Windows 10 has reached Adware status

[Misanthrope]

13 minutes ago, Clanscorpia said:

You also cant use DirectX

Citation? Cause I read a bit about it and never saw that anywhere where it was discussed.

[Clanscorpia]

Just now, Misanthrope said:

Citation? Cause I read a bit about it and never saw that anywhere where it was discussed.

Personal use. I couldnt run any DX programs. Theres probably a way around it, but downloading KMSpico is easier  

[Misanthrope]

2 minutes ago, Clanscorpia said:

Personal use. I couldnt run any DX programs. Theres probably a way around it, but downloading KMSpico is easier  

Back, I was googling a little bit and I see a few people with Direct X not installed by default and causing issues but nobody pointing to the copy not being legit, but I'll keep what you said in mind thanks.

[Clanscorpia]

1 minute ago, Misanthrope said:

Back, I was googling a little bit and I see a few people with Direct X not installed by default and causing issues but nobody pointing to the copy not being legit, but I'll keep what you said in mind thanks.

You might just ahve to manually download it but you know how steam auto downloads it? That doesnt work. Same with 3DMark

[vanished]

1 hour ago, SpaceGhostC2C said:

It's common for programs to show ads about paid/more expensive versions within themselves. It isn't common for programs with paid/more expensive versions to show ads in different parts of Windows.

 

To clarify: dropbox, Google drive, etc are essentially alternatives to onedrive, and will try sell you paid versions as well, but Windows' file explorer won't show ads from them.

I see what you're getting at but the primary way through which you interact with OneDrive (and those others for that matter) is through Explorer.  Sure, there's the settings window but honestly that's a once and done for most people.  Your daily usage of it is through Explorer.

51 minutes ago, mach said:

Everyone has OneDrive installed and running...if you haven't removed it manually. It comes with the freaking OS!!! Having it installed doesn't mean the user agree to receive ads. 

 

And comparing Ads on  webpages and ads on an OS is not reasonable. Do you genuinely think that advertisements on an operating system is acceptable?

 

You mentioned OneDrive is free so we shouldn't be complaining about microsoft recommending such a fantastic offer. I think people here are not angry about the nature of the software. It is just ANNOYING. In the same way why people have "no junk mail" sign on their mailboxes. The fliers are free and sometimes useful too. But you don't want someone slam it in your face right?

 

edit: I feel like I have to mention that, you don't just have OneDrive installed with the windows, but it is baked into the OS heavily it's not even easy to uninstall!!!

It's not in "Programs and Features" nor in "Apps and Features". I am sure if I google enough I will find a way but do you expect majority of windows users to do the same?

 

(And I just found out I have minecraft pre-installed. Fuck you microsoft. I hope you die a painful death. )

OK first of all it is listed in Programs and Features and is easy to remove, I showed that in a previous post.  But, you could also just set it to not auto-start if you're not going to use it.  I would bet that would be enough (assuming again and still everything I laid out in my theory)

 

Now, with that in mind, imo, having it installed and running is tantamount to saying you want to use the service, to using the service, and by extension, to accept everything that it brings with it.

 

As I mentioned above, since File Explorer is the primary interface through which you interact with OneDrive, I think it's an appropriate place to put the ad if they decide they're going to go with one.  If I had it show up to me, I wouldn't like it, but tbh, I'd accept it (again, on the basis that my theory is correct, which has yet to be proven).

 

10 minutes ago, NumLock21 said:

@Ryan_Vickers

 

My desktop that was upgraded to bulid 1607 few months back, still has OneDrive installed and it's still running in the startup menu, although I never used it. It does not show the ad inside File Explorer.

I just did a VM on Win10 build 1607. No OneDrive ad at first, ran windows update, some how it froze while it's still downloading, did force restart. After getting back to the desktop, a side notification pop up, with a message about OneDrive offer, similar to the one in the OP but his was in File Explorer. After a few seconds it disappears on its own. As of now, in the VM install of Win10 build 1607, I can't seem to get the OneDrive ad to show up in File Explorer, no matter.

My netbook, which I just formatted and clean install with win10 build 1607 a few days ago, did show the same message in the OP, inside File Explorer.

 

All interesting but doesn't lay anything to rest unfortunately  

 

Not getting the ad with OneDrive installed tells us almost nothing.  Getting the ad with OneDrive not installed would be a significant piece of information.

19 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

people without a key don't get support from MS for anything regarding Windows.

 

if you're fine with breaking the Windows EULA and using an evaluation copy of windows as your full time OS then that's your problem.

Is that really prohibited by the EULA?  Why do they let you do it then?

26 minutes ago, Misanthrope said:

So at this point what would be the point of me buying a licence? An unactivated copy lets me do anything except windows account (meh) and wallpaper switching (Pretty sure Display Fusion would still let you change them though) and if I pay well, I get those but I still get the ads?

 

Literally no reason to buy a key.

Also, you can actually still customize the OS pretty nicely without activating.  I won't go into details how, but changing background and interface colour is child's play, with nothing but your fingertips  (no additional software necessary)

[mach]

8 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

OK first of all it is listed in Programs and Features and is easy to remove, I showed that in a previous post.  

It certainly doesn't appear in mine. 

I double check before making any statement. Perhaps it's just my computer though.

[vanished]

Just now, mach said:

It certainly doesn't appear in mine. 

I double check before making any statement. Perhaps it's just my computer though.

Another person mentioned that it wasn't in their list but admitted that they hadn't updated in quite a while.  Perhaps that's the issue.

[NumLock21]

13 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

All interesting but doesn't lay anything to rest unfortunately

Not getting the ad with OneDrive installed tells us almost nothing.  Getting the ad with OneDrive not installed would be a significant piece of information.

Just did a another clean VM on it. Let it sit there while doing nothing. Then this message popped up

 

So I clicked on Update OneDrive, Edge opens up and prompt to download OneDrivesetup.exe. Did that and ran the setup and I got this

Check for solution, found it. Ran the OneDrive update from AppData, cause OneDrive also downloads the same update I was downloading through Edge.  Ran update, restart. Still noting in File Explorer. Force uninstall OneDrive from the system, restart, went into File Explorer, no OneDrive ad. Restart, check File Explorer. Repeat process a few times, still no OneDrive ad.

[vanished]

1 minute ago, NumLock21 said:

 

Wow that's pretty ridiculous  That whole procedure could definitely be smoothed out a bit...

 

Well, I guess we've learned that it must not show up very often or very easily.  Not that I suspect this to be much consolation to those who decided from the start that Microsoft is literally the embodiment of Satan himself, but it's something.

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

I can verify that in my (very early) Win10 build OneDrive was not listed.  But that was at the very start of the free year.  If it's in there on the most recent versions, an update could solve it. 

Then again this is Microsoft, so people shouldn't update because their updates always introduce more problems than they solve. 

[NumLock21]

Just now, Ryan_Vickers said:

Wow that's pretty ridiculous  That whole procedure could definitely be smoothed out a bit...

 

Well, I guess we've learned that it must not show up very often or very easily.  Not that I suspect this to be much consolation to those who decided from the start that Microsoft is literally the embodiment of Satan himself, but it's something.

I still remember with my netbook, it popup a lot sooner and it did the same for other machines I was working on. Need run some more test on it.

[Qwertious]

Win10 gets worse and worse everyday  I wish it was back to win7 days when it was all so simple!

[Bouzoo]

6 hours ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

No, you shouldn't, and that's not what's going on here as far as we know.

Why not?  That's common.

You can get OneDrive for free, so why not have an option in Windoes Explorer to upgrade from a free option? 2nd source says he's paying for Office 365 and can't find it on mobile if the first poster does as well. And I am interested if it's happening for free OneDrive as well. 

Yes advertisement in the program itself when you open it, not in Windows Explorer. If it's okay for MS to sdvertise in WE, everyone should be able to do so, otherwise you have a lawsuit, the same one Google had about using their OS to promote their programs. 

[Bouzoo]

3 hours ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

I see what you're getting at but the primary way through which you interact with OneDrive (and those others for that matter) is through Explorer.  Sure, there's the settings window but honestly that's a once and done for most people.  Your daily usage of it is through Explorer.

There should be no advertisement for any one od them in a paid product, period. I'm annoyed when Auslogic gives me an ad in taskbar for their products every time I open Disk Defrag. 

It would be best if we let MS do this and one day have the annoying situation when we can pay more to have an ad free os.

There is really no playing the devils advocate here Ryan.

[LAwLz]

19 hours ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

I mean let's make sure we have all the facts before we start assuming what is happening - perhaps incorrectly - and start hating them inappropriately.

A perfect example of this is the assumption that this ad is baked in to Windows.  For all we know, it's caused by OneDrive - something that is optional, easy to remove, and might I remind everyone, free.  When was the last time anyone freaked out over voluntarily invoking a free service and then ranting about how insane and evil it is for said service to show an ad?  Never - they understand that in such a situation, this is normal.

I really don't see how anyone could "incorrectly" hate on them for this.

Do ads from Microsoft appear in explorer? Then they should be hated. It's as simple as that. There is no need to try and find excuses for why that should be acceptable because there are no valid excuses. It just should not happen, period.

 

OneDrive is not optional. It is preinstalled and some people (not me) can uninstall it (it does not appear in my list of programs). It does not matter that it is free, because it comes with Windows and Windows is not free. Edge is "free" too, but you would not be pleased in Edge started injecting extra ads into websites you visited, right? It's the same deal here. Something that Windows, which you paid for, comes preinstalled and is injecting ads into other parts of Windows which has previously been ad-free. That is unacceptable.

 

Or how about this, if OneDrive started injecting ads into websites and other programs such as let's say Photoshop, would you be happy about that? Would you just be trying to brush it under the rug as "no this might not be a Windows 10 issue. It might just be OneDrive and surely this is 100% acceptable behavior since OneDrive is free and some people can uninstall it"?

 

By the way, it does not matter if this doesn't happen to most people either. The very fact that Microsoft has built in this functionality is worth hating on. At the very least that means they are planning on using it. Do you have any idea how many ads are in Windows 10 right now? Ads on the lock screen, ads in the start menu, ads in the notification center, ads in explorer, ads in the settings menu (it suggests you use Edge when you try and use something else), it comes bundled with bloatware like Candy Crush Saga.

Where do you draw the line for what is acceptable and not acceptable? I was against it the second I saw the first ad. It appears that you are currently being boiled without realizing it.

 

19 hours ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

I'm not defending them - I don't have enough information to know if they deserve it in this case or not.  If OP turns out to be true, I'd say they don't.

What I'm defending is actual thought and due diligence to make sure we actually know what's happening and why.

Yes you are defending them. How is telling people to not hate on them not defending them? The definition of defend is "ward of attacks" and that is exactly what you are doing.

 

So, what information do you want and what exactly is your interpretation of OP's post? Because right now you sound exactly like the average Microsoft defense force member, which will then start moving the goalpost as soon as the evidence starts rolling in (as if we actually need more evidence to hate on Microsoft. The mere fact that someone at Microsoft somehow thought it was OK to show ads in Explorer, no matter what is triggering it, why or how, is not acceptable to me).

[FiveNine]

Advertising is the future. It cannot be stopped. It will consume everything and everyone.

[mikat]

13 hours ago, Marioguy0 said:

This isn't the worst thing Microsoft has done, but it is another log on the fire.  I'm predicting a fully fledged bonfire by 2020.

micro$oft has always had a giant bonfire

[LAwLz]

8 hours ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

Consider the possibility that that this ad is only showing up because you have OneDrive installed and running.  If that is the case, I say it's totally acceptable.  And before you freak out at me and think I'm insane, consider the following: you don't flip out at Google when you see an ad on a webpage displayed in Chrome.  In both situations, you voluntarily opened/navigated to a program/webpage that was completely optional and provided to you free of charge, and saw an ad. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

OneDrive is installed and runs on all Windows 10 versions by default. For a lot of users, including me, there is no way of uninstalling it either. I can conform that you can uninstall it on some computers, but I can also confirm that the option simply does not appear on some. Over the last couple of weeks I have conformed maybe 70 computers with Windows 10 at work, and one of the issues I ran into was that OneDrive could be deleted on some but not other computers. I don't know why, and when I contacted Microsoft I got the answer that "OneDrive is built into Windows 10 and can not be removed" and then I got instructions for how to disable syncing instead. This seems to line up with what Microsoft's support page says too.

 

I don't know why some computers could uninstall it and some couldn't (they were all installed with a deployment tool and confirmed to be on the exact same version), but that's what happened. My guess is that Microsoft is doing A/B testing. That seems to be very common with Windows 10. By the way, this is why it is incredibly hard to test for the evidence you demand as well, because it might be A/B testing. Two people can do the exact same procedures and get different results. Me and GoodBytes had that happen when we were testing if Microsoft displayed ads on the lockscreen or not by default. I even had to record myself installing Windows 10 from scratch to convince him and he just went "well, it's disabled on my machine".

 

 

No, I don't flip out when I see an ad in Chrome. I would however freak out if Chrome was a 100 dollar program, and it started injecting ads into other programs such as Microsoft Office, or Steam. Imagine getting a Google Drive ad inside Steam. Would you go "no this is not a Chrome issue because it's an ad for Drive. Clearly this is acceptable"? Also, to make the analogy even more similar then the Drive application would silently install itself with Chrome, and it would not be possible to uninstall it with the regular methods. Would you not call both Chrome and Drive horrible pieces of shit if that happened? I would, and that's why I will call both OneDrive and Windows 10 horrible pieces of shit.

Even if it is found out that it is OneDrive injecting the ads, the fact that it is bundled with Windows 10 also makes Windows 10 shit. Especially since it can not be removed by all users (but even if it was removable for all it would still be horrible because it is opt-out and not opt-in).

 

 

8 hours ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

Now, just to reiterate, if the situation OP showed turns out to be as bad as everyone has just decided to assume it is, then I'm with you; Microsoft should not be pushing ads for their services in Windows like that.  But if it's showing up because of OneDrive, well, imo that's another story.

But they are pushing ads for their services in Windows. OneDrive runs by default and it pushes ads into Windows (if it is OneDrive that does it, it might be explorer).

Not to mention that Microsoft is pushing ads for their services all through the OS. Nothing is sacred anymore.

[Castdeath97]

14 hours ago, zMeul said:

I remember Ubuntu doing shady shit like with amazon deals - they got serious flack for it and stopped

but, Canonical's image will be forever tarnished because of it

Pretty sure they are infamous for the unity mess more

[Guest]

13 hours ago, NumLock21 said:

Based on personal experience, the OneDrive ad in explorer only appears when you

• Do a clean install with the latest 1607 build.
• Direct upgrade from build 1511 to 1607 from a ISO image. I haven't tried upgrading to 1607 through windows update, cause it's a waste of time, when I already have the 1607 ISO image.
• However I did upgrade my other system to build 1607 through windows update about 3-4 months ago and it never had the One Drive ad in explorer. I do know that if I do a clean install on my desktop right now, it's going to have the OneDrive ad.

Edit

Just remembered one more thing, when you do a direct upgrade from build 1511 to 1607. OneDrive will say it something about it needs to update and when you proceed with it, Edge opens up and prompts you to save the updated OneDrive setup file.

WOW, I did a fresh install of 1607 2 weeks ago, that explains it...

[Castdeath97]

1 hour ago, FiveNine said:

Advertising is the future. It cannot be stopped. It will consume everything and everyone.

That's a gloomy way to look at it.

[Trik'Stari]

Just reached?

 

Windows 10 has ALWAYS been adware/malware. I don't know how anyone is still defending it. Makes me fucking livid that I will have to use it and fight with it so I can game on my next rig.

[Ryujin2003]

I've had no issues with One Drive popping up as OK showed.

 

I don't use One Drive for anything, however, I do understand Microsoft's push for cloud usage. 1st, One Drive comes with Office 365. Secondly, the average consumer, who isn't the majority on this forum, don't k ow anything about cloud storage. Their HDD fails or they drop their laptop into a puddle of water, and all of their info is gone. They aren't aware of Amazon, Google, or Microsoft cloud options.

 

These can be great solutions for some(If not most) people. Especially those that purchase devices with small storage options.

 

Many people who purchase Office 365 are totally unaware of the 1TB One Drive storage they get. It's factored into the price, and as a consumer I'd like to be aware of it. So a popup of hey, this option is available if you like to use it, isn't the end of the world if that does happen.

 

Yes, the tech fluent people that know WTF they are doing won't like it (if this happens. Haven't seen it on my 3 PCs), but welcome to being the elite 1%. Everyone else is essentially a dumb user and is unaware of how to use a computer.

 

Windows 10 isn't an abomination as many seem to consider it. 99% of the OS issues I deal with in my shop are either user errors or manufacturer issues. A failing HDD or other hardware or manufacturer bloatware issue isn't Microsofts fault. Also, being a dumb user and installing a adware cleaner or calling Microsoft's 1800 number on that internet popup isn't Microsoft's fault.

[Seamonster420]

As if the ads on frickin' solitaire and minesweeper weren't annoying enough. Or the endless Cortana pop ups which you can only turn off by editing your registry.

[CTR640]

Windows 10 is the digital cancer and with ads it's the new digital ebola. Windocancerbola 10.

Really?? Everything has to have ads now?? Fck that.