Is Ubuntu/Mate the answer to Taking Back the Internet?

Internaut · 6 June 2019 20:31

Preamble:
Sadly, I've not had more time to get very involved with Ubuntu. I'd love to have a better understanding of it, and I am trying but, my need for Ubuntu/Mate is probably unique so I need to ask a few questions in case I am just spinning my wheels.

There is a madness to my method so please, bare with me as I ramble my way through this query.

QUESTION:

Will Mate help me beat back the peeps, pervs and Stalkers (AKA cookies, beacons, LSO's, IP relative results, etcetera) and let me get back to 'Surfing The Information Highway' without being followed, analyzed, tagged, bagged, and served up to governments, advertisers, and other ne'er-do-wells?

Preamble:
(You can ignore this and jump down to The ISSUE below but it helps to know).
Today did it! I went to my online bank to pay a bill. I noted with the half-dozen of browser add-on condoms, some suggested that a adobe stalker was placed on my computer. I called the bank but they only deal within the box and the agent, a well versed man tried his best to help me "Opt-out" (OO).

Cutting to the quick, he sent me to a link that is the generic DACC OO app. Using a desktop to avoid the 'app' and it's stalkers, I went to the link and discovered 170 companies registered a easy OO BUT, only for Canadians. There were about 150 countries one could click and repeat the process for the number of stalkers in that country, but ONLY if the Stalker is registered, and ONLY if the company honors the OO request - and many don't..
In the end, it's just companies that offer an OO, and some offer it, but do not honor it.

The ISSUE:

I fight on a daily basis against the peeps and perverted Stalkers (AKA trackers, cookies, beacons LSOs, etcetera) . Opting out is a time-wasting nightmare and most ignore the opt-out request anyway. And most successful Opt-outs are cookie based, that requires one to run the gauntlet of opting-out if they get deleted by security add-ons.

Today, again, I wanted to opt-out from my banks Adobe stalker. They do the same as most do, load us up with dozens of links to dozens of sites where one has to roam the site looking for the opt-out option.
Today, I have to opt-out of 170 Stalkers. Of which only 7 accepted it by auto-removed - so they said. The others, I have to visit manually and rummage through their obstacle course to get off their Peep machine. A very long and arduous task.

My Goal:

My aim is to block all of them, without loading up my browser with more ineffective, costly, addons to protect my privacy.
Promote Opt-In:

Too many people accept the idea that the Internet belongs to corporations and government. Since when? Answer: Since we allowed it.
Who gave 'them' the authority to force us into a Opted-In position? They did.
Why does every Stalker make it so hard to Opt-out? Duh!
They hold that Agree of Else gun to our heads.
And we all pay for this attack on our privacy whenever we buy any product, or service. Lemmings!

SUMMARY:
To the Ubuntu/Mate (U/M) power users.

Are there a number of tools available, not browser add-ons, that make 'private' private again?

Is the same effort being applied to prevent hackers from accessing a Linux- U/M driven computer also being developed to help prevent forced Opt-ins?

~s~

p.s. Thanks to all those dedicated, hardworking and rarely recognized volunteers that help us all around here. Your time and effort is appreciated - really!

I know about add-ons, VPN, TOR, and costs associated with preventative measures. I have alarms for my house, my car, and my cabin (no one around hear). I have bars on my windows, chain-up lawn mower, and use 126 bit 20 channel passwords on the computer. But still, those thugs and bullies are in every shadow.

Utsuro · 7 June 2019 12:22

You can set up a DNS-based solution like Host Flash on your Linux machine or a pi-hole for your whole network. Will be trickier to setup than browser addons though.

As long as you have a decent computer (let's say something with 4 threads/4gb ram or more), your browser (tweaked Firefox, ungoogled-chromium or - don't hit me - Brave) should be fine with Ublock Origin (advanced mode) + Privacy Badger + Privacy Possum + Canvasblocker + Decentraleyes + Cookies Autodelete + Multi-account Containers (Firefox only).
This plus a VPN you trust should help but sadly, I don't believe in such a thing as "perfect privacy' as long as you're online nowadays.

ugnvs · 14 June 2019 20:05

IMHO, the ultimate solution is browsing using Ubuntu Mate Live CD. Nothing survives its reboot. To avoid running your PC from Live CD you can try browsing from virtual machine, which in turn runs from Live CD image and does not hurt PC itself.

szbnwer · 15 June 2019 11:05

hi there!

uhmmm just learn a bit about the beginning of the internet, like who made it... so the answer is since the beginning.

otherwise there are services in ur system that you can keep an eye on, and whatever u use, but those are mainly like updates, bug reports and the like... the bigger half is that ur browsing, so its more of a network stack related question than a distro related.

all the bests to u, and dont forget to wear ur tinfoil hat! and watch out! /o\ (no offense, im somewhat of a paranoid security guy myself as well )

Internaut · 15 June 2019 16:01

First, sorry for the following wall of text - I'm bored again - with that said onward rant... this is a discussion - right? We're exchanging ideas and opinions and that's how we learn...

Uhmmm, but I do now. If I believe the U.S. news media, it was Al Gore that said he invented the Internet. But fake, politically baked and biased U.S. news aside, I do know how the 'net started, and there was no "who made it", it was everyone that wanted to be involved. ARPANET was just the seed no one cared about at the time.
For the U.S., Al Gore, during his vice-presidency, was the first real person of power to help the internet along when he gathered the support and helped find funding for more research and expansion. Like everything, the U.S. has laid claim to creating the Internet - which would not have happened if everyday people didn't support it. People with a vision. Corporations took over and turned it into the Trashnet
Control of people is sought by government and corporations. i.e., More and more we see the news broadcasters sites only allowing public comments IF the person commenting has Facebook and the comment is via the Facebook plugin. Read Facebooks terms of use and privacy policy and you'll understand why the reason behind why our parents fought and died in 2 wars is being eroded.

We shouldn't have to pay to protect our privacy. Government and corporations are ignoring our demands and in a sly way, goading us into believing that we have no right to privacy. Nor should be we spending a inordinate amount of time opting out of stalkerware that in most cases, opting out only causes the peeps with the Stalkers to look closer.
MY point, is that corporations tell us we must accept their monkey to ride our backs if want to use the 'net or we say no, they'll peep anyway.

I'm not paranoid. I wouldn't be paranoid if I saw people looking in my windows at home, followed me from room to room timing how long I'm in each and what I read, said, did. I wouldn't be paranoid if people followed me through the grocery store noting everything I look at and at what I buy, nor paranoid when the grocery store monitors my bio-metrics. Not paranoid if those same pervs follow me up to the change-room, waited, and recorded what I went in with, came out with, and paid for, nor paranoid if those pervs monitored and noted what I watch on TV, nor if they open my paper-mail - read it, and recorded items of their interest and used *A.I. to create a psychological profile of me for advertisers and governments. No sir, 'not paranoid'. I do feel P'O'ed, disgusted, naked, very afraid, cautious to a fault, and whole host of other not-so-nice feelings.

The kids of today have already been assimilated and are already part of the Google/Social Media/Microsoft collective. There is no hope for the children but while I'm alive, I'll kick and scream at the Stalkers, peeps and pervs that made it their business to mind and mine my personal business.

Most all of that only works because of Windows... something very easy to see through.

I hoped Linux/Ubuntu/Mate would buck the system.

Maybe we need a O/S called 'Shutters'?

i.
.* Artificial Idiots

Sorry for the rants - I was bored again.

Internaut · 15 June 2019 17:13

Thanks for that tip. I read Host Flash is designed to manage and block sites with "hosts known to contain undesirable content".
One "host" could have 2000 domains under it. Blocking one host could block thousands of domains UNLESS the author of the instructions for Host-Flash revamped what a 'host' is, or more likely, I don't get what a 'host' is this week.

I already have those installed, and already ran into domains telling me to drop my drawers or move on. I move on. I get sites blocking my access with "We notice you use a ad blocker....' and block me from seeing the site. If there is a comment, contact or such, I will sometimes respond with "I am not blocking your ads. I am blocking Stalkware wrapped up inside your ads." or "I'm not blocking ads, I am blocking spyware disguised as a ad.' But never get replies... because they don't care. I'm just one of *4,383,810,342 people with internet.

Yeppers. I hear ya on that "trust" thing. I used VPNs to file a complaint through the FBI. The FBI site blocked my communication because the FBI said I could not access via a VPN. They did not allow me to file a complaint through VPN.

The other problem with VPN is, searches localizes your results based on the location of the final IP address. This is a recent kiddie-kewl feature found in way too many web site templates that incorporate stalkers the 'web master' cares little about or knows nothing of. VPN is great if one knows the address of their destination and URL-it.

I gave up VPNs because they are not cheap and are just another annual cost that no one should bare, are at times very slow, Privacy and Terms policies add no assurance of privacy. Plus I pay for anti-virus, anti-malware, internet user fees, upgrading costs, electricity, the pangs of frustration and I forever am exceeding my monthly allowable number of "Agrrggggg" moments. I'm starting to feel that the 'net is very close to not being worth the cost, the grief, the slime, trash and forced controls.

My Ubu refuses to remember my password. I have fixed it several times, and on re-boot, have to sneak in - lengthy process. When there is a good fix, then I intend to wipe my drive, re-install, and start over now that I know a little more about all the work needed to make those peeping pervs job of Stalking me a little harder.
That, or mow the lawn.

~i~

*"Internet Usage and World Population Statistics estimates for May 9, 2019" (source)

szbnwer · 15 June 2019 17:57

sure, i hear u, and ur right!

btw ive found the article ive read in the recent days on the topic:

i was too lazy to get part 1, i mean ive got almost 1000 tabs opened already (again) so i have enough duty for my "entertainment" (serious sh*t actually, im a developer, and i wanna bring back privacy

)

btw/2 u could check out https://puri.sm (the ceo, Todd Weaver, is a dad and an engineer, who was thinking about his kiddos' future so he made the company with privacy in the 1st place for hw and services, i actually really like their work i think 1-2 months ago he wrote a post on their site about this very topic im taling about. otherwise they have exensive stuffs, so u can search for core-/libreboot for finding cheaper materies, and also for pinephone that ive seen only in these days with very few info about it on their wiki, but both phones are wip stuffs...)

other good resources are https://privacytools.io and https://prism-break.org that u shouldnt miss!

otherwise i dont care much about my online stuffs, but my local security is wat matters for me, as a hacker should not hide under a bush but should proudly face with the world i know what i do online and i dont care about my footsteps, i want my safe harbour to be safe, and i wanna build my private stuffs so i can opt-out that way from the surveillance services for my private stuffs

have fun!

Internaut · 21 June 2019 18:31

Wow! I am so glad you showed me this. I know it was a while ago, I've been up to my Yin in Yangs but have recently had time to really delve into it. I don't know if I'm glad that there are tools available, or more disgusted with the forced 1984-style of Over-watch Lords.

and

Your'e right - something not to be missed. What a wealth of info and tools. This and the above prove that the light at the end of the tunnel isn't a train after all! Many many thanks. I've been reading them all, and reading them again.

lastly,

I agree. I was excited a couple years ago when Anonymous started in on banks scamming customers, releasing documents related to police hiding brutality, and basically just doing the Snowden/ Assange thing, but disappointed when some Anons got political. I know they are anyone that wants to fly the Anon flag, but disappointed again when some of the pros went silent. I was their fan, for the most part.

I care everything about what I say and do on the Trashnet - I mean Internet, because it's all recorded. I've seen people trash their boss in Facebook thinking only their friends could see it. It may have been said before, but if not, I'm saying it now.
Caution: Anything you say and do can and will be taken out of context and used against you in the courts of Social Media.

Stalking is becoming a way of life - no? Even retailers are watching us much closer now with more than just cameras. Witness Walmarts bio-metric shopping carts. Cars that report our driving habits and from where to where, and every transaction is shared with any company with the money and need to know what we buy and how often.

A friend recently complained that as he was being driven into town, a message popped up on his cell from a retailer that , where he bought a health-food supplement a month earlier pointed out "we noticed you are in the neighborhood and that he would be getting low by then and should drop by and pick up another months supply. The message pointed out the retailer were only 2 blocks away on the right-side from where he was in the moving vehicle. Convenient? Stalking, or invasion?

I'll leave you go to your work, and a big thank you for these tips and links. I have already started to put some to good use and will certainly continue delving deeper - thanks to your suggestions. Much appreciated.

All these links you provided, and Ubuntu will help me feel a little more private and much safer. It's too bad it's become so necessary.

~S~

szbnwer · 22 June 2019 16:40

hi there!

thx for the nice words bro!

tl;dr: dont forget that what u own/use, will own/use u!

its a long journey to tidy up ur cyber life if it can be ever said to be done. there are so many goodies out there to make use of them, but dont forget that there is most likely no complete but only reasonable security, and it always have its cost! so the bad thing around these is that as u go forward with utilizing stuffs, u need to learn, follow and validate (~invest) more and more of them and there is no common ground and agreement around to just find The Distro™ or whatever like to just download install and use it... so think outside the box and try ur best to live with the beta quality life and go only for the really important bits, or whatever u want if ur time lets u do so, but this consumes u (~ur time) so be careful.

on the other hand, if ur a hacker, then u can make things to be Just Works™, that looks like ur not making a cogwheel of urself in the middle of ur machinery while ur trying to break free from global enlsavement and become ur very own slave, but that requires much learning and researching, that is kinda much similar, but in that case u can utilize ur knowledge and tools to get some money anyhow that can earn back some of ur freedom u invested into making them (and if ur not a hacker, then learn coding, it is really beneficial! )

actually u can simply get existing solutions for whatever u want but then u must learn them u must follow their development, look after their vulners and basically they will become a messy bloat that have no much ways for interoperability just the way u want it and ull have freestanding equipments that will be really nice to work with, but then again, ull be the glue in the middle of ur bloated system that runs on a thousand different funds and u must follow a big bunch of important pieces as they evolve to use them well... like currently i have rhythmbox for playing music, easytag for editing id3 tags (meta data) of the tracks, mp3val for fixing errors (that sometimes makes others in the meantime ) streamripper and youtube-dl for getting them and im the glue inbetween them... however shell utilities can be used together with some bash for the glue, but thats not suitable for really complicated works, but still, u will see things u dont like, ull wish for features, and ull have a sh*tload of "blackboxes" (yup, tasty opensauce, good luck to follow up all of their development, or just open the umpteenth issue that wont get a single echo... sad story...) or just see ur favourite stuff becoming abandonware (good! now u own a new toy that is being more urs than it was ever been! ) or just a service becomes unavailable and then ull feel inner pain in direct ratio with the lvl as u relied on it... even more if a service just swallows ur precious data when it goes

my best idea around this is to put everything that matters onto a common ground, so i think linux lua(jit!) c and bash are enough for kinda much anything, if i wanna count upon everything then frontend can also be counted, and maybe some kinda database... these are enough for everything, and playing nicely together! btw luajit have the main role on my (sub)system ("sub", cuz currently it doesnt run on baremetal, but on linux, even if its possible to go below linux with it with some extra work on it, but its good to have linux and all its goodies around). so it is developed from itself with live coding and it have a big bunch of general utilities that can serve as a ground for everything, like an universal parser, universal structure handlers (cuz every data is a graph, mostly a tree or an array or a matrix, but those are all just special cases of a graph; they can handle any kind of them like lua tables and file system, and they can do anything with any kinda data) and some security and debugging utilities, it have a freestanding graphical toolkit (tekui), and now im planning to put a bunch of network related tools into it, like a server (turbo) for publicating, making whatever webapps like a private chat, wireshark (it can be scripted in lua ), curl (it is a headless browser for interacting with the www from programs) and luakit (a webkit based browser that can interact with my stuffs and can utilize my tools). then ill put in some system related stuff and im planning to handle file formats, but maybe ill use some c libs for those, and i also wanna make multimedia stuffs into it (and that is not the end of the list ). this way its all on the same ground, with a reasonable bunch of external tools that i can totally own and read it from A to Z cuz these are kinda small things, and then it is a complete ecosystem where i dont need to worry about things happening in the outside world. i could even get whatever driver from the linux kernel for going down to baremetal. everything i have can really work together!! they are not written in a thousand different languages, they are not bloated, they are well known, flexible and really pretty, stable and small... if i would do it in node, or python (im a fullstack web dev and i used python much in the past, so i really know them) then i would have a bloated messy hell! what if u wanna use ur favorit toy u wrote in x language in ur web app or u wanna make a plugin for ur ide and u have to learn a completely new toolset, reimplement everything u need, rely on others' madness, limits and erroneous codes?! that means a lotsa pain! and thats the point!

beware with utilizing too much things and get addicted by them, try to stay independent, and dont forget the costs, so try to hack life before ur trying to hack machines, cuz thats basically much harder and expensive!

btw my app is currently private, cuz i also plan to make e-democracy, and it will be built on top of my existing tools, and im really afraid of bad things that could happen if it would be released too early, it just triggers my apocalyptic visions on too many ways, like someone with money power and a big team would take it as its free and opensource and poison it with commercial trash and utilize its powers to milk the ppl or whatever ... just for a trivial example only... otoh its name is Szoszi, so ull see it under that name, but not much soon, and i will get on the board a small bunch of others before release it to the public, but that also waits for some related work, so u can also stay around if ur interested, or for whatever reason, its always good to have one more geek friend

and finally, if ppl abuse ur online footsteps against u, then react on that on the same fund. so ur example was when they cut a text/video the way it casts a dark shadow on them, then they should be corrected or if they dont wanna play kind then u can spread the verb that they did so, and as that is their job, it will hurt them enough, even if bad ads are ads as well... if a boss is looking after ur trash, then that person isnt straight enough to deserve ur company, so its fine if he/she wrecks ur common ground... and against trackers, use "ublock origin", and dont use trash services! cybersecurity should come only after these! and its more about keeping ur private area safe than anything else, so vulners are the most important and other security measurements are kinda much just for some extra fun

bests, code much, and dont forget to wear ur tinfoil hat!

Internaut · 14 July 2019 21:19

"szoszi" is Hungarian for 'sauce". Is that on purpose?

That aside. I went back again through the links you graciously provided, re-read your entire reply, and cross-reference your reply with the data on the links. WOW!

I came across something disturbing. There, it says:

"Canonical’s Ubuntu is not recommended by PRISM Break because it contains Amazon ads and data leaks by default. GNU/Linux distributions based on Ubuntu are also currently not recommended due to several other reasons."

I read the "several other reasons" which is the GitHub discussion around

"Ubuntu derivatives ({L,X,K}ubuntu) are OK, while Ubuntu itself is not #334"

and though written in Jul 21, 2013, it still made me sit up and choke back a loud 'gak!!!'

... another reason I still call the new Internet, the Trashnet.

I did take in everything you typed, and not once, but 3 times, and have a copy on desktop for it takes that many for me to start digesting anything after "hi" and to that, again, thank you for your time and effort, and rest assured, it is a great and valuable gateway for me - it is very helpful and I am still revisiting the links you gave.

don't add too much salt to the 'sauce'.
~s~

szbnwer · 16 July 2019 23:05

hi again!

[really offtopic]
Szoszi:
google translate gives "sauce" for "Szoszi", but actually it's got nothing to do with sauce... actually sauce is "szósz", and i often say "szószkód" for "source code", just as well as source is "sauce" for me... so about it, here, in hungary, there are kinda much gypsies, im not one of them, but it's actually their word, and it translates to something like "what's up?" but used also as a salutation, and it became a slang for weed. so its actually named after my past main sponsor, where "past" is cuz i had minor issues with the cops, so i'm waiting for the legalization. X'D

otherwise, about naming, i've thought about ancient names, but those are all overused; or anything that could describe it, but it have too many purposes; or anything that sounds cool with 1-2 words combined, or whatever, but i had nothing that would be suitable... so finally this is ascii, its "hungarian" (not really, but there is some minor racial opposition around here, just like anywhere in the world, and its kind of a kindliness as well, cuz i'm a hippie, and a pacifist. ) its still easy to spell (like "so see", without emphasis on the "ee", but insignificantly on the beginning of the word), it sounds cool, and also, it isn't taken.

actually i didn't get your point of what kinda purpose you are asking about the word "sauce"...

however the purpose of telling its name was searchability for the future, as it's still in its incubator period... but it will be 100% free (money could come from using it as a dev-tool, or as a web server with options for getting donations, but i'd really itch from anything other than these, so i hope nobody will hate me for this kinda self-advertising bteween the lines...) but only after it became enough mature to be used for e-democracy, as that's really a sensitive thing with so much important considerations...! but i've got no idea when i'll reach that point, and as it already have other use cases, and i've got much things to do in general, i can't promise anything about time, but probably i'll involve some fine-selected people sooner or later to speed things up, and even that have some undone prerequisites to be done, and i'm about to finalize an another milestone currently, and after that i wanna jump in job that will probably take really much of my time... but, not for you, but anyone who is interested, feel free to get in touch with me in private, and not cuz any secret or business plans, but cuz the too much distant offtopic... anyway, i'm open-minded, and like to get geek and/or international friends with any kinda intention! and about Szoszi, i can even show some teasers, and tell kinda much anything about it, i'm not afraid of those...
[/really offtopic]

actually i really appreciated your enthusiasm, thx! it felt really great!

that "several other reasons" stuff took much of my time, i've read all of it, i've learned nothing new, and it was a totally unreasonable bulls*t X'D they are complaining about an optional, open source (sauce! * ) possibility that was accidental(?) left turned-on by default, only in unity (so mate is/was not affected), so ubuntu is a botnet spyware by definition...... they even disabled it by default very soon after the negative news arose around it... and also, it can't be trusted, cuz it delivers precompiled packages... that is an interesting topic, as everyone must rely on whatever binaries+hw+fw to even get it, and they must trust it without the possibility to validate their whole stack that downloaded it that burned it and that installed it... and this applies to source based distros just as well!

btw have you, or anyone else around (lol, i think i already creeped away everyone else with my tl;dr mess) got any idea about packaging? my best guess is that if i download the source from the repos (that i don't do, as i get those from upstream) then they have the distro specific compiler options included, and i only need to get the same version of gcc and glibc to get the same binaries (in case of c codes) and those can be compared against the binaries if they are identical or not, but this is just a wild guess, and i don't have currently the intention to do my own research...

there was a funny historical virus in gcc that wrote itself into gcc and into the kernel every time somebody compiled them with it, and it also hid itself, as it was in the kernel sadly i don't have a pointer to look it up. so after i've read it, it disappointed me somewhat about my cool resources, but it is still a good starting point anyhow, even if we are condemn to use our very own brains anyhow

anyway, back in time, i've chose ubuntu mate as ubuntu is mainstream enough to get enough support, and it is really lightweight, comfortable, and suitable for newbies to suggest it, as it is a good idea to give others the very same system that i use, so i can help them. however i plan to move to debian mate testing from a netinst image (or pureos, cuz i plan to work at purism, that's good to move forward on the path of sw freedom ) where debian came up as i need more pain to learn that much more, but i've got some docs to read before i would change, and they just shrunk somewhere between my opened firefox tabs. other than that, a smart trustworthy guy said that ubuntu is just outdated debian testing with fancy wallpapers, where outdated actually applies for some packages that are in lack of proper maintenance. but actually i really like ubuntu mate, and as far as i won't have a post-install script to set up a fresh debian to be comfortable enough in every sense i would like it to be, i will suggest ubuntu mate for everyone around, so don't worry about it! (even more, i actually look up newly found/interesting/popular distros regularly and dig deep enough to judge them anyhow, so i really dare to believe that this is currently the best choice from the most point of views all together!)

[off again]
[*]: an admin asked me to try to write more readable, cuz of those who read it with a translator, and now i'm trying my best to avoid lazy words like "ive" for "i've" and hard-to-understand phrases, but on the other hand (otoh mhwhahaaa) i think that "cuz" and "kinda" can't harm google translator, if i'm right, and i still don't know how to write short conscious sentences like how human beings do...

ps: don't worry, my sauces are really DRY and tasty, without much calories! (look up DRY if you don't know that, my other main guideline is yagni )

ps2: sorry for writing too much, it's a known issue without much success against it

ps3: and don't worry about salt in my codes (cuz of my graphomania) i put the same amount of effort into refining things instead of writing long codes, the shorter code is better, and only universality and flexibility can go against that! (and short means that i generally write a magnitude smaller code than others do for the same purpose on a clean code and oop manner, and this also works when i reduce others' codes to the real needs )
[/off]

all the bests to you!

Internaut · 4 August 2019 19:46

plus a lot more info you graciouly gave time to @szbnwer.

Well @szbnwer, it took me a long time reading, researching and following through on some of your tips.

I didn't want you to think your last reply went to waste -

Thank you again for these links - I've been hanging around these - maybe too much I can no longer find the article one of them had about "What Windows 10" can do to our privacy. I'll keep looking as it is a great thing to share with people who think 10 can walk on water and turn it into wine!

I've already decided to switch all devices except on Dtop with Win 7 stalker over to Ubuntu/Mate. Keeping 1 dtop with Windoze for gaming, nothing else. For the most part, I buy the game via any of the game interface stalkers wrapped up as "game launchers" then get the repack - I paid for it!
Why? i.e., one game launcher app won't run in Win 7, but the game will run - even without the launcher ogling my every move. The company upgraded their launcher and turned their back on too many games when they forced the launcher/stalker upgrade on us. Waht acn we say - it's the Trashnet!

You've been a great source of help - I appreciate it very much. As for "off topic" it's MY topic and any time you want to go off topic in my topic, feel free. Now, get back to dev'ing Szoszi - we need it - the world is waiting.

~i~

szbnwer · 5 August 2019 11:13

hi buddy!

tl:dr for others: the paragraph with the topic "win stuffs" contains valuable info, the other things aren't really important.

I didn't want you to think your last reply went to waste -

no, i didn't, i can see that you enjoy my mess

Thank you again for these links - I've been hanging around these - maybe too much

oh, that well-known feeling ..... i'd like to say that it's never too much, with my 1000+ opened tabs in firefox (just to not mention everything else) but i'm a martyr, and i sacrifice really much on my efforts and i can see the downsides, just i count it as its investment into my future .... or investing my life into the future of that beloved humanity that i wanna serve with goodies in the meantime of making something like a "life" in that classical sense that i left behind a while now

I can no longer find the article one of them had about "What Windows 10" can do to our privacy

here you go for those:

win stuffs:
make your linux a bit more safe with encryption (via luks) that will encode partitions, like /home is a must, / is really sensitive, but /boot/efi is needed to remain unencrypted, while /boot (as a separated partition and just as sensitive+targeted as /) can be encrypted, but i still didnt follow that process up enough to make it happen on my side, i've seen some foggy instructions for arch and gentoo, and probably there are things related this that i had no time to read all of them, but it is surely doable... with core-/libreboot it can go even farer, those are on firmware level, in an 8-leg'd chip on the motherboard that can be programmed, and actually contains stuffs that is really a creepy stuff (a full os with networking and it can work if a machine is turned off and it have godmode above everything in your machine and it is invisible when used and nsa is known to have access to this so nothing special, but you can search for intel management engine, amd psp, but via and arm also have the same tech under different names in their current silicons, and probably others as well) ... soooo core-/libreboot are replacements for intel management engine and the like, an open source bios (also check out me_cleaner that is not a replacement bios but only castrating the existing one), and these can have payloads, like grub, and that way one can have a full disk encryption, grub config can be even read from hard disk while that other, active grub is in that small chip as a payload. win can run with the seabios payload, but i don't know if that would work with full disk encryption, or if grub would be fine with win, i still just learn these without having in the position to play with these... but the point is that there are known attack(s?) that can persist in this chip (evil maid is a sure example), so a win can infect your linux if it gets its own boot, but virtual box and the like also have their 0 day vulnerabilities from time to time (btw iommu is a feature of the underlying metal that can be utilized by virtualbox and the like so the hw will be directly accessed via the iommu instead of reaching it only through the kernel...) but HEY!! this is the paranoid view, you will get a spam with a cute kitten that you will open and that will mine bitcoin on your machine instead of getting an infected motherboard but it is possible and the agencies can still see you if you are interesting enough (to not just collect data but really keep an eye on you however you will tell more online about yourself than they would need to go inside your computer )

gaming:
games aren't developed the same way as other softwares, cuz one they are written they are most likely not rewritten but only updated in case of need, and if it was developed for x32 machines, they just won't be ported to x64, but new games will born instead. ubuntu, and a lotsa other distros will/did(?) drop the x32 support, and probably that's the reason why your games won't work...

You've been a great source of help - I appreciate it very much. As for "off topic" it's MY topic and any time you want to go off topic in my topic, feel free. Now, get back to dev'ing Szoszi - we need it - the world is waiting.

thanks! otherwise marking off topics is my new habit to make others able to decide easier if they want or not to read my mess, and here are others than us, so the off topic is still off topic... so this is just simply a symptomatic treatment for my graphomania X'D

sooo after all, i think i will pm you instead of littering the forum, but on-topic stuffs can still come, and are welcome, and i also tried to focus on the publicly beneficial things in this replay

bests!

Nimora · 10 October 2019 10:21

Probably you were right about VPN and there's no use in it, but still we can't be sure. There are a lot of free vpn for kodi and other systems, they cost not much or even nothing at all, they don't slow down the process. So I'd stick to using.