News Windows adds custom widgets called Companions to the Start Menu – here's how to make and use your own

[Admin]

Companions can appear on the left or right side of the Start menu. Third party developers make them.

Windows adds custom widgets called Companions to the Start Menu – here's how to make and use your own : Read more

 

[ekio]

More and more useless gimmick… meanwhile the file properties windows is still the same obsolete UI from XP…

 

[vijosef]

More bloatware, clutter, adware, spyware and junk.

It only makes harder to clean a new installation. But they will pollute it again, somewhere else with each update.

 

[ThatMouse]

This is one of about 50 things I have to disable and change. I've made a list for my next clean install, because Microsoft does NOT make removing this junk easy.

 

[CmdrShepard]

So let me get this straight -- they removed the option for Start to use full screen, they removed customizable tiles from Start where you could size the panel and set your icon layout, forced an impossible to remove (unless you have AD joined PC) Recommended section into it to further reduce the number of icons for launching apps and force you to use search instead so they can shovel their Bing crap.

And now? Now they are adding this bolt-on which looks like a fake tit so that Start can once again take up more screen real estate but not for icons that launch your apps -- this is literally more ADVERTISING space.

Thankfully when I was making my custom ISO I fully removed widget support from it so I won't be getting that "feature" ever.

 

[35below0]

The title is misleading. Microsoft DOESN'T add companions widgets. Stuff they push to insider builds is not added to regular Home and Pro versions.

It is beneath contempt to mislead and frustrate readers with clickbait headlines like these.
This might be a preview of things to come, but it's still in the works and doesn't affect non-insiders yet.

But don't let truth get in the way of headlines.

This is one of about 50 things I have to disable and change. I've made a list for my next clean install, because Microsoft does NOT make removing this junk easy.

Yes and no.
Windows has become like a mobile phone nowadays. After installing it, you pretty much have to comb through ALL options and settings and switch off a ton of BS.

Really annoying if you happen to reinstall Windows on several computers, but fortunatley that is rare.

Now, when Microsoft re-enables something that was disabled before as part of a minor update, THAT is something to get angry about.
Or sometimes there will be a new setting amongst five others that are already disabled, but the new one escapes your attention.
For example i noticed Notepad re-enabled spellchecking silently because i saw a bunch of underlined words. And i found one new sync setting when deep-diving into privacy and backup settings.

Them adding useless stuff has been par for the course for at least 20 years. The extra hassle of playing whack-a-mole with an already installed and working OS though, that actualy annoys me.
That and File Explorer randomly no longer being able to NOT display zipped archives as folders 🙄
I wonder what they updated when they broke that functinality?

 

[USAFRet]

Widgets again?

Didn't we get rid of these in Vista?
(for good reasons)

 

[ezst036]

This is one of about 50 things I have to disable and change. I've made a list for my next clean install, because Microsoft does NOT make removing this junk easy.

Linux is easier to install than Windows.

Just install and go.

 

[USAFRet]

Linux is easier to install than Windows.

Just install and go.

A common comment.

Interestingly, decades later, mass migration to Linux hasn't happened.

 

[ezst036]

A common comment.

Interestingly, decades later, mass migration to Linux hasn't happened.

Agreed.

Microsoft knows people will shoulder significant amounts of abuse but keep sticking around anyways.

That's why you got TPM 2.0, you got forced OneDrive and a forced (non-local) MS account, and Microsoft even embeds advertisements directly in the operating system while selling your personal data. They know full well you'll stick around, no matter what level of abuse you get subjected to. You might even be a little proud that MS sells your personal data, I don't know. And those are only the recent tales of abuse. People who make it a point to track it all could offer a spreadsheet of it over these decades.

As I made comment a few weeks ago, Microsoft only put Recall on a pause. It isn't permanently gone. They just know they've shoved a little too much down your throats, they'll let the heat pass a little bit and then down it will get crammed anyways. Recall is going to happen. This is an abusive company. And as you pointed out, these are Windows Vista widgets.

Am I (or others) still allowed to point out that there's an easier way?

 

[USAFRet]

Am I (or others) still allowed to point out that there's an easier way?

Of course.

But an easier install may not translate to easier actual use.

Personally, I use Windows/Android/Linux, on a daily basis.
None of the 3 is good for The One And Only.


Linux aficionados have been promoting it for years, as the absolute solution.
Sorry, but it hasn't happened yet.

 

[Alvar "Miles" Udell]

Can all editions get rid of the Recommended section and make it behave like Windows 10's? No? Then they still haven't fixed the problem.

 

[35below0]

That's why you got TPM 2.0, you got forced OneDrive and a forced (non-local) MS account, and Microsoft even embeds advertisements directly in the operating system while selling your personal data.

TPM 2.0 is enabled though i'm not sure what it even does. OneDrive is not forced. The MS account doesn't do anything unless you sign in and allow it. Embedded advertisments are in article headlines, not on my Win 11 Home.

1 out of 4

Oh and personal data is not collected nor sold, except maybe whatever Microsoft can scrape from usage statistics or similar telemetry. If it could scrape anything, which it can not.
But that is no different from Mozilla or probably millions of websites forcing visitors to accept "functional" cookies.

Recall is going to happen though. But it is never going to be forced.
Still, 2 out of 5.

As for Linux being easy to install, that is an unbelievable thing to believe in. Linux is free, Windows costs money. If Linux was easier to install and use, people being interested in things being as simple as possible would flock to it overnight.
Linux has nowhere near the trust, or loyalty that WINDOWS of all things has.

People are willing to dip their toe in the water. And they go back to Windows. So either Linux is not easier or Linux cannot offer what Windows can.
Either way it is inferior. And that's why people put up with Windows.
Or they just get a Mac.

None of the three are perfect. Windows just happens to be closer to it.

Can all editions get rid of the Recommended section and make it behave like Windows 10's? No? Then they still haven't fixed the problem.

I don't mind it so much. It's kinda dumb and useless, and i would prefer if that space was made available to pins which actually are usefull.
You can basically reduce it to two shortcuts, and even then most of the time it will be empty.

So no, the stupid thing is still there but it's not that offensive.
Maybe that's a personal opinion. To me pins are cleaner than whatever madness they make the full Start Menu in each edition.
Windows 7 Start Menu could be tamed. 11 i have just given up on.

 

[ezst036]

TPM 2.0 is enabled though i'm not sure what it even does. OneDrive is not forced. The MS account doesn't do anything unless you sign in and allow it. Embedded advertisments are in article headlines, not on my Win 11 Home.

I read on this somewhat obscure website "Toms Hardware", perhaps some people around here have heard of this site? - that One Drive is forced.

Microsoft now forces automatic OneDrive backups — feature enabled during clean Windows installs, users surprised with desktop icons and files

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news for you.

Oh and personal data is not collected nor sold

The nature of promoting advertisements necessarily requires personal data to be both collected and sold otherwise the ads are low value.

That's how this works in our modern era. That's almost certainly why MS is forcing the use of these online accounts. "Who clicked on that Amazon ad? Oh that was 35below0 living out in Montana" (<- Made up to prove the point) Knowing who clicked, that is what has value.

But that is no different from Mozilla or probably millions of websites forcing visitors to accept "functional" cookies.

The only comparison that actually matters is Microsoft itself.

Did Windows 3.1 collect your information for which to serve you advertisements?
Did Windows 95 collect your information for which to serve you advertisements?
Did Windows XP collect your information for which to serve you advertisements?

At some point, you stop saying no. (Note, I really, really wanted to ask this question like 14 times for each Windows version. 1, 2, 3, 95, 98, ME, etc etc etc. But I figured the moderators would take exception to that)

Microsoft serving up ads is brand spanking new. That's something that has never happened except for Windows 10/11. (I'll be glad to be shown to be wrong here. But to my knowledge, Win 8, Win 7, and Vista were not advertisement machines.)

Recall is going to happen though. But it is never going to be forced.

A tiger is going to be in the area. It is never going to bite any of the other animals. /s

You can't point to a beast but then say "oh but that beast will never act as the beast has always acted". That simply does not work.

As for Linux being easy to install, that is an unbelievable thing to believe in.

What I believe is that you are only responding to my words, but disconnected from the original comment. Here, I'll fix that so it is more easily seen:

(Quoting ThatMouse

This is one of about 50 things I have to disable and change. I've made a list for my next clean install, because Microsoft does NOT make removing this junk easy.

Linux is easier to install than Windows.

Just install and go.

When you have two operating systems - the first one you can just install and go. The second one is described as having do disable 3, 4, 5, 6 or more things before you can use that operating system -

The first install wins. There isn't a question here.

(Note: The user actually said 50 things, which was almost certainly hyperbole. But the disabling spree is a common admission among many Windows users with their new installs. This is not new information.)

 

[35below0]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news for you.

Don't get snarky, accept that my OneDrive is not synced, that OneDrive is not currently installed on my PC, that i never set it up (Microsoft would have to nag me to complete the setup but it's not happening), and that it is not forced on me.

Either
- i'm a liar and we have nothing to talk about
- OneDrive isn't forced

Choose whichever you like. You're welcome to come over for a cup of coffee and to see for yourself.
(ok, now i'm getting snarky...)

The nature of promoting advertisements necessarily requires personal data to be both collected and sold otherwise the ads are low value.

And yet no personal data is collected by Microsoft, and no ads are shown.
Search for articles on how to turn off news, widgets, web/bing search results, etc. from your Win 11 start menu.

Microsoft serving up ads is brand spanking new. That's something that has never happened except for Windows 10/11. (I'll be glad to be shown to be wrong here. But to my knowledge, Win 8, Win 7, and Vista were not advertisement machines.)

You are correct here. But since you can disable ads you should have nothing to complain about. Unless you don't want to disable them, are not allowed to disable them or don't know how to do it.
Otherwise you are correct.

But i have to protest. You don't have to tolerate these ads and there are ways to switch them off, as well as all "personalized" content or data harvesting.
Switch it off! Microsoft will scrape some income from people who never bother to do this but you're not one of them.


Are you going to prove that Recall will be forced? No.
Is it legally challenging to force people to use Windows ONLY by enabling a Microsoft owned and operated data backup/harvesting system? Yes.

Why are you being stubborn? You cannot prove that it will be forced and until it is, it isn't. And it isn't. So you cannot act as if it's a done deal, which is what you're doing.
It's stupid and wrong to do this.


And as for Linux vs Windows installation and which one is easier, i have installed both over the past 20-30 years. I would like to give Windows the nod but the Win 11 setup is such a craptacular installer, still made up of parts unchanged since Win95 days. I cannot honestly bring myself to do it.

But i only have to think back to one of at least 20 catastrophic failures installing or updating Linux distors (Debian being THE worst offender, oddly), and i cannot recommend installing Linux to my worst enemy.
At least when installing Windows, you get a usable OS eventually. Linux is always hanging on a wing and a prayer.

So the winner is Apple. I don't like Macs and they don't like me, but they're easy.

But to directly adress the billion settings that need to be looked into and adjusted, that is little different from Linux. Yes, it's true you don't have to, and there aren't any that are going after your data and private information, but you're going to be fiddling with it after installation.
Is it easier in that context, begrudgingly yes it is. Hardly something to shout about, but yes it is.