Like it or not, the Windows Backup app installed in Windows 10 and Windows 11 is here to stay, with Microsoft calling it a "system component" that can't be
You can’t get rid of it, you can only hide it: Microsoft imposes controversial Windows Backup on users::Like it or not, the Windows Backup app installed in Windows 10 and Windows 11 is here to stay, with Microsoft calling it a "system component" that can't be
It's always sad to see users being mistreated like this but what never ceases to amuse me is the amount of time that Windows users are willing to waste in order to remove all this trash from their systems and have a usable experience, only for it to be ruined again with something worse with the next update. At this point, they either don't know that alternatives exist or they have Stockhom syndrome or something.
I used to do that A LOT and you can still find all my old guides on my website as a testament to that, they were soooo long, it took hours to do a "clean install", they took days to write, and even then I would run into so many issues because of Windows Update...
One day I realized that I was doing more work to make Windows usable than the average Arch user and I just gave up. Linux wasn't ready for gaming yet so I had to dual boot for a while, but thankfully that's not a problem anymore. I couldn't be happier.
Use local accounts only and do not login to a Microsoft account.
Edit: In my situation, I used an MS account during a reinstall and disabled backups and logged out quickly after. There are methods to still do an offline install, from what I understand.
I've been on Windows since 3.0 (not 3.1) and MS-DOS, back when DR-DOS was a thing and IBM's OS/2 was a rising star, and the joke about how if operating systems were airlines, Linux would be the one where all the passengers bring parts and tools and build it on the runway themselves.
Oh, how the turns have tabled. Today, I installed Debian 12 with GNOME DE on an old 2010 MacBook, and then installed Budgie Desktop on top of that as an optional profile. It fucking screams on 13 year old hardware, lol. I'm not even done trying out all the distros and DEs I want to try out; that's just one. When I'm done playing with that I'll blow it away and install a different distro instead. And I didn't pay a penny for any of them.
There is literally no reason for me to stay on the sick, bloated advertising delivery/data collection system that is Microsoft Windows.
As a non windows user, can someone explain to be what all the fuss is about? It sounds like people are grumpy that they’re being shown a feature that they can’t use or don’t want to use, and MS is going to let people hide the UI for that.
What is wrong with this solution? Are people not going to be happy until every spec of the feature’s code is stripped from the OS?
Who cares? Windows has included a backup app of some sort since NT. The only way this is more than click bait would be if they were forcing you to use it.
So? Sure you can't get rid of it but also you don't have to use it.
Despite what this article is trying to imply you're not actually forced to do any backups, so Microsoft are not seeing your information. Also it's probably be encrypted anyway, but who knows.
You don't have to use it, so this entire article is basically a big while load of nothing.
Not exactly true, there are ways you can remove system components, what they really mean is that Microsoft Doesn't want you to and will fight you as much as possible to prevent you from doing so. The biggest barrier in doing it is that you'll have to figure out your way through it on your own because it's "not supported" and most people won't give help or support for these kinds of modifications.
I consider everyone still using Windows by now to be masochists of the worst kind.
Who would want to have backups of important files on a Microsoft server? Probably located in the USA, where it's contents are free game for the snooping agencies? If you are not a US citizen (and even that is no real protection) they will hoover every byte about you "just in case".
All I’ve wanted for a decade is a built-in backup solution to rival Time Machine but noOOoooO…
I had OneDrive randomly dump a chunk of my files into the website Recycle Bin so I never touched it again. (Yes I know user error is the usual thought but I would have known about dragging multiple things from different folders since at the time all my photos, documents, etc were up there.)
File History I still use but that’s janky, occasionally crashes in the Settings (this is on multiple machines with W10, haven’t touched 11) and wouldn’t backup iCloud Drive. (which I’ve since dumped too since I have a glitch support hasn’t been able to fix that results in broken sync in iCloud for Windows and rapidly ballooning logs)
I’m wondering if it’s even backing up files or just saving to cloud which isn’t a backup.