By installing Linux on it
debian trixie was released at just the right time, about two months before win10 went on life support.
Mint on the laptops. Bazzite on the gaming PCs
Mint on the laptops. Bazzite on the gaming PCs
What do you mean? Win10 still works. MS didn’t Thanos snap it.
No, I mean is it prone to being hacked now more than before? Or has MS actively pushing updates to worsen it to force people to move to Win 11?
It was simple to get extended security updates for w10 for a year. After Oct, it’ll require payment for another year, up to 3 years total I believe.
Did something happen to Windows 10 that made them vulnerable?
Support has been extended, but 10 is EOL, which means soon™ it’ll stop getting updates. Once that happens, any vulnerabilities that exist (discovered or not) will stop being fixed.
This doesn’t effectively increase your risk as a consumer. It only increases risk at the enterprise and infrastructure level.
All threat models include who you are and the environment the OS is run in for a reason. Just browsing the web is fine as a consumer, until browsers stop targeting your OS for updates.
The main vector for infection for any OS isn’t the OS itself. Malware doesn’t just spawn on your computer the second you plug it in to a router (no matter what Trump’s FCC thinks with their chinese router ban). It needs to get on your computer.
An up to date browser will prevent the majority of infections, with common sense preventing the rest. I kept Windows XP well into windows 7 years, and windows 7 well into windows 10 years before switching to linux. Just don’t download malware, you’ll be fine. Worst case scenario you keep a backup clone of your hard drive on a usb stick (which you should have anyway) and just reflash your drive every few months (or just switch to linux, it can do anything windows can do at this point with enough faffing about.)
No windows 10 left in the house.
Mint, Debian. Dual Boots are now all off. Couldn’t be happier. It was a pain getting everything setup correctly, but wow. I love having an OS that only does what I tell it.
All my laptops are running Linux. Daily driver is currently on Manjaro with a dual boot to a very stripped down Win11 for some professional software with no Linux version.
Main PC is on Mint.
HTPC is on Win10 and I do not give a single shit what happens to that installation. Its purpose is to run Steam and VLC. If it gets a virus, it gets a virus. If it steals my info and sends it to China, then someone in China will know I play Jackbox games and watch weird arthouse Japanese movies. I could not care less. And if a virus ruins the OS, I’ll flatten, reinsrall Win10, and go back to not giving a shit 2 hours later.
By telling win 11 to constantly to fuck off.
You can still safely browse the internet with an adblocker and don’t download unofficial software. Only idiots and security people raw dog a windows machine online without a firewall and a NAT gateway.
What is your real question?
NAT is not a security feature. Just use a gateway with a proper firewall.
we still have some win10 here. not too worried given who is using them and for what purposes. we’ve retired from some of our work so we don’t have or access any sensitive data (medical records mostly) anymore.
if you need it, try to score the extra update time for ‘free’ (check settings-windows update for the offer). i’ve done that for a few people and it didn’t even mess up their ‘backup’ status… but do check to make sure it’s off if you do that method. there are other ‘methods’ but idk if LW lets you discuss them.
You mean that still could run Windows10? Mint. I don’t really like laptops and use my big box most of the time. I only use the laptop to run and play RPGs at the table with my game group. But I do my prep on the box down in my nerd lair, with two nice monitors.
There’s multiple good answers in the comments but context can help.
Why do you need to stay on Win10?
Can’t update? Don’t want to update?
Personally I moved to Linux Mint about 2 years ago. My laptop I just switched to Fedora (I think the UI is great on laptops but not a fan on desktops).
Anything Windows exclusive I need to keep around (and there are many reasons but they are highly subjective) I run Windows in a VM.
On top of that, I use ameliorated.io to reclaim the OS as my own and have little issues as far as privacy or security. As such, I didn’t mind updating to Win11. The way the ameliorated version runs is essentially the same as 10. So I get a clean interface (no asinine menu system), secured with admin and user accounts, no telemetry, no bloat. I’m very happy with this setup. If I had to stay 100% on windows for some reason this is how I’d run it.
I’ve tried to install windows 11 and it fails lol. I have a 2.0 tpm. I’ll probably switch over to opensuse or mint soon.
Actually thats my desktop. My laptop is came with ubuntu.
