News Setting up a new Windows laptop or desktop? Change these dumb defaults right away!

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Status
Not open for further replies.
There's a reason why Microsoft Edge has only 11 percent of the desktop browser market. It's not a bad browser, but many people prefer the rich ecosystem of extensions and broad support that Chrome enjoys or perhaps they like Firefox or Opera better.
Click to expand...

Really? Well let's see, Edge supports the Crome store and all its extensions, has identical CSS and HTML5 capabilities as Chrome (Basemark Web 3.0 test) while being slightly more responsive (0.3%), according to Windows Report browser battery test (October 2023) Edge gives a whopping 17% more battery life than Chrome, and has a great mobile version which syncs through the Desktop version and other Microsoft services if you desire (much like Chrome to Google).

I would say the statement in bold should be stricken from the article as false.
 
Alvar Miles Udell said:
Really? Well let's see, Edge supports the Crome store and all its extensions, has identical CSS and HTML5 capabilities as Chrome (Basemark Web 3.0 test) while being slightly more responsive (0.3%), according to Windows Report browser battery test (October 2023) Edge gives a whopping 17% more battery life than Chrome, and has a great mobile version which syncs through the Desktop version and other Microsoft services if you desire (much like Chrome to Google).

I would say the statement in bold should be stricken from the article as false.
Click to expand...
Edge isn't bad, I used to use it... But the software bloat got completely out of hand and now is as bad as Chrome. I finally switched to Firefox and couldn't be happier. Keep it simple.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kridian, t3t4 and KyaraM
Good advice. Sadly, it seems like some parts of the text are missing/not finished? At least on my phone, some sentences stop rather abruptly and clearly incompletely, like with these two paragraphs:

If something, like a bad driver, prevents Windows from booting or causes frequent blue screens of death, one likely solution is to return Windows 11 to its previous state. The best way to take a step back to a previous configuration (with the old driver or update or settings) is to do a system restore, which is accessible from the

However, by default, System Protection, the feature which creates restore points you can return to, may be off. To turn on System Protection:
Click to expand...
The last part of the last sentence in the first paragraph is missing. Would be much appreciated if you could fix that :)
 
Rather than spending a lot of time uninstalling trash, you can download windows from microsoft, and make a clean install.

Then you have only to remove the garbage included in windows alone. Which can be done with some debloater scripts.
 
DavidMV said:
Edge isn't bad, I used to use it... But the software bloat got completely out of hand and now is as bad as Chrome. I finally switched to Firefox and couldn't be happier. Keep it simple.
Click to expand...

I jumped from Firefox when Edge switched to Chromium and then opened itself up to the Chrome store after using it exclusively since I think version 4. I got tired of sites loading incorrectly and/or slowly, the mobile version (which has since improved greatly) was poo, and a few other reasons, namely that they spend their limited resources on buying things like Pocket and now Fakespot instead of revamping the engine and increasing efficency and speed.
 
Alvar Miles Udell said:
Really? Well let's see, Edge supports the Crome store and all its extensions, has identical CSS and HTML5 capabilities as Chrome (Basemark Web 3.0 test) while being slightly more responsive (0.3%), according to Windows Report browser battery test (October 2023) Edge gives a whopping 17% more battery life than Chrome, and has a great mobile version which syncs through the Desktop version and other Microsoft services if you desire (much like Chrome to Google).

I would say the statement in bold should be stricken from the article as false.
Click to expand...

Every time I would open a new tab on the Edge browser, I would be greeted with advertisements in the form of news articles, annoying things which I couldn't switch off - you can give all the stats you like, but that pissed me off to the point where I switched to Firefox and never looked back.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DavidMV, KyaraM and Kridian
Every time you roll your pointer across the screen, launch the Start menu and click an icon to launch one of your favorite apps, you're wasting a little time. Create keyboard shortcuts for your favorite apps and you can launch them by hitting a single key combo such as CTRL + ALT + W to launch Microsoft word or CTRL + ALT + C for Chrome.
Click to expand...
I would love to do this, but I find this key combo significantly lags before apps open up (3-5 seconds). WIN + 0-9 works instantly though.
 
MiniITXEconomy said:
Every time I would open a new tab on the Edge browser, I would be greeted with advertisements in the form of news articles, annoying things which I couldn't switch off - you can give all the stats you like, but that pissed me off to the point where I switched to Firefox and never looked back.
Click to expand...

Really? All you need to do is switch your New Tab style of "focused", turn off quick links, and turn content setting to "off" and all you will get is a search bar with the weather at the top, which you can also disable if you want, takes 4 clicks.

This is no more difficult than disabling the Pocket sponsored and recommended links and quick shortcuts in Firefox.
 
Alvar Miles Udell said:
Really? All you need to do is switch your New Tab style of "focused", turn off quick links, and turn content setting to "off" and all you will get is a search bar with the weather at the top, which you can also disable if you want, takes 4 clicks.

This is no more difficult than disabling the Pocket sponsored and recommended links and quick shortcuts in Firefox.
Click to expand...

Yes, that completely unintuitive process is JUST as easy as Firefox's! 🤣 You know what you gotta do to turn those off? Go to the New Tab setting, and switch the option Ads over to Blank Screen. THAT'S IT!

BTW, when I was looking a year ago, Microsoft didn't allow the option to turn them off - you could change your interests, which would change what ads MS showed you, but not remove them entirely. I'm glad they finally came around to their senses, however. Have a Merry Christmas, my man
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: KyaraM
MiniITXEconomy said:
Yes, that completely unintuitive process is JUST as easy as Firefox's! 🤣 You know what you gotta do to turn them off? Go to the New Tab setting, and switch the option Ads to Blank Screen. THAT'S IT!

BTW, when I was looking a year ago, you didn't have the option to turn them off - you could change your interests, but not remove the ads entirely. I'm glad MS came around to their senses, however. Have a Merry Christmas, my man
Click to expand...

Especially since it's right there on the new tab page and is not in the settings menu itself, and it allows much more customization to fit a person's wants instead of just on or off, yes it is very much intuitive.
 
Get rid of the stupid search box on the task bar! That's the first thing I do. Just click the start button and start typing to search. Microsoft wasted sooo much screen real estate on a stupid big box to search that is completely unnecessary. They need to stop trying to cater to stupid people. Let them stick to MacOS and be inferior. Let us Windows and Linux guys optimize our experience.
 
  • Like
Reactions: KyaraM, t3t4, Kridian and 1 other person
Honestly installing ExplorerPatcher should be first on the list (as it's great and free, you can move to paid ones later if you want), a far better thing than silencing startup sound or unhiding file extensions because who the heck cares if it's a legacy or modern Excel format, Excel opens both just fine and offers to save it as a modern XLSX if it is legacy.
 
Alvar Miles Udell said:
Honestly installing ExplorerPatcher should be first on the list (as it's great and free, you can move to paid ones later if you want), a far better thing than silencing startup sound or unhiding file extensions because who the heck cares if it's a legacy or modern Excel format, Excel opens both just fine and offers to save it as a modern XLSX if it is legacy.
Click to expand...
The extension thing is related to ....

hotgirl.jpg vs hotgirl.jpg.exe
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rich-D
You forgot one. Disabling fast startup which on an SSD reduces startup by a few seconds but introduces tons of problems make it not worth leaving on. (I have no idea why it's on by default, it really should be off by default.)
 
I quit using Edge. I got tired of getting their random popups either to get me to try a useless feature or to promote something they want to sell. It typically happened when I was focused on doing something and invariably, I got distracted. I since switched to FF.

Also you can bypass the Windows 11 Microsoft sign in during the initial setup.
 
rustigsmed said:
It literally looks easier and faster to install linux than to go through those hoops
Click to expand...
Indeed...I'd sooner put Linux onto a new W11 machine (which is shaping up to be YET ANOTHER Vista-esque fiasco), than have to endure Micro$haft's asinine, labyrynthian spyware, BS, and bloatware, just to use it.

Thanks, but no thanks, M$. You've outlived your usefulness...now, you're just a joke unto yourselves. Every OS you produce will never be as good as XP (and, arguably, Win7) was.
 
  • Like
Reactions: rustigsmed
Alvar Miles Udell said:
Really? Well let's see, Edge supports the Crome store and all its extensions, has identical CSS and HTML5 capabilities as Chrome (Basemark Web 3.0 test) while being slightly more responsive (0.3%), according to Windows Report browser battery test (October 2023) Edge gives a whopping 17% more battery life than Chrome, and has a great mobile version which syncs through the Desktop version and other Microsoft services if you desire (much like Chrome to Google).

I would say the statement in bold should be stricken from the article as false.
Click to expand...
I am a huge fan of Brave. I think it's the best.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ChronosVRdS
Status
Not open for further replies.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom