Got this via Mastodon which will not let me search for the source.
If you're in the US, when you set up Windows for the first time, select English (Europe) or English (World), not English (US). That will stop it installing all the bloatware that USians are not protected from but everyone else is.
Why does it seem like any issue with Windows is met by "INSTALL LINUX!!!!". If the check engine light on my car comes on I am not going to buy a truck.
I'd like to mention Windows 10 LTSC here. It's an official Windows 10 Edition from Microsoft, designed for enterprise and embedded usage. Therefore it has no bloatware, no annoying feature updates, no ads and only the absolute minimum of telemetry. If you don't like Windows but somehow have to use it, this might be the right choice for you.
Use software like shutupwin10 or various other open source debloat scripts to remove a shit-ton of annoying features in windows. Or, as lemmy galaxy-brains would have it, JuSt uSe LiNuX
How about you galaxy brain "just switch to linux" people actually give some helpful advice? Clearly there's a registry edit that can be made for Windows users that would take all of 5 seconds to complete, rather than an entire week formatting, installing, reconfiguring an entirely new OS that also requires a degree of command line knowledge.
The above is my solution until taking the other advice on this thread and transitioning to Linux. Only thing holding me back there is gaming (which already works great for most people, I had trouble with my GPU). There are so many things about Linux that are just better than Windows now, and a high number of use cases these days are met with Firefox and libre office.
Straight up the same playbook that other entities used in the past to get your grandma to install unwanted search bars in internet explorer. No wonder Windows Defender is so advanced, Microsoft has a lot of experience as the developer of the most popular malware in the world.
My suggestion is to download something like Windows Privacy Dashboard and disabling/uninstalling as much telemetry options as possible.
I've never got that kind of ad push, so i have to ask where you got it? Was it from using the search bar beside the start button? If so, maybe completely disabling and uninstalling Cortana might fix it.
Fuck windows. I use Linux and sometimes I do need Windows for certain things, but I just take the long route and figure it out on Linux, just so I don't have to deal with Microsoft and their bullshit
The comments are weird. How often do you even see this? I feel like I remember it once and hit don't switch and thats it. Not sure why you keep getting it, but I also don't use edge so maybe that is why. I would imagine if there is a way to stop it it's in settings somewhere or possibly a local group policy maybe.
Bing has honestly been a lot better for me than google. I refused to use it for so long because it was just a joke when it first came out. But I started not being able to find any decent search results on google and the entire first page is now ads versus just the first few results. Bing also has an AI thing that will just give you a straight answer to a question and links to where it found it. I'd say to give it a try.
I've never seen this appear. Is this in chrome? Anyway, like some people here have suggested, you can use a debloater script or something similar. I personally use O&O Shutup10. Hopefully enabling some options in there would work. Or you could just accept it and then change your search engine back to whatever you use lol.
Where/when does this popup come up? Is it in your browser, is it a Windows notification?
The most recent time I think I saw this was the latest Windows 11 update, but you can just click No and it goes away. Microsoft is being annoying persistent about getting people to use Bing now because of ChatGPT and Edge though. Hopefully there is a limit, if not the annoying Linux recommendations might actually start to have some merit.
As others have said, there's going to be some registry setting you can change to negate this. Short term, this should work, but may need to be repeated if any updates revert the change.
The long term solution is to just stop using Windows, because it's clear Microsoft is intent on turning it into a bloated, ad-infested piece of trash.
Windows 7 (or arguably XP) was the last decent version of Windows, in my opinion. Once I saw what was coming next, I started dabbling in Linux. Now I use Linux most of the time. It's definitely a big change, and there's a lot of new stuff to learn, but I love having an operating system that doesn't look like a corporate junk mailer pamphlet.
I forget the name of it, but I remember there is (or at least used to be) a tool that would give you more granular control over the stuff that's under the hood of Windows.
If you search for "Windows God mode tool" or something along those lines, your should be able to find it.
Not sure if this will get rid of your pop-up modal specifically, but it might allow you to mess with other configurations that can prevent these sorts of things.
Do you just need an adblock extension on chrome? Should be an easy fix. Or the O&O shutup program may work as well, have used that in the past effectively.
I use Chrome on Windows and have never seen this, or at least, not for years so hard to know where the setting is to disable exactly.
Lol @ the responses saying to switch OS. Such extreme views.
Ok , first switch to Linux. Wait wait here me out :)
Do a dual boot system and switch in between until your ready to move.
Your windows install should be windows ameliorated , i.e windows AME.
This removes everything from Windows , included updates. Can't use latest office and unsure about gaming issues. I got it since I had one corp software I was forced to use.
Only way to actually stop windows shit.