Why would Microsoft fire an employee for holding a vigil, it’s not like they …
…called “No Azure for Apartheid”
Oh. Thanks for drawing attention to this, Microsoft! I appreciate that they’re so willing to invoke the Streisand Effect.
I hope those employees land somewhere where they build something that costs Microsoft a lot of profit.
Sure! Feel free to ask for clarification. I’ve been in your shoes. I’ve had debloat software help a ton (and I don’t recall it causing issues.) I’ve also reinstalled Windows fresh (from a recovery disk) to buy time. And of course I’ve switched older computers to Linux, too.
Yes, if your drive has 133GB occupied, and you’re running Windows, it is likely that Windows, itself, is over half of that.
I’ve not, personally, seen Windows, itself, occupy less than 70GB, in recent years. (Usually much more.)
So what’s left, your files that you care about, is likely 133-70=63GB or less. (Probably much less. Windows is usually huge - usually around 120GB.)
Note that you can’t just blindly backup the whole drive. You’ll have to go find the files you care about and just back those up.
Backing up entire copies of the Windows operating system has gone very poorly for me, when I tried, anyway. Windows, itself, does not like to be relocated, because it tends to decide it has been stolen. I ended up on hold on the phone with Microsoft waiting for permission, last time I moved a Windows install. So if I had a big enough drive to backup the whole Windows drive, I wouldn’t bother.
There may be a utility for Windows that backs up just your files. Mac has had one for awhile. Something like the free tier of Crash plan would probably do a nice job guiding you to where the files you care about are.
Beware, file compression doesn’t go far, today. The days when we stored our files in ludicrously inefficient formats are over.
I’ve only seen 10%-20% differences with compressed files, in 2024.
So, in your shoes, I would backup my files to the 63GB USB drive with something like CrashPlan. I wouldn’t bother with compression since I don’t think it will help much and I don’t think you’ll need it.
I would also accept that this is probably a one way trip. If the debloater works, fantastic.
If it corrupts your Windows install, you’ll need to reinstall. Personally, I wouldn’t hassle with reinstalling Windows in 2024. Especially on a small hard drive. That’s more work for a much worse outcome.
Debian will do all the same things, takes dramatically less space, doesn’t grow in size over time, is completely free, and is now much easier to install than a Windows reinstall. (Neither is pure sunshine and joy, but I would rather search for correct UEFI settings for 15 minutes than wait on hold with Microsoft for an hour.)
However you do it, resurrecting an old computer that Windows has mucked up is totally worth the effort. It’s easy to forget how faster a Windows computer was when it was new.
This is just speculation, but I’ve picked up on a pattern of speculating that something is technically possible, assuming there’s no way they’d actually be doing that, and later finding out that it was actually underestimating what they were doing.
As the saying goes, just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean you’re wrong.
The answer that will put this question to bed is open source hardware. Thankfully we’re close to having viable options, finally.
We’ve made their point…a person can survive fireball by making the three death saving throws. Exactly how a fine pile of ash and dust can!
Right. It’s different in that it lacks Google Framework Service, and adds a bunch of privacy controls, like additional quick toggles to control the cameras, and microphone, the way other Android can quick toggle the flashlight and location servcies and bluetooth.
The biggest thing is substantially more granular per app permissions, controlled from a calentral interface in settings.
I setup a mail forward, and check the ‘to’ address to all incoming messages for about a year.
Lol. Thank you. Sometimes when rational thought and optimism are at ods, I choose optimism.
- The largest e-commerce platform in latin america and the most used in my country requires FR to use it.
I minimize my use of the largest eCommerce platform in my country. It’s a pain, but it can be done, and I feel good about my money going to organizations that better match my values.
- The bank is now pressing me to use their app with FR as a 2fa when using homebanking from its website, something that wasn’t necessary up to some weeks ago.
Sounds like a great opportunity to check into joining a credit union. All banks are predatory. There’s lots of other great reasons to minimize your exposure to banks.
- The telecoms demands FR from now on if you want a new SIM card in case you lost your phone or it’s been stolen.
- The government is in the same direction as it’s moving to digitalizing many burocratic procedures and also requires FR.
I imagine you may be stuck with these. Sometimes we can’t win them all.
I wouldn’t take that as a reason to give up. Having your face on file in fewer places is very lively to save you future headaches.
Ideally this will be less of a concern in the future, when the vast majority of organizations no longer have utter shit for Cybersecurity.
But that day is not today.
I mean, it has, a bunch of times. And they haven’t so far.
But I agree, in principle. When they’re impacted, in a way they actually understand, things may get better.
Yeah. Good point.
What we have for open hardware and firmware, on phones, in particular, is very slim pickings.
Open hardware has open source firmware.
We don’t have all that much of it yet, but it exists.
It’s nice. I use it to communicate with peers who weren’t afraid to set it up.
Support the people, not the country.
I agree wholeheartedly.
you’re probably a KeePass person?
Yeah. I feel seen. Naturally I try to only use the finest artisinal open source from F-Droid.
Though, honestly, I’m impressed by BitWarden and I’m happy enough to recommend it.
Uh… I’m a patriot.
I fully support my country in every meaningful way, especially those ways that might otherwise make my billionaire overlords feel threatened enough to put a hit out on me.
More seriously, my neighbors are, on average, fantastic people, that deserve my support.
Edit: To be clear, I fully agree that this should piss us all off.
Generally they need all of your personal information (Full Name, Date of Birth and SSN - which costs them 25 cents or less on the dark web), plus your username and password that you create when you first visit each site. (Which hopefully isn’t on the dark web, because it’s new and unique.)
The new username and password that you create are what give some security.
And a warning, only because someone reading along will need it:
don’t re-use a password used elsewhere.
Re-used passwords, from past data breaches, paired nicely with email addresses and full names, also cost about 25 cents on the dark web.
Yes! And don’t pay these assholes a dime for the privilege.
They’re legally required to provide freezes for free, but two of them were trying to sell it as a service through misleading page links, last time I checked.
What does freezing your credit do, exactly?
It prevents opening new credit cards or other lines of credit in your name.
The reason this matters is lots of fraudsters are using names and SSNs they bought on the dark web, to open credit cards they have no intention of paying back.
If you’re an American, your name and SSN combination is almost certainly for sale for about 25 cents, on the dark web, today.
Freezing your credit at all three agencies is the only effective prevention, today.
The credit agencies will attempt to charge you a monthly fee for the privilege, but don’t fall for it. They’re legally required to provide the service for free.
If I’m ever a juror on a murder trial where the “victim” worked in leadership at one of the big three credit agencies, I’ll have to admit that I couldn’t possibly convict someone for that.
Is this still something someone should do if they don’t even have any credit cards?
Yes. Absolutely. Being a victim of credit fraud can make it impossible to get a home mortgage, or even get certain jobs or apartments. It can be incredibly difficult and expensive to clean up, and the burden is largely left entirely on the victim.
Yeah.
Including past breaches, it’s unclear if any adult American’s private information remains unbreached.
There’s an ongoing arm chair discussion happening among Cybersecurity folks of how many living adult humans with social security numbers haven’t been breached.
Are there eleven? Are there a thousand? Are there any? We don’t know. We do know it’s not many.
The good(?) news is that new adults are turning 18 every day, and entering their private information into the same systems, soon to be breached in the same ways. So that’s something? I don’t know. Maybe it’s nothing, honestly.