Comments by "D. von N." (@D.von.N) on "Ask Leo!" channel.

  1. Asked the bot whether data on a separate partition is safe. This is the output. That after me being aware that ransomware can encrypt your backup external drive if connected to your system during encryption. "Virus Spread: A virus or malware that infects the OS partition can still potentially access and infect files on other partitions. This is because the virus operates within the OS environment and can typically read/write to any partition that the OS can access. Partition Isolation: While partitions are logically separate, they are not physically isolated. If a virus has the capability to spread, it can do so across partitions on the same drive. Access Permissions: Properly configured access permissions can help limit the damage. For instance, restricting the OS from accessing certain partitions can reduce the risk, but this is not foolproof." I have seen malware escaping a virtual machine, too. So I wouldn't be so certain.
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  2. Instead of messing with installations and backing ups I simply bought another SSD and swapped them in my laptop before installing Linux anew (as the machine has space for ust one ssd). The old one is in a drawer and crying, with Win11 on it. Swapping them back is like a 5 minutes job once I know what to do.
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  3. The bots in this thread. LMAO. One comes, asks a question and a dozen queue in line to promote a scammer.
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  4. How can you say people won't be forced to buy new computers, when theirs will become vulnerable after the support has ended (patching up the holes discovered in time, and I am sure Microsoft will make them sufficiently aware with unavoidable messages on the screen) and Linux isn't in the vocabulary of most normies using Windows computers these days? Simply buying a bulky antivirus package isn't enough for protection, that's why we have the discussion here in the first place. How are those people supposed to protect themselves on unsupported OS if they cannot upgrade it for not having the newer processor or TPM2.0? And then you say that even if people do extensive workarounds to install Win11 on unsupported devices, MS may put a foot into the door and say: no, you won't get the updates anymore!
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  5. Have played with several Linux distros already. 64 bit as well as 32 bit, some from USB, some from a cd (32 bit are usually below 700MB). Instead of Rufus I would go with Ventoy. One can fit several iso files there, whereas Rufus can only take one. There are other options, but these two are often put against each other. Fletcher one is another such option.
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  6.  @MichaelDomer  speaking for myself: MS owns the software, the hardware is mine, I paid for it, I want to have a control over it. MS collects my data, it trades with it, they use me as a product, and if I have a Pro version, I pay extra in comparison to just a Home Premium, so MS isn't quite free for me, is it? I pay for that one, too when I buy a PC. I should have rights to control what that software does with my hardware. And if my MS account was hacked, I don't want to lose my access to my PC completely if the MS account was the only one on it. Or do you find it fair to be a hostage of a service I paid for? I don't.
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  7. A question. Kagi says: "No ads, fast and personalised results. The search engine you deserve." Then later on: "100% free of ads and tracking." How do they personalise the search without tracking? I think they used a wrong wording, should have used 'search relevant' or something.
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  8. Question: 'Is there anything else I need?' Answer: common sense.
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  9. If your mailbox is inundated with spam, change your email provider. They probably don't care about your experience by filtering common spam out. Only a rare one should come through and it is easy to block and report. And regularly check your spam folder for legitimate emails. Mistakes happen. What bother me more is a disrespect by otherwise genuine sellers or companies who keep sending you emails of all sorts despite you disagreed with ths communication on their website. That used to be illegal in my world, not sure how it is now.
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  10.  @allanrichardson1468  how about virtual machine with installed windows on Linux?
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  11.  @synthwave7  That if you know about it. Millions upon millions of naive users won't even notice it.
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  12. It's a myth the attacks target mostly companies. Anyone can be a target. Just individuals don't make the headlines like when an organisation has a massive data leak.
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  13. I am not an IT person but I have learned a few things already. I guess your failing HD was the HDD, not SSD, which is said it just jumps off the cliff, not giving regular warnings. I wanted to ask: what happened with the testing software like crystaldiskinfo, or HDDscan? I used both to check my drive after the manufacturer's system gave me a warning message that the hard drive is failing and needs to be replaced. I scanned it with both software and all came out good. Only on deeper scan via HDDscan, the graph of analysis was up and down, indicating there might be an issue. It is a company's machine, I'll let them deal with that.
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  14. yes, just SSDs don't have the same longevity as HDDs. They are fast, but with age their failure rate is worse.
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  15. If anyone has a nostalgia for XP and has an older 32 bit computer, they can try Q4OS Linux distro. Not exactly WinXP, but the feel is similar. The main point is there still are Linux OS that work on 32 bit systems, if you have an old machine that is still working, and they are good to go on internet, unlike those abandoned Windoze versions. Just my experience is the struggle with modern Youtube. The sound is OK, but the picture is jumpy. Good for music in the background.
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  16.  @greg-v1g6y  I do. That didn't answer my question.
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  17. I have a habit of looking for the weakest link to assess how good something is. So end-to-end encryption is fine, but as soon as somebody hacks the device of one of you, they will have access to everything anyway. And who said there isn't or won't be some backdoor into the system? At worst the authorities can confiscate a device of one of you and get access to all of it again. Before the message is encrypted, it is typed and there are ways how to monitor that, too. Also - do you need to have data turned on all the time to receive the messages from somebody promptly? Because I don't keep mine turned on and that has started to be a problem for also sms messages, many not received until I turn my data on. Very annoying.
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  18. Just thinking: could it be a phishing message looking like a prompt for the 2FA approval, that by clicking on the reject they would download some malware or something?
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  19. Already got myself Win11 laptop, second hand, business class, for £240. Yet I switched it to Linux, just because. Win11 runs in a virtual machine and I have a clone ready to restore the system if it broke for some reason (which I actually did, twice already, restored it within 10 minutes). I'll do sensitive stuff on Linux and play on Windows what doesn't run on Linux. The same can be done with Win10 for years and years to come. Be careful with your data and enjoy the best of both worlds. You don't need to fork out a grand of your hard earned cash for new computer to satisfy the bully.
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  20. This was very informative, thanks. I have been pondering on backing up my emails on an externall drive. One step closer.
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  21. LMAO. " computer is called a machine because it is a device that takes data as input, processes it using software, and outputs the results.1 When computing machines were invented, the term "computer" already existed as the job description of a person whose job it is to compute things.3 Computing machines were called "machines" because they were machines, as opposed to the computers they replaced, which were people.13 The term "machine" is a collective noun for laptops, PCs, servers, clusters, etc.0 The term "smart machine" refers to a computer's ability to perform tasks with a high level of accuracy and speed, while "diligent machine" refers to a computer's ability to perform tasks repeatedly without loosing its speed and accuracy for a long time.'
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  22.  @roncaruso931  nuances are giving you a miss, don't they?
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  23. Wait until the AI has a look inside your computer and figures things out 😆😆😆
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  24.  @davinp  Who cares? Less than 2% of MS users use Adobe like this and now there is Gimp 3.0 coming.
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  25. Does shutting down the machine really ends all processes, even on a quick start up setting? My understaning is that to truly reboot the machine, restarting it is better.
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  26. That is where the disposable email accounts come to the scene. Move important mail to a newly created address nd shut the spammed one down.
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  27. I have read an advice not to use CCleaner and similar software, that it can damage the system. I am proud to have learned using the Windows tools to declutter and that should be enough. The less third party stuff in the PC, the better, for most third party stuff. I don't mind installing ublock origin into browsers that are not as robust in protection as Brave is, for example. I debloated most of the stuff that came with the new PC and got rid of any extras that came after reinstalling it. I am learning what helps and what doesn't in Windows maintenance, and CCleaner has not earned my trust. I used to use it before, not anymore. At most I would use it to overwrite data on an external disk, but that's it. And for that there are other software out there, doing a similar job, so it is just a matter of choice. But cleaning registries? Thanks, but no, thanks.
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  28. Some good comments below, too. To rule out the issue with the computer hardware, try testing another external drive of a similar kind, in the same port, with a different cable, before blaming the drive itself.
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  29. Just reported a shady business to trading standards. They are looking into it, got their acknowledgement and that they are forwarding it to the national panel of metrology and legal matters. I get it the overseas scammers are harder to get, but at least something. The seller thought he was clever. Let's see who will laugh the last.
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  30. Having a clone of my 1TB nvme with LMDE installed next to Ubuntu and another partition for music next to them, with configured and set up systems, saved me a lot of hassle and frustration when I messed it up and it didn't boot. Since it is a 2021 laptop and has a thunderbolt connection, also the backup was on an external SSD (might even be of the Gen2 category), the recovery via Rescuezilla was done in exactly 7.1 minutes. Priceless! I made that clone for exactly cases like this. Now the LMDE has a virtual machine with configured Win11 installed, which is another reason for updated clone in place. I always boot from the fresh clone to make sure it works as expected. For incremental backup there are better options.
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  31.  @mqcapps  That Acronis rings the bell. It was included in my WD Discovery package. I checked them out and said NAAAH! I don't trust clouds. At all.
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  32. An important note: if your password isn't unique, they might guess it by chance, or brute force through. That makes me think: how random is the random generated password? Could someone got an exact one got suggested as well? Depending on the number of characters and the choice of types of characters. From the several billion accounts worldwide, there could be a small chance two people used the same password.
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  33. You can always install Linux Mint. Takes about 15 minutes and you are ready to go. Linux is free most of the time. Mint definitely is. And it will be kinder to your hardware (unless you are a gamer). I am past my 40s, tried Linux first time this year, even brought back my 15 year old machine, running Linux Wilma better than it used to run on Vista before. Never had any formal computing education. Chat GPT is alway at hand if I need advice.
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  34. Vunlerabilities within the operating system discovered by hackers, from which the defender cannot protect. Every system is vulnerable to some extend and we need to keep on top of things. Those hackers have nothing better to do than looking for vulnerabilities and possibly exploiting them. Based on the severity of these vulnerabilities, patching up some of them took years as Windows (or Linux community, or Apple) didn't consider them too hot to focus on. Some are too dangerous and they issue patches within hours or days.
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  35. Get two drives and double backup, at least. I have a third one that is updated regularly. If that gets encrypted by a ransomware I have two more with the majority of my data, minus the most recent changes. Never going to pay to the criminals, ever.
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  36. My Win10 put copilot on my task bar after extensive update today, on 22H2.
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  37. Sadly, and they blame it for the autocorrect... like if they had no control over what they eventually post.
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  38. Microsoft has been pushing a lot of misleading claims, like encrypted (and safe) recall content, or that your computer will remember forever what you saw on your screen, but then saying those 25GB etorage will have just 3 months worth of content... did they mean the text output by AI will contain your forever activity? That doesn't take much space. But since Microsoft certainly has a backdoor to your system, it won't necessarily be 100% private. The 3 letter agencies will get to your content without much hassle. Dream on, folks. They want your best interest. Don't let them take it!
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  39. My problem with Windows telemetry is that there is too much of it, at the detriment of the performance. Now there is a mysterious sllow down of Win 24H2 after about an hour, some complained about it, only restart brings it back to the expected speed. Could be the telemetry, or something else. Windows is such a robust system on its own, that launching software is day and night difference when compared to Linux. My GIMP was ready in exactly one second after I clicked on the taskbar icon in my LMDE. On Windows I could sometimes go to make a cup of tea in the meantime.
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  40. I like your reply. I wasn't sure about that Windows7 tool, but now I am creating a system image, just in case. I recently had to reinstall the whole thing from the manufacturer's recovery file. It was a good purging exercise, not to install what I didn't really need, but since it is now like brand new I better have this back-up image, just in case. All other files are already backed up on two different places.
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  41. Can you really REMOVE recall from the PC? Besides, will it keep nagging you with pop ups to use it and you could turn it on in a weak moment, not aware of it? Also, how is it worded on a set up, does it say recall or is it wrapped in different rhetoric?
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  42. This is my topic currently. I am on a mission to educate people not to fall for the illusion that Incogni or DeleteMe will help them to stay safe. They won't. These naive folks just pay to another data collector to hope to get their legally held data out of hands of data brokers. But these services have no reach on the dark web (even those data brokers might not comply) and if they claim they are going to 'delete' you from the internet, they are lying to you. It is a fraud, or scam if you wish. You just gave your data to another website and even keep paying for it. Let's just assume we all have some details on the dark web. The chance is it is correct and if it isn't 100% correct now, it will be in the future. Nobody is immune. I had a cold caller trying to get me 'investing' in Forex. He had my name, my email and obviously my number. I asked what else they have. He didn't tell me and didn't disclose how they got it. It is irrelevant whether it was bought from public register via data brokers, or from the dark web where our data is being traded. We all are at risk and now it is on the institutions and businesses to figure out how to vet any application from potential customers to avoid personality theft fraud. It is going to be a mess. It won't hurt to change ALL passwords from time to time, so asking which account got breached is irrelevant. More of them could have been, not just the one the person got informed about.
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  43. Didn't you give consent when you clicked Agree to the T&C during creating an account, which you obviously didn't read?
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  44. Where I come from, ads financed media came before a subscription was a thing. They were more colourful, models reading the news, content was more about entertainment than education... and they filled a vacuum the traditional media couldn't. Like if you got a cake after you spent all your life on a bread and butter. It's a business.
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  45. How many versions of image backup you have? The systems can get corrupted over time and we don't regularly install and uninstall programs. So I would guess one needs at least one backup of the initial image after configuring a new or freshly installed system, and then one more that keeps up with recent changes. Would that be right?
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  46. I think I have watched a few days ago how someone guessed poorly coded hash.
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  47. The other day I used Revo uninstaller to remove this nonsense from my Win10, AFTER I created a system restore point. Then I reverted it back. Windowshitification is in a full swing, removing this component might break your system. If not now then in the future. And therefore I run Linux on my other machine and will convert my main one too, after Win10 loses support. For now I made the Win10 stay on 22H2, and the Win11 on the go on the usb I use on the Linux machine to stay on 23H2. I will only use Windows when absolutely necessary.
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  48. LOL had a scammer wannabe sending me an email spoofed looking like from my account. He even explained to me that it i an evidence he hacked me and recorded me watching P. And black.mailed me that if I don't pay him a sum in bitcoin he will make it public. It was some RuSSian sounding name. I copied a sentence of that email and googled it. It was a decade old scam.
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  49. What's wrong with Windows file backup? That's what I ended up using. I firstly installed the WD Discovery, but it was too annoying, demanding my attention every time I restarted my PC and logged into the user account. Off it went. Windows backs up my PC and I check the size of the backup that it matches what Windows shows me was backed up on its end. Why do I need anything extra and of third party?
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  50. Do clouds have backups of the customers' data, like copies? In case the server goes up in flames or is hit by a meteor or a terrorist attack. That as a mirror of your house getting burned down with all the hard discs you had your data on.
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  51.  @franciscohorna5542  I prefer to be bikefull. 😂
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  52. Or those people got hacked and this guy is in their contact list and the spoofing doesn't do a good job.
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  53. Watching this and not learning anything new myself, what level of computing am I at? Seriously asking this question. I also tend to use Ctrl Alt Delete and go to the task manager from there.
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  54. I don't think so. Win11 have completely new compulsory hardware requirements, like TPM2.0 or the CPU generation, so where Win10 can still run, Win11 is forbidden.
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  55.  @askleonotenboom  have seen pin hacked by a software in seconds on a locked phone.
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  56. Another point: if your passkey goes on several places at once, like in your mobile and email, they only need access to one of them to steal your account. A double edged sword.
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  57. I am not a business and I am switching to Linux. There are commands to do back up. I am happy to do it manually. And there is a free Rescuezilla that helped me restoring my 1TB hard disc in just 5 minutes from the clone I created just a couple weeks prior, after I messed up my OS. I don't need to pay anything to anyone, except for thde hardware., one-off payment at that.
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  58. Transfer from 8.1 to another 8.1 could be risky, let alone to a completely different OS. I am no IT person, but even I understand it. Win8 and Win10 are different. I see it as trying to copy a layout of furniture in two different homes. A couch will go to the livingroom and bed to the bedroom, but the layout will be different and some pieces might not fit together with others in one room. Fresh installation is the best option.
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  59. With encrption on default the MS assumes quite correctly the vast majority of people have no clue about the bitlocker and the forced MS account is there for them. For their own good. The small minority of just suffer along.
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  60. A question: just recently I 'discovered' Sandbox. If you open that email in Sandbox, will they get an echo you clicked on their link?
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  61. Some have it as a business model, like Rob Braxman. A very knowledgeable guy, but it is getting bothersome how alarming he sounds and wants everyone to degoogle and go in complete hiding. If he gets too big, he'll end up like Telegram. The other time he asked me in the comments: 'how do I know I am not being manipulated?'. By him also? He is definitely trying LOL. The vast majority of tracking is for ads. Use an adblocker and you are sorted. You cannot completely disappear from the digital world. Governments, healthcare, various insurers, must keep your data and those also get hacked. Folks are wasting money on expensive gadgets or services, futile effort.
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  62. Before watching, my observation: technology definitely shifts people's attention and in many cases to the worse. Sitting indoors on their devices, forgetting the scent of grass, fresh air, hearing birds and insects in the air... more and more dragged into endless scrolling, exposed to fakery on unimaginable scale and obviously many comparing their perfectly fine lives otherwise with the artificial agendas, having self esteem issues. And losing a proper diurnal pattern, leading to a plethora of mental and physiological issues. On the other hand, internet opened door to the world to me, formed my views and helped me to be who I am. That before smartphones came on the scene. I actually travelled to the town to the interet cafe and paid per hour. I am glad I am from the generation when I still had a normal childhood, running outside with friends till the dark, exercising on the grass, splashing water in the river at the end of my street, and at most I had vinyls and later casettes with music and stories. And I read actual books, including encyclopaedias LOL. And learned foreign languages out of interest, not because of the school curriculum. Kids today seem to miss a lot of this.
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  63. I had Norton, full license. I wanted to pause it to investigate some issue. I couldn't, the pause option was greyed out. I uninstalled it and the hell broke loose. Not as dramatically, but I spent weeks trying to fix issues I didn't know I had (scanned fully for malware before uninstalling Norton, result nefative), MS security didn't run as expected... also the known bug from January that made me extending the recovery partition. I ended up reinstalling the whole system, and in addition I introduced myself to Linux. After Win10 support ends, Win11 will be a marginal OS for me, for things I cannot do on Linux. It is less demanding on processing power (gentler to your PC's guts), less prone to malware, runs faster... and I happened to like the terminal. It makes me feel like an IT person which I am not.
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  64.  @linsqopiring6816  Liron Segev paid a hacker 5 grand to make a malware escaping VM. It did. The bastard delivered. It appears nothing is impossible these days. Who has more money leads the game.
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  65. I looked into the event viewer before, when my Win10 had problems. What I didn't understand, I asked chat gpt. I found this bot invaluable in helping me understanding computers, even fixing various issues or using unfamiliar software. Just always exercise caution and don't trust it blindly. It makes mistakes and its memory span isn't great. It doesn't retain for long what system you have and may give you wrong advice, irrelevant to you. It is more artificial than intelligent. Still very useful, nonetheless.
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  66. I remember asking about this. Thanks for the follow up.
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  67. I think it isn't that difficul to prevent being scammed. Just stay down to Earth. You aren't that important (or your family) to be kidnapped and blackmailed for money. Don't be greedy and want free stuff or money. No, you aren't helping Feds to uncover a masive crime before they actually knocked on your door and you have some relevant expertise. Don't blindly click on hyperlinks or get yourself rushed to verify your identity to the cold caller. If your bank account is in danger, it is the bank's responsibility to protect it. Or call them on the number on your physical card. Even a phone number in top google search can be scammers, google doesn't care as long as they pay for the premium position... stay vigilant and carry on with your life like if nobody bothered you with anything. That's the safest bet, especially if you live alone.
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  68. Not gonna happen on my local account that has never seen a MS login. I might even uninstall onedrive. That's over 300 MB of disk space freed for some actually useful stuff.
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  69.  @ningayeti  have you tried flashing the uefi? I updated mine last month.
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  70. I guess you are a Linux guy. I am considering trying it, a complete novice. What forum do you recommend? I think I will go with Debian, for having the largest repository of applications and the difficulty is medium (that's is how I understand it).
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  71. HDD sitting in the basement for years... it takes years to crack more complex passwords. Maybe, if electricity is not an issue, one could let some program trying to 'guess' the ransomware code to recover these files? Assuming the HDD would handle it over such a long time LOL. Or copying the encrypted content to another, healthier drive and keep trying there? Just imagining it. Could be complete bol🔒🔒🔒
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  72. Thinking further... how about a network of computers (supercomputer) trying to crack particular ransomware, if it is one code for all content affected by that particular ransomware, worldwide and then releasing the code?
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  73. Interesting. Heard about people who got their files uploaded to the cloud without them knowing. I guess that won't be my problem on LMDE6 Faye or Winn11 with local accounts only. You see that big fat middle finger Microsoft?
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  74. Never had ths happen to me, luckily, but I have made, and keep doing it, backups, multiples. My HDD in the PC shows signs of wear and tear, like reallocation count going amber, I already have a sata ssd ready to take over. But that not before I have to switch to Win11. And the nvme slot already has Linux on, switching between OSs as I please. But I might put linux on that sata drive later, as PC seems to prefer launching from that one as a priority, regardless of what I set up in BIOS. My BIOS is simply in bed with Windows, what can I say. It alays asks for Windows on the blue recovery screen, and there is some chip or what it is that is dedicated to Windows verification. Not TMP, something else. It pays off to learn from mistakes of others.
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  75. The malware these days doesn't usually aim to cause you trouble, it just wants to extract your data without you even noticing. Cookie sessions can be stolen even from a sandboxed environment.
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  76. Scammers pay google to have their fake phone numbers to trusted institutions listed on the top search. Google does little to limit these. Whoever pays, gets the spotlight. So don't even rely on the couple lines in the search engine for contact details you googled. Be wiser, find a genuine website and get your contact from there.
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  77. If you are forced out from where you want to be, why not leaving a replacement there, to carry on the service? I still don't know who is behind the ultra AV.
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  78. Rescuezilla is my tested method that always worked for me. Create a Ventoy usb. Put a rescuezilla iso file on it, boot from that iso file by pushing Ventoy up in BIOS and follow the prompts. Easy. Even easier than older Clonezilla. But Clonezilla still has a 32bit version for old systems. Once I managed to clone my Linux ystem by a command, but I prefer the GUI system, naturally.
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  79. You mean something like cookies?
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  80. Heading towards 50 and switching to Linux, thanks to AI which I embraced, but still keep an eye on what it spits out as sometimes it is a nonsense, and repeatedly after I told it it was nonsense. Like recommending me software compatible with Ubuntu when I am on LMDE. It did it to me twice in the same chat.
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  81.  @johngreene6783  yes, fletcher :D
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  82. Chromium based browsers are said to ban adblocks soon, despite even FBI recommends them. You'll be better off with Firefox for the future. We need to wean off these greedy sharks that want to trade with our data and put us at risk.
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  83. I had a few calling me back in 2015 or 2016, on the landline. I unplugged it. I don't want to sound a racist, but that strong Indian accent gave it away. Last year another cold caller tried me to invest on Forex. His English and accent were great, still not buying it. I am not desperate for every cent and I am not that rich to afford wasting money. He knew my name, email, phone number, didn't want to say where exactly from and what else they had. Then there were a few more calls from different numbers, private number, spoofed or fresh autogenerated number... ignored all of them. I came to the terms with my personal data on the dark web. Delete me won't do me any service with that. All they need now is my money. Not going to give it to them. Anyone. I have two copies of my data and bootable usb of my entire system. Just in case. Nobody will put their dirty hands on my pc.
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  84.  @cyberyogicowindler2448  And therfore I am gradually switching my MS machines to Linux, only planning to use MS from a usb if needed, with files backed up separately on 2 different drives. There is one more PC left, running Win10 and having HDD that seems to be developing issues. I'll replace it for ssd and probably install Linux there too. I have heard somewhere the 22H2 version is losing support in 2 months. Microsoft is doing this to themselves.
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  85. And these cookies are a double edged sword. It helps you to not enter your details on the fake website, but there are cookie stealers, and once they have your session, they don't need anything else, neither your login details or you confirming it via the app.
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  86. Re 5:55 - that reminds me: I clean data as part of my job. Questionnaires with many questions to answer yes/no/don't know. Like health conditions. One person can have only as many health issues, out of 80 of interest maybe. At the end of the cleaning I run in Stata total numbers and check which questionnaire had a high number of yes values, because some people were ticking it on reverse. I captured dozens of these in the past. There must be ways how to verify suspiciously high numbers and check against some other source, like a verified website, genuine page, not just an ad. But since Google is there only for the money, not quality of service, I am not surprised they let the AI do the work without supervision and additional verifications. Something really bad on the national scale must happen for them to be pushed to bring a proper fix.
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  87. Is it worth to create a system restore point before cleaning system files as at the end? Or not as much?
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  88.  @askleonotenboom  Thank you. I have used system restore after I removed Edge and copilot from Win10 and it seemed to brig them back, at least Edge, as I used it afterwards. But your article is 12 years old. It would help to put a visible date at the top like most blogs do, I only noticed it from the comments. Maybe things have changed, like the Defender software, a completely different league from what it was a decade ago. But I do have entire system clone, so at least something. Just got another external ssd, matching size of the hard disc for anotjer machine. I know the existing clone works, because the machine booted from it after copying the entire system and I wouldn't even notice if not for the speed . So yes, I do have a disk image backed up. Plus the incremental files history every now and then.
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  89. I have become allergic to clickbaits. I tend to hide thumbnails with excessive facial expressions by AI, blocked many channels titling their videos with a word 'collapse' regarding politics or economics... China has been collapsing for three years now. Just noe IMF finally starts a more realistc rhetoric in that regard. Only some styles of AI music are allowed in my feed, as a work background. Exaggerations trigger me. Off they go! I want a boring factual content, ads free. Sometimes a few sips of clear water is the best flavour.
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  90. I cannot see how MS can make me accidentally upload my stuff to onedrive on a local account that has never seen my MS login. Can you? Even more after uninstalling it. That is over 300MB disk space freed for some actually useful stuff.
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  91. Yes, read about this recently. People are lazy or naive to properly vet the source, they use whatever offers to them on the top search in a Twitter format (one or two lines of text). The humanity is doomed.
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  92. I was looking forward to watching this video as I also had to reinstall Win10 a few months back. I got curious over the mentioned Foxit pdf reader. I found out it was Chinese made. I asked whether it was safe and this article was offered to me from the search: "Foxit PDF Reader Flaw Exploited by Hackers to Deliver Diverse Malware Arsenal". Any comments on that?
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  93. Telegram is also not my fav, being heavily used by extremists and terrorists. I wouldn't want to support such a platform for more humane things. There must be better platforms for that.
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  94. Considering that MS still has AOL desktop rip-off ready for the older generations, this type of scams will be here for a while still.
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  95. They do, but try to empty a sea with a bucket. And yet, folks are freaking out that FBI could monitor their messages via a back door. There is a counter movement for privacy, encryption, literally hide your existence and activities online... not an easy job for FBI.
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  96.  @askleonotenboom  Indeed! Those scam centers in India, Africa (some under Wagner's directions), China, other Asian countries with entire fenced structures holding hundreds or thousands slaves performing pig butchering scams... The only defence is education and education. Did I say education?
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  97. I consider myself an average PC user, still on Win10, and I didn't find reinstallation of Windows that hard. I even managed to increase the recovery partition beforehand when it was failing installing the updates, simply by carefully following instructions. With the nanny approach by Win11 I am seriously considering getting my hands dirty with Linux. I still might need to use Win11 for some tasks but it probably won't be my main system. They even want to stop running any executable file from outside, like customising the content by other software. Reading elsewhere like an unzip app from MS app store had a trojan in it I don't have a 100% trust in that store either. Encryption by default even on Home version, refusing local accounts... what else? Looks like people had more fun with Tamagochi.
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  98. Just watched a short video how dropbox had an attack recently. Changed my password there. I haven't had any sensitive data there, but just for the sake of it. The company reset all passwords anyway, even restricted the use of API keys (had to google about API key LOL, not familiar with this technology, not a user of it).
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  99. In the day of internet, computers and internet give to many an illusion they know things, that they did their 'research', via youtube... usually in an echo chamber of misinformation. Me having a particular degree in a scientifuc subject, sooner or later I find probably every youtuber focusing on the relevant subject spreading some fallacy. Some do it more than others. Very disappointing. And even official research seems to publish articles that exaggerate the importance of findings, like 10% increase in risk of diabetes from frequent consumprion of processed meat. Man, there are far more significant risk factors for this disease and it most likely hasn't accounted for the consumption of fruits and veggies that counteract the potentially harmful effect even for the cancer risk. But the messages and headlines must be simplistic to make an average person agitated and click on it, to boost the ads revenue. And academia is also fighting for funding, so any fart is published with great fanfares, regardless of its importance. As for me, getting on internet some 23 years ago, my worldviews and inclinations got challenged on discussion forums and my critical thinking as well as the volume of knowledge grew exponentially over time. But I was always a collector of fun facts. I remember writing down interesting info from books I got from my village library as a teenager, like fugu poisoning from Dr No.
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  100.  @billweir1745  How will that protect the content from hacking when you unlock your access to send message to somebody? Pin, like 4 or 6 digits are notoriously easy to crack, too.
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  101. I am missing info how does this software do it? What in registries it changes or elsewhere? I have changed in the registries to only receive updates for my 23H2 but then I was told that MS will make it irrelevant and install 24H2 anyway.
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  102. Plus there are scammers who optimised their false contact numbers to companies customers might want to contact, showing on top searches, with numbers leading to their scam call centres. And google does nothing about it.
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  103.  @damian9303  that's interesting. Registered with reddit just recently and couldn't make my own post. Didn't understand why. Lost interest going there further. I initially found it interesting for certain topics, but if I wanted to discuss my own interest, I couldn't. And the barrage of random questions on the intro page... what's the purpose? Sounds like a junk for clicks, to draw in as much traffic as possible, just people cannot have a proper discussion on some proper topics if they wish.
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  104. I am no IT specialist, but I suffered this problem, too, on my Win10. Whatever I tried, nothing helped, and believe me, I tried a lot. I don't remember digging into specific processes too much, but I looked into them and nothing really helped. Only a clean reinstall of the entire system, via the manufacturer's recovery tool fixed the issue. I had problems with not being able to pause the third party antivirus, not being able to back up files on an external hard drive via 'file backup' function, just manually copying them, scannow command repeatedly showed no integrity violations, full scan by the third party (norton) antivirus found nothing wrong (took over 5 hours), DISM repeatedly failed to restore the image (I suspect different versions were there, not quite sure how to fix it), and many other things. Chckdsk ran, fixed, but issues persisted. Crystaldiskinfo suddenly started giving me a warning, for reallocation, but the numbers 100 100 36 meant nothing really wrong, could be false positive. I still kept having mysterious 100% disk here and there, slow boot, slow loading of stuff, among other problems. I did a clean reinstall and all goes fine. After doing that I had an issue with one process (CxAudioSvc) that was supposedly linked with an outdated audio drive, but even updating that drive didn't make the problem go away. So I permanently disabled that process, without any noticeable impact, hearing it was a remnant of a bankrupt company that used it as a trojan at some point, but it still is in the package to reinstall Windows in the modern day. Anyway, I have learned something from this video about the RAM. But that most likely wasn't my issue, as the PC started to function badly half way into me just browsing internet, no extra processes initiated by me. Firstly it worked fast and suddenly it got sluggish. And especially when it wanted me to update Windows... I could do NOTHING without waiting minutes to load a page. That was before I initiated the update, not during update. Something terribly messed up with the system (I suspect Norton, but might be wrong) and a fresh reinstall worked like a charm. And yes, I kept restarting the machine, which sometimes took long, so not just shut down that makes it go into a sleep mode rather. Also that chckdsk applies to non-ssd hard drives, which I have, so obviously it wouldn't work. And defragmentation also shouldn't be done on ssds, which is probably not known, as I have this option on the PC with SSD hard disc from new. Why are they doing it? That probably contributes to the warning by crystaldiskinfo? Have I done some damage to the disc?
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  105.  @askleonotenboom  after watching this I watched another your video and there you said file backup in Windows was fine, not mentioning it was going away. Are we talking about the same thing?
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  106. Besides, cloud storage, like crypto mining and operating, are big energy consumers. Not very ecological. Small and economically less significant countries (which are targeted by these businesses) are refusing placing large server complexes on their land, in fear of water shortages for cooling these monsters.
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  107. When I used Win10, wanted to investigate some issue. Norton had the pause option greyed out, I couldn't pause it. So I uninstalled it. Then I found out I had issues with MS security updates, and other problems... Long story short: I reinstalled the Windows and sharing the same experience as you I am now one foot in the Linux world. Win11 will ony run from a bootable usb or a virtual machine. Going to upgrade RAM to 32GB, so each system will share half. Plsnty for each. My 4 yo Win10 pro has a lot of life in it. Compatible with Win11, but will use MS only marginally. For general everyday computing LMDE is just perfect.
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  108. Kaspersky never had my trust for simply having HQ in Moscow. They are good, maybe too good and you can never guarantee them not switching and serve as a Kremlin's tool for causing armageddon in the West. Chinese are using their products for data harvesting, Kaspersky with the kernel access could do it any time. You saw what the Clownstrike caused? That was a warning.
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  109. And wireless last less due to battery ageing. More toxic e-waste.
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  110. Hm...I have always been told that to really make sure nobody gets to your data you have to overwrite it with other data, at least twice or trice. Bit by bit. And that takes longer than a full format, unless this full format does exactly that, which I am not convinced about. Quality work usually needs time.
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  111. I wouldn't even click on 'it wasn't me'. There is a small chance it was a phishing email, me clicking on infostealer, for example.
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  112. No, is the answer. They will force it on you at some point, so until then, enjoy the little functioning system you still have 😂
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  113. How much does 1TB storage cost on dropbox over a year? Or two? I have a couple of external drives and alternate them between backups for files. If one got accidentally corrupted I have the other one, minus the most recent changes. Those drives last for years on one-off purchase. The same woth MS office. Never paid a penny for their 365 version. But I am not a business, to charge customers for my backup expenses.
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  114. That phishing at 2:40... how does a fake website know to send you the real company's code? Or how does your real website account know you are logging into a fake website that it sends you the code? I haven't met this one yet.
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  115. Not just iphone. All mobile devices seem to be the same. That's why I hate them and prefer a proper computer to do anything serious on. The mobile devices are very limited in how you can interact with them. It is like if they were made for somebody with limited learning abilities and everything is too simplistic, something like Tiktok for social media, which I never installed on my devices. Just tap and scroll, tap and scroll... you cannot even search by your interests as I have heard. It's algorithm will tell you what you like. Alternatively, touching the icon and holding it, could reveal some hidden info, but the sensitivity settings for screens could mess up with that. My laic view.
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  116.  @johngraves8561  I'm glad it was somewhat useful. I still hate those touch screens, too sensitive, or not sensitive enough and the amount of typos I get when trying typing some text, touching a key next to the one I want, or double the key, or not registering the key... it cannot compete with a proper keyboard.
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  117. Absence of evidence is not an evidence of absence. Kaspersky might be innocent but we cannot rule out Kremlin could force them do whatever any time. Why would Pootin let this company having access to our secretest secrets leave alone and spend fortunes on cyber attacks? Either Kaspersky relocates elsewhere and act convincing, or we have an absolue right to have concerns. Antivirus has root access to your system. It goes through evrrything on your computer, every folder, every file. That speaks volumes.
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  118. I told about this my colleague maybe 3 months ago. There is a lot of scammy ads and malware at the top google search. Google doesn't care. Even a scammy Teams app with a signature (not of Microsoft) was advertised there. It directed you to download the real app and log in, but on the side it sent your data somewhere to India. Just simply having a signature was enough to let the malware pass through. Or a fake Google authentication app was in the app store or somewhere there. This is the time we have come to. Keep your eyes peeled, folks.
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  119. Just watch out for cookie stealers. Those come from the web. You click on something unsuspecting and bam, they have a full access without any password or MFA.
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  120. Taking the fact RuSSia bombs schools and hospitals, you would be just as interesting target as anyone else. If not for using your data then using you like a bot without you noticing, potentially serving in a DDOS attack of your hospital's system. You have no idea.
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  121. In short, is this what they calll in Linux as dependencies? So I close the loop.
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  122. I am going to get used to Linux.
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  123. Microsoft, definitely LOL
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  124.  @jdsmort  yes, that's what I thought.
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  125. I am convinced that at this point there is already pretty much anything about me on the dark web, from the countless hacks of any database out there, just it needs to be collated and they have it. They won't access my banking as easily, unless they installed a key logger on my machine (I generally go into banking from my head or other more secure ways), but as my identity is concerned, they have it there somewhere, in duplicates. And so I find those silly services that send legal letters to data brokers for data removal - pointless.
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  126. Just today I did %temp% into the search bar below and chose all, then skipping what couldn't be deleted. I didn't have as many to clean up, I do it from time to time, on my Win10.
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  127. Majority don't want Recall, yet it is going to be rolled out. At least this time it is an opt in. Let's hope it will stay like that! Just how they are going to merge two mutually exclusive proposals, that the computer will remember FOREVER what you saw on your screen, but only dedicate some 25GB storage for it, or only using a local one, which is inherently limited? Someone explain it to me.
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  128. One must be very careful these days to know what to click on and download. The ads are everywhere and many contain malware. I have saved myself of trouble by sandboxing downloads of two pieces of software and sifting it through virustotal. One was a trojan.
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  129. I will disagree on one detail: to erase any trace of the scam attempt without doing anything. At least take a screenshot, if it was by a text, and share it on social media as a scam. It will make rounds and warn others. Or describe your story and how not to get caught. Just spread the word. Prevention better than cure. This video has got just over 1k views in one year. If the scammers contact 1000 unsuspecting but clever people, their message will reach more pairs of eyes as a warning.
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  130. Leo, you left out a classic scam of spoofing. Even a phone number (or email address) the recipient knows can be a scammer.
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  131. I have a Win11 license, two actually, but use actively exact none. One came with a laptop I bought and swapped nvme for a brand new one, 4x the capacity and installed Linux. The other one I bought as an OEM license for under £20 and never needed to activate on my on the go Win 11 pro usb I plan to use for rare cases when LMDE Linux won't suffice. I found a free code to upgrade the downloaded free Home version to Pro for a better customisation. If I had to activate the license I will, no problem. So far I am still setting Win11 pro up and will clone it as a backup system if it went rogue. In the meantime Linux gave me back my old Vista laptop for basic use. It is unforgivable at what rate Microsoft makes still fine computers obsolete. Not participating in this robbery. Linux has it, Linux has it.
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  132. What a job. I just hope veracrypt won't have such an issue like the recent XZ backdoor threat. Anything is possible in the virtual world, it seems.
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  133. Haven't even subscribed to MS office 365. I bought a downloadable package and after about 2 years I am using Word and Excel for free, indefinitely.
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  134. Keep trying for the code. Had a similar issue. Might be hanging somewhere in ether. Or check a spam folder.
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  135. Correct. Always create a copy of a healhy configured system and cherish it like a treasure, away from the main system. Then you can create another, newer and updated one on another hard drive. Make sure it is clean, too, and you can replace the older one, freeing the drive for another clone if you change the system. Always prepare for the worst scenario.
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  136.  @barryf5479  If you clone a system with a virus, you'll have an infected clone. What you are saying is a ransomware encryption. And yes, that's correct. Any connected device with data on will be encrypted. So I keep swapping my drives for incremental back up, if one got encrypted with the pc I have an extra copy minus the most recent changes.
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  137.  @Jan12700  Being in a botnet is enough to take part in taking down organisations, like with a DDOS attack. I wouldn't downplay the significance of being 'just in a botnet'.
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  138.  @ScooterinAB  Indeed, just a simple thing like cross site scripting, XSS. I have learned a good deal about how dangerous internet can be these days. It is scary. Even antiviruses can be attractive as vectors for further malware since they have root privileges. Or so the Linux enthusiasts say :)
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  139. Created two email accounts on encrypted services, planning to use a dictatorial google less and less, moving most of my registrations elsewhere.
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  140. In what sense? Would the US sabotage its own infrastructure? Power grid? Emergency services network? Healthcare system? I live in Europe and if I had to choose who may spy on me, I choose the US.
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  141. Just explored protonmail. They promise 1GB data on the free plan, but only after you create an account you learn you have to do certain actions to actually get the 1GB, like get an app. I find it pretty dishonest. And even the push to do it within 15 days... then what? No 1 GB storage ever? Why do I need an app? Are they planning to track me or what? Also to direct my gmail traffic into protonmail. What if I didn't have a gmail? Am I locked out of 1GB they promised? I just wanted a secure mailbox as an alternative to gmail. I'll keep searching. I saw another possibility, for just 80p per month, which is almost free, and I think I could create disposable email accounts, which I also want, which is not possible under free protonmail account.
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  142. I don't trust anyone with any of my devices, except my other half. I am not an IT expert but I did look into the event viewer and it isn't a rocket science to google the details, or even ask the GPT bot. I have learned a lot this way. Even successfully extended the recovery partition to be able to update windows, following the instructions on the Microsoft forum. I still ended up reinstalling the whole system, now contemplating to give it a go with some user friendly Linux version on my previously Vista laptop with a broken off hinge (1 of 3), if it will be able to take it. For the future, before I get held a hostage by Win11. And I still consider myself a lay person, a bit more informed than most, but still an amateur.
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  143.  @askleonotenboom  before or after it happens? The vast majority of Windows users are general users, unable to trace changes and adjusting their system back to their initial choice, and usually not following news like this. Besides, as my eyes have seen, the rumour goes that AI is generating viruses. It is perhaps a matter of time before some malware or other vulnerability open gates to the super secured storage of data this Recall creates (besides chocking the hard disc with data), especially if AI saves the clues in plain text somewhere, as it was at least the case at the beginning. A gold mine for hackers.
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  144. I can easily check how much spave I have left in my email accounts. I would defo not click on this. I tend to open suspicious emails in plain text even, so I accidentally don't click on some link.
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  145.  @mrbenn456  MS is a corporation. What do coporations do? Minimise expenses for the maximum profit. Delivering supported OS for multiple different hardware would mean to employ at least a few dozens, if not hundreds people. They can barely roll out updates for 24H2 that don't break numbers of Win11 compatible computers every week.
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  146. Another detail that came to my mind: I was looking for an app in the app store. I found it, but to the very top pushed itself Temu app, I almost tapped on it by error. Never had that 💩 in my devices and never will be. Neither Tiktok. They are trying really hard to get into our devices to harvest our data. Shooo!
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  147. Switching to Linux to have more control over my machines, less energy consumption, less forced bloatware that Microsoft is. Never paid to deleteme and similar crooks, because they are scammers themselves. My data is out there on the dark web, nobody can do anything about it. The main aim is not to get caught out by installing on malware or giving the last bit of puzzle the crooks need to strip my accounts clear. I don't need every stupid app, I don't need to click on every bait. I don't commit crime online so FBI is free to scan my online traffic and whatnot. I am sure they have hands full with chasing real criminals.
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  148. Since starting fiddling with my computers earlier this year and moving to Linux, seeing how easily things can break, spending a substantial time on customising my systems, Rescuezilla has been a life saver for cloning and recovering broken system, repeatedly. Every now and then, when I am happy with the updated set up, now after installing VM and Windows within, with two additional accounts, I make a clone and keep it for bad times. Data is stored separately and backed up. I always boot from the clone first, to make sure it actually works. Currently the clone and recovery take just 7 minutes each for a 1TB nvme. Easy and fast.
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  149. Windows do indeed tax the system. My 4 yo HP with Win10 PRO seem to ramp up the fan more these days, sometimes right after turning it on. Even long after it was turned on, some antimalware utility runs (Win defender), or browser with several tabs open shows high energy consumption, there was one system file linked to audio driver, it used to run a keylogger and store stuff in a free text in our system, that just didn't want to stop and the fan went berserk. I stopped that nonsense, the company went bankrupt in 2014. Why is it still in the installed component I don't know. Linux is much lighter on the hardware. Wnen Win10 support ends, it will get linux, hope my SSD won't die by then. A couple disk analysis software showed amber warning for reallocation parameter. I have heard that Win10 was recently damaging our SSDs by some high rate of overwriting or something.
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  150. Not happy with chanches by Microsoft, I changed to Linux. Let's now let MS fume over the loss of customers and data cows 😆
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  151.  @askleonotenboom  not fuming yet, but they are trying hard to push Windows users into using Edge, for example. It is obvious they care about the user base, for one reason or another. Right now they satisfy themselves that they cover some 70% market share as an OS and Linux is just 4%. Their mobile tech failed. Let's see what future brings. There are some initiatives to make alternatives more visible to the public and also more user friendly. Time will show.
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  152. Can you uninstall copilot without consequences in the future? On reddit a few people said you cannot, you could even violate MS T&Cs. You no longer own your system these days.
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  153. My take home message from this is that the rotating discs still can be good as a backup. I bought one recently, not realising it was a rotating disc. I paid just over a £100 for 4TB WD drive. Then I searched for SSDs of this capacity and they were at least twice the price for this capacity. I went with one, also because the mentioned portability and size. My next one may be a HDD again, if it really doesn't matter as much. A fun fact: I bought a Sandisk USB, what I thought was 64 gb capacity, went to create a bootable usb for my computer that needed anything larger than 32 GB and it failed... that little bastard was just 32 GB. But on the package, the item itself and description of the website (Currys), it was 64 GB. Got a refund for that, but it puzzles me how this company (Sandisk) and their distributor (Currys) could get it so wrong. Was it just one off or was there a whole batch that was faulty?
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  154. yeah. Haven't had such a failure yet, and hopefully won't, learning from mistakes of others, backing up now like crazy, on several separate places. Even cloning OS once set up and running, for a faster recovery if needed.
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