Hardening Windows for privacy and security

N1b It's important to understand that your anonymity or privacy depends on what you do with your applications. Even open source software can't protect your privacy if you share your personal photos or reveal your identity. Indeed, a program's security comes first. And yes, the ad-supported funding model is the most invisible and viable for a developer, and don't forget that the information collected is anonymized. Most people here are in favor of a donation-based funding model, but who donates except the fervent defenders of free software? Of all the people who downloaded the signal following Elon Musk's tweet, how many made a donation? I don't know anyone who does that. Do you really think that only Google and other gafams are pumping out your data? But I die laughing when I read this kind of thing, the entire web is pumped by security agencies, even if you use tor or proton or whatever. But if you feel safe with free applications and think your privacy is protected, good for you, but you're wrong.

[deleted] I use grapheneos for security reasons. Just like Google or any other

N1b Above all, it's about remaining rational and not living a lie. The entire web is sucked up by security agencies and it doesn't matter what license your applications have. The ad-based funding model saves money for users and if ads bother you use an alternative dns.

And I'd like to remind you that even Google lets you delete your advertising ID, it lets you cancel the correlation between contacts, it lets you cancel position tracking, it lets you delete your Google mail... And above all, you don't have to give your first and last name or anything personal. The day an open source software editor is able to create such an ecosystem, I'll be the first to use it.

[deleted] What you say here is just on the surface. It's what the big brother wants you to believe. If you think that Big G lets you burn the bridge and carry on as a brand new man, then that is living a lie. I am way off topic here, but so are you. I don't use Windows since I started using Linux. Since I started using Linux, I never use my PC. Trust is like a vase, once it’s broken, though you can fix it, the vase will never be same again.

Windows Sandbox really is neat. I use it for opening and viewing PDFs and other files from web pages I do not fully trust. Much quicker than spinning up a Virtualbox instance or the like.
(Only available in Pro or above, sadly).

[deleted] Yes, but linux is far behind on security and has no place here on the grapheneos forum. You're talking about digital fingerprints and you can't escape them no matter what you do. Whether you use duckduckgo on chrome or Firefox or tor it's exactly the same.

[deleted] I think I am better off talking to a wall. At least that will just stand there in a calm agreement...

[deleted] You talk too much. Go for a walk out in the woods and give the rest of us a break.

A gentle reminder that Graphene18 was asking for hardening guides for Windows. Please try to keep this thread on that topic.

[deleted] if I should use the same analogy, thanks to the fact that only a handful or so people works on GOS security, as a result it should be utter crap. But it isn't. So what was your point again?

[deleted] ?

6gsxdr3U

Linux is what you make of it. Windows can be secure, if you harden it, so too is Linux. It all depends on how much you care and how much work you are willing to put in.

It's naive to think money (whether through ads, data, donations, or purchase) can simply buy good security. If you want something done right, learn to do it yourself.

[deleted] A mod has asked everybody to keep this thread on topic (hardening guides for Windows). Please be respectful of that.

Well, in my opinion if you care about privacy and security you shouldn't be using proprietary software in the first place.

Alice has some good points. But I doubt that if you can be sure that Microsoft turns off the telemetry and keyloggers if you buy enterprise or pro license.

For myself I just go with a minimal Arch Linux configuration and have several encrypted copies of my important files. The overall security of Windows just can't be compared to a system with Linux kernel (yeah, Linux it's just the kernel, you can build everything you want with it).

The chances of getting your system compromised using a Linux machine are less likely, most of the internet malware is just not affecting you. People can praise Microsoft how much they want for how many people they have employed for working on security, but the windows security architecture is just crap.

But if you're stick with Windows, minimize your attack surface by keeping it clean and simple. Some "debloat" guides might also help you.