As more and more people are being forced to switch to Windows 11, Microsoft's most AI-malware-ridden OS yet, I've been putting together articles and links for how to undo the damage and save your battery, your RAM, your disk space, your privacy, and your sanity from this bullshit.
FIRST:
The easiest way to get rid of the majority of the bullshit that Windows is forcing on us, as of October 2025, is this one-stop-one-click debloat solution from a modern day hero:
A simple, lightweight PowerShell script to remove pre-installed apps, disable telemetry, as well as perform various other changes to customi
It's very easy, even if you're not tech savvy or get scared of pop up windows saying "ARE YOU SURE?" Yes, you are sure, I promise. This program takes maybe two minutes and will save you SO MUCH pain, time, and money (and exploitation).
Now that you've done that, here's the cleanup, to catch the little shit that the debloat might have missed (most of this will already be done by debloat, but hey, it's good to double check).
Microsoft wants to put AI everywhere on your PC, but you can take back control.
Even just reading about some of these features makes me angry. Fucking Copilot and "Discover" AI scrapers are in Notepad. NOTEPAD. And then there's this uncanny valley garbage:
No uncanny valley video calls for me, thanks! (Also, what else is it doing while it scans your face and listens to your calls? What else, microsoft? Because there was a lot of memory being assigned to this program for a simple "smooths your skin" add on).
Tired of Microsoft pushing ads throughout Windows 11? Here are the settings you can tweak to turn them off and reclaim some privacy.
The truly insane number of places they have stuck ads on your own home computer is sickening. Become Unmarketable.
Bonus:
Some background programs you probably don't need that are taking up space and how to remove them (Microsoft forums, 2024)
Your Samsung Galaxy Phone comes with 22 apps you don't need (Android Police, 2025)
How to disable the AI in firefox (still the only browser that lets you do this permanently) (Windows Report, 2025)
If you read ecology books printed in the 70s and 80s, they were absolutely convinced that whales and tigers would not survive the century. There's a whole plot in Star Trek about how whales are extinct actually. Here in Argentina, we were sure that yaguaretés would have gone extinct. It was thought that rainforests would be forever lost, because there was no way that such complex ecosystems would be restored.
Now, you can go to Península Valdés and find that the whale population there is growing year after year, people can see them from their windows. In Iberá, where yaguaretés were extinct for over 70 years, there's now a population of 35 and growing, after being reintroduced just five years ago. As for rainforests?
We've becoming very, very good on restoring them. Natural environments, when given space and time to heal, can return to that they were. And after all, all natural enviroments are managed by human societies. It is up to us to implement a good management, un buen gobierno.
I firmly believe our children and grandchildren will see a restoration of Earth like never before.
Millions of people are working on this. You can learn about it, perhaps even become one of them. Or be a pointless doomer in my ask box. Your choice.
if there are people who care, it's never a lost cause. at one point, kākāpō, a nocturnal flightless parrot species from aotearoa, were thought to be entirely extinct for decades. until 1977, where booming calls from males were heard on the small island of whenua hou. now, thanks to people who care so much they dedicated their lives to caring, kākāpō numbers are close to 300. despite the setbacks. despite the small gene pool causing infertility and health problems. people cared so fucking much that they survived. this is one of COUNTLESS, countless similar stories. I'm studying ecology so that I can go into conservation and all around me, every day, I see people who care enough to put years of their lives into learning about and solving environmental problems. I don't know man. hope isn't just some nebulous thing. it's tangible if you do something with it.
Tim Wong saw the decline of the pipeline swallowtail butterfly, and dedicated himself to providing habitat and raising babies, and it worked.
Spix's Macaws were extinct in the wild for 70 years, and now captive breeding and conservation groups have reintroduced a small population (with more on the way) and there are babies being successfully raised in the wild again.
And what else is there, but hope? We exist for the grace of hope. Those who have lost all hope don't stay here. If you are here to send an ask like this, it is not because you have given up, it's that you are hoping someone will show you that that hope is worth having.
It is!! It always is!!
There will be good things and if you cannot find them, make them! The time will pass anyway, you can choose what to do with it, and so many, many people are choosing to try to help.
The Lord Howe Island rodent eradication project never fails to make me cry, it’s so beautiful.
The population of an entire island working together to eradicate every last rat and mouse to save the native bird populations. They had to trap a bunch of the birds and keep them in captivity so they wouldn’t be hurt by the rodenticides, and released them after the rodents were gone. Normal residents helped by phoning in tips whenever they saw rodents. And they did it. Lord Howe Island, last I read, remains rodent free, and the native bird populations are rebounding!
Acid rain and the hole in the ozone layer, both of which were terrifying specters of my childhood, have been largely dealt with. Ecosystems devastated by acid rain are also recovering.
In 1979, an audacious, expensive conservation project was begun to try and breed california condors in captivity toward being released into the wild again. This was considered useless and hopeless by many people, but many more people said we had to at least TRY.
In 1991, the first captive-raised condors were re-introduced to Big Sur, Pinnacles, and Bitter Creek.
In 2006, three months before I turned eighteen, the first wild pair of condors was seen nesting in Big Sur in over a hundred years. A hundred years.
We did that. We fixed it.
How about another example.
When my mom was small, in the 1960s, there were many, many days of the year she was not allowed outside. Days and days they had recess indoors, because the air was so poisonous to breathe. Here's an article about it, with some good pictures.
My mom was 13 in the picture on the left. She was 50 in the picture on the right.
In 1987, there were 27 California Condors in the world, all captive.
In 2024, there were 566.
369 of them fly free.
That happened within my lifetime, and I'm not even 40 yet.
When you lose hope, think of our stories we're telling you. Recount them to yourself like a prayer. That's what I do.
There are 369 California Condors flying free in the sky right now.
Black footed ferrets were considered completely extinct in 1979. Then we found a single den in Wyoming in 1981. In 1996 it was classified as extinct in the wild.
By 2013, there were approximately 1,200 living wild, across 18 dens. Their numbers increase regularly, and while the face challenges due to habitat loss, climate change, and their limited genetic diversity, they're in a much better place than they were.
Because people cared, and they worked, and they fought to make things better.
"Regulations don't exist because governments enjoy them" is an important statement here. The government has to spend money and labor to enforce regulations. The government has to be begged for years and sometimes threatened by the American people into even creating the regulations. The people with the money want you to believe regulations are "BIG GOVERNMENT INFRINGING ON OUR FREEDOMS" so you'll help them undo the regulations your grandparents had to force that same government to install in the first fucking place. They count on you being ignorant of the past so they can make another round of dirty money by poisoning you all over again.
its report card has arrived, and its A+ work has seen the recovery of 150 struggling or declining species.
"Two years ago, the UK government gave roughly $15 million to its own conservation organ called Natural England for the purpose of preventing species decline.
Now, its report card has arrived, and its A+ work has seen the recovery of 150 struggling or declining species.
Natural England used the money to fund 63 projects involving 78 different partners across the country.
For the nature lover, the list of wild beneficiaries of the work will gladden the heart. Standout achievements include a breakthrough for the iconic lady’s slipper orchid, with the first known case of natural propagation in the wild after over 30 years of dedicated work to collect seeds.
686 acres of vital nesting islands were created or enhanced for seabirds such as common tern, little tern and Sandwich tern. 56,000 plugs of food plants were laid for butterflies, such as marsh violet for the small pearl-bordered fritillary, and devil’s bit scabious for marsh fritillary, at the new sites.
A grant-funded breeding and supervised release program saw the first wild hatching of a red-billed chough in Kent for the first time in over 200 years. 633 new breeding areas (nest boxes and similar structures) were created through the program for otter, dormouse, bats, willow tits, and other birds.
A huge focus as well fell on habitat creation or restoration, including over 642 acres of flower-rich grassland meadows, 1,000 acres of floodplain grasslands, 874 acres of broadleaf woodland, and 240 acres of marsh.
215 ponds and streams were dug or restored which became the new haunts of water voles and the rare Eurasian bittern.
Volunteers were a huge part of these various grant-funded projects. 100,000 hours of volunteer work were donated by members of the public during the 2 years of operations, a component which Natural England said would form a vital backbone if these achievements are to be sustained and built upon.
“This and a feeling of real engagement with an amazing natural environment has been a huge psychological boost for me,” said Steve, a volunteer with the ‘White Cliffs and White Chalk’ National Trust project.
“This has been, and continues to be, a great way to gain a better understanding of local ecology and to improve my understanding of the protected areas and species at risk.”
Natural England will shortly be making an announcement about future plans."
nothing in the world is mundane someone spent years of their life studying and thinking about culverts and building upon the countless work of others and our historical collected knowledge of fluid dynamics and construction materials just so that your shit doesn't get flooded all the time and you dont even think about it! have you ever considered the culvert really? and its like. fucking everything is like this
please actually reblog this post this time, as this one will gut national parks for more fucking paper. we have 14 days to stop it, giving us literally no time to do so.
they are literally betting on us to not do anything about it, because they're that desperate on keeping control, and ruining lives for everyone, but themselves.
Hi, I work in the National Park Service. You're right that American recreational areas are threatened by this proposal, but the Parks are NOT among them. This pertains to lands administered by my colleagues in the U.S. Forest Service only, which is bad, but the National Forests are under the Department of Agriculture instead of Interior for a reason. They are there for resource management with optional recreation amenities provided as well. Sites like Redwood NP, Yosemite NP, Cedar Breaks NM, Big Cypress NPP, and the Everglades NP are forested areas that are part of the Parks and will still be protected.
its report card has arrived, and its A+ work has seen the recovery of 150 struggling or declining species.
"Two years ago, the UK government gave roughly $15 million to its own conservation organ called Natural England for the purpose of preventing species decline.
Now, its report card has arrived, and its A+ work has seen the recovery of 150 struggling or declining species.
Natural England used the money to fund 63 projects involving 78 different partners across the country.
For the nature lover, the list of wild beneficiaries of the work will gladden the heart. Standout achievements include a breakthrough for the iconic lady’s slipper orchid, with the first known case of natural propagation in the wild after over 30 years of dedicated work to collect seeds.
686 acres of vital nesting islands were created or enhanced for seabirds such as common tern, little tern and Sandwich tern. 56,000 plugs of food plants were laid for butterflies, such as marsh violet for the small pearl-bordered fritillary, and devil’s bit scabious for marsh fritillary, at the new sites.
A grant-funded breeding and supervised release program saw the first wild hatching of a red-billed chough in Kent for the first time in over 200 years. 633 new breeding areas (nest boxes and similar structures) were created through the program for otter, dormouse, bats, willow tits, and other birds.
A huge focus as well fell on habitat creation or restoration, including over 642 acres of flower-rich grassland meadows, 1,000 acres of floodplain grasslands, 874 acres of broadleaf woodland, and 240 acres of marsh.
215 ponds and streams were dug or restored which became the new haunts of water voles and the rare Eurasian bittern.
Volunteers were a huge part of these various grant-funded projects. 100,000 hours of volunteer work were donated by members of the public during the 2 years of operations, a component which Natural England said would form a vital backbone if these achievements are to be sustained and built upon.
“This and a feeling of real engagement with an amazing natural environment has been a huge psychological boost for me,” said Steve, a volunteer with the ‘White Cliffs and White Chalk’ National Trust project.
“This has been, and continues to be, a great way to gain a better understanding of local ecology and to improve my understanding of the protected areas and species at risk.”
Natural England will shortly be making an announcement about future plans."
truly from the bottom of my heart i hate the level of enshittification etsy has reached because it's still the best place to buy patterns for my hobby and every time i go scrolling through endless ai-generated bullshit to finally dig up a human-designed pattern i like, i'm hit with a deluge of 'popular!! 563 people are looking at this right now!! it's in 134632 baskets!! you must buy immediately!!!' it's a pdf file. it's a fucking pdf file. do you get off on trying to give people fomo over a fucking pdf file. fuck off. get diarrhea forever.
and that's not even touching the ai-generated patterns with hundreds of 5-star bot reviews that are stupidly easy to spot if you know what to look for. but most beginners don't know what to look for, so they're straight-up scammed into buying based on a nice picture. then their 'hey, i made this and it looks nothing like advertised' comments get buried under hundreds of 5-star bot reviews, and this is how someone who might have otherwise discovered an interesting and fulfilling hobby drops it, thinking the pattern's fine, everyone else likes it, so it's on them for not being good enough. it pisses me off so much, you have no idea.
anyway, here's some shops selling amigurumi (crochet soft toys) patterns fully created by crafters. i've either bought and made patterns from them or saved them for later, meaning i already checked that they aren't ai-generated. i might make a post later on how to spot ai-generated amigurumi patterns, but i wanted to give these a shout-out. go buy from them if you can, it's cool stuff and an interesting skill to learn.
straw animals design (etsy store) plushies and accessories, including some knitted patterns. beginner friendly!
green frog crochet (website store). mostly doll patterns, very pretty and totally worth the time and effort. they also sell full kits for some of the patterns, that include all supplies except for crochet hooks and fiberfill. also, youtube channel with tutorials.
moonlight crochet (etsy store). mostly doll patterns, lots of clothes you can adapt to dolls of similar sizes
yan schenkel (website store for individual patterns) has several books out that i really love. it took a bit of digging to figure out if this online store selling the pdf versions is legit and i found that the publisher sells directly through them. there are three pattern books (1, 2, 3) with animal plushies.
natura crochet (website store) has colorful animal and holiday themed patterns, plus two books of aquatic themed patterns. same publisher/seller as above.
hanichan (website store) has a distinct and minimalist style that i think is very beginner friendly. there are also useful general tutorials for amigurumi.
aquariwool crochet (etsy store). a lot of colorful and fun animal patterns. i haven't bought anything from them yet but i have a few saved and honestly just looking through the patterns makes me happy.
make me roar (website store). one of the more unique styles i've seen out there, especially these.
jo handmade design (etsy store). both plushies and more realistic toys, the patterns are very well written and illustrated.
whenever possible i linked to a store outside etsy, but not all pattern creators have one, so it's 100% worth checking them out and supporting them despite the absolute tar pit they operate in. also whatever creative hobby you're curious about, don't let an ai-generated picture discourage you from trying it. you are a god capable of summoning something out of nothing and generative ai is a pathetic little string of mathematical operations with ideas above its station.
I AM GOING TO SCREAM AND SCREAM AND SCREAM to the heavens until everyone knows about the Etsy competitor goimagine!!!
Shop Handmade | Shop Local | Shop with Purpose
The founder of GoImagine refuses to go public or sell the platform: NO SHARE HOLDERS TO APPEASE!!
They have a STRICT vetting process for sellers: NO BOTS, NO AI, NO DROP SHIPPING, HAND MADE CRAFTS ONLY!!
You can narrow down stores you're shopping from by STATE! EASILY SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BUSINESSES!!
2% of every sale transaction is donated to charity!!!
This is baked into the platform. Right now they're partnered with four different charities to fight childhood hunger, provide relief childcare for families dealing with domestic violence, end childhood homelessness, and fund art accessablity. HELPING KIDS!!!!
I have a shop there that I will be stocking soon! If you're a creator, their basic ship front is FREE and you get 12 listing slots! The next size up is only $5 a month and you get 200 listings, and the topn you're at $15 gives you 1,000 product listings and a whole ass customizable store front website. That's cheaper than anything else on the market rn.
Current downsides that will not remain downsides: they're only available in the USA but they're planning on expanding into Canada soon. And they've been mostly focused on growing their seller side, so not a lot of buyers know about them yet. But!!! That why I tell everyone I can! Shop with them! List your products with them! Use a platform that has a dedicated mission for community good and is there to support sustainable creator markets, not create endless bloated corporate growth!!!!
I got the idea for this piece on a sunny day a while ago after seeing a beetle in the park struggle to get across the hot tarmac path, just a silly visual to explore the question of how much we should be mindful of the wildlife we share a habitat with - they live here too!
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