I'm more than a little annoyed with this.

[Anomnomnomaly]

OK, so I'm one of those who've been forced into using windows 10... But I do so with it as locked down as possible, I use software to disable all of the telemetry, I refuse to have an account and I have never downloaded anything from the MS store... and never will.

 

Today I had to submit a copy of some documents... so I went to scan them in only to discover than I'd never actually installed the scanner side of my AIO printer.  I go to instal in it only to find it point blank refuses to allow me to unless I have an MS account.

 

No problem I think, I'll go direct to Epson's website and grab it from there.

 

Epson in their infinite wisdom thought it was a fantastic idea to only allow you to download THEIR SOFTWARE from guess where... yup... the MS store.

 

Seeing as I'm not going to create an account... ever... under any circumstance... it's time to find an alternative and make a point to remember that when I need a new printer... Epson is off the shopping list.

 

But seriously... F*ck Epson and F*ck microsoft.

[minibois]

Not sure if this helps, but I seem to remember when Cinebench R20 came out, it was M$ Store exclusive. Except you could also throw the install files into some folder and it would work without needing to use the Store too.

[WkdPaul]

Open the start menu

 

Type "Windows fax and scan"

 

Enjoy

 

(⌐■_■)

[emosun]

just download it on a different computer....

or use the disk the scanner came with....

Or a take a picture of the document with a phone....

these are suggestions from a windows 10 hater btw....

[WkdPaul]

1 minute ago, wkdpaul said:

Open the start menu

 

Type "Windows fax and scan"

 

Enjoy

 

(⌐■_■)

damn it, forgot the most important step ;

 

when done, yell "FUCK YOU MS STORE !!"

[Anomnomnomaly]

1 minute ago, wkdpaul said:

Open the start menu

 

Type "Windows fax and scan"

 

Enjoy

 

(⌐■_■)

Well f*ck me sideways with a barge pole... Thank you.

 

I can at least initiate the scan from my desktop, I just can't do it from the printer to send the file to my system.

 

But I can live with that, and I don;t have to do any work arounds... You sir (or madam) are a scholar and a gent (or lady) 

[19_blackie_73]

5 minutes ago, minibois said:

Not sure if this helps, but I seem to remember when Cinebench R20 came out, it was M$ Store exclusive. Except you could also throw the install files into some folder and it would work without needing to use the Store too.

I was able to install r20 without that freakin microdumbshit account, just closed the login window

Maybe that works with the epson driver too

[mr moose]

Just in case you need them in the future:

 

http://tech.epson.com.au/downloads/

 

EDIT just went to the US site and it allows downloads too,  just in case the Aussie site is limited for some reason:

 

https://epson.com/Support/sl/s

[Anomnomnomaly]

2 minutes ago, mr moose said:

Just in case you need them in the future:

 

http://tech.epson.com.au/downloads/

See... that's all they had to do... link to that... not redirect you to f*cking MS Store.

 

Thanks... I'd grab the downloader for later use.

[mr moose]

1 minute ago, Anomnomnomaly said:

See... that's all they had to do... link to that... not redirect you to f*cking MS Store.

 

Thanks... I'd grab the downloader for later use.

see edit for the US site.

 

You're welcome.

[Anomnomnomaly]

I've also now find (via the AU link) a direct path to find/install the software via the web rather than downloading it... But wow... do they f*cking hide it.

[Anomnomnomaly]

4 minutes ago, Anomnomnomaly said:

I've also now find (via the AU link) a direct path to find/install the software via the web rather than downloading it... But wow... do they f*cking hide it.

 

Installing via the web also allows me to update the firmware which hasn't been done since last year, as I'd forgotten about installing the scanner since I built this system in Jan... I've only ever needed to scan to do a copy/print until today/

[kelvinhall05]

Or just install Linux instead /shrug

[yaop117]

6 minutes ago, kelvinhall05 said:

Or just install Linux instead /shrug

I ponder making the switch every day, just because I hate how invasive W10 is with all the spying, not to mention the obtrusive automatic updates...
However, i think it's still a bit less work to lock down W10 than it is to have to fuss with switching and getting everything working on Linux. At least IMO. 

[kelvinhall05]

31 minutes ago, yaop117 said:

I ponder making the switch every day, just because I hate how invasive W10 is with all the spying, not to mention the obtrusive automatic updates...
However, i think it's still a bit less work to lock down W10 than it is to have to fuss with switching and getting everything working on Linux. At least IMO. 

I think people overestimate how much work it is getting everything to work on Linux. Most stuff is "install and play" or whatever; generally the only early command line stuff you have to do is installing stuff (though you don't *have* to do it in CLI; it's just generally faster if you know exactly what you want to install). With things like Wine and Proton for apps and Steam respectively, I'd even say it's simpler than Windows because you generally don't have to mess with drivers or anything, there's no "installer wizards" or whatever for all your apps (they can be installed at the sime time from one place), etc.

[Anomnomnomaly]

10 hours ago, yaop117 said:

I ponder making the switch every day, just because I hate how invasive W10 is with all the spying, not to mention the obtrusive automatic updates...
However, i think it's still a bit less work to lock down W10 than it is to have to fuss with switching and getting everything working on Linux. At least IMO. 

I know what you mean... I've toyed with the idea for years. But I was one of the Win7 holdouts and the only reason I installed W10 was because I built a new system and would lose out on some features of new CPU's and GPU's... like DX12 for example. I did at least get W10 Pro though not the shitty 'home' version.  I use OOSU10 to disable a load of the telemetry and other things, have removed anything to do with xbox and the MS store and crippled cortana... and I run it at least once a week to ensure nothing has sneakily been turned back on.

 

One of the first things I also do is install Classic Shell to make W10 start menu look more like W7... Makes a world of difference to the ugly, clunky, useless W10 layout.

 

I set my network to a metered account so I cannot auto update, but that also means I have to remember to manually check for updates too.

 

My mediaserver still runs W7 Pro, and because it's not used for anything other than streaming around the house and downloading from a few trusted places... I'll leave it as long as possible before upgrading it even though W7 is EOL in Jan.

 

I've got an old AMD AM3+ mATX motherboard and another FX CPU and 4GB of ram sat here doing nothing as well as an old R9 280X video card and more than a few old mechanical HDD's... but no case or PSU. So for a few small outlay on a  little case, PSU and an SSD... I could put together a little system to experiment with linux... But I have no idea where to start, which distro to choose... I guess whatever is easiest to begin with, with simple ease of use and installation that's not to dissimilar to windows. Once I've got the hang of that it wouldn't be hard to dual boot into another distro... I've run dual boot systems in the past... albeit when I was switching between W2K and WXP.