So how can I as a new user make sure to have the most secure machine as possible?

1. Always use uBlock Origin in a Firefox-based browser (e.g., LibreWolf, Zen).
2. Never click on links in communication of any kind that you didn’t expect or are too good to be true.
3. Never reinstall Windows.

⚜︎ arscyni.cc: modernity ∝ nature.

Either:

1. A smarter and wiser population able to discern and care enough that they’re being cucked by Microsoft, overcoming the inertia to install Linux.
2. Linux invents a game/feature that is so goddamn appealing that everyone wants in on the action.
3. Preinstallation.

Yes.

Changed my mind. Thanks.

…weird. I don’t understand why drop-down terminals are a thing? I can bring up Konsole with a hotkey too, only it just opens a window instead fo doing a fancy animation. That’s such a tiny part of its functionality that I can’t imagine how ‘drop-down’ became a descriptor for a terminal instead of just a bullet point on a feature list somewhere, much less a whole-ass category of terminals, lol.

But, fair enough.

Totally agree that objectively it’s a tiny part. However, for one, I’𝗆 simply used to it because that how terminals behave in games, and two, because terminals with drop-down as a feature were the only ones that introduced me to a one-button hotkey, just like in a game.

Surprised that there’s so few drop-down terminals being mentioned; I use Tilda but I guess they are all fine as long as they work on one’s distro config. It’s so handy to always have the console locked and loaded invisibly, but toggled by the press of a button.

AutoKey automation / word expander tool.

• I reconfigure ALT + i/j/k/l to ↑←↓→ globally, and more similar shortcuts.
• It expands abbreviations of one’s choice like “gCo” to git commit -m '
• One can assign scripts to abbreviations and hotkeys. E.g., when I press CTRL + Shift + [ it surrounds the selected text with a tag:

text_selected = clipboard.get_selection()
text_input = dialog.input_dialog(title="Wrap with a tag.", message="E.g., type cite to get <cite>x</cite>.", default="")
keyboard.send_key("<delete>")
clipboard.fill_clipboard(f"<{text_input[1]}>{text_selected}</{text_input[1]}>")
keyboard.send_keys("<ctrl>+v")

I’m likely not even harnessing AutoKey’s full capabilities and it’s already absolutely indispensable for being a huge time-saver and annoyance reducer.

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✍︎ arscyni.cc: modernity ∝ nature.

You mean Qalculate, right? If so, I agree.

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✍︎ arscyni.cc: modernity ∝ nature.

LibreWolf has got you covered for it ships with uBlockOrigin. However, to enable dark mode in LibreWolf one has to disable Resist Fingerprinting:

“Why is LibreWolf forcing light theme?
This is one of the privacy measure that come with RFP (Resist Fingerprinting). Our stance is that if you care about fingerprinting protection you should never alter RFP behavior in any way.
If you still want the dark theme for web content, check whether your favourite websites allow to set it manually.”

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✍︎ arscyni.cc: modernity ∝ nature.

I don’t know whether I put too much weight on this, but the lack of English proficiency in a developer rubs me the wrong way. I had already stopped using Ventoy and reinstalled the machines where I used it on, and this makes me glad I did.

Yet you claim that only A should be allowed. What a farce.

No. It’s you who claims that. Hence the fallacy.
My position is that both are extremely flawed and unethical, but addressing fiat money is not relevant nor needed to make a point about the flaws of crypto"currencies".

“Crypto is far less wasteful than the fiat banking fraud scheme.”

Whataboutism fallacy. It’s not because serial killer A murdered less than serial killer B, that A should be forgiven.

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✍︎ arscyni.cc: modernity ∝ nature.

If you lived in Africa you would say that Bitcoin is godsend, as you can hear it from many africans

“[…] As already mentioned, imposing technology doesn’t work; struggling people know their needs far better than anyone. On the contrary, it seems that the “developing” countries should be telling us what do:

• “The East African region has cemented its position in the digital economy as the global leader with the highest penetration rate of mobile money in the world.” —Daily Monitor (2021)[49]
• “Finally, a number of telcos have managed to develop a superior client experience early in the evolution of mobile financial services in Africa. M-Pesa’s client experience is remarkably simple: it takes only three inputs and six clicks to send funds, on any type of handset. Registration is straightforward; merchant acceptance is widespread, and there are no transaction fees on bill payments.” —McKinsey (2017)[50]

All without blockchain. Who would’ve thunk? For first world countries we sure think third-rate. […]” —Crypto Cult Science

– – – – –
Simply copy-pasting from my own website because of POSSE: “Publish (on your) Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere.”

Faulty generalization That some scammers or greedy people in rich countries are promoting it like a ponzi scheme to benefit themselves doesn’t mean every person use it in the same way. Some people use it for its savings in a highly devaluating currency (my use case), others for money laundering, or to send money to Palestine, or to flee a collapsing country because of war and avoiding their money being seized by the policy at the borders, for ransomware, or creating circular economies in poor countries, to donate to human rights activists in dictatorships, to buy drugs, etc, etc these are just some of the dozens of verified uses cases. That’s what happens when a technology is free and permissionless, it’s not good or bad by itself, it’s as good or as bad as the person that uses it. AI is being used to scam people and to detect cancer more precisely than the best experts. That’s and inherent feature of free software. Lemmy is a perfect example, would you promote not using it because there is an instance used for child porn?

It would’ve been a faulty generalization if, like knives or Lemmy, most use cases were benign. Unfortunately crypto"currencies" are predominantly speculative and malignant to society.

Hmm okay, fair enough.

I wouldn’t describe it as “bad”, but because of repetitiveness and vagueness I’d say it’s a draft that could’ve used a couple of re-reads by the author. It sells well because it’s rightfully so dumping on Microsoft.

If the Lemmy admins adhered to everyone’s request to “stop doing X and I’ll donate”, they would end up with zero more donations because people will always give another reason for not donating

I know. But I am not everyone, and this request is not unique. Wikimedia stopped accepting crypto"currencies" as well by community vote.

FIAT stanning never went this hard.

False dilemma. Being against wasteful greed-incentivizing MLM pyramid schemes doesn’t mean not objecting to the flaws of contemporary finance as well.

Please stop accepting crypto"currencies"—multi-level marketing pyramid schemes—and I donate.

What if I paid for all my free software?
I’ve always felt guilty by taking for granted the rare breed of virtuous humans that provide free excellent software without relying on advertising. Let’s change that and pay, how much would I “lose” anyway? —https://www.arscyni.cc/file/take_my_money.html

“Can you use dd to create multiboot USB drives?”

No. But in my case that’s just a minor inconvenience considering the infrequency of having to use a live USB. And at work I just use separate USBs for wiping drives and OS installs. I much prefer the peace of mind that comes with knowing there’s no Ventoy blob that could potentially infect all its installed operating systems with malware.

In any case, it seems it is possible to manually make a multiboot USB drive manually. Haven’t tried it yet though.

“Even the link you shared lists Ventoy as an option.”

I know. I simply linked that website because it’s where I learned dd from and because for novices it might be less overwhelming than the Arch Wiki.