Windows 10 - The most intrusive OS ever?

Am I the only one or does anyone else see Windows 10 as epitomizing the Orwellian predictions of 1984?

What do you mean I have to register for a Microsoft account just to be able to setup a PC? I don't want a Microsoft account. I don't want anything from the Microsoft store and I have no interest in giving anyone effective control and essentially ownership of my data under the pretense of making it accessible to all my devices. I'm perfectly capable of keeping all the data I've ever accumulated over 42 years of computing on my keychain in a USB drive smaller than my thumbnail. I don't need to pay someone for the privilege of doling out my own data to me only to have them inevitably expose my personally identifiable information and then think that their only liability is to pay for a year subscription to some identity theft protection site or other. So sorry for your inconvenience doesn't really cut it for me.

The more Microsoft tries to force me to use edge and bing and the store the more I will refuse to do so.

Microsoft has always been arrogant and obnoxious but prior to Windows 10 they weren't really adversarial. They sure seem that way to me now. Am I the only one?

So I got a yandex email account, used that to setup my PC, created a couple of local admin accounts and then deleted the account I used to setup the PC and deleted the yandex account for good measure. But inevitably at some point or other I was again forced to logon to my Microsoft account and was told "Oh it looks like you have a problem, you don't have a Microsoft account on your PC, we'll help you out."

I managed to logoff before any actual damage was done but it literally felt like a virus attack.

The bottom line is that I'm sick of everyone trying to monetize me.

As a final example I have a HP ColorLaserJet MFP that I've been using for 5 years with no issue but when I attached it to the new PC I was so helpfully directed to an app to install so I did. I went to print a text file from Notepad and I couldn't do it because I wasn't logged onto HP.com. wtf. Took me 2 hours to uninstall the app, clean up the slop mess the uninstall leaves, find the two individual drivers I really needed buried in the HP web site before I could print a text file without logging into HP.

So am I the only one that this stuff really annoys?

Hi,
Yep you are the product
Using edge and bing/... just makes it easier for ms to sell you.

10 home or now 11 home you couldn't give or pay me to use those crappy versions.

Plenty of ways to get rid of the windows bloat if interested.

Indeed, a good decrapified Retail / OEM / COA Windows 10 "Pro", runs very well. And no MS accounts is required at any point.

Windows 10 Pro is a safer choice when it comes to protecting your PC and securing your information. It also goes much further in control and Functionality... While there nothing to prove this, I always felt the printing support is also superior in Windows Pro compared to Windows Home.

Windows 10 Decrapifier, 18XX/19XX/2XXX - Script Center - Spiceworks

It's good to see I'm not the only one.

I gave a real consideration going the linux/open source route but I'm guessing that is not without it's own significant learning curve as well.

The bottom line is that there are workarounds for pretty much all these types of things (many of which I've already done), the issue is that they often require the user spend quite a bit of work sorting through real and bogus "fixes", applying them and making sure they have no unintended side effects that you don't find out about a week or two later.

I think that I've made a good start at fixing what I perceive are problems with Windows 10. I've disabled updates beyond 21H2, I've deleted the Windows Lock screen and the sign-in screen that exists on every office app as well as deleted the ability to share documents but I'm sure there are many more things that I'll have to fight along with some of the things I've already fixed that will probably be "unfixed" by Microsoft when I am eventually forced accept an upgrade I'd rather not have.

This is the benefit of a site like this that has a history back through Windows 7 and earlier to fall back on. Anyway I'm interested in all these tips and tricks and like to think I might be able to contribute something as well even though I'm a 70 year old hardware engineer that's been retired for 5 years who would rather not be forced to spend 400 hours bringing up a Windows 10 machine to a point that I can tolerate and still accomplish all the things I need to be able to do on a PC.

I understand why Microsoft would want to encourage people to funnel and buy everything through them. What I don't understand is why Microsoft would want an adversarial relationship with an otherwise good customer that simply will not be forced down the approved Microsoft path. I mean that's eventually what happened to the Detroit car industry and it's been two generations and counting of customers Detroit has lost market share to the imports because of.

Windows has become like Linux What is Windows Core OS?

So instead of starting with a bloated windows and de-bloating it.

You can start bloating it out of the box.

Hello, I am with you all the way. If MS never made the sneaky deal with Intel to block Win 7 on newer processors, I would still be on Win 7. It takes me a few weeks to make all the changes after a new install of Windows 10. Mostly because there are so many, I forget half until I see the problem. Like you, I disabled the lock screen, I believe that image on the screen is a trick to make a "USE" for an unused machine so people leave it on the whole time. Why when I get to my machine do I want to look at a picture? I want to use the machine.

If you want to get rid of Edge, I can help you with that. It involves a completely new installation of Windows, though. I don't have Edge installed anymore, machine works fine, I think quicker also. There are a couple of minor things that relate to Edge, which aren't even important, in my opinion. Just some links from settings.