Turn off advertising in Windows 10 File Explorer

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Post coming soon in InfoWorld. Thanks to Martin Brinkmann, Ghacks.net.
[See the full post at: Turn off advertising in Windows 10 File Explorer]

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PhotM

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Don’t you just hate it when Microsoft provides quick, easy information about new features?

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Candy Crush Soda Saga II, anybody?

Could happen…

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Anything from King Media in the Windows App Store gets the CCleaner Uninstall treatment from me. Too many “something went wrong” update failures, which mess up the entire Windows Store Cache, sometimes corrupting other apps along the way.

-- rc primak

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BobbyB

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You too Huh! I was “kinda sorta” waiting for the onslaught of Win10 ads but its never happened indeed the one described (above) has never manifested here. But the Apps are troublesome at least one or two req. a weekly reset, a “WSRESET” (admin cmd prmpt) or power shell intervention i.e. remove and reinstall. Its a pity really as I have kind of got to like Win10 but the apps shenanigans are ruining it. Otherwise I would have stopped in Win8.1 & 7 land. Outlook mail/calender & Groove are the latest “problem children” not staying attached to desktop, not triggering notifications on the desktop/action centre, not checking mail at pescribed intervals. Ohh i’ll get to the bottom of it (and rpt back if its anything folks may find handy) Ever since win10 came out I have figured M$ would deluge us with inane ads as a way of recouping its losses but it hasnt yet and theres always a way round it. Even though the ads are in some news apps and one or two others. They are delightfully unobtrusive same as Woodys ads although I have to say Woodys ads are better. (no I aint being sycopantic I can dream about other computers too you know lol ) M$ seems to think I want to go on some medevil/greek/ancient role playing game fantasy judging by the ads they send me. Ha Ha they maybe a good 30 years to late

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Best. Windows. Ever.

 

I just LOVE one of the comments below the article:

“windows 10 is like a car accident:

really terrible, but if you’re not involved you can’t stop watching.”

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BobbyB wrote:

Ever since win10 came out I have figured M$ would deluge us with inane ads as a way of recouping its losses but it hasnt yet and theres always a way round it.

Just a few comments… first, there’s always been a way around it so far, but how many user-unfriendly things has MS offered as optional, then took away the option? Once the share of Windows 10 users reaches a critical mass (what that point might be is anyone’s guess), MS will simply push out an update to take out the option to avoid the ads.  I’d be shocked if that didn’t happen.

Second…there were no losses for MS to try to recoup in terms of the free upgrade offer.  The main source of Windows revenue has long been OEM sales (ever since Windows started coming preinstalled on PCs instead of just MS-DOS), and that hasn’t changed.  Windows 10 was never free for OEMs; those licenses for preinstalled Windows copies were all paid for, same as always.

The next biggest chunk of Windows revenue comes from the enterprise sector.  They, like the OEMs, never got Windows 10 for free.

The home/SOHO customers that are left almost never upgrade from one version of Windows to another.  Most people use a PC with whatever Windows it came with until it no longer suits their needs (too slow, quits working, etc.), then buy a new PC.  The number of customers who purchase and install Windows are a tiny, tiny minority; essentially, those sales amount to no more than a rounding error compared to OEM and enterprise revenue.

If there had never been a free upgrade push, very few of the people who upgraded would have done so.  MS didn’t miss out on all those sales for everyone who upgraded for free; they only missed on the sales of the small minority who would have taken it upon themselves to purchase and install Windows 10 on their existing PCs.

The “fastest rate of adoption ever” the giveaway gave MS is certainly worth more than the lost revenue of a handful of paid upgrades they would have gotten.  After the failure of 8, MS needed a product to restore their credibility, and the metric of that credibility is market share.  Win 8 fell on its face out of the gate, but for the first year, 10 didn’t, and if you consider the anemic adoption rate of 10 after the official free upgrade period ended (even though it’s still available), it is evident that the fast uptake in the first year was all because of the free upgrade.

When MS announced Windows 10, analysts commented that this was going to be a make-or-break product for MS.  Two failed Windows versions in a row, against a backdrop of a shrinking PC market, would be catastrophic for the Windows division of MS.  Had they kept to their promise of listening to their customers more than ever and making this a truly excellent product, people would be excited to have it rather than trying to download third-party software to avoid getting it against their will.

With a product as loaded with negatives as 10 is, not having a free giveaway would have represented a much higher cost for MS.  People were willing to swallow things they would never accept if they’d personally had to pay for Windows 10 to get it.  This air of inevitability that permeates the Windows-using community would not exist if it hadn’t been for that giveaway period, and a lot of people who grudgingly got on board the Win 10 pain train would not have done so if Win 10 was an obvious failure out of the gate as Windows 8 was.  The success of 10 depends not on pleasing customers, but on making those customers think that Windows 10 is unavoidable.

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b wrote:

Don’t you just hate it when Microsoft provides quick, easy information about new features?

I used to think you’re some W10 fanboy. Now I’m sure all your posts are just sarcasm :).

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I guess it’s understandable that a free OS would have to support its maker through advertising.

My question is this:

Why did consumers completely have to give up the ability to “pay for software without advertising”?

Would you pay a premium for a Windows 10 Ultimate?  I would.  I always bought Ultimate editions myself for my home OSs.

-Noel

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Elly, PhotM

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Well, unfortunately the problem is that people who do pay (for fresh non-upgrade licenses) have all the same junk that the free ones do. Even worse, Enterprise users get all that junk out of the box, unless they’re using LTSB, and in that case, they don’t receive feature updates.

To answer your question, “no, I wouldn’t”. I’ll run 7 into the ground and possibly beyond; if there ever comes a time where that’s not feasible anymore, I’ll run Ubuntu MATE for everything except DirectX 11 games and then boot to (by that point, unsupported) 7 for those anyway.

I actually do like 10 a lot, on the surface…but I can’t deal with the lack of control over updates and the constant barrage of junk that I can’t opt out of (because I’m a consumer user, not an Enterprise user).

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Elly

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Wouldn’t “Ultimate” have even more advertising and monetizing?

-- rc primak

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I suspect several reasons:

1. The demand for Windows in general has been going down.

2. Windows 7 was enough for lots of users–there is little that MS could add that people would pay for.

3. Advertising is essentially the exclusive business model of tech companies — they produce nothing — and everybody wants to emulate the Google success at it.

 

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Noel Carboni wrote:

I guess it’s understandable that a free OS would have to support its maker through advertising.

Windows 10 is NOT a free system – only the upgrade from 7 or 8.1 (and not Vista or XP) was free.

And now you have to pay serious money for W10 – even for Home version that is, as Woody keeps repeating, a beta testing field before the system gets more or less mature.

In this meaning 8.1 is also “free” (because it’s a free upgrade from 8) and as such should be infested with ads.

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Maybe so, but I don’t know anyone who’s paid for it yet, but plenty who won’t take it as a free update.

-Noel

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Elly, Ascaris

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I paid for it on new PCs. It didn’t make sense to me to pay for Windows 7 and get three years of support only. I don’t trust that 8 will get the support it deserves. 8 doesn’t officially support the latest processors (what a bad thing to do, shame on you MS). There is no warranty that MS will offer the free upgrade again. And on the PCs I had 8, I took the free upgrade for fear of being left out with bad support later on those good machines, thinking also if it was becoming way too bad I would revert to 8 and it was better to secure the digital license anyway.

Am I happy about 10 for my users? No, but I will have to do with it until I find a better alternative and I don’t see one right now.

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As you will find out, instead of support what you’ll get is disruptive patches, unpatched vulnerability, and lots of featured you don’t need.

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I paid for Full Retail Install Media for my self-assembled Intel NUC. When the PC doesn’t come with an OS, and it’s a kit, I just don’t have any better options.

-- rc primak

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Tough.

But you could have gotten the 1511 media for free, like I did and if I ever get a new computer that is what I will install. I will never go beyond that.

 

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For a brand-new device with no previous Windows installation, and without any spare licenses at the time, I could not have done this.

I’m on v.1607 in all my devices. Not enough problems to justify going back to v.1511. Especially not with the Creators Update just around the corner. There’s a limit to how far behind you can remain in Windows 10 Home or Pro.

-- rc primak

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Yep its (Win10) still free, threw one on an older Vista machine a few weeks back, It activated (Home) without a problem. Well I say it wasnt a problem, it ran “Slower than Molasses” but yeah its free. Not done an install on a “Home Built” machine yet but I am guessing it would be the same.

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See my comment above. You don’t want to mess with anything short of a Full Retail Installation on a PC built from a kit. It’s bad enough having to test all the hardware — I don’t need any trouble with the legitimacy of the OS being questioned by MS Activation servers.

Although, with the Digital Entitlement residing with the MS Cloud Account now, once Win 10 has been activated anywhere, it can be transferred (providing the original installation is not connected to the Internet thereafter) on a different device. I know several people who have successfully done this for newly built PCs.

-- rc primak

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BobbyB

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Last I looked Win10 versions beyond 1511 cause no less problems than non-retail copies and judging from the information here and elsewhere, much more.

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@rc_primark hey thanks thats good to know, I was toying with putting a machine together got a box of “bits & bobs” at work including some SSD’s all newer stuff returns etc that no one wants inc a nice case and errm last years motherboard (not sure which) you may have saved me a hassle. I used to build my own years ago but things have moved on a bit and I aint kept up too much with the hardare end. Just need’s a good monitor. So however the monitor pans out price wise I may have to factor in possible retail Win10 as well and it would have to be be Pro and up. You may have saved me a couple of late nights hehehe Its really not an overriding concern more of a “backburner” project. But I hate seeing stuff go to waste and after, what feels like a lifetime, hunched over a laptop its nice to have a good size desktop to mess/work with.

PS so I am probably safe with not bothering to use the dusty old floppy A:\ drive in the bottom of the box then ? lol

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I also paid full retail for Win 10 Pro on my newly built computer. I know others who have paid full retail besides myself.

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Thank you.

One more reason added to the ever growing list of why I can not and will not use win10… you may or may not find ways to turn things off, but as a working “pro”, I really don’t have the time for these funny games microsoft want to play…

A while ago I needed ICE (microsoft tool for creating panorama photos) and thought I would download latest version. That relationship lasted less than 15 seconds, as the program’s frontpage was flooded with ads. Live updating, blinking, flashing and what not…

Sorry for the rant! I’ll go back to my studies of Linux…

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lizzytish

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Noel Carboni wrote:

Maybe so, but I don’t know anyone who’s paid for it yet, but plenty who won’t take it as a free update. -Noel

Basically everybody that buys a new computer pays for W10, you pay if you buy it in the box or if you want to upgrade your Vista because support is ending soon.

And even if you got a free upgrade to W10, you had to pay for W7, W8 or W8.1 first. Not exactly “free OS” :).

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fp

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radosuaf wrote:

Not exactly “free OS” :).

Time was, a new version of Windows had things in it that made it enough worth upgrading to that people would pay good money to have it.

Now a lot who already run an older system won’t have it even if they don’t have to pay to update to it. “Don’t have to pay” is a lot like “free” in my vocabulary.

Yes, we’re splitting hairs here. I’m making a point. The point is that I WOULD pay for a new version that:

• Improved on core features
• Didn’t have secret ways of trying to make more money off me

I’d pay handsomely.

Regarding what big computer makers (e.g., Dell, HP, etc.) pay Microsoft to put Windows 10 on a new system… I don’t know, but I’ll bet it’s not much. Anyone know the actual price? Is it less than they used to charge to put older systems on new hardware?

-Noel

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Elly, fp

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I remember the excitement when 98 came out, I remember liking XP a lot, I remember buying Windows 7 as soon as it came out. Windows 8.1? I’d never ever pay the full price for it, which in Poland is around 100 USD now. For a few small improvements? Too much. Luckily I found somebody who was selling Win 8 Pro VUP – still wrapped in original foil (and I bought it a month ago) and agreed to pay 55 USD for it. This is a fair price, I’d say. For W10, if I ever wanted to have it, I’d give 15 USD tops.

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lizzytish

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The cost of my Intel NUC with Windows 10 Pro installed would be about $200.00 (US) more than with no OS installed.

This is based on comparisons of fully built and tested systems available through Amazon partners.

-- rc primak

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Thanks for relaying the tip. There’s an entry entry in the Task Scheduler that is responsible for updating the OneDrive application which is okay, but it will start the program and that seems like another way to nag the user about signing up for the service.

The updater application could be made to check if a user has opted out of starting OneDrive during login and then after updating it not launch the program.

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Would this policy work to block File Explorer advertisements?

Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Data Collection and Preview Builds\Do not show feedback notifications

or

Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Cloud Content\Do not show Windows tips

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PhotM

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In my limited testing on a 15048 machine,

Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Cloud Content\Do not show Windows tips

DOES block the File Explorer ads.

Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Data Collection and Preview Builds\Do not show feedback notifications

DOES NOT block the ads.

That last one is supposed to be about the Feedback app…

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ch100

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Thanks, I have all the Cloud policies under the Computer and User configured.
This explains why I don’t see that ad, but I also have OneDrive connected online all the time, which may explain it too.

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Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Data Collection and Preview Builds\Do not show feedback notifications

DOES NOT block the ads.

That last one is supposed to be about the Feedback app…

Certainly so, my fault

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Out of curiosity, has anyone watched the network comms and can the server(s) from which the data comes be identified / separated from other servers used for non-ad things?

-Noel

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AFAIK, ‘Feedback notifications’ are shown to ask users to submit feedback through the Feedback Hub app; ‘Windows tips’ pop up from time to time in the corner (most of the ones I’ve found were from Cortana about stuff).

Second to that, Windows tips is no longer something that can be disabled through GP (or the registry AFAIK) for anyone other than Enterprise or Education level SKU’s; this was one of the many features stripped away from Pro level SKU’s with the AU (Anniversary Update) in terms of being able to manage it on an HKLM level. Tips still can be turned off through the GUI under Settings > System > Notifications & actions > “Get tips, tricks and suggestions as you use Windows” but this takes effect on a per-user-account level.

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Elly, ch100

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You are right about the feedback policy. I have already replied to Woody about it

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I have Windows 10 Pro AU on my tablet and on my NUC. Both have Windows Tips and all advertising turned off. While this is not through me applying Group Policies, I use on both PCs O&O ShutUp10, which has checkboxes to turn off these features in Win 10 AU (Home or Pro).

-- rc primak

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Elly

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I don’t remember ever seeing an ad in Windows 10 File Explorer on either of my three WIN 10 machines. I zapped “Show sync provider notifications” on all three of them anyhow. It felt good.

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Do you use OneDrive?

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Yes, as an extra layer of backup for documents and pictures. I still have 40GB free from my old TechNet days, or something or other.

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I assume that by using OneDrive, the ad for OneDrive will become redundant and it is another way to get rid of the ad.

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dononline

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In my (limited) experience, that’s exactly the case.

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dononline

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Right, but I’m assuming that Microsoft has other goodies they have been, are now, or will soon be, popping up in File Explorer for our reading pleasure. It looks so far like One Drive is still syncing OK with “Show sync provider notifications” unchecked. Can anyone verify that?

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fp

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By the way, in case it isn’t already obvious, OneDrive files can be accessed purely from a browser, or even through a mapped network drive, without any of the “magic” integration being turned on.

-Noel

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dononline

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The only issue is that if someone finds a use for OneDrive like me, by not accepting the integration in Windows 10, I would get prompted all the time to accept it.
It is true that OneDrive can be uninstalled gracefully in Windows 10, but as I don’t like to do things that modify the OS too much and in particular difficult to revert actions, I prefer to keep the integration.
You can have the same thing in Windows 7 and likely so in Windows 8.1.

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dononline

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As I mentioned above, it looks so far like One Drive is still syncing OK for me on all three of my WIN 10 computers with integration turned off, and with no prompts. Can anyone confirm, yea or nay?

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ch100 wrote:

The only issue is that if someone finds a use for OneDrive like me, by not accepting the integration in Windows 10, I would get prompted all the time to accept it. It is true that OneDrive can be uninstalled gracefully in Windows 10, but as I don’t like to do things that modify the OS too much and in particular difficult to revert actions, I prefer to keep the integration. You can have the same thing in Windows 7 and likely so in Windows 8.1.

Isn’t it that you simply uninstall OneDrive from ‘Programs and Features’ and that’s it? I remember that used to work like this in W10.

I would even consider using it if it wasn’t for 1 GB space only for free. It was barely enough to syncronise photos from my mobile :).

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You can uninstall it like that.
But when you reinstall per-user, you have to follow a specific procedure and install from Command Prompt.

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radosuaf wrote:

I would even consider using it if it wasn’t for 1 GB space only for free. It was barely enough to syncronise photos from my mobile :).

The free offering is 5GB. It was 7GB and 15GB in the past, but never as low as 1GB:

https://onedrive.live.com/about/en-us/plans/

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Once they get enough user data on it you can rely on them lowering it.

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They probably have enough people on it to feel not enough will go away because of the ads.

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b wrote:

radosuaf wrote:

I would even consider using it if it wasn’t for 1 GB space only for free. It was barely enough to syncronise photos from my mobile :).

The free offering is 5GB. It was 7GB and 15GB in the past, but never as low as 1GB: https://onedrive.live.com/about/en-us/plans/

You’re right, just checked. It’s 5GB. Still, can’t accomodate photos from my mobile :).

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A big turnoff for me despite the fact that I try to avoid using the cloud in general and MS products when I can is when I learned a long time ago that your data was only encrypted during transit and not once stored at Microsoft. I couldn’t believe that. I would never use a cloud service that doesn’t encrypt your stored files. I don’t know if they changed that, but I am not interested anyway.

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I was warning a long time ago to beware of the cloud for many reasons, but I  was in the wilderness. I admit I now sort of get some satisfaction when massive stoppages like Amz’s occur, ads pop, cloud vendors baited and are now switching by raising prices, after they have you by the b****.

So many vendors rushing to the cloud was a clear indication they perceived the opportunity for exploitation and by the time users do it’s too late.

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David F, Elly

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Now for something completely different… It appears there are even more ads on the way for W10 according to this piece on BetaNews:

https://betanews.com/2017/03/09/playable-ads-arrive-in-windows-10/

The “good news” is that you actually have to click on something to activate it, whether it’s on purpose or accidentally. The bad news is that there will now be even more c*** to navigate around in W10.

 

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Don’t worry, not many will opt in and MS will turn it into opt out pretty fast.

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https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/03/microsoft-put-gross-ads-in-windows-explorer-and-i-dont-have-the-energy-to-be-angry/

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Elly

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Apple IOS pioneered the playable ad. MS copied the idea.

Unfortunately, this process is integrated in to the OS. They have their reasons for doing it this way and me thinks it is not good. MS intends to apply playable ads to promote products in the Windows Store, but W10 is all about ‘Windows as a Service’ and they have lots of services on offer. How will that ‘experience’ be promoted ? Video Ads in front of 1 billion users every day – that is the ultimate goal of targeted advertising.

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anonymous wrote:

Apple IOS pioneered the playable ad. MS copied the idea.

Isn’t iOS a mobile OS? That is the problem – MS is copying ideas from systems that are used in a completely different way to “normal” desktop systems.

 

Surprisingly enough, I haven’t come across any ad on my W10M phone.

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AlexEiffel wrote:

I paid for it on new PCs. It didn’t make sense to me to pay for Windows 7 and get three years of support only. I don’t trust that 8 will get the support it deserves

That’s not a bug…that’s a feature!

MS is arguably in violation of their own EULA on Windows 8; it was supposed to be in mainstream support until 2017, which means new features like processor support should be provided.  That’s exactly what “mainstream support” means, and MS isn’t living up to their end of the contract.  Win 7 is in extended support, yet it gets exactly the same patches as 8; no more and no less.

Still, for the most part, not getting full support from MS is not a bad thing if what 10 gets defines “full support.”  Every new feature that is added has the possibility of introducing bugs; that this will happen is inevitable.  When you toss in that MS happens to have done away with those people who catch the bugs before the patch is pushed out… well, you get what we have now, which is a commercial product that is a permanent beta.

Contrast that with what MS defines as “extended support.”  Security and bug fixes only.  A product in extended support is built on a mature code base that won’t have the constant churn that destabilizes things and causes regressions.

Being the cynic that I am, I’d suspect MS would intentionally make their older versions worse, and maybe they will… but a lot of their valued enterprise and government (not just ours) customers will have a real problem with that, and they’re not likely to think that another product from the same company is going to be any better.  Win 10 is a bitter enough pill to swallow as it is, and I don’t think MS wants any of their valued customers (as opposed to us non-enterprise users) upset enough to even passingly think of consider going elsewhere.  MS has a monopoly now in the OS market, but they had one in browsers not that long ago too, and look at what happened with that.  Monopolies don’t tend to last, and I doubt MS is unaware of this very much.

Finally… the free upgrade is still available.  You can always grab an older version, upgrade it, then restore your old version from backup (in case the free offer actually does end at some point).  I have mine available, in the unlikely event that 10 ever gets to be something I’d install.  I would not bet on that, but hope springs eternal.

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Ascaris wrote:

MS is arguably in violation of their own EULA on Windows 8; it was supposed to be in mainstream support until 2017, which means new features like processor support should be provided. That’s exactly what “mainstream support” means, and MS isn’t living up to their end of the contract.

That is not what mainstream support means: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/14085/microsoft-business-developer-and-desktop-operating-systems-policy

Where in any Windows EULA does it guarantee that the OS will be made compatible with any yet-to-be-announced processor during its support lifecycle?

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Things like support for new processors would fit under “nonsecurity hotfixes.”  Windows 8.1 is pretty much the same as 10 at the kernel level, so the decision not to provide the support for 8.1 is wholly arbitrary.  If you were to judge by Microsoft’s actions regarding 8.1 since 10 came out, you’d think that mainstream support means the same thing as extended support.

Microsoft has typically not abandoned previous versions of Windows in terms of reasonable feature upgrades during the mainstream support period, and I would argue that there was a reasonable expectation that things like that would continue to be included.

As an example, Windows Vista received DirectX 11 in 2009, during its mainstream support period.  That wouldn’t happen today with the “new, improved” Microsoft… even though 8.1 is as similar to 10 at the kernel level as 7 was to Vista, we’re not only not getting DX12, but no processor updates either, and MS is apparently colluding with (or coercing) AMD and Intel to not offer any drivers themselves either.

Windows 7 doesn’t include support for USB 3.0, but you don’t see MS going around stating that for USB 3.0, you must use Win 8 or greater.  They don’t support it on 7, but they don’t act to block the USB 3.0 chipset makers from offering their own drivers either.  Microsoft’s insistence that only 10 will work with the new chips (even though 8.1 still has a year of mainstream support remaining) is something beyond what we’ve seen from them before.

EULAs tend to give the company that wrote them all kinds of rights and privileges, but few actual responsibilities (like the shrink-wrap licensing nonsense they tried to pull), but it is a standing question whether any of that would actually stand in court.  I wouldn’t put money on beating MS in court; they have enough resources to get the very best justice money can buy, but stranger things have happened.

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Ascaris wrote:

Things like support for new processors would fit under “nonsecurity hotfixes.”

That’s quite different from being a contractual obligation.

Ascaris wrote:

EULAs tend to give the company that wrote them all kinds of rights and privileges, but few actual responsibilities

So why would you claim that Microsoft is (arguably!) in violation?

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b wrote:

Ascaris wrote:

Things like support for new processors would fit under “nonsecurity hotfixes.”

That’s quite different from being a contractual obligation.

Ascaris wrote:

EULAs tend to give the company that wrote them all kinds of rights and privileges, but few actual responsibilities

So why would you claim that Microsoft is (arguably!) in violation?

Because it doesn’t mean what MS thinks it does.  It means what a court says it does.

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Woody, it may be “easy” to turn off these ads NOW, but I believe that Microsoft will progressively make it more difficult, even impossible, to turn off them in future Windows 10 versions.

Another reason for me not to use Windows 10 for as long as possible.

By the way, I don’t even know that that setting is related to the showing of ads in File Explorer in Windows 10. I wonder how many people will know about this by themselves if they are not told. How “easy to turn off” will this be?

I am interested in building a Ryzen system in the next few months and I WILL use Windows 7 and 8.1 on it, but NOT 10. Motherboard makers like Gigabyte provide Windows 7 / 8.1 drivers for their Ryzen motherboards so I don’t care about Microsoft’s “policy” of “supporting” new processors only on Windows 10.

An out of topic question : Woody, what exactly is “Karma”? And what do positive and negative values mean?

Hope for the best. Prepare for the worst.

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James Bond 007 wrote:

what exactly is “Karma”? And what do positive and negative values mean?

You should find most of your questions have been addressed on the Tips page:
https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/how-does-one-get-karma/?view=all

Karma points go up/down (some time after) one of your posts has been voted up/down. They accumulate from your published posts.

1 user thanked author for this post.

James Bond 007

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Kirsty wrote:

You should find most of your questions have been addressed on the Tips page: https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/how-does-one-get-karma/?view=all Karma points go up/down (some time after) one of your posts has been voted up/down. They accumulate from your published posts.

Actually, I found out myself a little bit after I posted the question. Still, thanks for your help.

Hope for the best. Prepare for the worst.

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