Windows 10 Pro Anniversary Update tweaked to stop you disabling app promos

darael

darael

darael

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Windows 10 Pro Anniversary Update tweaked to stop you disabling app promos
Group Policy changes require Enterprise or Education edition

Group Policy changes in Windows 10 Anniversary Update, set for release shortly, mean that users of the Pro edition can no longer disable some of the more intrusive aspects of the operating system.

Group Policy is a mechanism by which system administrators can configure Windows settings centrally, for PCs joined to a Windows domain. Savvy users can also use the local Group Policy editor to apply changes to their own PCs. Windows Home cannot be joined to a Windows domain and does not include the Group Policy editor, but Windows Pro fully supports this feature.

There are thousands of settings, but journalist Martin Brinkmann has spotted some intriguing changes in the new Anniversary Update. Certain settings can now only be applied to the Enterprise and Education editions of Windows Pro.

The settings in question include "Turn off the Microsoft consumer experiences", a feature which allows Microsoft to install "recommended" third-party apps and links on the Windows 10 Start menu. In the past this has included apps like Candy Crush Soda Saga, Flipboard and Twitter. The full description of the feature states that it enables "personalized recommendations from Microsoft and notifications about their Microsoft account."

Other settings that are now Enterprise and Education only are disabling the Lock screen, disabling Windows tips, and disabling all apps from the Windows Store. However, it is still possible to disable Cortana (check out Computer Configuration - Administrative Templates - Windows Components - Search - Allow Cortana).

The affected settings are those that enable Microsoft to use Windows 10 for promoting apps as well as its cloud services. Windows 10 has been a free upgrade for Home and Pro users, and it may be that accepting a modest amount of promotion is in this case the price of free.

The problem though is that hitherto Windows Pro has been perfectly functional for small businesses who run a Windows domain but wish to steer clear of the expense of Software Assurance and the Enterprise edition. It is hard to see the value of Microsoft's "consumer experiences" in a business context, so the implication is that the company is making Pro less attractive for such businesses in an effort to push them towards Enterprise.
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Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/0...te_tweaked_to_stop_users_disabling_cloud_ads/

A very disappointing move from Microsoft and these types of changes make Windows 10 seem less enticing.
 
I had removed most of these silly apps using commands of the type
Get-AppxPackage -Name 'king.com.CandyCrushSodaSaga' | Remove-AppxPackage
per here

I was not aware this was using Group policy.

Nonetheless their behaviour does not surprise me.

Will the Anniversary version be categorized itself as a critical patch (so despite setting metered connection and let me choose when to install w/pro) it will be pushed automatically (can I bill MS for the bandwidth ?)
In the words of the PM does that remind you of anybody - yes seems like the automatic windows 10 deployment or .. skynet
 
Its more about forcing small businesses into using Enterprise editions.

If only they did some sort of per user Enterprise license that was done on a subscription basis so small businesses can get Enterprise at an affordable amount for their limited user base...
 
I'd be on Linux myself if I didn't use my PC for gaming. Quite tempting to install Linux on my old 128GB SSD and just boot in to Windows when I want to play something.
 
Again Micro$oft up to their old tricks,They will realise they made huge mistakes when time goes by and people do not need DX12 or windows anymore to game..we know its coming its only a matter of time.

I for one cannot wait to ditch windows,I just wish it could come sooner.
 
Skeeter said:
Its more about forcing small businesses into using Enterprise editions.

If only they did some sort of per user Enterprise license that was done on a subscription basis so small businesses can get Enterprise at an affordable amount for their limited user base...
Click to expand...

https://blogs.windows.com/windowsex...ns-for-windows-10-and-surface-for-businesses/

Edit: That was sarcasm, wasn't it. In which case:

Caged said:
https://blogs.windows.com/windowsex...ns-for-windows-10-and-surface-for-businesses/
Click to expand...

Whoosh
 
Not really sarcasm, just pointing out the link between this and other things Microsoft are doing.

Nevakonaza said:
Again Micro$oft up to their old tricks,They will realise they made huge mistakes when time goes by and people do not need DX12 or windows anymore to game..we know its coming its only a matter of time.

I for one cannot wait to ditch windows,I just wish it could come sooner.
Click to expand...

Because the only reason people use Windows is for gaming?
 
Craig321 said:
I'd be on Linux myself if I didn't use my PC for gaming. Quite tempting to install Linux on my old 128GB SSD and just boot in to Windows when I want to play something.
Click to expand...

I do actually have Mint on dual boot and I keep trying to migrate over. There's a lot of productivity stuff I can do on Linux, and others that I can just run up in a Windows VM, but gaming has always been the problem.

Having Steam making inroads into Linux gaming has helped, and about a third of my Steam games work natively on on the penguin side, but the bigger games seem to still be Windows only. Games like WoW have spotty support depending on the version. The current update for instance is rather broken. You can log in, but as soon as you start moving your toon around, the game lags horrendously. I'm sure that'll get a fix by the Wine devs at some point, but things like that breaking from a game update make it more difficult to go full on Linux, which is a shame.
 
Infidelus said:
I do actually have Mint on dual boot and I keep trying to migrate over. There's a lot of productivity stuff I can do on Linux, and others that I can just run up in a Windows VM, but gaming has always been the problem.

Having Steam making inroads into Linux gaming has helped, and about a third of my Steam games work natively on on the penguin side, but the bigger games seem to still be Windows only. Games like WoW have spotty support depending on the version. The current update for instance is rather broken. You can log in, but as soon as you start moving your toon around, the game lags horrendously. I'm sure that'll get a fix by the Wine devs at some point, but things like that breaking from a game update make it more difficult to go full on Linux, which is a shame.
Click to expand...

Good point, I forgot Steam have started getting in to Linux, I'll have to get that installed when I do dual boot. I'm just playing with Kubuntu at the moment, but must give Mint a try.

I don't game that often these days, so might be alright having Kubuntu or Mint as my default boot. A bit of a pain to then reboot in to Windows to play something, but then on an SSD, that doesn't take long!
 
Sadly I've never found Linux a realistic replacement for a desktop OS unless your usage is highly specific or just casual web browsing type stuff. I still have a Ubuntu desktop that gets occasional use and some non-GUI Debian setups for specific tasks.
 
I've been playing with Ubuntu (mostly server) for about a year or so as I wanted to run my own servers for a couple of things. I'm still fairly novice at Linux command-line, but slowly picking bits & pieces up. Just enough knowledge to be dangerous ;)

But yes, if the game devs would switch to OpenGL, there'd be a lot more games that would likely work natively.
 
Not sure I get the criticism of linux with respect to Rroffs comment on not a desktop OS or Infidelus Linux command-line learning.

The desktop interfaces (GUI's) available in Linux eg KDE are equally powerful and indeed mimic a lot of the functionality of windows, seems to me the coupling of the single desktop implementation with the OS is one of the principal limitations of windows versus linux, why does MS not decouple the two parts ?
( in the professional linux engineering environment most folks use the command line shells to interact with linux, but the GUI equivalents of windows explorer exist for home/casual user)

The linux command line (shell commands) are directly analagous with the power shell or DOS in windows too.
 
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