It's easier to disable all the garbage than remove the garbage?
Remember, Windows will install updates without user intervention. If you remove things, it just puts them back.
this post was submitted on 14 Jan 2026
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Automatic updates are a good thing for the average EU, though. Otherwise they'd never update and their system would probably be compromised.
yeah but they're not doing just security updates, they're re-installing bloatware that I deleted a year ago
I don't need Xbox gaming on my work computer
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Automatic, yes.
Forced without consent with no option to disable them? No.
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I like automatic updates when I explicitly turn them on myself. I do NOT like automatic updates when they happen during work hours, force me to close programs and/or restart my PC, and reinstall things that I explicitly removed from my PC.
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De-Reddit'ed
I think the point of the reddit screenshot is to show what Windows users are putting up with, not to share the meme itself.
As you wish...and kept OP's username.
Re-reddited 
Many people have a sort of learned helplessness. They don't really know computer fundamentals, they get scared and stressed so they stop thinking, and then they don't want to deal with it.
People aren't rational. They're emotional.
There's actually a research that sometimes it's just not in their brain capacity to be more technically savvy.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S107158192400137X
In my 20's I had this worldview that anyone that wasn't technically competent simply didn't have the time or desire to be so. I figured anyone could learn. In my 30's, in addition to my sysadmin work, I did some level2 helpdesk. OMG I was so wrong.
When they say 50% of the US reads below a 6th grade level, it's not just reading.
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This take might make you feel a sense of superiority, but it's a braindead take. It's not "learned helplessness", it's simple convenience.
It's convenient for the average user to not have to know computer fundamentals. It's also convenient for users of any tech proficiency to be able to assume that the vast majority of programs will run on their OS with no fiddling required.
To the overwhelming majority of users, their PC is a tool to run programs. Convenience is king in that use-case, because any amount of time fiddling with the tool or any number of situations in which the tool doesn't work outweighs the benefits in any other metric for the average person.
I dunno, a lot of the people in my life that aren't tech savvy are inconvenienced. The ads pop up and block stuff. But they don't know how to do anything about it.
I guess it's easier to just do nothing and suffer than learn what adblock is. It's easier to use the shitty defaults.
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What's that word Satya Nadella wanted spread far and wide? Oh right, "Microslop"
Because Linux is still an enormous hurdle for a lot of people, and completely incompatible with lots of proprietary hardware people actually need.
Stop pretending like you don't understand why 98% of PC users still choose Windows. I'm not one of them, but let's not delude ourselves, it is tiring.
98% of Windows users, use windows because that’s what the OS that came with the computer they could afford.
98% of windows users probably don’t know what version they are on or even what windows is
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Are 98% of PC users using proprietary hardware incompatible with Linux? That would be pretty crazy, considering that that list of hardware is miniscule.
Like, I get where you're coming from, Linux isn't a 100% perfect drop in replacement for Windows that covers every single scenario and edge case. But it's never going to be that, and I don't think it needs to be that. It's still good enough to recommend over Windows. That hurdle won't get any shorter if people don't at least try using it.
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How is this Linux related?
Because Windows bad.
IDK friend after 20 years I kinda wish I had the ignorance of the average Windows user. I don't want to troubleshoot for 3 days, I wanna call a random IT helpline and let them deal with it, but alas, I unfortunately know what I'm doing.
I didn't know one could call a random IT helpline and get stuff fixed on Windows.
My experience was, either find a workaround or a paid software that did the thing, or live with the bug.
But my free security suite that found 358+ viruses and says I'm missing 200 DLLs said to call 1-800-NO-VIRUS and their technician will fix it over the internet!
You can't, that's not immediately obvious when the computer is telling you otherwise
Ed: spelling, also this is a pretty obvious joke... I'm not sure why I have to explain this.
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For those who want to stick with Windows, Notepad++ is far superior anyway.
Oddly enough, Notepad++ doesn't really have a full featured native Linux alternative (as of my last deep search around June 2025).
I use Kate pretty much the same way I used Notepad++, except I think I like Kate better since it clicks with my brain. It also probably(?) has more features.
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Notepad++ sits at an odd place. It's heavier than Vim or Emacs. It's not as feature-rich as some IDEs. That's why it failed in Linux where alternatives are many.
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Lol, just today i noticed Copilot was on notepad, and rushed to disable that thing. Fuck Microsoft
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Gmail has started injecting a fat "Suggestions for responding to emails" feature into my composition space. Really fucking annoying when you're trying to type something out on a phone. No idea how to begin disabling it, I couldn't find configurations anywhere in the settings.
I've had this email address for over 20 years. Not looking forward to changing it. But enshitification won't stop.
Thunderbird is ready to welcome you back. It never left. Email belongs in a dedicated apllication, not a web frontend
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So I recently gave an interview to which, the last question of the product manager cum tech-lead was about how I use AI.
He then specifically asked if I used CoPilot and my negative immediately made him start sighing all over the place.
There seems to be some kind of a push coming from somewhere for these things.
Because a CEO hears MS or googles release statements and assumes that good stuff and tells next level down to implement a plan. They are mandated to do something and so start grasping for junk. And force it on lower levels.
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Anywhere they can record user input is considered fair game. They give not a smidge of care about user privacy at all
I believe that they are just not aware that an alternative exists: because they believe Windows 11 is the only OS available besides macOS, they put up with this shit and will try every single hack to tone down the enshitification, until they snap and move away from Windows.
That's pretty much how cults work. If they even heard about Linux, it's something with no games, no "productivity", no drivers, maybe even CLI-only hacker stuff.
There is Windows 10, with the right approach (grey market keys) you continue to get security updates and Win10 will IMO be supported for a very long time (because so many people are going to keep using it). MS will be forced to provide out of band security updates.
You are assuming that Windows has not already upgraded silently (or through anti-patterns in the UI) to 11, and what you are proposing is yet another hoop users have to jump through just to keep a "decent" experience.
I believe now is the perfect time to evangelize for Linux: "Are you tired of Windows's enshitification? Do you own computers that Microsoft deemed to be obsolete just for the sake of selling new licenses? Give Linux a try."
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I use Copilot at work, it sucks. Any time I ask it to do anything it either can't do what I'm asking or it does it wrong. On top of that you have middle management who suggests using AI as the solution to everything but offers no further input on how to actually accomplish that goal.
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Notepad was the only thing I liked about windows 11.
Getting maybe 20% of the features of Notepad++ standard was nice out of the box. For a fleeting moment, I almost kept it as my default.
It IS going to happen, if you keep using big tech operating systems and services, because THEY want it to happen and will not stop pushing until it DOES happen.
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