Any Linux users around here?!

[Lucan]

Some, most ?, NAS ( network attached storage ) OS while proprietary are based on Linux to keep the cost down.

That is certainly a factor, but there is more to it than that. For companies making devices with embedded operating systems, dealing with Microsoft contractually can be a nightmare or even a ruination. Microsoft are aggressively money grubbing and can easily catch their customers, even those with the best intentions, in a Byzantine legal maze. Microsoft employ the best and most expensive lawyers too. In press releases concerning these situations, Microsoft will say "We are working productively with xyz to find a solution", which translates as "We are extracting more money or we will sue them in court".

Added to that is the fact that, being open source, Linux can be customised for particular purposes without needing anyone's permission, assistance or co-operation - unless you want it.

 

[david1212]

Funny, just yesterday I was setting up Win 10 on a new laptop for Mrs Lucan. It was pre-installed (of course) but, among other things like changing from logging on via Microsoft to local logging on, it took me more than 10 minutes just going through the settings to disallow Microsoft, app publishers, everybody else, and their dogs, from having access to the web browsing history, emails, photos, and files generally. Maybe most people don't care about this stuff. And there is no Win10 driver for my oldish HP printer (yet Linux has!).

... You're definitely not alone in going through all those Windows settings to turn features off.

Are there more settings that I need to opt out of, once I’ve completed a clean Win10 installation?

Been there done that too many times - got a cupboard full of t-shirts. For a setup with multiple users much has to be done for each account too ... grrr.

Always have an administrator account with a password and an every day user rights only account. This stops any installations and updates that need administrator rights happening without your approval.

Another area to look at is Updates. In group policy I set a 30 day delay on the 6 monthly updates and 15 days on the monthly ones. The idea being that if there is a gremlin it gets sorted or at least the update removed before the systems I have tweaked try to install them. Linked to this is blocking an automatic restart.


With Linux Mint as I have it nothing updates automatically, just a notification. I can then update when convenient to me. Very different from Microsoft ideal of ' When we have finished updating, configuring and snooping around your computer we might let you use it for a while ' .