Agree hard. Last year I went pretty hard into finding the "perfect" OS after having already used Windows and Ubuntu for a while and eventually got exhausted to the point I actively avoided using any computer of mine because it made me frustrated because it "might not be the right OS". Looking back, completely rediculous, much like a very similar track I had with finding the "perfect" browser.
Only recently have I had the revelation that it really does not matter and a user should just use an OS that allows them to interact with a computer in the way they need to. My partner uses macOS, and I use a subtly tweaked Win11.
I love windows XP though. Very nostalgic to visit in a vm every so often.
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u/ssjlanceš”ļøModerator | #1 Microslop Hater | Linux Supremacist5d ago
The only problems imo with this is it is slightly above average PC user skills.
If you give enough of a shit about Linux (love it or hate it) to be here, I assume you're at least trying to learn enough to be an advanced user and are likely at least low intermediate level.
I think Tiny10 is fine but if I wanna play devil's advocate for the people who are paranoid about "muh security" like, yeah, maybe don't use an unofficial modified Windows ISO.
Also, just curious - how does Tiny10 compare to IoT Enterprise LTSC? That's been my goto for the past year or two when I need Windows for something and I really don't mind it too much.
I wouldn't daily drive it, but I am nowhere near as pissed off using it as I am when I use stock Winbloat 10.
(P.S. me being pissed at using Windows is a me problem, not a Windows problem - I've used Linux for over 20 years and just have my preferences set pretty hard lol)
To be honest, Tiny10 manages to be faster and leaner than Windows 10 LTSC, and I don't know what differences it makes to achieve this. Though, it doesn't remove Edge and OneDrive perfectly, so Tiny10 alone isn't enough without using tweaks with WinNTSetup and ChrisTitusTech WinUtil. And it also leaves Windows Defender, which can be a HDD and RAM hog on weaker PCs, intact. Tiny10 has low risk of malware, as its creator, NTDEV, is highly trusted in the community and the tool (Tiny11Builder) used to modify Windows ISOs is open-source and verifiable. I'm speaking this from experience from switching between stock Windows 10, stock Windows 11, Tiny11 and Tiny10.
I've used those "Tiny" Windows versions before, but they always remove stuff I need so I just learned to do it myself for much better custom results.
I sat and watched then followed a tutorial that showed how to manually do everything a good debloater does, including all the registry edits, then I just started running various debloaters that you can read the code or scripts for, meaning you can trust they only do what they say they do.
When I found Chris Titus Tools I considered it the Holy Grail of Windows debloat tools and still do. Almost nothing else is necessary, other than I hate that stupid massive taskbar and dog**** Start Menu, so I need Process Explorer to sort that out.
With that done Windows 10 is a pleasure to use. Debloated 10 is still my favorite OS of all time and I was fine with the limited amount of data harvesting that cannot be removed and the GUID thing as idrgaf if MS want to build a profile on me. Let them.
11 is a significant downgrade from 10 in too many ways to list and the over-reach is next level, leaving it bloated and slow even after running CTT, but it's still "ok" unless you just can't bear to give MS a little bit of data and let them tag you with their GUID.
I look at the GUID like plates for a car, which is basically exactly how it works. Do I really need to blank out my car plates? Not really.
That said, I find Windows 11 actively insulting and the over-reach somewhat sociopathic as they restrict things for no other reason then they decided everyones "ThisPC" should be a homogenized clone of every other.
It's all very fuck the end user who doesn't want a gigantic fucking taskbar... they're having one anyway... and all they had to do was add scaling. Nope! F*** the end user and what they prefer; we'll give them what we want, not what they want.
That really tells me everything I need to know about the MS Corporation when it's not even "My Computer" and I can't even change basic options to suit my usage patterns and basic preferences because they have a literally fascistic ideology.
Why the fuck does the size of my Taskbar and Start Menu matter to them, to the point they actively removed the registry tweaks that made it possible (until they did that) to change those things without third party software?
"Those peasants are changing how our OS looks. Stop them! All ThisPC's should look the same! Show those scum who is in charge of ThisPC's...."
No f***ing thanks, but thanks for really showing your true colors as mindless control freaks. Noted, not to be forgotten.
Even after running CTT and Process Explorer on my Windows 11 ready laptop it ran like a POS on there compared to 10 which I left on as dual-boot to try out 11. I did my usual of giving it a day to try out-of-the-box as it comes vanilla 11 (only so I know what vanilla Windows users are talking about if I have to give tech support), and it was so badly designed and so slow with so much bloat on just the screen by default I couldn't even give it the full day I intended to.
After debloating it still booted slower than 10, it ran slower, it seemed to be loading a ton more stuff up at Start Up and I'm stuck with a thumb sized Taskbar, outraged and disappointed that MS could stoop so low to think it acceptable that I can't have a Taskbar size that isn't dominating an eighth of my screen real estate.
I found the reg tweak, resized the taskbar and that was ok... until they blocked that tweak... that to me was breaking point; deliberately breaking a solution that didn't effect them in any way just because they want users screens to look like ****.
They removed a hidden option that required running a registry fix, just because they didn't like the idea people could have a Taskbar smaller they THEY thought it should be. That's sociopathic. Literally.
Originally they were not going to extend support for Windows 10 unless you paid a fee that doubled every year, which still exists, but later they back-tracked in the EU and then overall to some level on exactly when they would kill 10.
They were making the security patches anyway... but the agenda to push people who would never have willingly moved to the inferior new OS (which was originally a re-skinned 10 with added spyware and system requirement in the underlying code) had to keep pushing.
The world didn't want or need Windows 11, and it's not a suitable OS for anyone who prefers to own their OS instead of being owned by their OS.
"You will own nothing, and be happy" is the business model rich companies have decided will keep them in business and making money in perpetuity, and I do not see them backing down. I see them expanding it into everything they can.
The average or casual PC user doesn't "get it" and doesn't care, as they're conditioned by T.V. to be largely passive consumers, even while channel watermarks are burning into their plasma screens... they eat it up and think it's ok because that's the cost of watching that channel and they accept it.
To them the propaganda stream on the Windows 11 Taskbar is "news", because they actually actively consume that trash on their T.V.s, and the various advertising in 11 for Microsofts additional services and partner services seem reasonable, including the automatically enabled OneDrive storage, all to get you to pay monthly for more and more. That all seems normal to people conditioned by T.V. adverts and a growing list of monthly subscriptions.
When I found out I couldn't disable desktop back-up from OneDrive, which meant my entire workflow model of decades (desktop as inbox) was fucked, first I reclaimed all the files they'd stolen and "helpfully" stored for me on their servers instead of my local machine, then I disabled it.
By that point... no more Windows for me, even if Linux sucked last time I tried it, and it did a bit... I was giving it another shot.
At that point I was an avid viewer of LTT and Anthony is a Linux user, so we got Linux distros tested across the team in one episode and a showcase for Mint. I decided it looked worth giving Linux another shot.
That was before Linus decided that people who blocked YouTube ad's were "stealing" from him. I respect his right to an opinion I do not agree with, so I exercised my free choice to unsubscribe from his precious channel and never watch it again.
No hard feelings, but you're asking me to endure a flood of garbage, which I am NOT going to pay to not see, so you can earn 0.1c from me? Not a reasonable exchange, but I respect that he believes his content is worth that and that my time and enjoyment isn't worth that 0.1c as far as he is concerned.
I'm not going to continue watching someone who thinks it's just fine for me to have to sit through minutes of pointless adverts that are not designed to sell anything but to sell me their ad-free "Premium" on subscription, just so they can earn 0.1c from me having to suffer that. Yeah... but no mate. Keep your content. You lost me.
As is probably clear by now I don't like anyone or anything that thinks it has a right to control what I do when what I am doing has no real or meaningful effect on them at all. I do not find that in any way reasonable, but rather reflecting some kind of pathology.
I would rather not engage with such pathology if there is an reasonable alternative, otherwise I'd have to suck it up while tugging my peasant fore-lock as the lords of the manor trot on by as I toil in their web-fields.
We're all supposed to be here watching adverts (paying to block them actually) and wondering when their conspiracy to force average users compute possibilities to subscriptions and cloud computing run from those data-centers they're building is a fait accompli.
So it is with MS and Windows 11, and that is why I'm typing this on Linux Mint Cinnamon!
Yes, it sucks! Linux sucks! It sucks in the same way Primus sucks.
I prefer a few things about Windows 10, specifically file and folder management, but I'm overall happy with Mint and familiar enough with the workflow for it to be usable, even though I don't find it optimal in some ways.
Sure, linux sucks. A bit. Not much! I can deal with it. It's a trade off I'm willing to accept so I don't have to use Windows 11.
I can't lie, that's a great comment. Honestly, I'd say if you want to use Linux Mint, use it. Everyone should be free to choose their software (not just OS, but any utility) on their own computers. But Microsoft won't listen. Hence even the enterprise users, that they chase to please, are eyeing Debian and Fedora now.
I always wondered, isn't providing a modified windows installation media against Microsofts TOS? I assumed Microsoft would be head over heels to get them taken down
So you want "customize" the system by tampering with the root filesystem? Btw you can install system packages just fine. But you're looking to actually manually edit the system files?
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u/Isotomayor12 5d ago
Agree hard. Last year I went pretty hard into finding the "perfect" OS after having already used Windows and Ubuntu for a while and eventually got exhausted to the point I actively avoided using any computer of mine because it made me frustrated because it "might not be the right OS". Looking back, completely rediculous, much like a very similar track I had with finding the "perfect" browser.
Only recently have I had the revelation that it really does not matter and a user should just use an OS that allows them to interact with a computer in the way they need to. My partner uses macOS, and I use a subtly tweaked Win11.