There's been plenty of grousing about the compatibility layer for older versions of DirectX. Oddly enough, one solution is to bring in DLLs using WineD3D's implementation.
What about on the lock screen? I don't use Windows 10 myself, but http://toastytech.com/guis/win10.html suggests as much. One could possibly argue that the integration of Microsoft's online services also constitutes "advertising".
Dunno but I have never once seen the Lock Screen display anything other than the default image, and I have my account set with a password so I've seen the Lock Screen probably a few thousand times. So I'm really not sure what the deal is with ppl seeing ads.
Fair enough re: integration of their online services. I agree and I'd certainly rather them not integrate e.g. OneDrive and instead have an option for integration of Google Drive or Dropbox or whatever you choose. Not sure if there is any service integration other than OneDrive, that's the only one I can think of.
I'm already pretty strict about privacy and programs on my PC. And I don't even use Facebook or any of that crap. Personally, I have witnessed stuff like identity theft and people being doxed IRL (and it even hit close to home), and it's not fun. I'm willing to learn how to use Linux distros and/or being strict with privacy settings if it helps steer me away from all the shit I've personally witnessed. And with all the talk of blackhat hackers today hacking elections*, Equifax, ransomware in hospitals, etc. you can't be too careful.
Also, as I may have mentioned before, I'm not to keen on buying a new PC every couple of years because of Micro$oft's planned obsolescence scheme, with each new Windows iteration being even worse than the one before it. I've got other bills to pay.
Anyway, I passed my job interview so I'm returning this fucking brick and plan on getting a Linux machine from Dell. If I understand correctly, Dell will even provide Linux tech support for their Linux machine.
^THIS
*Please don't derail thread with political drama.
Fair enough, I disagree with your assessment, though I share your concern with personal data collection. As for planned obsolescence, Microsoft typically offers free upgrades to the newest version of Windows for people who have the previous version, so they don't really have much to gain by using planned obsolescence tactics. That would mostly benefit the hardware manufacturers.
In any case, if you're looking for maximum privacy, there's a pretty sweet site that suggests software to avoid data collection, surveillance, and privacy invasion at
https://prism-break.org/en/.
The Dell Linux laptops I believe come with Ubuntu preinstalled, and Ubuntu has had adware concerns far worse than Windows and macOS have had (they at one point bundled Amazon search in the main OS search). They've since removed it, but it's a worthy concern. I personally still prefer Ubuntu. The PRISM Break site suggests Debian and Fedora instead, which are both great. You'll want to do a Google search on the laptop you intend on buying and its hardware compatibility with whatever distro you plan on using (if you plan on replacing Ubuntu). Some hardware requires proprietary drivers to run, which certain distros either don't allow at all, or else need to have the repos manually added. You may also want to look into any privacy intrusive software, drivers, binary blobs that come preinstalled on the laptop by Dell.
If you want to go uber extreme, you'll want to look into the GNU movement at
https://www.gnu.org, if you haven't already, and use one of their recommended distros. Fair warning that limiting yourself to fully free software will limit both the hardware that will be compatible as well as what you're able to do as far as software, and is only really worthwhile if you're a Stallman-esque ideologue regarding software being fully free as a right. Their list of suggested distros is small and extremely limiting in terms of what software is available, as well as hardware compatibility. To be thorough, you would of course also have to completely abstain from ever using Google or any of their services, any social media, YouTube, and so on. IMO excessive.