Microsoft, get your Game Pass out of my face! I'm turning off your notifications. Here’s how

Mr. Pilch, if you want to reduce stuff like that from happening I use a program called DoNotSpy11 that gives me the option to turn off a lot of Microsoft's baloney (note that I also run without a Microsoft account so that may be a part of it as well).

edit- it also fixes search, I turned off Web Search, so I only browse local files on my PC. Cheers!
 
Mr. Pilch, if you want to reduce stuff like that from happening I use a program called DoNotSpy11 that gives me the option to turn off a lot of Microsoft's baloney (note that I also run without a Microsoft account so that may be a part of it as well).

edit- it also fixes search, I turned off Web Search, so I only browse local files on my PC. Cheers!
I've been using that app for years... and it makes a huge difference.
 
  • Like
Reactions: User of Computers
Fortunately, there are ways to silence both the XBox Game Pass notifications and the SCOOBE process. Here’s how.

The plethora of turning off this, turning off that, saying no to the other thing -

All of this lost time and effort is a part of the new Windows Tax. Other operating systems notably MacOS and also Linux have a much better day 1 out of the box experience than Windows 11 does as well as long term user experience. The tax is a tax because its taxing.

a program called DoNotSpy11

There are a lot of $4 and $9 and $6 dollar programs that people use to correct the ills of what was done to make W11 not very pleasant. Very taxing.
 
Last edited:
I have Gamepass (because it's incredible value which continues to surprise me for years and saves me enough money to purchase more games/support devs on Steam), I still get these notifications even when I literally have the app open! Now that's crazy. Clicking 'dismiss' once a week wasn't enough for me to look up how to stop it until now.
 
  • Like
Reactions: lotechnz
If there's one consistency with Win11 24H2, it's that it's inconsistent and randomly turns things on or off, up or down, left or right, new or old.
I am convinced someone will come back to this article in 6~12months time because notifications reset itself to default enabled with mic and audio settings set to 2000% in a future update.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Exploding PSU
Between Co-Pilot, Game Pass and Office 365 constant nagging, MS is begging me to switch exclusively to Linux for gaming. In truth I don't even want Windows, just give me an Xbox like OS for PC and you can keep the rest of Windows.
 
Between Co-Pilot, Game Pass and Office 365 constant nagging, MS is begging me to switch exclusively to Linux for gaming. In truth I don't even want Windows, just give me an Xbox like OS for PC and you can keep the rest of Windows.
I've been itching to move to Linux as a gaming platform but it still doesn't support the games that I play. I recently built a new rig and needed a new copy of Windows 11. I had Windows 8 Pro unused keys that MS no longer accepted as an upgrade to W11. I was leaning on buying cheap W11 keys and decided to cash in my MS rewards points towards the purchase of a copy of W11. I wanted to save that for future game purchases.

Ad filled OS that spams you with junk.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ezst036
FYI Avrim, macOS isn't really free either as you need to buy a Mac at Apple's inflated pricing and they get you with ridiculous BS upgrades, such as $200 to move up from 256 to 512GB disk storage or $200 to go from 16GB to 24GB of RAM or $400 to go from 16 to 32GB of RAM.

They also tend to cut you off after 6-7 years of OS support so you need to buy again. I should know as a Mac user since 2002.
 
The more I read about Windows 11 annoyances, the more likely it is that I might finally get round to switching to Linux...

Learning something new is supposed to be good for the brain.
 
The more I read about Windows 11 annoyances, the more likely it is that I might finally get round to switching to Linux...

Learning something new is supposed to be good for the brain.
I downloaded Mint yesterday, but that's as far as I got. I decided I want to full dual boot for now so I need another drive. Also, one beer turned into....well... more and my concentration broke.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dementoss
The more I read about Windows 11 annoyances, the more likely it is that I might finally get round to switching to Linux...

Learning something new is supposed to be good for the brain.
Give Ubuntu LTS (long term service) a try. Most Linux distro's are based on Ubuntu and I find it to be the most stable version of Linux and it has the largest community for support.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dementoss
Tom's Hardware should not be hawking illegitimately obtained Windows keys. Cheap grey market keys are not legitimate. It's piracy you're paying for.

Between Co-Pilot, Game Pass and Office 365 constant nagging, MS is begging me to switch exclusively to Linux for gaming. In truth I don't even want Windows, just give me an Xbox like OS for PC and you can keep the rest of Windows.
Huh? The Xbox OS is way worse than Windows. On Windows, any potential annoyances can invariably be disabled or worked around. With the Xbox OS, you get large promotional tiles and ads taking up a huge portion of the dashboard with absolutely no way to disable them save disconnecting from the Internet entirely.
 
Oh Lord. The usual, 'I'm switching to Linux' fud. Go ahead then. See how long it is before you either dual boot (to play games on windows, as it's really the only show in town), or just re-install windows fresh.

As some people have turned to Linux, and accept the lack of performance (which is great for them), for modern systems, Windows is the only gamer. Devs/Studios aren't designing AAA games for linux from the ground up. It's all windows.
 
Tom's Hardware should not be hawking illegitimately obtained Windows keys. Cheap grey market keys are not legitimate. It's piracy you're paying for.


Huh? The Xbox OS is way worse than Windows. On Windows, any potential annoyances can invariably be disabled or worked around. With the Xbox OS, you get large promotional tiles and ads taking up a huge portion of the dashboard with absolutely no way to disable them save disconnecting from the Internet entirely.
Yes, but Xbox OS doesn't have co-pilot re-enabled with every update.
 
I have all relevant options turned off (I think) without going too crazy (I suffer the delusion that windows might have something useful to say one day)... so don't have a real problem..
But SERIOUSLY bugged by its regular NAG that I need back up my PC. What it means is it wants me use OneDrive, but I have full backups done each week by Acronis True Image (so MUCH more comprehensive that the useless OneDrive backup they try and push).. but have not found out how to stop that particular nag yet 🙁
 
Yes, but Xbox OS doesn't have co-pilot re-enabled with every update.
I haven't had that problem, but I've been repeatedly pausing updates so as not to get 24H2 since I have heard questionable things about it.

In fact, I haven't encountered any nag screens or suggestions in Windows on my desktop for a long time. I suppose I must have turned them all off right away.