If you’re like me, you might have opened up your Windows 10 laptop today only to see a giant ad for Square Enix’s Rise of the Tomb Raider plastered across your login screen. This is the work of the “Windows Spotlight” feature in your Personalization settings, and thankfully, you can turn it off for good.
Isn’t the future fun?
I get that Microsoft has been aggressive in pushing Windows 10, and I also get that some of the tracking stuff is a little excessive and non transparent.
But I think this is a particularly mild example, it seems more app discovery than anything. For some here though, it’s probably just as annoying.
Fortunately it can be easily disabled.
Well today Windows literally disabled my lockscreen altogether because Microsoft’s account services were down for a short while, so your words ring a bit hollow to me today.
Does that mean you could not get into your computer (locked up) or that your computer was wide open (unlocked) to anyone to use?
I was actually logged in (I never turn my PC off), and for this particular OSNews story, I wanted to take a look at my own lock screen settings. When I got there, however, I noticed I couldn’t edit any of the lock screen settings. It turned out that because Microsoft’s services had some downtime, my entire lock screen was actually disabled in the registry. I manually enabled it, but I was too scared of logging out and possibly not getting back in.
For a short while, I actually considered my account was compromised, which would’ve been a feat since I use TFA. Scary, and insane.
I am confused… You don’t use a local account on your PC? Are you saying if one uses a Microsoft account to logon you need to be connected to the Internet? That can’t be right? Why would anyone do that?
It uses your last cached password. If you’re not connected to the internet and are using a Microsoft account and you enter in your password, on the first attempt to login it tells you that you are not connected and that you need to enter in your last used password. Upon entering your password in again it then allows you in. I would guess that is most likely what would happen in Thom’s case if he had logged out or locked his system.
Some features are disabled unless you do use a Microsoft account, unless you are hooked up to a domain. So either he is lazy or wanted those extra personalazation features.
Yikes. That doesn’t sound good at all. I actually keep the Spotlight feature on because the Bing images are usually cool.
That kind of nonsense is why I’m glad I log in with a local account and sign into the Microsoft Store and OneDrive manually. Yes, it’s a bit of a hassle, but I can actually log in and use my gaming rig even if Microsoft goes tits-up tomorrow.
I get it though; it’s a silly, stupid thing to be locked out of a device you supposedly own because someone trips over a server power cable halfway around the world.
It’s idiotic, why isn’t the login using the local account and then after login, it connects to the various on-line accounts you have linked to? It also makes a complete joke of fast boot. Your PC will not shutdown properly, so it can boot up in five seconds and then take 2 minutes to login. Assuming Windows isn’t updating in which case start up or shutdown could take up to an hour.
Edited 2016-02-25 09:02 UTC
For me — granted I haven’t seen it yet — it’s akin to the minimal advertising on a Kindle e-reader. You get the product for free (Windows 10, provided you are upgrading) or very cheap (“Kindle with offers”) and the unobtrusive advertising pays the difference. With the Kindle, you only see the ads on your lock screen or as one line of text when you’re not reading or using other features. If this stays on Windows’ lock screen or at the far side of the Start menu, it won’t be that bad on the whole.
Two things though…one, with the Kindle you can pay more upfront or pay a one time fee later to never see another ad on that device. I don’t see that happening with Windows. Two, a computer is not an e-reader; it seems with each version of Windows in the past seven years we’ve lost a bit of “ownership” of our devices. With Windows 10 (even before I knew about this issue) I feel like the OS is only on loan to me, that Microsoft can come in at any time and modify or even revoke it entirely on a whim, and I’m screwed until I install an alternative OS. If that were to happen on a device encrypted with BitLocker, it would be very bad indeed.
I guess it’s a good thing I only use it on my gaming PC; if it were to stop working I’d probably not notice for a few days.
Microsoft has held that level of control over your PC since it was first able to accept and download updates without your intervention. The difference is they weren’t quite blatantly evil enough to use it before now.
Personally I wouldn’t touch BitLocker because NSA
. Overall though, I don’t know, I don’t really get that feeling at all.
I actually like that Windows is updating so often now. I hated waiting the 3 years or so that it took to bake a new release. Now its just, opt into this Preview Program and get a new build every week or so.
Especially now that they started documenting what updates actually change (Seriously, wtf was with that?)
Sigh…can we PLEASE stop spreading the MSFT lie that you “Get Windows 10 for free” because let me make this perfectly clear you do NOT get Windows 10 for free because it costs you the price of one Windows 7/8/8.1 license which is currently $65 USD for an OEM key or $110 USD for a retail key.
The ONLY copy of Windows 10 you can “get for free” is the Windows 10 “all ur PC belong to us” Insider Edition, for the rest you are giving up a Windows 7/8/8.1 key so all you are doing is merely TRADING one key for another and one trip to Amazon will show you that key has value.
BTW if you don’t believe me and you’ve had Windows 10 for more than 30 days? Feel free to try to use that Windows 7/8/8.1 key and you will find that MSFT has deactivated that key. Want to go back? You better enjoy sitting on hold waiting for a phone activation because your previous Windows key has been killed by MSFT.
Ouch. Sorry I touched a nerve, maybe I should have phrased it better. It’s “free” in the sense that it’s a “free upgrade”, but I agree with you that it comes at the cost of your existing license (which is how upgrading works for just about any subscription based commercial software product, which is what Windows has effectively become).
In about six months, no one is getting the “free upgrade” anymore, everyone is paying whether they bought 7/8.1 before or not. If a person waits until after that time to upgrade, they have to pay for it, so the current upgrade is indeed “free”.
Now, whether 7, 8.1, or 10 holds the most value is another discussion altogether. 😉
Morgan,
Yep, some users want win 10, others see windows 10 as inferior, some just got snagged without much in the way of informed consent. Interestingly, the fact that MS eliminates downgrade rights from win10 implicitly makes a windows 7 license more valuable for now.
Edited 2016-02-27 16:20 UTC
That was the original plan. Whether it holds true in six months or not, we’ll just have to see. And do you think, if they do go with the original plan, that the paid version will be free of ads? Somehow I very much doubt it.
Its not a ‘nerve’ its that language has meaning and the word free means “without cost” which this most certainly is not.
If I TRADE you an apple for an orange…did you get the apple for free? Did I get an orange for free? Of course not its a transaction not a gift and that is exactly what this is.
And as far as the “upgrade” part? I’ve never had a company that has given me any issue with deciding I don’t want the new version and sticking with the old one, and certainly never had one disable my key for the previous product as long as I wasn’t attempting to use both at the same time. the fact that MSFT does this just makes it even more obvious that you are getting nothing from them for “free”, you are giving up something to get something else.
Whether you think its worth a $100 license to go from ad free to adware? That is up to you.
First of all, there’s no such thing as ‘unobtrusive advertising’ if I didn’t ask to see it. Secondly, your scenario only works if the ads aren’t present when you purchase Windows 10 with new machines. Somehow, I highly doubt that’s the case.
Dang it, another good trolling opportunity wasted.
Hi,
There is something called “boiling the frog” (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_frog ).
Microsoft is slowly making the transition from a reputable company to a spamware provider (or in more polite words, to an “advertiser funded” service).
They are doing this slowly in the hope that people don’t realise it’s happening until it’s too late.
Currently the adverts on the lock screen can be “turned off for good”. Eventually (maybe a few years?) I expect that you will no longer be able to disable this “feature” at all.
– Brendan
In reality the frog jumps out of the pot as soon as the water starts to get uncomfortably warm. Obviously amphibians are smarter then most humans.
Thye are really just catching up with Google and Apple, who already do these things. To think that MS is the first, or worst offender is really naive.
I have to disagree with you. There’s no shortage of outrage over what Microsoft has been doing in recent times. I don’t think they’re doing anything slowly, rather they’re trying to corral everyone and do it quickly. People certainly realize what’s going on, hence all the outrage.
Microsoft is doing one thing very well — pissing people off. I have yet to find a single person ok with all the spying, spamming, and scumbagging they’re doing. I have no problem finding people who absolutely loath and despise it.
Then you’re not looking in the right areas. There are a lot of MS fanboys out there that will swallow anything.
Replaced my PC’s defective IDE DVD writer (eject button wasn’t working) with a SATA DVD writer and the new drive isn’t detected by Windows 10. At all. It can still detect external USB drives, just not the internal DVD writer. For the record, the SATA DVD writer is detected and usable in Ubuntu 14.04 on the same PC.
One of these days I’ll just go back to dual-booting Windows 7 and Ubuntu after upgrading the HDD, once 16.04 LTS comes out.
google upper and lower filters and DVD drives, and follow the directions, this problem can happen on any version of Windows, not just 10.
Just disable Fast Boot – should help with new devices.
Thanks for the advice, guys.
It’s not like those iPhone 6 full screen ads in iOS.
I still have yet to see one of those.
What are you writing in that corner?
It’s not often I remember a forum comment I made almost 8 years ago (this would seem to be the first time actually), but when the topic at hand was so stupid that I haven’t been able to shake it all these years later, it’s a wonder I don’t wake up screaming in the middle of the night.
http://www.osnews.com/thread?337954
It’s like that old saying: the more things change, the more ridiculous they get. And if you’re going to try to tell me that that isn’t an old saying, I’d helpfully suggest we change that.
Advertising on the Blue Screen of Death – the idea of this was a joke – up until today, it is now imminent.
“This kernel crash was brought to you by Peter Stuyvesant cigarettes, the cigarette you’ll need to smoke right now.”
Yeah, you’re not kidding. And in that case, after enough blue screens, that ad would be dead on target though I prefer American Spirit Blacks myself. Hmm, I see a marketing opportunity here…
Edited 2016-02-25 14:49 UTC
I thought they’d already given me all the reason they could not to install this garbage. Apparently not.
Worry not darknexus, there will be another concern trolling Windows article posted here in the next week or so to give you even more reasons.
Its just truly terrible that they bury the way to turn this off inside some obscure registry tweak. Oh wait.
I don’t know why I’m going to bother trying to reason with you, but here goes. The point is not that it can be turned off. The point is not that it takes thirty seconds. The point is that, and let me spell this out for you so you’re actually able to comprehend it, I would not turn this on in the first place. For Microsoft to do this without the consent of the users is a blatant violation of all that is decent. That is the end of it. The machine is mine. Not theirs and I’ll not tolerate preferences being changed, features added or removed, or any other tampering with my equipment unless I choose to permit it. Period.
Lmao. Good grief, get some perspective man. The way you drone on you’d think this is the worst thing to ever happen in the history of computing.
Why is it turned on in the first place?
Any function that needs an external communication to work in one mode but also will run okay without that external communication in another mode should by default be in the mode where it does not depend on that external communication.
IT IS A PERSONAL COMPUTER! It is not a ‘client’ that is expected to need an external server to run.
Wrong. It’s Microsoft’s computer. At least, that’s where they want to go.
There is a graceful fallback, you are prompted for a local password in the event you can’t login with a Microsoft Account for whatever reason.
Try it yourself. If you can get over the big mean scary ads darknexus is so worried about.
Well sure, but not in our dreams. Only on TV and radio, and in magazines, and movies, and at ball games… and on buses and milk cartons and t-shirts, and bananas and written on the sky. But not in dreams, no siree.
But there is something inherent to corporatism, and correlated to an ethical misconception that dividends should always be positive, at least in the medium term.
This is complacent attitude on capital people, asking for extracting the last drop of blood from consumer people.
…………………
Like renting a van truck [yes, RENTING] and the truck flashing adds along all its surface, to everyone along MY way to MY business.
Just hoping someday Bing Capital doesn’t decide [on my wellbeing] to flash something inappropriate trough my screen-saver to my extremely diverse ‘clientèle’.
………………….
On a propositive side: Student and AllWorldConnected versions of OS and Productivity Packages should be allowed this overreaches.
As a Linux user on all my machines but one, and a holder of Microsoft Shares (yes, I’m a techno-sociopath) I say, why not?
You do not own Windows. MS licenses Windows to you and can take it away any time they prettily please. Nobody is making anybody use Windows. Ya’ll are getting it for “free” now. So stop yer whining. If advertising on your machine improves my portfolio, then suck it up. I’ve got an outdoor pool to heat.
*Brought to you by Trolls Inc. (these here great United States of Capitalist America) Patent Pending
Didn’t ask for it for free. Didn’t want it. So this is what they really wanted… they pester you with Windows 10 ads so that you’d install it and… get more ads! I’d complain if I actually used it. As it stands I’m lucky enough to be looking on in disgust from an outsider’s perspective.
PS. Love the commercial afterward. Nice.
Edited 2016-02-25 16:21 UTC
Didn’t ask for it. Didn’t want it. Doesn’t use it. Still posts about it.
Nelson, the entire POINT of OS News is to post about things that interest you, not just things that you personally use. I’m interested in far more technology than I personally use, too.
I’m sure nelson is getting some fee per post from his benefactors. After winphone crashed I thought he was gone but now he’s back.
Please. Nelson is clearly very pro Microsoft, but that doesn’t make him a shill. There are more Microsoft fans out there than most realize and I don’t think he’s much worse than the Apple, Android and Linux fanboys we have around here. Like all fans, sometimes he got a point and sometimes he doesn’t.
I am using Windows only to play games. So I don’t really mind advertisements for games on my lock screen 🙂
I see you are not concerned. Luckily.
The lock screen is just the beginning. Why to stop on such a good way ?
What if I place an ad of, let say 5 seconds, before you launch your preferred executable ?
After all, you like gaming, why not receive ads from your preferred games editor, before playing ?
At present, as a family, we have no Windows operating systems at all.
Still we get the phishing phone calls with strong asian accent: “Hello, I am calling from Windows. We have found problem with your computer. Please give me your email address and email password.”
My usual reaction is to hand the phone to my teenage son. He plays them along using regional accents and implausible stories. This is a competitive sport played with stop watch in hand. Between him and his brother some calls reach 7 and 8 minutes. As a spectator sport it can be hilarious….
Sadly teenage son wants to play the sort of games that require Windows so … W10 is on our horizon.