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Windows 11 is nagging users to try OneDrive to "fully backup" your PC (www.windowslatest.com)

submitted 1 month ago by lemmee_in@lemm.ee to c/technology@lemmy.world

74 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Windows 11 and Windows 10 were recently updated with “Windows Backup”, which has now become a system app. While the feature initially appeared as “optional” or something that could be easily dismissed, Microsoft is slowly getting aggressive with its new OneDrive backup campaign on Windows 11.

Windows 11’s “Windows Backup” uses OneDrive to back up many of the things that are important to you. This may include your credentials, settings, pictures, documents, videos, files, themes, or even audio settings. Microsoft wants the Windows Backup app to become the ultimate backup tool, but there’s a catch.

Windows Backup does not support offline backups and requires a OneDrive plan. By default, OneDrive offers 5GB of free storage, which is why some users do not want to backup their PC. But is that going to stop Microsoft from pestering users? Probably not. In a new server-side update, Windows 11 has started nagging users to try the Backup tool.

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[–] Zikeji@programming.dev 84 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Man, they just keep burying their head further. I still have Windows 10 on my gaming PC, and that's more because I plan on replacing it and will use that moment to transition to Linux, but up until a few months ago I could have been convinced to keep using Windows.

That was until they popped up a full screen ad in the middle of gaming, telling me my PC doesn't work with 11 but they have great financing options forn a 11 capable PC. Followed by my lock screen having ads of a similar nature. Fucking gross.

[–] barsquid@lemmy.world 23 points 1 month ago

That's despicable. Popping a window up over everything enrages me even when it's an application I intended to open. Popping up a fucking ad while I am in the middle of something is completely unacceptable. I can definitely see what that was the last straw.

[–] lemmyvore@feddit.nl 12 points 1 month ago

Search for "chris titus windows tool". It's a debloat tool that removes such annoyances. It also includes a button that runs the Shutup tool, that disables another bunch.

I'm a Linux user but I use these tools (and massgravel) on Windows VMs to make them behave.

[–] apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world 49 points 1 month ago (4 children)

So glad I switched to Linux!

[–] Zaphod@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 1 month ago

Same. I get a big smile on my face every time I read bad news about windows :)

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[–] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 38 points 1 month ago (1 children)

This nagging + only offering a "Not Now" "rejection" option shit needs to stop. Apple constantly does this too on iPhone and Mac. Umm, I said no to having it or upgrading it, that should mean never bother me again unless I seek it out intentionally.

[–] AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net 16 points 1 month ago

It genuinely makes my skin crawl — reminds me of being nagged for sex from someone who hears "not now" when you mean "no."

[–] 1984@lemmy.today 38 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Windows 7 was my last windows. Since then it's been Linux on all machines. It was easy to see where Microsoft were going. And they will continue to go down this route.

When you run windows, it's not your computer.

[–] AceBonobo@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago (5 children)

I'm getting tired of Microsoft reading my data. What's you backup strategy on linux?

[–] lemmyvore@feddit.nl 7 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Not OP but:

Separate the system and home partition, first of all. The strategies are usually different.

Many distros integrate Timeshift out of the box to create system partition snapshots before every update, and to be able to restore them from the boot menu. Using BTRFS for the system partition makes this even better.

This is usually all that people need in regards to the system, but you can also take regular backups (see below) of things like /etc, the list of installed packages and things like that.

For personal files I prefer Borg Backup because it is incremental, does compression, deduplication, encryption, checksums & recovery.

Borg works with repositories, which can be on local disk, on a removable disk, or remote. If remote, they are tunneled over SSH. It can also export/import tarballs for more exotic scenarios like moving snapshots between different repositories or backing up data to optical discs.

You can use Borg from the CLI and there are also UI apps that make it easier. Pika Backup is a simpler one, Vorta is a more advanced one. I've set up family members with Pika and after preparing it for them all they have to do is plug in the backup HDD, open Pika, and hit the big "backup now" button.

There are also online services that support Borg repositories specifically, and for anything that doesn't you can export tarballs and back them up as regular files, completely transparently from the service.

rclone is a cli tool that supports a large number of online storage services. You can use it with borg snapshots or you can use it to back up your files directly — it resembles rsync somewhat and can also do encryption iirc.

[–] MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Good writeup.

But why separate /home?

I get that it makes it easy to just grab the home partition in full, but grabbing just your own home folder isn't any more difficult than grabbing a home partition.

And it makes it really fucking annoying to manage storage between / and /home. You have to pick how much disk space you want for your own things and how much you want for installing things, and changing it later is a giant PIA. The one time I did it I kept running out of space on one or the other.

[–] lemmyvore@feddit.nl 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Separate root fs makes it easier for timeshift. Snapshots are a different beast from backups.

Also makes it easy to install another distro and pick up where you left off with the old home.

If you alocate 50-60 GB for system it should be ok. Things like Flatpak or Steam can put their files in home.

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[–] smeeps@lemmy.mtate.me.uk 3 points 1 month ago

I don't store any data on my home machines. Anything important is on my NAS which then gets backed up to Backblaze, and to a NAS as my parents house.

I can wipe my laptop and have apps set up again in an hour, and my desktop mainly stores games I can just redownload from Steam.

[–] kusivittula@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 month ago

simply timeshift backing up the system on ssd. random important stuff, tv shows etc on hdd and backup of the hdd on an external hdd. pictures and other important files also on phone storage.

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[–] WhyYesZoidberg@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Windows2000 was my last. After having managed to work in IT and using Linux on my desktop, I started a new job last year which required me to use Windows11. I find it quite awkward.

Luckily WSL is a thing.

[–] Waveform@lemmy.world 35 points 1 month ago (4 children)

I think Windows 10 will be the last version I use. As time goes on, Linux seems more and more like a viable option, and I'll be glad to have control over my PC for once. And who knows, maybe I will no longer have the mysterious freezing issue that's been plaguing me for years...

[–] Zetta@mander.xyz 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I switched over ~3 ish years ago and have never been happier. I recommend Fedora if you want any distro suggestions.

[–] Waveform@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Do all distros have the same compatibility with video cards and software? I want something that'll run Blender, Krita, Gimp, etc., and support my Wacom tablet. And run my favorite games, of course. Lots of people say Mint is good for newbies jumping ship. I don't mind learning a new environment and running console commands from time-to-time.

[–] Zetta@mander.xyz 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

What video card do you have? All distros should work perfectly with AMD cards out of the box, while nvidia you will probably have to install the driver yourself. Nvidia driver support is continually getting better as time goes on though.

Blender, GIMP, and Krita will work out of the box with all distros. Not 100% sure on the tablet so you may wanna research a bit more on that front.

I tried Mint when I originally switched and wasn't a fan, I distro hopped a bit and stuck with Fedora when I tried it out. I use the gnome version of Fedora and originally installed some extensions to make it more windows like. After a few months I dropped those extensions and am pretty much in vanilla gnome now.

Also sorta unrelated but I also installed the new cosmic desktop environment recently (it's pre alpha right now) and use it instead of gnome, I like it more than gnome but it's pre alpha so hold off on that one probably.

The only issues I've experienced in recent memory with using Linux is Steam won't launch properly if I launch it using the steam icon, I have to open a terminal window and type 'steam'. That launches steam with the terminal, and I have to leave that terminal window open as long as I want steam open.

Whatever distro/de you end up going with will be have a learning curve for sure but in my opinion it's really worth it, good luck on your journey!

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[–] kennebel@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I switched to Pop!_OS earlier this year and couldn’t be happier. All apps run way faster than they did with Windows on the same hardware. All but one of my Steam games run great (one day I’ll get that last game to work). My “life critical” things are web based, everything else is adjustable.

[–] Waveform@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

That sounds promising. I've heard good things about Pop!_OS. Which game has issues, if I might ask?

I try to avoid web-based apps when I can. For instance, there is a supposedly great photo editor that's only available via web browser. I'd hate to become dependent on it and then lose access due to an internet outage, or something.

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[–] barsquid@lemmy.world 22 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Microsoft will continue ramping up the ads, nags, and dark patterns until everyone is subscribed to their own hardware.

[–] OwlHamster@lemm.ee 7 points 1 month ago

*until everyone stops using Windows. Except for business users, which probably don't get these nags anyway

[–] FuryMaker@lemmy.world 19 points 1 month ago

Yeah. Then I'll fill up my free 15gb quota with garbage OS files, and be prompted to pay a subscription to backup the other 1-2tb of data.

[–] athalean@lemmy.blahaj.zone 18 points 1 month ago (1 children)

What drives me nuts about this is that it always uses the vague language of security and data protection without any consideration that, y'know, they have competition from other cloud providers and self-hosted solutions that do things that OneDrive can't even do. I guess if you have your backups anywhere else it doesn't count.

[–] Bogasse@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 month ago

Yeah but they have one killer feature others don't : shuting up these f**king notifications.

[–] MehBlah@lemmy.world 18 points 1 month ago

Microsoft is teaching a whole generations to ignore them.

[–] Aopen@discuss.tchncs.de 15 points 1 month ago

The old days when pairing anything with OS would make US government sue you

[–] ArkyonVeil@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It's the third god damned time I find newly installed MS software doing "something" in the background that I never authorized. I don't even have Onedrive. I purged that sin from the metal as soon as I had the chance.

I already intend to change OSes. The real question is now if I do it when I decide to upgrade, or in the fast lane. Which is it Microsoft?

[–] Tryptaminev@lemm.ee 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Do it now. The more time you give yourself for dealing with it the better. Start dual booting, or on one of your devices. familiarize yourself and transition slowly, rather than having to deal with all of it at once.

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[–] hddsx@lemmy.ca 13 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Is this real life? Is this just fantasy? Why does windows attempt to be iOS?

[–] adespoton@lemmy.ca 14 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Because iCloud was a smashing success for Apple when they used this technique?

At least iOS and macOS don’t keep on asking you after you say no like Windows does though. At least not until you change something in your iCloud configuration.

[–] WordBox@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

My iPhone reminds me randomly. Google does the same on Android.

[–] JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee 3 points 1 month ago

When I had an iPhone it had a constant notification in the settings app that could only be dismissed while using icloud. Tbf, I removed most Google apps from my phone, but I haven't got any pushing to use Google Drive, not from the settings app or anywhere else.

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[–] Capricorn_Geriatric@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago

Didn't read the article, but Windows 10 did the whole OneDrive backup nag message thing as well. Defender would always shiw a warning that you're "not secure" if you don't backup to OneDrive.

[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Microsoft and nagging? Naaahh, they would never! They would never "hey hello, please please send us feedback!" 5x per day while I'm trying to get work done on that awful offce365. They would never stuff popups all over their sites to continuously nag me about new updates and features and bullshit, they. Would. Never.

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[–] Omgboom@lemmy.zip 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

We started seeing this pop-up recently, but here's the thing, my organization already uses OneDrive (unfortunately) but the pop-up just says that they need to contact your administrator to set it up (OneDrive is already setup)

[–] Khanzarate@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Just means the new backup service has permissions off by default.

Since your company may not want that, enjoy the eternal Microsoft spam forever.

[–] pHr34kY@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I updated a surface pro this morning and it was a huge effort just to log back in. Like, it took several minutes to get through all the prompts, login errors and finally land on the desktop.

Now I need to check if OneDrive installed itself again.

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[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

One would have to be a special kind of stupid to do that.

[–] Evilcoleslaw@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

Also even if I had the space on my OneDrive (and I've even got 30GB thanks to some promotions from the Windows Phone days) my upload speed is dogshit slow and I don't want to think about how long it would take me to upload the 70GB it wants to backup.

[–] cryptix@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

The business side is only going to care if that popup is going to get them that 2% more revenue next year or not.

[–] MrAlternateTape@lemm.ee 3 points 1 month ago

This. It is annoying for 100% of the users, but a small percentage will be fooled and end up using OneDrive and probably end up paying.

It literally works like spam. Very little effort to cast a wide net and a small succes rate is enough to make a profit. Of course long term they keep pushing people out. But hey, profits this year, we'll see about next years when it hits us ..

[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 month ago

And you're gonna need that backup as windows and it's publishers work hard to kill your computer through automated updates.

Install Linux already, dammit

[–] LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

[–] Tywele@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 1 month ago (2 children)

If you are serious that's a huge security risk.

[–] riodoro1@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

using microsoft products is in itself a security risk.

[–] Laser@feddit.org 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Well, that's kind of a bromide. By extension, everything is a security risk. Managing and minimizing risks is the hard part.

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[–] Resol@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Shut up, OneDrive.

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