this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2024

681 points (98.3% liked)

Technology

57895 readers

4761 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

Follow the lemmy.world rules.
Only tech related content.
Be excellent to each another!
Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
Politics threads may be removed.
No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

681

OneDrive automatically backups folders in Windows 11 without users' permissions (windowsreport.com)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

112 comments fedilink hide all child comments

According to the latest reports, Windows 11 has made an independent choice by automatically turning on OneDrive folder backup for Desktop, Pictures, Documents, Music, and Video folders without your permission. This signifies that, whether you approve or not, everything is becoming coordinated with the cloud.

This action from Microsoft fits into a larger pattern where big tech companies cleverly (or not so cleverly) promote their services and subscriptions to users. It isn’t only about Microsoft; there have been instances of Google doing something similar with Google Photos and its storage plans.

Keep an eye on your settings, particularly when you have just finished setting up a new device or updating your operating system. Companies such as Microsoft constantly seek methods to link users with their environments—sometimes without permission.

top 50 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It cannot be that profitable to have just a bunch of random data on their servers. I have so much junk and random bullshit on my drives, it would take a week of labor just to clean my shit well enough to use it for AI training and as soon as I got any notification about cloud space being full i'd turn syncing off - i sure as hell wouldn't fork over any money for a subscription. This is such a big bridge to burn, and the server overhead must be massive.... I just don't understand how they could possibly think this is a good business decision.

Idk, maybe i'm just too deep into privacy/FOSS/selfhosting headspace to see things clearly from the normal-consumer standpoint but I just do not understand this. I really wish someone would leek an internal conversation at one of these companies that explains the big-picture strategy with this move.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

They're thinking quarterly. Improves OneDrive usage stats. They can also then coerce customers later by saying they're running out of storage. I'm sure some users will pay, thinking they're about to lose family photos and other important data

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

I guess... I am still very skeptical the profit margin even if some people do end up paying for the storage. We're talking about petabytes on petabytes of data.... How many people need to pay a cloud subscription fee to pay for the overhead of the servers?

Idk. This is super suss to me but again, I am clearly not the target market for this service so maybe I don't have a firm grasp of the landscape.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Not sure why these articles are only coming out now. My work bought me a win11 computer a few months ago and I was surprised to learn that the first few things I downloaded to the desktop showed up on my one drive. I don't really use the account I have on it for much, and it was easy enough to turn off in settings but it was still a shock.

Just another invasion of privacy by a giant corpo that none of its users asked for

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

It's been the default since 2015 when Windows 10 launched, although there was an obvious button to opt out during first-time setup back then which was then respected permanently. It's got gradually less prominent over time, and maybe the article's just doing a really bad job of explaining that it's no longer something where your initial preference is permanent and it'll change back to the default every so often.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 months ago

Remember when Word and Excel Autosave did what you expected it to?

[–] [email protected] 27 points 2 months ago (4 children)

Install Linux already, just get it over with.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yes, install Linux and the end up using O365 in the cloud anyways 🤡

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

I do exactly that, yes. Unfortunately I my company we have to use the msoffice shit, so I use the online version which is as hilariously bad as one would expect. Same for teams which is just a sad shitshow

Say about Google what you want, but at least the google drive tools work well.

In any case, what is your point?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (2 children)

People usually don't use linux because or app compatibility ik wine exists but it just doesn't not work with all apps

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Most apps have open source versions which work better anyway. I've been on a Linux desktop literally for the past 20+ years now, never looked back

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Ngl I have been using some of the open source alternatives on linux now

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I stopped calling them alternatives because that implies that its somehow a "B" version, less than "the original". Many times these lesser know softwares are superior to their closed source counterparts

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Oh alr But some or them are krita

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (2 children)

To really switch to Linux people need to accept that for a good experience you may need to switch off some software to alternative software.

This wasn't a big deal for me personally and I'm happy I use more open source software now, it can be a bigger issue especially if you need specific tools for work.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

I stopped using the word "alternative" as it implies it maybe be less good. I just say "open source" now.

In reality, open source software almost always is a better product as it's designed by people wanting it, not by a bunch of managers wanting more money directing a bunch of developers who just want their salary.

Also: a lot of the mainstream software has Linux clients, if you look for them

I've been on Linux desktop and server for over 20 years now, reaching 25. Never looked back, never will

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

I agree, Dont forget game anti-cheat to

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Make VR work on Linux

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

I have it somewhat working on Nobara after SteamVR updated a few weeks back. It works, but is rather unstable and you got to reboot any time it craps out. 6/10 technically functional, but needs work.

It doesn't help that my headset has had odd issues even on Windows since it's refurbished.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Yea I fucked around a lot to make it work, Nobara is usually the most stable one to get vr working but valve keeps pushing out updates that completely fucks up the vr launch process. The other big issue is asynchronous reprojection missing.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

My understanding is that it is working much better now than a few months ago. I haven't actually put it to the test yet, but it is on my list of things to try once I have time to set up my index again.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Literally one of the very few things keeping me with a Windows partition, though it doesn't get used very often

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

I'm still learning but it's so much less aggressive in Linux land.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Last night I updated my BIOS and afterwards my Linux Boot Manager entry was gone. Almost expected but still didn't prepare a LiveUSB, stupid. Had to boot into Windows for the first time in a year and was greeted with the message "Hey some security thing changed, your pin is no longer working. Wanna create a new one?" Of course you need to log in to your Microsoft account for that, otherwise you straight up can't use your install anymore.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Your mistake was using a MS account for your windows install

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

Believe me, I know :D

I have half a mind to just nuke both partitions and just reinstall Arch on the entire drive.

Although I am wondering what would have happened, if I didn't have Windows installed after the BIOS update. No boot entries at all? 🤔

[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 months ago (1 children)

"All your base are belong to us"

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

You have no chance to survive make your time

load more comments