It is interesting but people have different thresholds for what they consider “ads”

I know Ubuntu took some flak for offering their system — was it Ubuntu Pro? — at their login screen. That’s fine with me, but bothers others.

Ubuntu again did it with some music store app in their app search results.

Meanwhile Windows has stuffed Candy Crush, Office, and many others in the start menu over the years. And sometimes it’s not Microsoft but OEMs doing this.

But is crapware “advertising”? Im not sure but it seems like perceptions have shifted at the same time as Microsoft specifically has pushed more and more intrusive ads, and those have moved further to the “advertising” side of that line between suggestion and spam.

It’s hidden by default but it should be there in C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp for “all users” and %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup separately for each user.

XP-7 had this right with a folder in the start menu for startup items, just drag a file or shortcut there and it runs on startup.

It’s the same in 10. This is actually one thing I find obnoxious in Linux, even as a user for 25+ years… menu “shortcuts” aka .desktop files are harder to make and poorly documented.

Also a testament to how much of a benefit it is when the vendors just get out of the way and don’t feel the need to add their own Special Sauce^TM to the drivers.

I get why they did it ( because it’s “printers and other devices”) but seriously would it be that hard to link it in both places? Or actually make a printer settings that works worth a shit so you don’t need the control panel app?

Sound is in there too. The one that annoys me is the printer settings being under “Bluetooth” instead of “printers”.

A BIOS does not inherently have to have a configuration utility.

This right here.

My first PC (a 386 circa 1989) did not have a built-in config utility. It had a bootable floppy disk that could configure the BIOS settings. I think all it could change was the system time and the CHS values of the hard drive(s).

But we reply with the same anger if someone has an opinion different from ours.

Hey fuck you! That’s total bullshit and you know it!!

It’s the same thing. Click bottom left corner, start typin. best workflow.

Isn’t that what start menu icons do already?

… wait, no.

I think you’re right about the SEQUEL to SQL backformation but why would Microsoft enter into it at all?

The naming and origin of SQL happened back in the 70s, long before Microsoft did its work on porting Sybase to OS/2 in the late 80s.

I guess I’m in the minority here calling it “et cetera”

Health & Safety.

Heh, if you think Lenovo is bad and mac vs Lenovo is a bad choice to have to make…

…what do you put forth as the shining beacon of laptop mfgs? Cos it ain’t Dell, and it sure isn’t HP.

Who else is there?

That’s what most laptop OEMs do.

Dell is just “rebranded” Compal, Quanta, Clevo…

That’s not a bad thing and the ODM/OEM system is not anything new.

Sometimes the difference is just the badge, sometimes it’s firmware changes too, sometimes it’s completely customized to the OEM specifications.

It has varied a lot over time and mostly depends on how big the OEM is and proportionally how much time/effort/expense they want to throw at a particular design.

I am a vampire and—

I’ve found it to be pretty good in my area although I did have to tweak the cycling profile to avoid unpaved, otherwise it really like to take me down out of the way gravel paths.

There’s a fair amount of customization …

Including surface types such as sett and cobble

For screenshots I recommend Greenshot. Simple to use and good annotation tools.

You’re right about “run Linux” but not sure what you’re on about with “trap yourself in garbage popular distro like Ubuntu or Debian” there.

Those distros are just fine; like anything else, use what is best for you, no reason to be negative.