifications, etc. A bliss!!
- worksonmine 3y agoThat's because of the vendors and not the OS. Easy to avoid by choosing a decent vendor, all my Android phones the last decade have been Motorola Moto G series because of Android one. No bloat, the only bundled app is to add functionality such as gestures for flashlight/camera and I love it.
- blueflow 3y agoWhich apps did you get? Deliveroo or that Tetris clone? I got Google Lens and Zalando. </jest>
- oldpersonintx 3y ago[dead]
- thefz 3y agoJust disable the silent installation of suggested programs. https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/68217-turn-off-automatic-installation-suggested-apps-windows-10-a.html https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/68217-turn-off-automatic... Or use any software like ShutUp10.
- snowram 3y agoIt is more insidious than that, as those programs are bundled alongside the driver in Windows Update.
- jowea 3y agoDamn wasn't Windows Update the "good" way to get printer drivers?
- extraduder_ire 3y agoDid anyone ever port CUPS to windows? In my experience, most printers work with it OOTB on Linuxes because they want to support macs. I've had more luck plugging them into a linux box and doing network printing on windows machines.
- lloeki 3y ago> because they want to support macs Well, CUPS has been owned by Apple for a while, "want to support" is an understatement.
- jasonjayr 3y agoHP perhaps nagged them until they "fixed" that.
- mikro2nd 3y agoOr... just use any software like Linux or *BSD.
- 3y ago
- andrewstuart 3y agoI just assume that Windows is doing all sorts of nefarious garbage in the background - it's not your system, it's Microsoft's.
- whywhywhywhy 3y agoDoesn't seem like it's even Microsofts fully when stuff like this happens
- baz00 3y agoBotnet operators laughing at your comment.
- ndsipa_pomu 3y agoThey didn't even bother trying to hide it so the OS refers to "My Computer" rather than "Your Computer"
- planede 3y agoThey renamed "My Computer" a while ago.
- belter 3y agoSince you don't own the software, you own the license to use the software, the next release will just name it "Satya Computer"
- martyfmelb 3y agoClose. In Windows 8, they renamed it from "My Computer" to "Computer", and in Windows 10 they renamed it again to "This PC". This all happened around the same time they removed the little "shared" icon from shared folders and also the network traffic indicator (because phoning home is the new normal).
- martyfmelb 3y agoOnce your license passes the class warfare test, then you can use Enterprise edition, making it your machine once again.
- ecmascript 3y agoI finally got rid of my last windows install last week. Feels good. Windows was a pretty good OS until Windows 8 and then with Windows 10 it turned into a surveillance hellhole. You can't have any privacy if you use Windows because it talks so much with the mothership. Linux is the only way to have privacy in 2023 which is very sad.
- 72deluxe 3y agoYou could install WPD (https://wpd.app/ https://wpd.app/), use Simplewall (https://github.com/henrypp/simplewall https://github.com/henrypp/simplewall) and a pihole on the network to block a lot, but it's still sad that we need to do this. Apple alternatives include LuLu (https://github.com/objective-see/LuLu https://github.com/objective-see/LuLu) On Linux you can use Opensnitch (https://github.com/evilsocket/opensnitch https://github.com/evilsocket/opensnitch)
- ecmascript 3y ago...or I could use a operating system that doesn't spy on me per default. :D Which is what I did and I will support pop!_OS with my hard earned money.
- lynx23 3y ago"Welcome to HP TouchPoint Manager. Click here to learn more about HP TouchPoint Manager." Tried to disable it several times. It always comes back. I will never ever buy a HP product again.
- everyone 3y ago"Would it be that hard for Microsoft to just provide an operating system without needless bloat?" Not at all, they have one, Windows 10 LTSC, its great! MS just make it extremely awkward to acquire through official channels.
- oynqr 3y agoAnd it's extremely easy through _other_ channels.
- 8organicbits 3y agoPresumably you mean piracy. How reputable are pirate sites these days? There's risk that you'll get malware with that approach.
- sedivy94 3y agoYou download the official ISO and then run a simple one-line script via PSExec (part or SysInternals suite) to disable WLMS. No malware involved.
- everyone 3y agoPersonally I would trust something from the pirate community far more than I would something from a giant corp.
- LocalH 3y agoArguably, software companies tend to release more that I would class as "malware" than the pirates do nowadays.
- Dah00n 3y agoThe fourth E: Embrace, extend, extinguish, exhaust. Users are becoming too exhausted to try to fix all the crap Microsoft throws at them, after they (tried to?) EEE'd all the other easily available options. (Edit: Oops, pressed send too soon...)
- mid-kid 3y agoPeople seem concerned about bloatware. I'm concerned about backdoors like this easily being misused.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- JacobSeated 3y agoConsider yourself lucky, because often Bloatware is not so innocuous. Very far from it. It is a heinous intrusion on our devices. Take Lenovo, for instance, with its addition of utterly useless fn hotkey pop-ups that covers the screen when hitting caps lock! And MacOS is no better, as they actually completely break the caps lock key by adding a maddening delay to it. E.g. You have to press and hold for it to activate.
- soraminazuki 3y agoThere are no delays with the caps lock key on macOS. What are you talking about?
- karmakaze 3y agoOk that's messed up. If i tap it numerous times in succession it stops toggling, every now and then briefly toggling on. Holding it down at any point in the many-tap sequence activates it as you expect in the first place.
- jonathantf2 3y agoThere is a delay, I had to install this software to fix it: https://github.com/gkpln3/CapsLockNoDelay https://github.com/gkpln3/CapsLockNoDelay
- soraminazuki 3y agoI genuinely don't see any perceivable delay on a Macbook without any third party keyboard customization software installed. Typing caps lock and the letter "a" in quick succession results in an "A" for me.
- jonathantf2 3y agoI took mine to the Apple Store - I genuinely thought the keyboard was broken, never had this on any other computer.
- jaymoore 3y agoSpeaking of Windows Update, does anyone know why it's so terrible? On your average Linux-distro: Run "package-manager update" wait for download (ususally pretty quick) installs might need to restart if there's a kernel upgrade or something done. But on Windows I dread every time there's an update because it's such a shitshow. Download is slow - hobbyist running their own servers have better bandwidth than a trillion dollar company. The install is slow. The install doesn't even finish in the control panel dialog. There's a second install step just before you restart. There's a THIRD install step just before you login. You go to Windows Update again to double check and guess what, it didn't install everything for some reason, repeat the above steps N fucking times.
- SushiHippie 3y agoIIUC windows can't replace currently running binaries, so windows first downloads everything needed for the update, then on reboot it will copy everything to the correct place and then reboot. While on linux your package manager downloads the packages, extracts them and thats it. On some distros that don't support live patching you'll need to reboot after a kernel upgrade.
- schemescape 3y agoAre the Linux package manager binary updates (meaning the file updates themselves) transactional somehow? What happens to running processes? Presumably they need to be restarted. Just overwriting files does not seem sufficient, given my limited understanding…
- Doxin 3y agoOn linux a file that's open won't get deleted. It'll stay in memory. When you replace a file all it does is point the filename to the new file contents. Any program open will keep running. Any newly started program will run the new binaries. Of course this can give trouble with complex programs. Old executables seeing new config files, that sort of thing. But in general this doesn't seem to be a massive issue, and is fairly doable to work around by keeping critical files open all the time.
- ChrisArchitect 3y ago[dupe] More discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38522325 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38522325
- Log_out_ 3y ago[flagged]