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> The autoupdates load garbage onto your computer (Candy Crush Soda Saga?)

I've been using Windows 10 before it had a public release and I've never seen anything like this on my machines. It seems like you really have a mess on yours.

I also removed anything that I didn't want from the Start menu. I don't understand why you wouldn't do the same.

It sounds like the problem here is not really Windows 10.

The problem absolutely is windows 10. From elsewhere in the thread: https://rcpmag.com/articles/2016/08/24/anniversary-update-re...

Old thread, but another thing making the rounds today: http://www.pcworld.com/article/3138493/windows/here-we-go-ag...

I know you're going to tell me I should just close the advertisement and the problem here isn't really Windows 10, but the problem is that the ads exist in the first place after I paid $120 for it.

> Solitaire and Minesweeper are freemium apps with a subscription of $10/year to get the full version. Seriously? Minesweeper needs to be a subscription?

Is this true? You have to have a paid subscription to get what is the equivalent of some 1992 public domain game?

The main result of paying for Premium is that it removes the advertising.

Why that sort of advertising has been baked into a $120 operating system, I have no idea. I guess someone got greedy and figured nobody would quit the OS over it. Their Weather app is full of ads too, last I checked.

It's a large factor in why I've switched to Linux as much as possible, though MS still got my money for a W10 license so it's not much of a victory.

http://www.pcgamer.com/windows-10-solitaire-requires-a-subsc...

The apps and games you mentioned aren't part of the OS. And remember, Windows 10 was free if you got it in the first year.

I got it in the first year (was actually running all the insider builds before the retail release).

The free license was tied to my motherboard which promptly died, so I had to buy a new one at full price.

EDIT: And besides, just because they're not an essential feature doesn't make me happy that the previously included things have been removed. Say what you will about Apple's hardware, but they went the opposite direction with bundled software. Keynote/Pages/Numbers used to be an optional package ($50 IIRC), but shifted to an included feature. They don't even have banner/video ads shoved all over.

This is in fact untrue. You would not have needed a new license for a replacement motherboard if that really happened. At worst you might need to make a phone call to MS, though even that is an unusual case.

> if you got it in the first year.

You are really trying to get me out of the bounds of acceptable decorum of this site. Really??? I see a very prominent conditional in your reply. I suppose MS has a right to screw over people who got free upgrades (not really), but I got to pay for my copy of Windows with a new computer a few weeks ago and still get the privilege of seeing all the anti-consumer crap that comes with it. I'd also venture a guess that proportion of users who aren't using free upgrade offer will increase with time - how is your argument supposed to age, Brandon?

Putting a couple ads in free games in the App Store is not "screwing over people". Nor is it "anti-consumer".

In fact, the whole point isn't even to make money from them, but to support the Windows developer ecosystem by promoting other apps and jump starting a viable ad network.

Also note that Apple and Google do the same thing.

> Putting a couple ads in free games in the App Store is not "screwing over people". Nor is it "anti-consumer".

Games came with the OS therefore they are part of the OS. If you didn't want them to be part of the OS then you shouldn't have included them. If I'm paying premium then I don't want to be INSULTED with ads. Nor with telemetry that's borderline spyware which was my outburst more about. All that is beside the point which was that you're making a dubious argument that applies to only a portion of people.

> but to support the Windows developer ecosystem by promoting other apps and jump starting a viable ad network.

And to that I say fire entire marketing team. How will a couple thousand fools that bought $10 upgrades in Minesweeper help jump start anything? Does Microsoft employ underpants gnomes because the plan doesn't follow. Marketing team is burning bridges way faster than foss software releasing portion of Microsoft is making them, there's no point in jump starting anything if marketing shortcuts any trust customers could possibly have in the platform. Every one of my friends doesn't trust Windows 10, even nontechy ones and the best/worst part is, I didn't have to help them.

> Also note that Apple and Google do the same thing.

If they are super abusive then so can be Microsoft. Flawless logic. I'll add that Google and Apple started their BS on mobile platforms which were for some time their own thing and people didn't care if they were soiling their own turf. The trouble with Microsoft is that they are exporting this excrement to PC segment of computing platforms which had established norms that were in place for decades that you are now breaking. If you kept telemetry/ads BS only on Windows Phones literally nobody would care.

It feels like the height of bad taste to have ads baked into your OS. I can't imagine anyone feeling better or happier that they have ads in their OS. Seems a very crass move.

The core games are still free but they have embraces the "in-app purchase" model of offering extras for $$$.

@konrad As is often the case there's a hint of truth but overall it's misleading. They're not talking about the old-school Win32 games, but rather the new Xbox Live-enabled games which are free-to-play and offer a bunch of premium functionality like tournaments and regular content additions - things most people don't need but some enthusiasts presumably appreciate. You can play it for free with a much, much wider range of games and features than the old 1992 classic.

Updates should never reinstall anything you've removed (including Candy Crush).

> Updates should never reinstall anything you've removed (including Candy Crush).

And yet it did. Looking into it, MS is playing the "bug" card and has said it won't happen next time. I'm not sure whether to believe them, or if it was a "we wanted to see if we could get away with it" approach to getting more ad installs.

https://rcpmag.com/articles/2016/08/24/anniversary-update-re...

While it shouldn't be reinstalling apps you've removed, they still intend to automatically add new "promoted apps" to your start menu. But each time they sell a slot, you should only need to remove it the one time and it won't come back.

This is incorrect. The programmed pinned apps in the current releases of Win10 are only applied to new installs or when upgrading from Win7 or 8.x. They are never applied during Win10 updates (unless there's a bug of course). The entire pinned space is customizable by the user and user customizations are always maintained.

Ah I see, I figured this was just plain Minesweeper that you could have played on an Apple ][e! Thanks for the info, it isn't quite as bad as it initially sounded. Shame that there is still advertising in the OS though.

I'm a long time Windows user and I've never experienced the problems described above.

I stick to Enterprise though, maybe that's why?