Windows just changed my desktop wallpaper and re-added the search bar without my permission after an update
In my view, this is unacceptable...
They changed my background (previously there was a default blue window), placed an icon in the bottom corner of the screen that read "Learn more about this photo", and re-added the search bar that I had previously removed.
Fortunately, I don't have to deal with this on a daily basis.
The fact Microsoft keeps re-enabling features users are disabling isn't something to just ignore. Imagine if they were the silently turn on a feature like Recall.
Never happened on my systems. And I oversee >200 systems.
This screams the microsoft diashow feature for the background. Those (at times) rarely change and OP probably applied the wallpaper by right-clicking a picture instead of changing it from the settings and that's at best a bug because Windows didnt notice you set the wallpaper from a different part of the system...
I agree with you here. As soon as you change something, that should be respected but as long as you use the default theme/wallpaper/… that could just as well mean that you prefer tracking the default or don't care at all.
Now bringing back the explicitly disabled search bar really is atrocious
Ooooh, so meddlesome, the default desktop background changed, big corpo is coming for you. Come on, we shouldn't mix actually valid complaints with stupid stuff like this. OP specifically mentioned the search bar thing that they turned off. That's valid. Forgive me if I don't see the problem with changing the default desktop background, something that literally all OSes and Desktop Environments do fairly regularly that nobody raises a fuss about.