From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

I rarely write stuff like this - each to their own mostly. But IrCOve been running the Mac for a long time now, and am now gaming on Linux (Bazzite as the bistro). The PC I have can dual boot into Win 11 in case I need some firmware thing or other not supported on Linux, but thatrCOs it - strictly a Linux box otherwise.

The Linux install hasnrCOt been 100% smooth sailing - more like 95%. The odd wifi hassle which seems to be to do with mesh networking, although itrCOs rare. Renaming a USB thumb drive is unnecessarily complex - yrCOknow, niggles but nothing much.

After several months, I rebooted into Win 11 today. Oh my lawd this damned thing is annoying.

Windows Update taking an age to download. Several restarts but not like the MacrCOs OS multiple restart thing, this is rCydownloading the latest versionrCO then having to manually check after the install at which point it magically finds another bunch of updates requiring restarts.

After the first restart, some irritating rCLAlmost there! Your PC needs to be backed up!rCY which turned out to be marketing for rCLturn on OneDrive and give everything to usrCY. Then Teams appeared out of nowhere after IrCOve previously explicitly removed it. Multiple competing updaters. ASUS Utility ones to update. Windows Update is fighting it. Origin appears from nowhere
and starts trying to update. Zero coordination between any of it. LAN driver updated via ASUS from the web and then asked to restart, competing with Windows update which at the time was in the middle of installing something so who knows what would have happened if I had restarted before that had finished.

The OS is now blocking the ASUS motherboard and graphics card utils as a security ris too, as a special bonus (rCyArmoury CraterCO).

IrCOd previously disabled endless Copilot prompts, am amazed it didnrCOt ask me for that again. Maybe thatrCOs because I pay for Office 365 and did the cancel subscription thing when they tried to up the price by -u30 to include
a Copilot subscription. Nope - if you cancel, and -only- if you cancel, it will then offer you the chance to renew without Copilot at the previous price point and all good. Couple of years left paying for that for the family and then IrCOm off - I make no use of it myself, but some still going through university where they do.

Wow. Just hit in the face straight away with every reason I moved off it. NothingrCOs perfect - macOS doesnrCOt have this but multiple applications do, including the music software all wanting their own updater front-end instead of just using the App Store (30% cut issue I would guess). At least the OS isnrCOt fighting its own motherboard though. And on Bazzite? Never had a single update issue at all, just one centralised rCLSystem UpdatesrCY application and yourCOre done.

Was quite the reminder of exactly why I got fed up and moved over to Linux (again) in the first place. What a horribly unfriendly experience compared to the Mac or LinuxrCOs update experience. Now I should add - I use the Mac App Store for everything I possibly can use it for, which makes this kind of
thing smoother. If you go outside of that then yes - you do get the multiple updaters problem. My music production software is always my go-to example of that kind of nonsense, although technically I suppose you could also include Steam (pretty smooth there though). Those updaters also exist on Windows of course, so it wouldnrCOt make anything better there.

Cheers,
Ian


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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

On 11 Oct 2025, Ian McCall wrote
(in article<0001HW.2E9AE7AB00A0D7D530B63738F@news.individual.net>):

Windows Update taking an age to download. Several restarts but not like the MacrCOs OS multiple restart thing, this is rCydownloading the latest versionrCO then having to manually check after the install at which point it magically finds another bunch of updates requiring restarts.

Just to note on this part - IrCOm on my sixth restart so far after supposedly getting rCOthe latest versionrCO. Yeah.

Will attempt to sort out the driver problem (which might be unstable - seems ASUS is still trying to foist a 2012-signed SHA-1 encrypted driver on the world and telling people to disable all their security as a rCOsolutionrCO to the problem of their own poor quality driver not loading) and then get back
to Linux pronto. Yuck.

Cheers,
Ian


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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

Ian McCall <ian@eruvia.org> wrote:

I rarely write stuff like this - each to their own mostly. But I've been running the Mac for a long time now, and am now gaming on Linux (Bazzite as the bistro). The PC I have can dual boot into Win 11 in case I need some firmware thing or other not supported on Linux, but that's it - strictly a Linux box otherwise.

The Linux install hasn't been 100% smooth sailing - more like 95%. The odd wifi hassle which seems to be to do with mesh networking, although it's
rare. Renaming a USB thumb drive is unnecessarily complex - y'know, niggles but nothing much.

After several months, I rebooted into Win 11 today. Oh my lawd this damned thing is annoying.

[snip interesting tale of woe]

I've just today installed Win 11 Pro into a UTM VM on my M1 MBP.

My word, I can see what you mean about 'Doze being obstructive.
Most annoying of all, it won't do anything at all useful unless I turn
off the Mac's VPN. Fortunately, I don't really need it for any online
work, it's only a plaything for me. I must say that I'm very glad
indeed that I only paid $10 for an official license.
--
^-^. Sn!pe, PTB, FIBS My pet rock Gordon just is.

My Summer holiday pics: <https://youtu.be/_kqytf31a8E>
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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

Sn!pe <snipeco.2@gmail.com> wrote:

Ian McCall <ian@eruvia.org> wrote:

I rarely write stuff like this - each to their own mostly. But I've been running the Mac for a long time now, and am now gaming on Linux (Bazzite as the bistro). The PC I have can dual boot into Win 11 in case I need some firmware thing or other not supported on Linux, but that's it - strictly a Linux box otherwise.

The Linux install hasn't been 100% smooth sailing - more like 95%. The odd wifi hassle which seems to be to do with mesh networking, although it's rare. Renaming a USB thumb drive is unnecessarily complex - y'know, niggles but nothing much.

After several months, I rebooted into Win 11 today. Oh my lawd this damned thing is annoying.

[snip interesting tale of woe]

I've just today installed Win 11 Pro into a UTM VM on my M1 MBP.

My word, I can see what you mean about 'Doze being obstructive.
Most annoying of all, it won't do anything at all useful unless I turn
off the Mac's VPN. Fortunately, I don't really need it for any online
work, it's only a plaything for me. I must say that I'm very glad
indeed that I only paid $10 for an official license.

I run a Win 11 Pro VM under Parallels on my M1 MBP and have similar frustrations to you both. And, yes, I managed to get a discounted
license, otherwise I would never have created the VM!
--
Cheers, Alan
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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

On 11 Oct 2025, Alan B wrote
(in article<1rk25gf.189ziyd5y79r6N%alanrichardbarker@gmail.com.invalid>):

I run a Win 11 Pro VM under Parallels on my M1 MBP and have similar frustrations to you both. And, yes, I managed to get a discounted
license, otherwise I would never have created the VM!

So IrCOve uninstalled the motherboard utility but of course the uninstaller
is lying and the driver is still trying to load and be blocked. The ASUS rCyUpdate HubrCO thingy tells me I have three available updates. I go to the hub, it tells me rCLeverything is up to daterCY and I have no available updates.

With a curse and a shudder, I abandon this unfixable wasteland and head back to Linux. IrCOm now debating whether to keep the Windows install at all.

Cheers,
Ian


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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

On 11 Oct 2025 at 20:29:47 BST, Ian McCall wrote:

I rarely write stuff like this - each to their own mostly. But IrCOve been running the Mac for a long time now, and am now gaming on Linux (Bazzite as the bistro). The PC I have can dual boot into Win 11 in case I need some firmware thing or other not supported on Linux, but thatrCOs it - strictly a Linux box otherwise.

The Linux install hasnrCOt been 100% smooth sailing - more like 95%. The odd wifi hassle which seems to be to do with mesh networking, although itrCOs rare. Renaming a USB thumb drive is unnecessarily complex - yrCOknow, niggles but nothing much.

After several months, I rebooted into Win 11 today. Oh my lawd this damned thing is annoying.

Sounds like a good reason to stick to W10. I have it on a PC I use mainly for gaming and I (almost) wouldn't know it's there.
--
Cheers, Rob, Sheffield UK
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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

On 11.10.25 22:40, Ian McCall wrote:

On 11 Oct 2025, Alan B wrote
(in article<1rk25gf.189ziyd5y79r6N%alanrichardbarker@gmail.com.invalid>):

I run a Win 11 Pro VM under Parallels on my M1 MBP and have similar
frustrations to you both. And, yes, I managed to get a discounted
license, otherwise I would never have created the VM!

So IrCOve uninstalled the motherboard utility but of course the uninstaller is lying and the driver is still trying to load and be blocked. The ASUS rCyUpdate HubrCO thingy tells me I have three available updates. I go to the hub, it tells me rCLeverything is up to daterCY and I have no available updates.

With a curse and a shudder, I abandon this unfixable wasteland and head back to Linux. IrCOm now debating whether to keep the Windows install at all.

I bought an ASUS Expertbook in May with an installed Windows 11. I
thought I need it to remain up to date as an instructor for basic
PC-Skills and Coach for senior people.

I was so pissed to let the expensive machine get dusty in a drawer that
I installed Linux as a dualboot. Now I use the machine almost daily and
more than 90% Linux.

If it were not for the instructor job I would sink Windows immediately.
This OS is simply an insult, inefficient, ineffective and insecure.

Most of the time I use macOS anyway.
--
"Roma locuta, causa finita."
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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

On 12 Oct 2025, RJH wrote
(in article <10cfe9a$18u0h$1@dont-email.me>):

Sounds like a good reason to stick to W10. I have it on a PC I use mainly for gaming and I (almost) wouldn't know it's there.

Yes - exactly. I had a Win 10 install, and other than the nagging for
Copilot, Teams, PINs etc. always under the faux cheerful rCLLetrCOs finish setting up your PC!rCY monicker at boot time, it just kind of sat around
being itself. Unfortunately I had one of the unsupported processors for Win
11 so I switched it to Linux. Interestingly once on Linux I had enough performance tools to realise this machine was really struggling under what I was asking it to do (it was around a decade old), so I got a whole new
machine to last me another decade.

On the supported processors bit - IrCOm not one of the rCLoh not! Forced obsolescence!rCY people. There are genuine side attack channels on that processor that came out later and canrCOt be fixed in software without a huge performance drop. MS support older processors than that, and newer - itrCOs the ones that had architectural problems that they dropped. Similarly in my Win 11 rant above a lot is due to the separation of hardware and OS - ASUS insisting itrCOs a Microsoft problem when theyrCOre still shipping 2012-era encryption signatures and using SHA-1 for encryption is borderline criminally incompetent. ItrCOs entirely on them. I do not blame Microsoft for enforcing stricter, more modern security standards as it would be them that got the blame if it all went wrong.

Cheers,
Ian


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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

On 11/10/2025 20:29, Ian McCall wrote:

The OS is now blocking the ASUS motherboard and graphics card utils as a security ris too, as a special bonus (rCyArmoury CraterCO).

I heard about this watching Gamers Nexus on Youtube. Asus stores stuff
in a bit of secret hardware which survives reboots. Not at all like a
rootkit.

Asus does not seem like a good manufacturer.
--
Chris
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