Alternatives for everything you need on a computer (technology)
submitted 19 hours ago by Rainy-Day-Dream
delete you facebook and any other social media you don't really need, get a VPN i use cyber ghost, ditch google chrome for pale moon, ditch google for qwant, ditch Microsoft office for libre office, ditch gmail for proton mail, and if you can ditch windows for linux
there are other alternatives but this is what i use personally
[–] Norseman 22 points (+27|-5) 17 hours ago (edited 16 hours ago)
NO. Most of this is shit.
delete you facebook and any other social media you don't really need, then try https://sociall.io and get your family and friends there. It's amazing, decentralized, and built from the ground up to give you privacy control. It also pays you for your content, so you get crypto for posting, liking, commenting, etc.
ditch google chrome, or Edge, or Firefox.... for Vivaldi. It is great and is built by people who who were fed up with the BS spying. Also all chrome extensions still work if you so choose. You should also try brave and see what you think, but Vivaldi is light years ahead.
ditch google search for duckduckgo. The results are great and they are anonymous. Use it 90% of the time if you want, make the switch slowly. It can be difficult to get off the google tit, their site is burned into our brains now. duckduckgo cares about your privacy. Also, google is so scared of them they did this: http://duck.com
ditch Microsoft office for libre office, or if you must have it for work just torrent that shit and use 03/07/10 because that works fine. Turn off the small amount of sharing and data the older versions collected.
ditch gmail for proton mail, if you want 100% security that comes with some minor headaches and lag time. You can also check out this list, they're all good but go through the listed pros and cons and decide yourself.
If you use outlook, get on MailBird instead. If you want really awesome email without the bullshit you can buy unlimited cheap hosting with cpanel ($1 - $2 a month, or use free hosting like 000webhost.com) and a domain name you choose ($10 a year) and set up all the emails you want. You can use a program like mailbird to check them all. This is what I do.
and if you can, ditch windows for linux. kubuntu is the most windows-like experiences that works the best. There are several others, but having tried them all myself I heavily prefer kubuntu for the look and ease of use for a linux noob.
get a VPN. ProtonVPN is free and anonymous, and in a good country. There are a handful of other safe options, but you need to do your research. Duck it up and see what you find. You want no reporting, no logs, and a company that is serious about not keeping data and never answering to out of country warrants.
[–] waffleman 4 points (+4|-0) 15 hours ago (edited 15 hours ago)
I'm with you on some points. But, free VPNs are risky. If you aren't paying for it, you're the product. You don't get anything for free. I love protonmail but they are not without their headaches. I've had several issues with the site being down lately. also, linux mint is the absolute easiest linix I've ever used. on every machine I've installed it on, everything works out of the box. kubuntu constantly crashed on my laptop so I gave up on it. just my $0.03
[–] Norseman -3 points (+0|-3) 14 hours ago
Anon VPN's are different. the only catch to free anonymous VPN's is they are upsells to the paid versions. They provide just enough, but they are limited in where you can connect to and the bandwidth is slow. An actual anon VPN by default doesn't make you the product like other free stuff because there is no data.
I purpose paid VPN's are risky because they can be more easily tied back to you. if you're not paying in washed crypto you're leaving a trail.
[–] hafen 2 points (+2|-0) 14 hours ago
Couple constructive additions,
Apparently some take issue with Vivaldi: https://img.4plebs.org/boards/pol/image/1502/59/1502597251182.jpgJPG
Also with DuckDuckGo: https://img.4plebs.org/boards/pol/image/1427/48/1427488497480.pngPNG
proton mail
Others voiced concerns about partisanship, but I'd also add that nothing is 100% secure.
kubuntu is the most windows-like experiences that works the best.
Whatever distro or desktop environment you use, these windows themes for linux are pretty neat: https://b00merang.weebly.com/redmond-collection.html
As for another alternative to social media you can use "Mastodon" instance you trust, and for search the "SearX" instance you trust.
[–] ZYX321 0 points (+2|-2) 13 hours ago (edited 13 hours ago)
Others voiced concerns about partisanship
Mostly because they're retarded, and think that ProtonMail complying with Swiss law, where they are based, makes them liberals.
[–] Norseman 0 points (+0|-0) 13 hours ago
that's awesome. So what is the best distro... kde, ubuntu, gnome.... if you're changing the entire look does it matter much for a non-power user?
[–] NoRagrets 2 points (+2|-0) 15 hours ago (edited 15 hours ago)
but having tried them all myself I heavily prefer kubuntu for the look and ease of use for a linux noob.
I have to disagree here, KDE looks nice and has a tonne of customisation but for out-of-the-box play, I have to go with Cinnamon. Edit: Also respecting that this aimed at Windows users.
[–] Norseman 0 points (+0|-0) 14 hours ago (edited 14 hours ago)
It doesn't really matter because they are both great for anyone coming off of windows and people should try them both, but I would personally disagree with you. I used Mint Cinnamon for years and found it lacking and visually outdated compared to kubuntu.
[–] ThisIsMyRealName 0 points (+0|-0) 5.4 hours ago
OpenSUSE Leap is also a pretty good alternative for that seamless Windows-like KDE feel. Both Kubuntu (or any other *buntu, but not Mint unless that has changed recently) and OpenSUSE also have AppArmor installed and enabled by default, so that's a great thing from a security standpoint. Only other distros I know of which have a MAC implementation on by default are the Red Hat family with SELinux, but there might be more.
[–] BLOODandHONOUR 18 points (+19|-1) 17 hours ago
Proton mail? Absolutely not. They shut off Lee Rogers from the Daily Stormer’s account because they didn’t like what he believed.
https://voat.co/v/whatever/2084558/10284337
[–] NeedleStack 8 points (+8|-0) 16 hours ago
Goddamnit.. it took me a long time to transition all my accounts to Protonmail too. Grr.
[–] BLOODandHONOUR 6 points (+6|-0) 16 hours ago
LOL it's so damn annoying isn't it? I thought a while back this knowledge about proton mail was spread all over Voat. Maybe it was just me.
[–] NoRagrets 5 points (+5|-0) 15 hours ago
Fuck's sake, I did not know this, guess I'm moving also.
Glad I've heard this now, I was that close to giving them some money for extras and their VPN.
[–] Rainy-Day-Dream [S] 3 points (+3|-0) 17 hours ago
got another option?
[–] BLOODandHONOUR 5 points (+5|-0) 17 hours ago
https://tutanota.com
[–] drj2 3 points (+3|-0) 17 hours ago
tunanota
[–] InterDigitated 1 points (+1|-0) 15 hours ago
Still better than Gmail, or outlook
[–] BLOODandHONOUR 0 points (+0|-0) 14 hours ago
K
[–] ZYX321 -1 points (+2|-3) 13 hours ago (edited 3 hours ago)
WRONG. They were required to do so by Swiss law, which is where they are based.
The dude was using his email address for operations, someone looked up whose mail servers it routes to, and notified Swiss authorities.
Stop spreading this shit.
Edit: 3 downvoats dont care about facts.
[–] Nalbarcam 0 points (+0|-0) 12 hours ago (edited 12 hours ago)
yeesh, thank you, good to hear
still waiting on a good decentralized option though, I'd prefer it that such authoritative action isn't possible
[–] Glory_Beckons -1 points (+0|-1) 8.5 hours ago
required to do so by Swiss law
What Swiss law requires denying someone access to their email account?
Even if this is true, that doesn't really change anything: Protonmail is still a bad option, being based in a country with laws like that.
[–] Xantha 8 points (+8|-0) 17 hours ago
Do not use palemoon, they blocked some adblocking extensions because 'we should support small websites supported by the advertising industry'. No way, maybe they shouldn't bombard with over five thousand ads a day for their shitty products. I don't give a fuck if websites that solely depend on click through advertising to exist go down. Find a new way to monetize or die. They blocked adnauseum because they ideologically disagreed with it. That's no better than the dumpster fire that is firefox.
See here. https://forum.palemoon.org/viewtopic.php?t=16504
Use waterfox or brave. Both devs have made public statements about safeguarding privacy. The Brave dev is more extremely aggressive about shutting things down trying to track you. The waterfox dev isn't as aggressive, but has publicly chosen not to add any tracking features, while leaving it open to the community to build and use plugins/extensions to stop what they don't like.
Statements from the waterfox dev: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/businessclub/technology/11598207/New-search-engine-from-Waterfox-founder-aims-to-take-a-punch-at-Google.html
still have ublock, plus RIP, never see any ads
[–] FortniteBlitzkrieg 2 points (+2|-0) 16 hours ago
More specifically, he is referring to an ad-attacker extension. Instead of simply blocking all ads, it blocked them from the user but also clicked on them. All of them. The idea is that it made the ads worthless because of fake clicks and it would throw off algorithms designed to track your desires.
This is just from memory, correct me if I'm wrong on any of the details.
Also, some browser blocked the usage of the (((jew-naming))) extension, I want to say it was pale moon but I could be mistaken.
[–] TheodoreKent 5 points (+5|-0) 18 hours ago
Why is qwant better than duckduckgo or startpage?
[–] Rainy-Day-Dream [S] 5 points (+8|-3) 17 hours ago
duckduckgo tracks you as much as google, they're full of shit. IDK about startpage
[–] TheodoreKent 4 points (+4|-0) 17 hours ago (edited 17 hours ago)
How do you know they're full of shit? And how do you qwant isnt full of shit?
[–] Norseman -1 points (+3|-4) 17 hours ago (edited 17 hours ago)
No, they don't.
https://duckduckgo.com/privacy
[–] BLOODandHONOUR 4 points (+4|-0) 17 hours ago
I just use searx.me
[–] TheodoreKent 2 points (+2|-0) 16 hours ago
Please extol its's virtues to me.
[–] Realhero33 2 points (+2|-0) 17 hours ago
Same
[–] Norseman 1 points (+3|-2) 17 hours ago
it's not. Most of these recommendations are shit vs better alternatives.
[–] BaldMiscreant 1 points (+1|-0) 17 hours ago
I'll bite, what would you suggest? Genuinely curious.
[–] Rainy-Day-Dream [S] 0 points (+0|-0) 17 hours ago
i did qualify that
[–] hatecrime 1 points (+1|-0) 17 hours ago
I never heard about it either, but it looks good. Some more info about it would be nice.
[–] NeedleStack 3 points (+3|-0) 18 hours ago
I did a qwant image search for Latvian Mittens and got this result. I approve.
[–] BaldMiscreant 2 points (+2|-0) 17 hours ago (edited 17 hours ago)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigger_(dog) Discovered that the code word to begin the attack run on the 1943 Dambusters raid was "nigger." In Morse code. I'm loving qwant. Edit- fuck, the url broke. How do I fix?
[–] Glory_Beckons 0 points (+0|-0) 16 hours ago
Like this.
[–] NeedleStack 0 points (+0|-0) 16 hours ago
I tried but couldn't fix. Here's the archived version of that page anyway: http://archive.is/gzVjc
[–] TheENDIsFuckingNeigh 2 points (+2|-0) 15 hours ago
Only have Windows just for Gaming.
[–] waffleman 0 points (+0|-0) 15 hours ago
same here. I have a quick swap HDD tray in my desktop. shut down, swap drive, boot windows. no dealing with windows updates "accidentally" overwriting my boot partition (which happens way too often for it to be a bug) since the OS drives are never plugged in at the same time. best $20 I ever spent.
[–] SCRoberts1987 2 points (+2|-0) 18 hours ago
Was using pale moon for awhile and thought it was pretty great until a recent nvidia driver start making it produce critical errors. Pale moon was the only program affected. Went ahead and installed the newest firefox and it's absurd how much faster it is... same two addons; ublock origin and noscript.
[–] Glory_Beckons 3 points (+3|-0) 16 hours ago
Waterfox.
Clean, stripped down Firefox. No added nonsense. Just gets rid of bullshit like datatracking, various bloatware and spyware that has infested the original.
Or just go for TorBrowser. If you're really paranoid, run it in a Whonix VM.
[–] Richard_Guzenya 3 points (+3|-0) 17 hours ago
Firefox is horrible. Since last year George Soros and Pierre Omidyar are taking part in what is determined to be real vs "fake" news.
Who determines "Fake" News
I have used Pale Moon for personal browsing and Brave for things that require more vanilla settings. Both seem solid.
[–] Rainy-Day-Dream [S] -1 points (+2|-3) 17 hours ago
pale moon is tricky but firefox is botnet
[–] Viropher 1 points (+1|-0) 16 hours ago
Instead of games,theres Dwarf Fortress! All platforms,free,and endless FUN!
[–] NotHereForPizza 1 points (+1|-0) 16 hours ago
Hey, you're doing good work.
I think we disagreed over something involving Crensch's dumb ass the other day. I hope that doesn't leave us on bad terms.
As for the comparison of search engines, while I don't typically favor opinions that generally push extremes, I'm unsure you're really going to find a good enough search engine that's worth replacing the efficiency of some of the popular ones with the less-private lesser known ones. The trade off, to me at least, has always seemed more like: lesser-known = more private, but less efficient - more popular = less private, but more efficient. I'm stiff on the belief that all of these services track you in one way or another. Google tends to be a bit more direct, however.
[–] Rainy-Day-Dream [S] -1 points (+0|-1) 16 hours ago
just trying to help, honestly the info in the comments goes a lot farther but it's good a discussion started
yeah i remember, you're stalking him it's weird
there's disagreement over what alternative is good but it's a given that google and the bigger ones are bad, if nothing else they lose a little traffic
[–] NotHereForPizza 0 points (+0|-0) 16 hours ago
Meh, call it what you will. When you get enough experience under your belt in these environments, some things stand out more than others, and certain narratives and methods become pretty easily recognizable. It's okay if you don't see it. These things surface with time nearly without fail. Until then, you should be more suspicious of people that claim authority, frame things in an abusive manner, and people that resort to identity politics as division tactics.
This doesn't need to be about Crensch, though. We've got all the time in the world for conversations like that. For now, we can keep to the technological discussion here - it's going well. Nice work.
[–] SparkS 0 points (+0|-0) 8.6 hours ago
well basicly therer is a tor like linux version named tails which i have but if the line is sniffed none of these shits matters if so and so. anyway its k like this but... depends.
[–] albatrosv15 0 points (+0|-0) 10.7 hours ago
... and hack wifis.
[–] 2012ronpaul2012 0 points (+0|-0) 14 hours ago
Bookmark - thank you!
[–] astralprojectionbros 0 points (+0|-0) 15 hours ago
substitute for reddit ?
[–] Rainy-Day-Dream [S] -1 points (+0|-1) 15 hours ago
gurochan
[–] whatisbestinlife 0 points (+0|-0) 16 hours ago
you sir, deserve voat gold
[–] cantaloupe6 0 points (+0|-0) 16 hours ago
For browers Icecat, Waterfox, Vivaldi, slimjet. Icecat used Tor in privacy mode. Waterfox has nice plugins, slimjet is lightweight, Vivaldi works well but may offer less privacy. On a mobile Brave is okay.
[–] lifes-not-fair 0 points (+2|-2) 16 hours ago
Browsers best to worst
https://imgoat.com/uploads/899139df5e/99204.jpgJPG
(technology)
by Rainy-Day-Dream
Alternatives for everything you need on a computer (technology)
submitted ago by Rainy-Day-Dream
Sort: Top
[–] Norseman 22 points (+27|-5) ago (edited ago)
[–] waffleman 4 points (+4|-0) ago (edited ago)
[–] Norseman -3 points (+0|-3) ago
[–] hafen 2 points (+2|-0) ago
[–] ZYX321 0 points (+2|-2) ago (edited ago)
[–] Norseman 0 points (+0|-0) ago
[–] NoRagrets 2 points (+2|-0) ago (edited ago)
[–] Norseman 0 points (+0|-0) ago (edited ago)
[–] ThisIsMyRealName 0 points (+0|-0) ago
[–] BLOODandHONOUR 18 points (+19|-1) ago
[–] NeedleStack 8 points (+8|-0) ago
[–] BLOODandHONOUR 6 points (+6|-0) ago
[–] NoRagrets 5 points (+5|-0) ago
[–] Rainy-Day-Dream [S] 3 points (+3|-0) ago
[–] BLOODandHONOUR 5 points (+5|-0) ago
[–] drj2 3 points (+3|-0) ago
[–] InterDigitated 1 points (+1|-0) ago
[–] BLOODandHONOUR 0 points (+0|-0) ago
[–] ZYX321 -1 points (+2|-3) ago (edited ago)
[–] Nalbarcam 0 points (+0|-0) ago (edited ago)
[–] Glory_Beckons -1 points (+0|-1) ago
[–] Xantha 8 points (+8|-0) ago
[–] Rainy-Day-Dream [S] 3 points (+3|-0) ago
[–] FortniteBlitzkrieg 2 points (+2|-0) ago
[–] TheodoreKent 5 points (+5|-0) ago
[–] Rainy-Day-Dream [S] 5 points (+8|-3) ago
[–] TheodoreKent 4 points (+4|-0) ago (edited ago)
[–] Norseman -1 points (+3|-4) ago (edited ago)
[–] BLOODandHONOUR 4 points (+4|-0) ago
[–] TheodoreKent 2 points (+2|-0) ago
[–] Realhero33 2 points (+2|-0) ago
[–] Norseman 1 points (+3|-2) ago
[–] BaldMiscreant 1 points (+1|-0) ago
[–] Rainy-Day-Dream [S] 0 points (+0|-0) ago
[–] hatecrime 1 points (+1|-0) ago
[–] NeedleStack 3 points (+3|-0) ago
[–] BaldMiscreant 2 points (+2|-0) ago (edited ago)
[–] Glory_Beckons 0 points (+0|-0) ago
[–] NeedleStack 0 points (+0|-0) ago
[–] TheENDIsFuckingNeigh 2 points (+2|-0) ago
[–] waffleman 0 points (+0|-0) ago
[–] SCRoberts1987 2 points (+2|-0) ago
[–] Glory_Beckons 3 points (+3|-0) ago
[–] Richard_Guzenya 3 points (+3|-0) ago
[–] Rainy-Day-Dream [S] -1 points (+2|-3) ago
[–] Viropher 1 points (+1|-0) ago
[–] NotHereForPizza 1 points (+1|-0) ago
[–] Rainy-Day-Dream [S] -1 points (+0|-1) ago
[–] NotHereForPizza 0 points (+0|-0) ago
[–] SparkS 0 points (+0|-0) ago
[–] albatrosv15 0 points (+0|-0) ago
[–] 2012ronpaul2012 0 points (+0|-0) ago
[–] astralprojectionbros 0 points (+0|-0) ago
[–] Rainy-Day-Dream [S] -1 points (+0|-1) ago
[–] whatisbestinlife 0 points (+0|-0) ago
[–] cantaloupe6 0 points (+0|-0) ago
[–] lifes-not-fair 0 points (+2|-2) ago
(technology)
by Rainy-Day-Dream
[–] Norseman 22 points (+27|-5) ago (edited ago)
[–] waffleman 4 points (+4|-0) ago (edited ago)
[–] Norseman -3 points (+0|-3) ago
[–] hafen 2 points (+2|-0) ago
[–] ZYX321 0 points (+2|-2) ago (edited ago)
[–] Norseman 0 points (+0|-0) ago
[–] NoRagrets 2 points (+2|-0) ago (edited ago)
[–] Norseman 0 points (+0|-0) ago (edited ago)
[–] ThisIsMyRealName 0 points (+0|-0) ago
[–] BLOODandHONOUR 18 points (+19|-1) ago
[–] NeedleStack 8 points (+8|-0) ago
[–] BLOODandHONOUR 6 points (+6|-0) ago
[–] NoRagrets 5 points (+5|-0) ago
[–] Rainy-Day-Dream [S] 3 points (+3|-0) ago
[–] BLOODandHONOUR 5 points (+5|-0) ago
[–] drj2 3 points (+3|-0) ago
[–] InterDigitated 1 points (+1|-0) ago
[–] BLOODandHONOUR 0 points (+0|-0) ago
[–] ZYX321 -1 points (+2|-3) ago (edited ago)
[–] Nalbarcam 0 points (+0|-0) ago (edited ago)
[–] Glory_Beckons -1 points (+0|-1) ago
[–] Xantha 8 points (+8|-0) ago
[–] Rainy-Day-Dream [S] 3 points (+3|-0) ago
[–] FortniteBlitzkrieg 2 points (+2|-0) ago
[–] TheodoreKent 5 points (+5|-0) ago
[–] Rainy-Day-Dream [S] 5 points (+8|-3) ago
[–] TheodoreKent 4 points (+4|-0) ago (edited ago)
[–] Norseman -1 points (+3|-4) ago (edited ago)
[–] BLOODandHONOUR 4 points (+4|-0) ago
[–] TheodoreKent 2 points (+2|-0) ago
[–] Realhero33 2 points (+2|-0) ago
[–] Norseman 1 points (+3|-2) ago
[–] BaldMiscreant 1 points (+1|-0) ago
[–] Rainy-Day-Dream [S] 0 points (+0|-0) ago
[–] hatecrime 1 points (+1|-0) ago
[–] NeedleStack 3 points (+3|-0) ago
[–] BaldMiscreant 2 points (+2|-0) ago (edited ago)
[–] Glory_Beckons 0 points (+0|-0) ago
[–] NeedleStack 0 points (+0|-0) ago
[–] TheENDIsFuckingNeigh 2 points (+2|-0) ago
[–] waffleman 0 points (+0|-0) ago
[–] SCRoberts1987 2 points (+2|-0) ago
[–] Glory_Beckons 3 points (+3|-0) ago
[–] Richard_Guzenya 3 points (+3|-0) ago
[–] Rainy-Day-Dream [S] -1 points (+2|-3) ago
[–] Viropher 1 points (+1|-0) ago
[–] NotHereForPizza 1 points (+1|-0) ago
[–] Rainy-Day-Dream [S] -1 points (+0|-1) ago
[–] NotHereForPizza 0 points (+0|-0) ago
[–] SparkS 0 points (+0|-0) ago
[–] albatrosv15 0 points (+0|-0) ago
[–] 2012ronpaul2012 0 points (+0|-0) ago
[–] astralprojectionbros 0 points (+0|-0) ago
[–] Rainy-Day-Dream [S] -1 points (+0|-1) ago
[–] whatisbestinlife 0 points (+0|-0) ago
[–] cantaloupe6 0 points (+0|-0) ago
[–] lifes-not-fair 0 points (+2|-2) ago