But nobody was talking about being logged in. When you’re logged out and Cortana is off, you right now have a search button that doesn’t include any results from the web. It doesn’t bing the query. Are you saying this behavior is staying?
Ok, so the criticism isn’t “I can’t turn off Cortana”, it’s “I can’t disable web search”. That part I’m not sure of, I don’t know if there’s a way to disable web search. So if you want to disable that, maybe there’s no way to do it.
I’ve never had a problem with web searches getting prioritized over anything else for me, so using search to find local documents, programs, music, email, etc. is unaffected. But when I do want to do a web search, I like that it’s really easy to do so.
A web search is not exactly hard right now; you just use your web browser. A local search and a web search are so completely and clearly distinct in my mind that having both bound to the same button makes no sense to me.
But just to be clear, this change is a red flag not because of a UI inconvenience (although it is that as well). It’s
a) a privacy concern, because local search queries will now be transmitted to MS without consent
b) an antitrust concern, because the OS provider is tying its web search engine to a major OS component with no way to choose a competing engine
So you can still turn of Cortana? As long as that’s true I think my set-up is still fine.
My understanding is that you can’t disable the lock screen anymore. I didn’t do that personally, but the functionality should not be removed.
If I can’t disable web search I will (as usual, you no doubt snicker to yourself) be offended and outraged by Microsoft. It won’t actually matter though, as I already block searchui.exe in my firewall as even with web search turned off it pinged MS every time I searched my local filesystem.
@Nesrie, the difference (as I understand it) is that local filesystem searches are now called “Cortana”. Also you can now use Cortana’s full functionality without logging in to Windows with a Microsoft account-- you are still abrogating your privacy by associating your Microsoft account with Cortana, but you can login to Windows locally.
@LMN8R - Can we still disable showing suggested Microsoft store apps in the start screen? If so, the media is definitely overreacting on that one.
You can pick and choose how to use Cortana and log in:
- You can log in with a local account and use Cortana just locally without giving it any info
- You can log in with a Microsoft account and log-out of Cortana, again not giving it any info
- You can also do either of the above and log-in to Cortana with a Microsoft account, and then it’ll work full-featured if you’re in a region which supports it. But again though this means local processing of your information without sending all of it to Microsoft, combined with its Notebook where you can choose specific things for Cortana to “forget”.
As for settings, here are screenshots directly from the final version of the anniversary update:
Not being able to disable the lock screen will make me very annoyed for my HTPC. That’ll require manual intervention whenever it reboots.
Couldn’t you just set it to auto-login, even with the lock screen not technically disabled?
This update is coming tomorrow people, and now I can’t tell if I am supposed to be outraged or not!
Jesus Christ. So Windows refuses to update its native (shitty) Calculator app, nor will it launch it. And you can’t actually program the calculator button on the MS Sculpt Ergo keyboard; it will only ever launch the native calculator app.
As a hilarious bonus “fuck you” to basic sanity, you can’t even select the error code the MS store throws up when failing to update the app.
I love 95% of this hardware, but some of this stuff is just bone-numbingly stupid.
I hate this calculator too. I am not sure why, but I feel sort of relieved I am not the only one.
I wound up downloading the Win7-era calculator online shortly after installing W10. Like Adam noted, built-in shortcuts and stuff are a little hard to modify, but overtime, it’s crept up into my “frequently used programs” list in Start10, and even seems to show up first in Start10’s hacked-together “Run/Find” thing when I start typing “Calc.”
Except about 1 time in 20, when for whatever Godforsaken reason, the Windows built-in one preempts the older version and launches when I mistakenly hit Enter without looking closely enough. . .
God, I hate the Win10 calculator.
MS is rolling it out in waves to keep the servers from dying, so don’t be surprised if you don 't get it tomorrow. Heck, like last year, expect the roll-out to take weeks, if not months.
Word is that Surfaces will get it first, which sort of makes sense, as that’s a fixed platform so there shouldn’t be any surprise, and it is MS’ flagship device.
If you can’t wait, download the Media Creation Tool and create a USB installer to update your machines. (Make sure it’s the newest version; you may download the tool for last November’s update.)
I don’t even know if I hate the Win10 calculator, because it has never successfully executed on my machine.
e: Odds are, though, that as a Modern app, I will hate it with a fury I usually reserve for litterers and driveway weeds.
I mean, I can get a million calculators wherever. The larger issue is not being able to reassign my “launch calculator” button from THE ONE TRUE CALCULATOR THAT STANDS ATHWART HISTORY, LEGS PLANTED, AND SAYS, “NO MORE!”
I had to find a copy of the Windows 7 Solitaire game for my father, too. He hated the new version, which makes sense since it’s lousy with ads.
So I was wrong about this. The lock screen MS no longer allows you to disable is the useless fucking piece of shit picture with the time on it that comes up before you’re allowed to input your password to unlock your computer. So basically, now I have to hit any button to dismiss it, then wait a second for that stupid useless fucking picture of wood to scroll up to the top of my screen, then it deigns to allow me to input my password.
I mean, it’s not a huge deal. But WHY?
Also, as expected, the 1607 update disables a bunch of the stuff you set in Shutup10, reenabling telemetry and so on. So you’ll need to run that again.
I’m now using this post to list stuff I’m doing to secure my work computer, so I can reference it from home.
Disable “You have updates” full-screen popup. Admin powershell:
cd /d "%Windir%\System32"
takeown /F MusNotification.exe
icacls MusNotification.exe /deny Everyone:(X)
takeown /F MusNotificationUx.exe
icacls MusNotificationUx.exe /deny Everyone:(X)
Stop windows from automatically rebooting after updates, entry #2 in this link
Use winaero tweaker to disable reboot after updates, set default lockscreen background, set ethernet as a metered connection, and set wallpaper quality to 100% (unclear if this was reset in 1607 or added to winaero later on):
Disable cortana as much as possible (likely redundant with shutup10):
Used Media Creation Tool to create a couple USB installers, and I have so far updated 5 PCs with no issues whatsoever. Wooot
So, I hate this goddamn stupid screen.
And I didn’t even realize that I could previously disable it. Nice to learn that. . . as I love lose the ability to do so!