this post was submitted on 17 May 2024
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Microsoft is trying to restore Bing as the default search engine on users' browsers by spinning it as a "repair" through a utility app called PC Manager.

PC Manager is designed to boost a Windows PC's performance by freeing up memory and eliminating unused apps and files. It offers "Health check" and "Repair tips" buttons, which users can click on to see the recommended actions.

However, Windows Latest noticed the app pushing a curious recommendation: Both Repair tips and Health check nudge you to restore Bing as the default search engine on the Edge browser.

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[–] TootSweet@lemmy.world 155 points 7 months ago (4 children)

Obligatory "install Linux" post.

[–] CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world 57 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Obligatory "I was a Windows user for decades until a couple months ago but Microsoft's enshittification drove me to Linux and I have no regrets" post.

[–] ItsComplicated@sh.itjust.works 13 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Do you by chance have a link to what to install for a non tech user without linux knowledge?

[–] CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world 32 points 7 months ago (1 children)

https://www.linuxmint.com/ is an excellent place to start. If you have bleeding edge hardware there are better options though, as Linux Mint prioritizes stability over newer packages and drivers. Not a bad thing, just not the OS if your hardware is so new it needs a very new set of packages or kernel to work properly.

I eventually landed on https://get.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/ which has been very good to me over the last couple months.

There are instructions on the sites for how to use Linux from a USB drive, so you don't even have to install them or overwrite your current OS to give them a whirl.

[–] ItsComplicated@sh.itjust.works 12 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Thanks! My laptop is from 2020. Decent but not top of the line by today's standard. I hope to be the newest Linux convert!

[–] nickwitha_k@lemmy.sdf.org 10 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Oh you should be good then. When I fully converted, I was using an Intel Atom Acer Aspire One netbook. The thing could barely handle XP. When I switched to Linux Mint (then, eventually a now extinct lightweight distro), the system was blazingly fast by compare. I could even run my Windows-specific work tools better than in Windows.

Linux is great for old and low spec systems.

Just know that it won't make your games all of a sudden work well, you're still working with the same, old hardware.

But yeah, it's very lightweight, and it honestly probably doesn't matter what desktop you use, they should all be fine on modern-ish hardware. My laptop is all APU from 2018-ish, and it is still very usable, and my kids still love playing Minecraft on it.

A full install is something like 10-15GB. Any desktop should use <1GB RAM (usually like 300MB or so). You just don't get the bloat from MS and Apple, things just tend to need fewer resources.

[–] Noerttipertti@sopuli.xyz 37 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Obligatory "Way ahead of you" post.

[–] rockSlayer@lemmy.world 31 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Obligatory "I use arch btw" post

[–] Bonehead@kbin.social 24 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Obligatory "Real users use Hannah Montana Linux" post.

[–] slampisko@lemmy.world 7 points 7 months ago

You spelled TempleOS wrong

[–] Wogi@lemmy.world 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Obligatory I'm an actual ape and can't Linux post

Even apes can use Linux Mint.

Give it a shot sometime, it's good stuff.

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[–] vext01@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)
[–] Hobbes_Dent@lemmy.world 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)
[–] vext01@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 7 months ago

I have that sticker on my laptop :)

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[–] BombOmOm@lemmy.world 102 points 7 months ago (1 children)

This is a product you pay for and it doesn't respect your choices....

[–] Eczpurt@lemmy.world 45 points 7 months ago

Probably closer to renting the OS lol

[–] 1995ToyotaCorolla@lemmy.world 100 points 7 months ago (1 children)

PC Manager sounds exactly like one of those garbageware "PC tune up" apps I used to clean off of customer computers back when I worked at a repair shop. Right down to changing your homepage/search engine. But at least the other guys would give you a snazzy coupon toolbar or three.

[–] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 13 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Microsoft has fallen quite far from the heydays of TweakUI.

[–] reddig33@lemmy.world 70 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

I see that anti trust / Internet Explorer investigation had no effect at all.

[–] paraphrand@lemmy.world 14 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Like most things, it was nearly 30 years ago. So everyone acts like they can’t remember it.

Institutional knowledge is not something corpos seem to like anymore. That hampers next quarter thinking.

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[–] glouriousgouda@lemmy.myserv.one 47 points 7 months ago

They went full malware.

[–] Brkdncr@lemmy.world 41 points 7 months ago (1 children)

You know how many times I’ve had to remove a spyware/adware browser, extensions, and homepage from a family members computer? Too many.

[–] kennebel@lemmy.world 9 points 7 months ago (1 children)

How many times? Every single time…

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[–] ArmoredThirteen@lemmy.ml 38 points 7 months ago (1 children)

So tired of companies telling me they know what I want more than I do. It's all over the place in big ways like this and smaller annoyance ways too. My work mac just did a security update and it decided to change my desktop background

[–] grue@lemmy.world 21 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Everything that isn't Free Software will become abusive eventually. It boils down to the simple fact that you can only trust your property, that you control.

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[–] Holzkohlen@feddit.de 32 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Seems like we get new windows enshittification news every week now. They are hard at work, huh?

[–] RGB3x3@lemmy.world 12 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

My laptop just updated (windows 11) and they now put bullcrap tips, weather, and stocks cards on the lock screen if you want to use the daily landscape images.

Love the landscape images, but those cards are now not optional. Fucking moronic and I need to just get off windows entirely.

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[–] cley_faye@lemmy.world 30 points 7 months ago (1 children)

"Freeing up memory and eliminating unused apps and files" sounds like the kind of bullshit app we have on Android already. Why bring that to PC.

[–] SeeJayEmm@lemmy.procrastinati.org 23 points 7 months ago (2 children)

We had those bullshit apps on PC before Android was a glimmer in its Mama's eye. Why is Microsoft pushing that crapware?

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 11 points 7 months ago

Why is Microsoft pushing that crapware?

It's their own crapware.

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 5 points 7 months ago

To make Bing the default search engine lol

[–] andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works 30 points 7 months ago (4 children)

It's weird that CCleaner is trash but it's still better than what MS suggests.

[–] wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 40 points 7 months ago (4 children)

Bleachbit is the open source, non trash "replacement" for CCleaner

[–] Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 5 points 7 months ago

"If it's good enough for Hillary it's good enough for me! "

[–] tordenflesk@lemmy.world 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Use winapp2ool to add a comprehensive winapp2ool.ini to Bleachbit

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[–] RiQuY@lemm.ee 22 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Maybe this will sound unrelated but have you seen a PC infected with tons of malware?

The web browsers tend to be the most affected apps by malware and if the user doesn't want to reinstall, forcing the web browser to change the default search engine helps a lot, because it is literally impossible to do that manually when the PC is full of shit.

Other than that, yeah, Microsoft doing anti-consumer things, as always.

[–] buttconjuror@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 7 months ago (2 children)

forcing the web browser to change the default search engine helps a lot

How does changing your browser's default search engine (from another legitimate search engine) help get rid of malware?

[–] Meron35@lemmy.world 9 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Been a while since I experienced malware, but they typically forcibly change your browser's default search engine to a shady one with more malware, even after you try to change it to something else. Even for somewhat tech savvy users, this can be somewhat difficult to overcome.

Sounds like Microsoft is somehow overriding this with Bing.

[–] Entropywins@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago

I highly doubt that personally. I'd bet money it wouldn't do this with malware just with people who have a clean system and use a different search engine.

[–] Grimm665@lemmy.world 6 points 7 months ago

It doesn't. If a PC is so infected you can't change simple settings like search engine, it's time to reformat.

[–] ma11en@lemmy.world 19 points 7 months ago

I just had a big windows update and it asked part way through if I wanted to follow it's suggestions, I said no and it carried on.

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 13 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I'm a little surprised they let you change it

[–] JenMor@lemmy.today 8 points 7 months ago

About once a month, Edge pops up a message telling me that the search engine was "accidentally" changed from Bing to whatever I chose (e.g. DuckDuckGo). It leaves me no option but to restore Bing, and then manually change it back to what I wanted. If Edge weren't preinstalled I'd get rid of it, but I don't need two Chromium browsers.

[–] psychothumbs@lemmy.world 6 points 7 months ago
[–] LittleBorat2@lemmy.ml 5 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I never thought I would say this but Microsoft may be doing you a favor there.

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