The firmware isn’t open source and I only chose it for the employee discount, but the blue Yubico security key has held up well over hundreds of uses and several years jingling around in my keychain.

It’s prevalent among pdfs downloaded from academic publishers (text listing the receiving IP address and/or institution running down the margins). I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s also done with hidden white text or in the metadata.

an antivirus program has to be installed on the PC used for online banking

How would they know?

I’m more concerned about rogue browser extensions that may be innocent when you install them, but then change owners, and after an update that you don’t even notice are going to do bad things.

Exactly why the only extensions on my browser are uBlock Origin and LibRedirect. Was a victim of one user agent switcher extension that went rogue back in the day.

5" would be a breath of fresh air in today’s market of monster phones

Seems reasonable to me, although I might be lacking perspective since my latest hardware is already 6 years old.

In previous years, my criteria was to upgrade once the hardware was holding back my workflow and productivity. But with Moore’s Law coming to a plateau, I’ve upgraded my RAM, GPU, and SSD not because I have to, but just because I got an very good deal on them.

Package managers:

• Repositories
• Update mechanism. Many of my friends and family are used to updates being either automatic, nagged, or nonexistent. Not an issue on auto-updating distros, but could get ugly on vanilla Arch or Debian.
• Resisting the urge to install loose executables from websites

File system:

• Write caching. Windows doesn’t do this for most USB drives so people get away without safely ejecting for years. On Linux, the safe eject button does matter.
• File hierarchy and mount points. When I first used Linux, I was very confused by the lack of the Program Files and Users folders, My Computer page, and drive letters.
• File permissions, especially executables
• Partitioning and how to format drives in the absence of a format dialog in the file explorer

Bash shell:

• It’s not the incomplete mess that made cmd or Powershell so intimidating
• Resisting the urge to paste in commands and scripts without knowing what they do

Only downside to this is that if your house burns down you’ll lose everything - but a friend suggested me to have important files on an encrypted tarball stored in the cloud.

For those with lots of files and poor upload speeds but blessed with a desk at work, also consider stashing an encrypted disk in a drawer / fake plant / etc.

I’m not against the use of LLMs in principle, but their responses are for you only. As soon as it rolls out the door onto the open internet, it oxidizes to become slop. Prompt us with an original question, not stuff fresh out the back end of a LLM.

Is there an option to show archived conversations when you tap the three dots next to the search bar?

I’ve used Fossify SMS and its predcessor for the past few years and I’m very satisfied with it. Everything works as expected and it’s easy to export and import your entire SMS database when moving phones. Thing that keeps me on it is that it lets me block texts by pattern, including entire area codes (looking at the 410 spam texts that plague AT&T).

It’s a once-off operation if you’re willing to go the LTSC route. Microsoft likes to undo all your hard work debloating Windows with the semi-annual major updates on non-LTSC editions.

Linux on all of my main machines, so I’m grabbing the popcorn. Got LTSC for all the remaining Windows use cases: VMs, beater laptop for Windows-only stuff, and a couple of computers from family.

Most of my friends replace their computers quite frequently, so they’re living blissfully unaware on Windows 11 or MacOS. The ones who do have older laptops tend to be tech-savvy enough to have figured out LTSC or Linux themselves. On one occasion, a good friend of mine had an old iMac that wasn’t getting updates anymore, so I installed Debian and themed XFCE to look like MacOS, taught them the basics, and they were impressed with the result.

As for family, they’re usually very happy with the Linux Mint Debian Edition that I install for them, but some I know just won’t use the computer if it doesn’t have their familiar Windows-specific software, so I get them started with LTSC.

I frankly have an excess of unused hardware that’s piling up, which won’t be helped by my access to a good source of e-waste. Old computers have already been trickling in, but I’m excited to see what’s next now that the Oct 14 date has come.

What kind of CPU is in that laptop? The vast majority of x86 CPUs from the past 10 years include hardware acceleration for AES encryption so that the performance hit is negligible.

I have something like that set up as a discrete print server. Also one as the mini file share for the guest/untrusted devices network.

I have pihole lumped in with a more substantial machine, but these little guys are always nice for retro gaming up to the N64/PS1 era.

Maybe the firmware file supplied by the Pop OS repo is broken? Download the firmware updater directly from Dell’s website and put it on a FAT32 USB drive. Nice thing about Dell BIOS is that you can use the .exe update without Windows - there should be an option in your BIOS to browse for the update file and apply it. Then install a fresh copy of Pop OS and don’t let it update firmware for now.

Interesting. I thought that all but the disk and CMOS were stateless once powered down for hibernation, but I’d love to hear from someone with expertise on how other components know that they were hibernated under Windows.

I want shows like Hell’s Kitchen but for tech stuff - criticizing people’s phones, gaming setups, and server rooms

idk man, but I’d still much rather have encryption, even if I’m up against the alphabet boys:

• They’ll be up a creek if I escape, die, or vanish into the woods first
• If I hid a disk somewhere, I’d rather know they found it when they come to torture me, than have it inspected without hearing a word
• If all else fails, they’ll at least have to expend a modicum of effort and resources to fight me

What’s the point of life if crippling, paralyzing fear is all there is to it? I work on being a good steward of my privacy as much as it brings me joy and satisfaction, not so much that it consumes every waking hour.

Whatever it is, review your threat model. What’s done is done and there is little that can be done to redact any evidence you may have left on the internet. Are you able to stop doing whatever it is that is putting you at risk of legal trouble?

If it’s an drug or psychological problem, you need to seek professional medical attention. Many people die or suffer life-changing illness each year fearing that their doctors will rat them out for substance abuse. Don’t be one of them. Patient privacy laws, at least in the US, prevent your doctors, therapists, etc. will protect you if you go and seek help. The main thing that they would have to disclose is if you make direct, credible threats to other people.

If it’s a criminal operation or worse, lawyer up and good luck.