Please, please, try to be honnest. You're anonymous so it shouldn't matter

Please, please, try to be honnest. You're anonymous so it shouldn't matter.
Is it possible to make Windows as "safe" as Linux (probably not, I'm almost a normalfag when it comes to computers but I don't see people working in serious/important fields using Windows rather than Linux in general)?
If not, is it possible to have at least a decent, safe work environment with the latest Windows version?
Like, if you were forced to install Windows 10, what would you do to make it safe?

PS : Sorry for my bad english, also I'm drunk, but the situation is, I tried Linux distros for some time and couldn't get them to work them as easy as Windows, also most Linux work environments weren't very stable ad I got many crashes.
tl;dr, please don't judge and try to think like your only option is Windows. (Unless I'm missing a fourth option outside of Win/Linux/Mac)

Other urls found in this thread:

safer-networking.org/spybot-anti-beacon
safer-networking.org/spybot-anti-beacon/
youtube.com/watch?v=u1kGMCfb2xw
twitter.com/SFWRedditImages

Whats "safe" precious

>is it possible to have at least a decent, safe work environment with the latest Windows version?

No. Windows is a giant security risk and a fundamentally flawed OS. It is only used by novice computer users, gamers, or autistic power users who are incapable of moving on from the first operating system they learned how to use as a child.

>please don't judge and try to think like your only option is Windows

Kek. Install linux, or buy a mac if you suck at pooter. There is no genuine excuse for using windows, other than vidya.

idk you tell me..."Linux" is supposed to have a few advantages over Windows and one of them is this "safe" aura. (better security? less prone to be hacked or targeted in general since it's not as popular as Windows?)

>Is it possible to make Windows as "safe" as Linux
Windows is the most popular desktop OS and it has, and will have the most vulnerabilities. The only safe windows is disconnected windows (inside a VM with no network)

Are you implying using a Max is better than using a Win PC?
Also, I'm actually playing video games every day. Please don't judge, it's like me judging you playing football if I can't stand watching or playing football.
Anyways, if I'm what you consider a gamer, should I just keep using Windows?

Linux with GPU passthrough. Congratulations, now you can play video games and not give up your privacy.

The gnu linux advantage is the 4 freedoms. Tell em rms sent ya

Ok, thanks.
Now a question. I've been using Windows since 95 I think. Always used the normalfag tools for security. AV, antimalware, VPN, etc.
Never had any problems.
What am I missing the, how is Windows vulnerable?
I'm guessing vulnerable is pertinent only for people downloading and excuting anything without thinking about where they get it from?
Or maybe people that would be more serious security type like hacker? Then maybe they would be at a disadvantage facing other instrusive people?
But what I mean is, for a "normal" user taking basic precautions, is Windows that bad?

You asked about work environment. Gaming on windows is fine, its the only thing the OS should be used for DESU

Depends what games. Steam will tell you if they are available on linux or not. Otherwise you can check appdb.winehq.org to see non-native compatability. You can probably get away with dual-booting.

No but don't install Java (last time i got a virus was through a java exploit on a win xp netbook), or adobe flash. Run malwarebytes every so often

Yeah I know. Problem is most games I play are not even usable on nux.

Whats "normal" precious

I would recommend that as well, I am currently in the process of doing that as well. However it might be a bit of an undertaking for a regular user without much linux experience, let alone the need to invest in extra hardware.

What's "precious", precious?
What's a question mark, precious?

I'll be looking into that. Thanks for the advice.

Is it theoretically possible to make Windows 10 respect your privacy? Theoretically yes, practically no. It's not like you can just stick the telemetry server in the hosts file and tell it to go to 127.0.0.1. You can, but the OS will go around the hosts file for communicating with the mothership. The OS is fighting you on this, which means what you have to do is block it's communication with Microsoft at the router. Which means maintaining a list of MS IPs and/or hostnames and probably inspecting traffic Windows 10 tries to send and determining what is suspicious and what is not. This also means that you block all updating, including not just the botnet that you don't want but the security updates you do, since they're no longer separated. And your task is only going to keep getting harder and harder - you've seen where the wind is blowing. MS's goal for 10 is to collect information on you and make the OS into a rolling-release thing where you take what the current version is and don't get a choice in the matter.

This is an awfully high price to pay just for DX12. The only real solution here is to not run Windows at all. Install Gentoo.

OP again. Let's admit that I downgrade to Win7 (or any other better Win version?)
Will I still be able to play muh games in the future?

safer-networking.org/spybot-anti-beacon

Yes. Games supported DX9 for over ten years after XP was released, many still do, so they are likely to continue to run on 7 for at least another five years, and another ten isn't farfetched.

7 leaves security support in 2020, so eventually you're going to need to think about relegating it to a VM and using PCI passthrough so as to isolate it, maintaining a separate non-internet-connected Windows machine for gaming only, or just running Linux and using Wine.

...

Unfortunately, more games in the future are going to support a newer graphics layer known as DirectX12, which is only supported by Windows 10. Windows 7 supports DirectX11, which is quickly becoming outdated...

However if you chose to play games off of Volkan, another brand new grafics layer, this wouldn't even be a problem (even if you were playing on Linux).

^me
^This user knows his shit more than I do, listen to him.

>Is it possible to make Windows as "safe" as Linux
Yes, it is.

>If not, is it possible to have at least a decent, safe work environment with the latest Windows version?
Yes, it is.

>what would you do to make it safe?
Just pull the internet plug and BAM - you have a safe and secure OS.

that's only true if your definition of safety does not include privacy. Or if you define safe as being safe from having the OS provider force something on you that you don't want.

Why wouldn't it include privacy? No one can spy on you if you don't have an external connection.

>privacy

Doesn't fix that?

I read your post as "plug in the internet" instead of "pull the internet plug"

Not him but I guess there's a difference between wanting privacy, and hiding from the world because you're scared of not having ANY privacy.

>Fill computer with cement
>Throw computer in lake
"Now my data is safe"

Moral : your computer will never be safe from people who really want to do harm, just install whatever the fuck you want
amirite

>If not, is it possible to have at least a decent, safe work environment with the latest Windows version?
Create two accounts, an administrator and a limited user. Add a password to the administrator account (and limited one if you like). Do most of your work on the limited user, then when you need access to system files or settings, authenticate using the administrator account password.

Also, set User Account Control to the highest setting (like Vista days). This is absolutely necessary, as malware can bypass it if you leave it at the default setting. More annoyance vs. security, your choice.

Consider setting up your Windows Firewall to only allow programs you specify to access the internet. TinyWall is a decent software that automates this, and has a "autolearn" feature to whitelist any programs accessing the internet so you don't have to add them manually.

If you're extra paranoid of malware, you could probably set up some group policy settings to block executables from running in the appdata folders. Really though, just don't be a retard while web browsing. Disable/click to activate flash and java plugins.

You can thank me later for being a genuine post and not one of these linux trolls.

Use whatever gets you through the day. For me and many others thats linux, but I'm gonna get off telling you how to live your life.

Thanks for the effort. I like you.

Running as a limited user does indeed stop a large percentage of garden variety bad things. There certainly are escalation-of-privilege exploits for Windows though.

Also this won't protect his privacy from Microsoft.

>>Also this won't protect his privacy from Microsoft.
What about going back to Win8 or 7?

Also what are things like Spybot antibeacon doing, is it just placebo then?

Isn't Spybot Antibeacon pretty legitimate? It's by a well-respected company.

>Also this won't protect his privacy from Microsoft.
OP didn't ask about privacy. He asked about being hacked/targeted by malware, which is definitely possible to avoid on Windows and harden security against. I doubt Microsoft is gonna deploy encrypting ransomware on all their customer's machines, so in this regard he could trust them.

If privacy is your concern, just switching to Linux won't help. Your ISP will be snooping you as well, if you live in the USA at least.

>He asked about being hacked/targeted by malware
But windows itself is a malware and does exactly what malware normally does.

I don't live in the US.
I live somewhere in Europe.
But I'm guessing this is the same, at some point, for some cases, your ISP might be snitching on you or whatever...
So I'm guessing unless you're really into security or/and acting like a terrorist in everyday life, there's no real point in trying to hide anything because in the end it'll always end up being known?

What do you mean by safe? Are you asking about privacy? You need to distinguish between first-party and third-party malware, because a lot of people would say MS malware is 'safe'.

Safe for me = no or minimal risk of having your informations and security compromised.
No risks for your computer and your personal datas in general.

Microsoft™ uses telemetry and tracking/statistics to ultimately help improve the user experience.
Also to further diversify revenue.

Windows™ 10 has more security, support and privacy than all other operating systems right now.

The difference is in "known by whom?".

Your ISP stores your logs for a fixed amount of times and presents them on court order.

Microsoft collects everything about you and sells it to the highest bidder. Also it detects pirated software on your system and don't be surprised if you get arrested for piracy sometime in the future.
Or if your are from a country like UK or Straya, you may be arrested for downloading porn, since it's illegal in these countries.

Developers will be developing for Vulkan over DX12 in the future, so yes probably

NSA is probably spying on you anyway.

>5 Eyes: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand
>9 Eyes: the Five Eyes, with the addition of Denmark, France, the Netherlands and Norway
>14 Eyes: the 9 Eyes, with the addition of Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain and Sweden

The only way you're gonna be "safe" from PRISM is by moving to Russia like Snowden. Your data is probably already in a big database somewhere, especially if you use social media. The question is, does it matter to you? I don't think your normie friends know or care what you do on your computer.

>Microsoft collects everything about you and sells it to the highest bidder. Also it detects pirated software on your system and don't be surprised if you get arrested for piracy sometime in the future.
[citation needed]

Every GNU/Linux distro comes with no active firewall. You are pretty much fucked up already when you plug an ethernet cord to download your "bays sysstehm".

Don't you have a street to poo on, Satja?

niec meme with no evidence

witnessed

No one in their right mind would defend microsoft. Unless they are getting paid to do so. Not even the people, who like windows in general. So you a paid hindu shill.

NO, STOP FUCKING ASKING

Why are so many people installing Windows and not Linux then?

>The question is, does it matter to you?
The question is, how can my data be used?
To sell me more products related to what I already looked for?
If it's just that, then it's not that much of a drama to me.
Sure, I'd like my lfe to stay as private as possible, and I understand how important privacy could become in an eventual dystiopian future, but I don't think we're going there either, and unless I'm an activist of some sort, I don't have anything serious to fear if my personal datas are being used just for publicity or whatever.

Literally provide proof Microsoft has done any of those things you said.

>you can't

>firewall
You do realize that GNU/Linux distributions don't open ports by default, right? It's up to you to not run software that opens ports without a firewall.

Maybe because the windows forced them to update or updated itself while they were out to get a drink?

>Your ISP stores your logs for a fixed amount of times and presents them on court order.
many would roll over on any request
>Also it detects pirated software
still hasnt detected Project CARS, and ive had both legit paid for W10 and pirated pCARS from the beginning.
> don't be surprised if you get arrested for piracy
not technically illegal in this country
>you may be arrested for downloading porn
oh, you're a troll or a pedo. Good.

Well, Debian does open all ports by default.

Because they're proprietary cucks who only know WIndows, obviously.

I've used Linux for many years and actively prefer Windows for things Linux can't provide (no, not vidya).

Liniggers are literally scum

>make up bullshit
>call someone a paid shill when they are called out

holy fuck you are a tool

Checked. It's a good thing Windows did that then, now more people will install Linux instead of Windows am I right?

I always keep a Windows box just in case I'm ever required to use it. That's mainly because I hate Wine just as much as Windows anyway though. Still since I'm in CSIS I haven't actually needed Windows in about eight years. It's personal preference really but I've never seen a piece of software that can't run naively on GNU/Linux if needed. Windows have GNU binaries now though so, it's probably the same vice-versa.

So do you have any proof of Microsoft not selling all thins data it collects? Because the EULA says it may be shared with 3rd parties.

The thing is that's what they're being used for now, but once someone else has all that information on you, you can't go back. If they start doing something you don't like with it, or sell it to someone you don't trust, you have no way of putting the cat back in the bag. Do you not only trust Microsoft today, but in perpetuity?

If not, the only safe option is to not let them know anything.

>Install Windows 10
>Install safer-networking.org/spybot-anti-beacon/
>???
>Profit

Oh yeah, the program works on Windows 7 as well so make sure to block telemetry on 7 if you're using that.

It's just a placebo, it doesn't work.
Anniversary update even makes the updates ignore the hosts file.

I think it's silly to trust some program to get rid of all telemetry on your computer.

Then what is this, people working with Microsoft just making a placebo program to make user think they're in control?
I don't think anyone would go that far.

Well, you can run anti-virus and anti-malware to protect against third-party stuff. It definitely won't catch everything, but if you rely on common sense 2016 plus a decent anti-virus, you're probably good against 99% of attacks that aren't specifically targeted toward you.

As for privacy, well you can install a good firewall and configure it to block MS - I'd recommend a separate enterprise-grade hardware unit. Maybe a Cisco ASA or a pfSense box.

i just checked and it seems that linux doesn't even have autocad, what the fuck, only gaming my ass

>TinyWall
>Normal, All, Outgoing, Autolearn
Which one should I chose?
Also, with this, is there any need to install any other firewall?

Linux's

[citation needed]

No, people making a program which they think it gets rid of all telemetry yet it doesn't.

"Normal" is what you should be using most of the time.

Use "Autolearn" if your programs can't access the internet, it will add them automatically. Switch it back to Normal when you're done (important).

>If you use Ubuntu for example, you miss out on the AUR in Arch, or compile flags in Gentoo.
>Some developers only use certain distros and never bother packaging and making it compatible for other systems.

"download code, compile it, run the resulting program" is something you can do on any distro. Really anything you can do on Linux you can do on any distro. Different distros just have different customizations and default configurations, slanted towards making different things easier. But you have the tools to do whatever you damn well please on any of them.

Which is really the base of Linux's advantage over Windows, really.

>you're probably good against 99% of attacks that aren't specifically targeted toward you.
Out of curiosity, how would those roughly work and what would be a solution to protect against them?

You're still at the mercy of the upstream and distro maintainers unless you're willing to update an entire operating system by yourself. Which no one has the time for, and certainly not a typical Uboontoo/Windoze user.

OP here, I'll keep lurking and posting but I just wanted to thank everyone for the time you took to explain so many things to such a clueless beginner.

Ive been dual booting Ubuntu MATE and windows forba while now. Gaming and video editing? I have Windows. My Windows 10 installation is absolutely bare bones. Updated, CCleaner, MBAM, HWmonitor, games, and movie/video editor.

Anything I consider sensitive (encrypted container with text document of passwords, family photos, logging into email or bank) I have Linux. I'm looking to get VGA passthrough going but it seems convoluted, even for me. Anyone done it and care to comment?

Heh. I can't really measure their skills, but Spybot have been around and working well for quite some time now, so I thought they would be pretty efficient whatever they're doing. Maybe not then.

Dual booting is cumbersome and you usually end up spending more time in whatever OS you're currently in because rebooting to switch is annoying as fuck.

I'm not saying it doesn't work. Just consider it's a single program, working inside the OS, against the same OS. I think it's fair to assume the OS has its ways of perpetuating its spying shenanigans despite the programs' efforts.

Not if you're on an ssd. Even a mediocre one gives 5 second reboots.

I'd be ok with dual booting if only my PC wasn't slow as fuck to boot, shit takes almost 1 mn, and I have an SSD, I don't even.
Never found any solution, and neither fresh install of Win or Ubuntu fixed it.
But yeah for someone with a 2016 boot time wich I guess is pretty fast, dual booting might be the best solution.

Or get a good, quality HDD, reinstall your crusty fucking WInshit install or install GNU or *BSD and get close to that and have a ton of fucking space to put shit on for the same price as that cancerous SSD that will probably give you a random drive failure.

Of course it isn't. You're using Windows 10, you'll be working against the grain every step of the way.

A reboot still closes all your programs including web browser tabs, so yeah.

the best way to maximize privacy is to install windows server 2016. Even from there you still have the problems of security and stability depending on the hardware and software version.
More or less, you can fix security with an anti-malware program like malewarebytes. Keep the database updated as much as possible and you should be near-solid.

stability is fucked, you're dealing with windows here.

the total of going through those steps legally is around $800 + 30/year

>Tinywall

Been looking for alternatives just in case, isn't Comodo supposed to be better?

>playing games

>having fun

If I follow all the steps in this video, will I be safe? youtube.com/watch?v=u1kGMCfb2xw

No

>playing games
>having fun

Personal computing is for niggers