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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