This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
I tried to search for a file on my computer the other day using windows search.
Was absolutely incapable of doing it. Maybe if it walked away for a few hours it would have eventually found the file, but I didn't have that sort of time.
It would be nice if Microsoft could make sure the features it currently has, actually work, before trying to add a bunch of stuff no one was asking for.
MS PowerToys has a Search feature that works like Mac Finder called PowerToys Run.. And it works as you'd expect it. I've largely started using that over the standard windows search, and the difference is hitting win + space (default: alt + space) instead of win before typing my search.
Yeah windows search is terrible it's quicker to figure out how to do it with a terminal emulator.
What's the point of even searching I'd you can't grep?
Microsoft: our new windows comes with not only a key logger but and EVERYTHING logger. Isn't that great?!?!
Users: WTF, we have antivirus for the sole purpose of keeping that shit off our computers!!!
Microsoft: too late, it's integrated. What are ya gonna do? Switch to Linux? (Laughs maniacally)
The market is filled with products people hate.
Explain to me again how free markets and competition are supposed to work?
Well you see, when a capitalist and a politician love ~~eachother~~ money very much, they engage in an act of ~~love~~ collusion. This gets both of them very much money. So much in fact, that they couldn't possibly hold on to all of it. And the money that falls out of their pocket trickles down to every one! Thus, products are improved, and everyone gets their needs met!
This is the free market in action, and anyone who disagrees is a dirty Commie!
Laughs in penguin
People online sometimes get mad at me when I say I don't want windows users to move to Linux, I don't want Linux to be popular at all. I enjoy being a Linux home user who knows the community is small enough to not draw the wrong kind of attention from bad actors and corporations.
Anyway, I enjoy seeing windows users get shit shoved down their throats like this, it is amusing and I can't wait to see what Microsoft is gonna do next while most of their user base just accepts it or cries online only to continue on windows.
It is way too risky even if this feature was that revolutionary, which it isn't. It is a security nightmare for workplaces and at home.
And for such small reward!
Oh yes, I can ask about a brown bag once saw and don't remember... Or maybe I forgot if that document I created was in my "Documents" folder or not .... Wow, the future is now
Or revisit those porn tabs I had to close in a hurry.
Hmmm I never seem to remember the names of the... Ehmm... Artists
Honestly even if Microsoft were trustworthy this is too much power for anyone. I actually like the recall feature but it would require a fully open source code to trust.
Even with a fully open-source implementation, that thing tells on you more than normal system logs. I like it being called "privacy bomb" - waiting to give extra data to whoever gets into the computer.
Trustworthy Microsoft is an oxymoron
this is too much power for anyone
Unfortunately by the time a service does this they've already got you by the balls and they know it. This is essentially Microsoft telling the world "what are you gonna do, not use Windows?" Because for most of the world that's not really an option.
I feel like even if it was open-source, it would still be too big of a target for malware and data exfiltration to ever be justified for most people.
It's a national security risk https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2024/06/05/totalrecall-windows-recall-abuse/)
"During testing this with an off the shelf infostealer, I used Microsoft Defender for Endpoint — which detected the off the shelve infostealer — but by the time the automated remediation kicked in (which took over ten minutes) my Recall data was already long gone.”
While initially all the screenshots will be stored locally (where people who own your computer through malware can access it), the time will come where Microsoft will deem it "necessary" to store them online, "for safety reasons". Then the race is open: Will they fall prey to hackers and data leaks before they can happily exploit the data themselves?
Or they go the WhatsApp way and offer users a free "online backup" of the data, unencrypted, turned on by default.
You can have the backups encrypted and stored in a google account.
Whatsapp is doing this? How do I turn it off?
edit:
Settings, Chat, Chat Backup
Was on me for me even though I never okayed it
Shit should be barebones by default. Features should always be opt in.
At least the EU restricts this directly to your communication and make examples for its usages.
I usually find reasons to keep using microsoft products, but right now it's the first time I'm seriously considering ditching all my microsoft services for FOSS and move to linux.
It's gonna take a lot of effort and time migrating everything I use, but taking literal screenshots of your PC sounds fucking creepy, no matter how they sugar coat it. It's like someone else literally watching all you do.
Usually you know they get your data, but now they want exactly what you are seeing and exactly what you are doing, taking it right out of your screen. It's literal and plain spyware.
I have degoogled for a few years already, now I guess it's microsoft's turn.
If you have degoogled, even if partially, I doubt you'd find moving to Linux hard
Probably the hardest part would be to chose a distro... Stick with the main ones (Debian, Fedora or Arch) to start (you can chose one of their derivatives but pick a famous one so you can have easier time finding documentation)
Does Linux do steam games? Can it easily find the movies I already downloaded? Complete noob.
Absolutely!
In 2020 I built a gaming PC and at the time decided to dual boot because I wasn't going to spend all this money and miss out on some games. However, not 6 months later I dissolved the dual boot config because my son and I never found a game we cared to try that was Windows only.
Proton is a translation layer that helps run Windows games in Linux. It works seamlessly with Steam so you don't have to worry about it at all... so far, ZERO problems. Of course, YMMV depending on the games you are interested in; however, you can check in advance in ProtonDB, this site will tell you if the game you want to play can be played well on Linux (assuming the game is not ported already).
I also went with a derivative Linux distro that is geared toward gaming so it comes with almost everything you'd need. It's called GarudaLinux I liked it so much it is now my daily driver for work as well (even though this is one of those "risky" Linux distro since it is a rolling release, meaning you are on the edge of tech available, and I update it weekly... other than some small issues here and there, it's been going strong for 4 years)
If you have a movie collection, you'd have no problem either unless they are DMR protected somehow... if so, there are ways to watch them but it would depend on what you downloaded... However, if these fishes we are talking about came from the high seas, you'd have no problem. There are some discrepancies regarding hardware support for certain codecs but it all boils down to efficiency, not whether you can play them or not.
I have a VAST collection (3500+ movies, 400 TV shows) in a Linux server that I access throughout my house with many devices (PCs, phones, FireTV sticks, Raspberry Pi, etc) by using an Emby server... Emby is free to use but you get to pay for some features... if you want the fully free and open source version you can go with Jellyfin... I only went with Emby because 6 years ago (maybe more?) when I started, Jellyfin was a bit behind... now they have caught up but I already bought Emby so I keep using it.
Wow, you somehow answered my follow up before I could even ask it.
My main goal was to eventually do a plex or jellyfin type setup for the house. Good to hear that it works just as well on Linux. Is the setup more difficult, or are there enough guides and documentation that it's not too bad?
Plex and Jellyfin both work fine on Linux. Installing is as simple as it is on Windows, because they offer Linux downloads as well.
Glad I could help.
Installing Emby/Jellyfin is dead easy.. you won't have trouble. Literally install, then run the web interface and configure from there
Most games work well; some don't yet, and a few probably never will (CoD, PUBG). The easiest way to check is to go here: https://protondb.com and either look up the games you actually play, or just give it your steam profile URL on the profile page and have it scan your library.
Steam works very well on Linux. There is a setting in Steam to enable 'proton' for all games - this allows you to play Windows games on Linux without having to do anything else. It has worked flawlessly for every game I've tried.
As for your movies thing, I don't know. I deliberately avoid software that automatically searches and catalogues stuff on my computer. So I'm not sure how easy it is to do what you are asking for. It's something that I'd avoid rather than seek out.
They are just movie files, saved in a folder. Nothing complicated, will Linux be able to find that folder or files?
Move it to am external hard drive with anything else you want to keep, then you'll have access to it on any computer no matter the OS.
Firstly, Microsoft has shown that it cannot refrainfrom abusing its access to private data when it's not impartial. Microsoft has even threatened journalists.
Secondly, Microsoft doesn't have a clean record of security, and data in the hands of Microsoft has been compromised to unauthorized hackers.
Thirdly, when US law enforcement asks Microsoft for your data without a warrant Microsoft rolls over like an attention starved puppy and yields everything without challenges. (same as Amazon and AT&T. Google required legal warrants ten years ago.)
Fourthly, ChatGPT4 has used access to external means to fulfill testing tasks and it is capable of willfully lying to third parties to achieve steps. When Microsoft's AI offerings are smart enough, it will know who you are and everything about you (assuming Microsoft fails to mitigate for this eventuality).
