W10 S mode..?

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My daughter came down in a state saying that her laptop had updated and new she can't use a bunch of her apps.
From a quick look it seems she will have to exit S mode to be able to use them again.
Can anyone please explain what, why and why not?
Is it just a way for MS to force themselves upon the computer-using world and raise revenue or are there real benefits?
Thanks from both me and her!
 
I knew nowt of W10 S but having read about it I am surprised that she had third party i.e. non Microsoft Store programs running in S before that windows update. As from what I read S simply does not allow non Store apps to install let alone run.

HTH and hopefully others with more understanding about this than me will chime in.
 
Thanks for all the help.

Which apps?
I'll ask her later (she has college lectures now) but think she said Chrome, Zoom and Netflixs, possibly more.
I did read that switching out of 'S' mode was meant to be less secure, but is that for real, or just MS bullying the little people ?

I did search last night but my brain is barely working as I recover from covid - even typing this has taken me over 10 minutes, so trying to make sense of anything is a struggle..
 
Thanks for all the help.


I'll ask her later (she has college lectures now) but think she said Chrome, Zoom and Netflixs, possibly more.
I did read that switching out of 'S' mode was meant to be less secure, but is that for real, or just MS bullying the little people ?

I did search last night but my brain is barely working as I recover from covid - even typing this has taken me over 10 minutes, so trying to make sense of anything is a struggle..

Brain fog :( ....never good when brain power required.

Here is the MS FaQs page
.

One FaQ says Chrome can be used but not as the default browser.

As for Zoom, I found this Q&A

Not clear on Netflix, as non MS Store "no" but one blog suggested yes via the Edge browser???
 
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I did read that switching out of 'S' mode was meant to be less secure, but is that for real, or just MS bullying the little people ?

As I understand it, MS have created a locked down "secure", "optimised" version of Windows and called is S mode.

It's safe because it enforces lots of security including refusing to install anything that doesn't come from the MS app store. It's a bit like the way OS ships (where it grumbles if you try to install an indy app) and a lot like Chromebooks where the system is heavily locked down. It should also run well because it's tuned to low spec hardware.

This should make it ideal for academic use where people often use low powered hardware and don't want to be bothered with security. They just want it to work. You can understand why if a school were supplying a laptop for lessons, they wouldn't want it to run Netflix :)

I've not found anything you can do with Chrome that you can't do with an up to date version of Edge (though Stadia didn't work for me - again I can imagine schools not being keen on this....). The problem is Zoom. It's not available from MS but lots of people really do want it (and IMO for casual users it's far better than Teams).

I'd look at turning it off. The only real risk is that the machine may suffer poor performance on the "untuned" version of Windows 10 and there is no way to turn it back on. You'll want to make sure anti virus is up to date - but in most cases that just means "don't turn Windows Defender off".
 
Thank you all for the help - very much appreciated.
@Box Brownie - brain fog and fatigue is how post covid really hits. Like a stuck record, please ALL stay as safe as you can. I wasn't going out at all, aside from one brief trip to the supermarket at 7.00am, when it was empty. I may have caught it there, but it could just as easily have been the postman or a courier despite following all precautions.. Yesterday, for the first time in 7 weeks I managed a 100m walk without a rest on the bench half way, but I still needed my 2 hour sleep in the afternoon..

Anyway, we've read the replies and links and she has turned it off, and all seems well so far.
Again, thanks to you all.
 
Outside of a few limited scenarios the tradeoffs are massive and gains very limited. You are essentially singing up to only use MS approved apps, and pay them a considerable tax for it. Just in the same fashion you agree to give up all your data to MS cloud and pay for it... No more LibreOffice, basically nothing outside of MS rubbish store list. Maybe it can technically make sense for someone running MS OFFICE and very little else, it makes very poor offering for anyone else. You are even better off using an ipad. Better still install linux and enjoy security and versatility.

It is quite irrelevant today, just as Windows for ARM but make no mistake they believe it is the future and will try to push everyone to this model sooner than later. Hopefully this will be their own undoing for good just make sure to plan your exit strategy in case apple sours even more at the same time.
 
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