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construct_ , to technology in Microsoft accidentally leaks internal tool that can enable hidden Windows 11 features
@construct_@lemmy.ca avatar

Where can I find the tool?

Noodlez ,

Probably omitted as “an exercise for the reader” since it’s legally grey. And a difficult exercise. I cannot find it at all

kautau ,

There is a link to it from this article:

mspoweruser.com/how-to-use-staging-tool/

duncesplayed , (edited )

Not the exact StagingTool, but the GitHub project mach2 that’s linked to in the article supposedly supports many of the same features as StagingTool, I guess kind of an open source clone.

Edit: to add more detail. If you look in the project for some files that have been updated recently, such as this one, the feature list includes some numeric codes at the top, which are the same ones StagingTool uses. The ones without any symbolic name at all, I believe, are ones that have not been determined yet what they do.

Kraven_the_Hunter , to technology in Microsoft accidentally leaks internal tool that can enable hidden Windows 11 features

The biggest thing I want is to just move the task bar to the top of the screen. I can’t use my finger on my Surface tablet unless I remove the keyboard. Such idiocy…

SymphonicResonance ,
@SymphonicResonance@lemmy.world avatar

I don’t have W11. I have had my taskbar at the top of my screen since the 90s. W11 doesn’t allow this ?

MinusPi ,

Nope, it’s locked to the bottom.

typo ,

That’s just stupid. I never have my taskbar anywhere else because it makes me ill. But fuck that, you can’t tell me where to put it…

WarmSoda , (edited )

Not only is it forced to the bottom. It’s in the middle and you can’t ungroup tabs.

Frodo ,

The start menu can be in the left corner in Windows 11 just like older Windows versions.

WarmSoda ,

Ah I thanks for the correction.

klyde ,
@klyde@lemmy.world avatar

That’s not what they’re talking about. They’re talking about the taskbar icons. Power users like myself ungroup those because it’s annoying and not at all helpful. It stops being icons and goes back to the regular rectangles. I’m assuming you’ve used icons for so long you forgot what it looks like. Win11 let’s you do it in dev releases but I just use Start11 because it basically lets you do whatever you want with the taskbar.

Frodo ,

I made no error.

SymphonicResonance ,
@SymphonicResonance@lemmy.world avatar

How horrible. Who’s bright idea was that and were flying chairs involved?

Psythik ,

Use StartAllBack. Not only does it restore the old Taskbar features, it also lets you do even more things, like have the Start button on the left but keep the icons centered, and customize the transparency level (among other things). You can even use your favorite era of Start menu (7, 8.1, 10). Personally I’m using Win7’s Start Menu with Windows 11-related buttons added in (like Settings).

(Edit: It does cost $5 after a 90 day trial, but that’s less than the cost of lunch, and with all the features you’re getting I’d gladly pay 10x the amount.)

gothicdecadence ,

StartAllBack is good but I personally use and prefer Start11

klyde ,
@klyde@lemmy.world avatar

Start11 is much better. I have a license for both and I periodically check in on StartAllBack every couple of months and nothing has made me want to go back to it.

Rouxibeau ,

$5 one time or subscription?

pakrat ,

It’s a one time purchase. 100% worth it!

karlthemailman ,

One time for one PC for personal use

Kraven_the_Hunter ,

Awesome, thanks for the tip!

ass_destroyer ,

favorite era of start menu

no XP

mfw

Psythik ,

I think you can do XP too. Haven’t checked in awhile. Install the program and try for yourself.

dx1 ,

This right here is why I run Linux. Holy hell. It just does whatever I want, for free.

Psythik ,

Except support HDR. Which is the main reason why I use Win 11. No other OS does HDR properly.

dx1 ,

I think that’s been working on Wayland with some gotchas for different applications. I forget, I use normal resolutions.

Reverendender ,

Wait, y’all still have Start buttons?!

Zaddy ,

Dude right??? I’ve been losing my fucking mind. My home computer, work computer 2, and work computer VM are all top bar mounted. Work computer 1 for upgraded to 11 and it’s pissing me off. Every week I check for a way to change it back.

macrocephalic ,

I think side is the best. When almost all monitors are wider than they are tall it makes more sense to put it on the short edge to use up less space.

cyberpunk007 , (edited )

My favourite is when I’m trying to click a notification tray thing and shit like teams messages keep popping up on top. Who the hell designed it so notifications come up on top of tray pop ups? So fucking stupid.

AustralianSimon ,
@AustralianSimon@lemmy.world avatar

This angers me so, so much and every messenger app does it.

Eris ,

You can do this with TaskbarX

reddig33 , to technology in Microsoft accidentally leaks internal tool that can enable hidden Windows 11 features

Are those “hidden features” just more ads?

HiddenLayer5 ,

CIA Target Mode as well probably.

Agent641 ,

Actually it uncovers the fact that space cadet pinball was actually a covert mind control and indoctrination tool developed by the NSA.

HiddenLayer5 ,

Well then we’re all screwed because who didn’t play the shit out of that?

Piers ,

Noone I’d trust.

1984 ,
@1984@lemmy.today avatar

Could also be tracking and monitoring, I think those counts as Microsoft features.

Agent641 ,

Actually it uncovers the fact that space cadet pinball was actually a covert mind control and indoctrination tool developed by the NSA.

victron ,

That would explain some shit ngl

Countmacula ,

I KNEW IT

sadreality , (edited ) to technology in Microsoft accidentally leaks internal tool that can enable hidden Windows 11 features

We getting to the point where some Linux distros are objectively better systems... all around. Having way less issues with PopOS than I did with Win11

Dwalin ,

True, I’ve been using NobaraOS and have no problems at all, I moved my mom from windows to ZorinOS and she only noticed because her laptop no longer “freezes up” randomly, and I’m talking about a surface book that runs better on Linux than on Windows. Gotta love the irony

d3Xt3r ,

Hah, same here. Nobara for me and Zorin for mum, works like a charm. If only mainstream OEMs pre-installed Linux and promoted it more… But I guess this is fine too. One day, when I have enough capital, I’ll launch my own Linux Desktop company and be the change I want to see.

MetricIsRight ,

Yep! Co-worker had 2 old laptops, threw a SSD into one of them and put Zorin OS on it for his daughter to do schoolwork on. Not one complaint or question about how to do anything, and it’s been a year. The other one was very very underpowered so I threw CasaOS onto it and got him setup with Home Assistant and Adguardhome.

Tippon ,
@Tippon@lemmy.world avatar

The other one was very very underpowered so I threw CasaOS onto it

How did you get past the website? It’s bloody awful :o

Joking aside though, I hadn’t heard of CasaOS, so I just did a quick search. That website is awful on mobile. I swiped up, assuming that there was more than just the live demo link, but nothing happened for a while. Then, loads of content popped up at once and scrolled past >.<

I’ve sent it to myself to check out on the computer. Hopefully, if it does what it claims, it could resurrect an old laptop :)

iByteABit ,

I once installed Zorin for my gf’s ancient laptop, it was so much faster and she loved the color schemes for xfce

Poggervania ,
@Poggervania@kbin.social avatar

Yup, just moved to Mint on my laptop since I’ve been getting some issues with Windows draining the battery quick despite it being in “good health” according to Dell, and just general performance hiccups across Windows.

Super low CPU and RAM usage, snappier performance for word processing and surfing, and a longer battery life? With no tracking features to boot? All for free? Hell yeah I’ll move over to Linux lol.

sic_1 ,

Same, switched to an easy Mint install and immediately felt more in control of my computer again. Some professional software does still cause problems though so a 100% switch sadly isn’t possible… yet.

Halosheep ,

If I didn’t use my pc primarily as a gaming pc I would absolutely be running Linux. Hopefully one day we can get there with compatability and performance.

sadreality ,

I use mine for gaming and shit posting... only anti cheat triple AAA does not work like new BF and CoD, everything else runs great or fine.

qbus ,

Let’s all thank the steam deck. Now Linux is bigger in gaming than mac

sadreality , (edited )

Valve doing lords work but let's NOT bootlick too hard they are just defending turf and we happen to benefit

qbus ,

I mean I’m going to date myself but the game I play the most on my steam deck is dungeon keeper 2 from GOG and it works fine https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/572ca8a8-3381-494d-96bc-f619c82098d8.jpeg

terminhell ,

The bad news, for me at least, is yes I can get most games to run fine. Skyrim, cyberpunk, Sims 4 etc. The issue is modding. Sims 4 is excluded from this as you littlery just drop .package files in the mod folder and just works. But games like cyberpunk and Skyrim…you often need external tools/injectors/animation riggers etc for a lot of the 'good stuff’s. And getting those tools to work properly can be a nightmare.

WarmSoda ,

Why do those tools work differently on Linux if the games are fine? At most a script extender would need is a Microsoft Dell and don’t those come with wine or whatever?

Honestly asking. I use Windows. But if games work I’ll switch.

Spotlight7573 ,

Generally you use some kind of tool to manage/update the mods and set them to load in the right order. While those tools may also work under Linux with Proton/Wine/etc, each app you launch typically has its own isolated folders. So in order to get it to work, you’d need to change where that mod manager app uses to use the folders that Proton/etc configured for the actual game like Skyrim. That’s compared to just installing the mod configurator/launcher app and having it start Skyrim for you on Windows.

The fact that there’s a 60 page guide on how to do it tells you it’s not as easy as on Windows: www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/…/91500?ta…

WarmSoda ,

Aaand I’ll be using Windows for awhile I guess.
Kudos for the author putting that together.

Caligvla ,
@Caligvla@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

I think the best you can do is still dual boot Linux and Windows, not ideal but at least you’re avoiding most of these issues.

WarmSoda ,

I might try that, just to get used to it and learn how it’s structured. All I use my PC for now is gaming, music and movies. I barely even browse the Internet on it anymore.

terminhell ,

They can use any number of extra libraries and such. Idk I’m not a programmer. But I’ve certainly tried. Though tbh it’s been. A while. Sadly I dual boot just for the games that I mod that require a bunch of external tools to mod. I don’t have the time anymore to try and force em. A me problem yes.

exu ,

I don’t remember it being much of a nightmare for Skyrim, but then again some mods were indeed broken. Pretty normal tho :/

veng ,

There are definitely “quirks”, even with a lot of the gold/platinum rated games on protondb. E.g. Titanfall 2, horrible crackling audio issues at times, even though it runs great otherwise. Firewatch, random choppy slowdowns, but rare. BattleBit, sometimes (not too often) 20 seconds of 20fps, then back to normal.

Mereo ,

What games are you playing?

heyoni ,

I’m tempted to try vfio but for now I just dual boot -_-

oce ,
@oce@jlai.lu avatar

Check if your games run on Linux here, you may be surprised: protondb.com

Durotar ,
@Durotar@lemmy.ml avatar

Arch Linux has been an objectively better system for years.

FluffyToaster621 ,

Currently demo-ing Mint, and might actually switch.

Mostly because almost every non-UWP app works fine and good alternatives exist for things that don’t, and partially because the PC doesn’t sound like it’s taking off when it starts up.

ryannathans ,

Amen, pop here too

knobbysideup ,

We’ve been past that point for awhile.

turkishmonky ,

Yeah, I switched my gaming PC over to popOS and noticed no major issues - steam and heroic just worked as I expected.

Tangent5280 ,

Does this mean the games that worked on steam for windows will also work on steam for popOS?

virtualbriefcase ,

Usually. Proton by Steam (versions of wine tuned specifically for games) makes just about anything run flawlessly with one click to turn it on in the settings and occasionally some fine tuning for particular games like setting it to run a particular version of proton. This works on any Linux distro.

Outside of Steam, and when trying to mod Steam games, it’s a lot more hit or miss.

Tangent5280 ,

Damn, I didn’t know we’d come this far to adopting Linux on gaming machines. Makes me hopeful for the future.

fossilesque ,
@fossilesque@mander.xyz avatar

You can run non-steam games through steam to use Proton.

turkishmonky ,

I’ve had good success using heroic for epic and gog games, but lutris gave me some trouble

oce ,
@oce@jlai.lu avatar

You can check if your Steam games work on Linux in general here: www.protondb.com. PopOS is a noob friendly distribution well adapted for gamers and artists.

veng ,

The other thing worth noting is that just because a linux distro is noob friendly, it doesn’t mean advanced users should feel the need to use more complicated distros. Quite the opposite in a lot of cases - I’ve used Linux for work over ~10 years (first tried it in 2007) and yet find myself back on Ubuntu for my laptop. PopOS for my desktop because of nvidia convenience (+ less issues than most other distros).

stappern ,

only windows users are surprised of this.

TurtleTourParty ,

My keyboard and trackpad often don’t work on resume in PopOS but otherwise I really like it.

JRepin , to technology in EXCLUSIVE: Lenovo is working on a Windows PC gaming handheld called the 'Legion Go'
@JRepin@lemmy.ml avatar

No thanks. We don’t need more closed and bloated spyware, what we need is more open and privacy respecing OSes like GNU/Linux and devices using it like Steam Deck.

JRepin , to gaming in EXCLUSIVE: Lenovo is working on a Windows PC gaming handheld called the 'Legion Go'
@JRepin@lemmy.ml avatar

No thanks. We don’t need more closed and bloated spyware, what we need is more open and privacy respecing OSes like GNU/Linux and devices using it like Steam Deck.

RFBurns , to technology in Microsoft accidentally leaks internal tool that can enable hidden Windows 11 features

Usual info-free article with clickbait headline. Tinfoil-heads will call it a “troll / honey-pot”, designed to attract and identify ‘troublemakers’.

And from that comment section, it’s working.

eric5949 , to technology in Microsoft accidentally leaks internal tool that can enable hidden Windows 11 features

deleted_by_author

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  • Ack ,

    I was thinking it would be better if you could use the tool to disable windows features.

    GravityAce ,

    deleted_by_author

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  • PerogiBoi ,
    @PerogiBoi@lemmy.ca avatar

    Now that is a tool I’d be excited to see leaked.

    O god o no I’m leaking again aaaaaaaa

    github.com/Sycnex/Windows10Debloater

    amenotef , to android in Vulkan support is coming to Android apps on Windows 11
    @amenotef@lemmy.world avatar

    I play warzone with my friends and they all own a Playstation 4 or 5.

    So I ended up using the android playstation app in Windows 11 so we can all share VoIP all the time when playing.

    First I tried the WSA. But it was impacting games performance. Stuttering every 30 seconds. Other thing I didn’t like from WSA is that it installs Hyper-V or something like that (that causes VMWare to not like AMD-V setting).

    Then I tried bluestack limiting the app to just 1 core and this one doesn’t seem to impact game performance. So I’m staying with bluestack.

    I have an 5800X3D CPU. And game is generally GPU bottlenecked for me.

    giant_smeeg ,

    I’ve been emulating an app in my laptop using WSA and it definitely kicks the cpu into gear

    unwillingsomnambulist , to technology in Microsoft accidentally leaks internal tool that can enable hidden Windows 11 features

    I just want it to stop self-destructing every two hours when I’m running it as a VM under Linux.

    LaSirena ,
    @LaSirena@midwest.social avatar

    Wait, what? What happens when you hit the two hour mark? I’d it like one of the router simulators that forces a reboot?

    unwillingsomnambulist ,

    BSOD for whatever reason. Doesn’t matter, I can resume what I was doing pretty quickly, but it is mildly inconvenient.

    hombre_fundido ,

    Maybe that’s one of the features you can enable.

    PlasticExistence ,

    Ah, you must have it set to Windows Millennium Edition mode

    stu ,
    @stu@lemmy.pit.ninja avatar

    Assuming it’s precisely at the 2 hour mark, do you have snapshots enabled for that VM? If so, try turning them off.

    unwillingsomnambulist ,

    Nope, no snapshots. The bugchecks in the logs vary with the last two being 0x0a and 0x3b - drivers and memory - but this is on both Stable and Latest virtio drivers and memtest86+ comes up clean on the hardware. I’ve never taken a snapshot of this VM since it’s on my workstation and not for production use.

    What I have noticed, though, is an increase in memory utilization in the VM at idle, likely due to recent group policy changes and application updates (it is domain-joined). I’ll see if increasing the amount of memory allocated will take care of 0x3b.

    programmer_belch ,
    @programmer_belch@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

    I just use windows 10 for VM, it hasn’t crashed for me but I don’t use VMs for more than one or two hours

    Justice , to technology in Microsoft accidentally leaks internal tool that can enable hidden Windows 11 features
    @Justice@lemmygrad.ml avatar

    Jesus Christ, just reading about Microsoft developing something called Moments made me nope out of that article.

    Obv there’s worse things in this world, but goddamn it if Microsoft isn’t reclaiming its crown slowly. I think people forget/zoomers never knew, but Microsoft was once, rightly, one of the most hated corporations on earth. They were taken to court, in the United States!, for monopolistic practices. You gotta be doing some insaaaaane shit to get hit with that type of case in the US post-Reagan administration.

    Microsoft’s name was basically equivalent to dogshit from the mid-90s until maybe the mid 2000s. Maybe 2010? Hard to put a finger on it. Windows 7 certainly did a lot to get people to calm down from a steady hate-boner.

    I just wish, I fucking WISH, that if MS is gonna do this weird “make your pc your phone too! Dur hrr!” shit that they’d offer a Windows Lite ™️ edition where you can opt out of the little stupid assistant thing. No, Clippy, I don’t need help, fuck you very much. Let me opt out completely, without having to fuck with reg editor and CLI, from all types of ads, tracking, “offers for free shit,” all that shit. Just provide a barebones OS, let me add the programs I want, stop popping up telling me the .exe is a trojan sent to murder my dog just because you want me to download shit from your precious proprietary store, just stop all that shit. Something akin to Windows XP or Windows 7 type era. Neither OS was perfect and certainly many features in modern OSes are nice, but the simplicity found in them just because at the time they kind of HAD to be simple in order to function, is something I’d love for MS (and Apple too for that matter) to embrace.

    But since none of that will happen, the next best thing I can hope is developers start making more and more programs run natively on Linux distro. Linux has come very far in my lifetime and I’m honestly excited that I can now use Linux basically for everything and only keep Windows installed as dual boot for a few specific tasks. I just hope it keeps growing in coming years. Hopefully demand from gamers for the steam deck and such drives more and more support for Linux. I can you one thing though… if my Windows updated and tells me “set up Moments! Click here!” I’m nuking that shit from orbit immediately. I don’t care what it does, I will never use any of that shit Microsoft packs into Windows. Probably sounds grump old man or whatever, but I just refuse. Stop adding dogshit no one asked for! This goes for basically all devs! Rant over, but I’m still pissed!

    rm_dash_r_star ,
    @rm_dash_r_star@lemm.ee avatar

    Microsoft’s name was basically equivalent to dogshit from the mid-90s until maybe the mid 2000s.

    I’m old enough to remember well the Microsoft hate. It’s not so much they’ve changed their ways, but Google has now taken the trident and diverted attention away from them.

    Shadywack ,
    @Shadywack@lemmy.world avatar

    Yes, this right here. It’s really the same ol shitty Micro-fuck, Google just wanted to be king of the shit-mound for the most morally and ethically bankrupt corporation of this age. [edit] Google and Facebook are just vying for the crown of “biggest asshole corporation in the world”

    cmbabul ,

    Fuck all three but at least Google and Microsoft provide something I can potentially get some use out of, although I’m with you and plan to be 100% Linux in a few years

    SeenSeanBeanBorn ,

    When choosing my last phone it was a case of “which is the least shitty of my options to share all my data with”

    GigglyBobble ,

    if my Windows updated and tells me “set up Moments! Click here!” I’m nuking that shit from orbit immediately.

    Why wait? You seem to be fed up already. Reconsider the importance of those specific cases. I haven't missed anything really after moving to Linux full-time. Forced to use Windows at work and that's a daily reminder how bad it really has become.

    Justice ,
    @Justice@lemmygrad.ml avatar

    I do use it use linux for most things and especially for light usage such as web browsing/chatting. Many games also work now thanks for new interest due to the steam deck, which is cool. Gone are the days, it seems, where you gotta read 14 forum pages on why your specific distro won’t boot this specific game. It’s honestly in the hands of the software devs at this point though. They gotta break from the standard for the last 20 or so years of catering only to Windows. I’m hoping the steam deck pushes more teams to embrace the Linux world. I’d also love for Valve to officially release a standalone desktop version of steamOS (or whatever their name is for their distro). I know people have kinda made hacky versions, but an officially supported version with real support for stuff like nvidia drivers (which is another thing… nvidia needs to get away from that shit) would be very cool and would certainly push other companies outside the steam universe to get on board too. It just seems like a matter of time thing now which is certainly better than “this will never happen” that it felt like a decade ago

    knobbysideup ,

    At least you have wsl now. M$'s late to the party attempt to EEE.

    veng ,

    This is the saving grace for so many people who are forced to use windows at work - I can do terminal stuff locally now which is great. Slow when working with windows directories (outside of WSL) but still great.

    knobbysideup ,

    Other than games, run windows in virtualbox or with kvm if absolutely necessary while using Linux for everything else.

    Filipdaflippa ,

    Sounds like windows isn’t for you so why are you using it lmfao fucking Americans and their mental health issues 😭

    darganon ,

    You gotta be doing some insaaaaane shit to get hit with that type of case in the US post-Reagan administration.

    Yeah, they bundled a web browser with their operating system! Insaaaaaane!

    const_void , to technology in Microsoft accidentally leaks internal tool that can enable hidden Windows 11 features

    Using Windows is cringe

    klyde ,
    @klyde@lemmy.world avatar

    So Mac or Linux fanboy? Which one is it?

    tev ,

    most likely linux

    Reverendender ,

    What’s wrong with being a fan? I use Windows for work because I have to. It’s still shite and I hate it.

    StinkyRedMan ,

    Nothing wrong with liking linux, but there is no need to be an asshole to people because they use another os.

    stappern ,

    you dont need to be a fanboy but you do want to be a corporate fanboy, thats pathetic and literally counterproductive.

    milady ,
    @milady@lemmy.world avatar

    The windows cavalerie has arrived I see

    HubertCumberdanes ,

    Having a job is cringe

    stappern ,

    having a shitty job is cringe

    doleo , to technology in Microsoft accidentally leaks internal tool that can enable hidden Windows 11 features

    Does the calendar taskbar flyout count as a hidden feature? Perhaps it would be more useful to leak a tool that can disable windows features. Ads, internet-spam, gutter-news, etc.

    But mainly I just want the calendar agenda back in the taskbar.

    nyar ,

    github.com/ChrisTitusTech/winutil

    This will fix a lot of windows 10/11 bloat.

    stappern ,

    this will fixx all of them

    www.debian.org/distrib/

    whatsarefoogee ,

    The tool that disables bloat is the LTSC edition. You can get windows 10 enterprise LTSC right now. Windows 11 LTSC is scheduled to leak in the second half of 2024.

    Reverendender ,

    I never thought of this. I, too, would like this feature!

    RovingFox , to android in Vulkan support is coming to Android apps on Windows 11

    I hope this will also indirectly improve gaming on Linux.

    RagingNerdoholic , to technology in Microsoft accidentally leaks internal tool that can enable hidden Windows 11 features

    Does it make Windows 11 not total dogshit?

    Oh wait, no, it’s still Windows 11.

    cyberpunk007 ,

    Back by popular demand! Right click on task bar for task manager!

    But none of the other stuff. Thanks, Microsoft.

    Regression of features = future.

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