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.
By installing Linux on it
debian trixie was released at just the right time, about two months before win10 went on life support.
IdkWhatIExpected.gif
Mint on the laptops. Bazzite on the gaming PCs
Yep. Recently convinced my brother to install Fedora Silverblue on it.
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.
You still need some sort of exploit to be able to hit your machine. If you’re behind a firewall and not raw dogging it on the internet then you’ve got a decent layer of security.
At that point it’s just your web browser (or your brain) that needs an exploit to for something bad to happen. And both chrome and Firefox will be supporting 10 for years to come.
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.
By turning it on.
What am I saying, it never gets turned off.
The slew of recent zero days in everything from the Linux kernel to Firefox warrant urgent patching…
Same way you’d use a phone that’s EOL. Even my old ass EOL router still held up because it accepted no incoming calls as if it wasn’t even there. Any other more involved attack vectors would probably fall outside of scope for the people potentially targeting an average person. Where the real danger lies with outdated systems, especially W10 while it’s still fairly fresh, is user error - visit the wrong link or download a wrong file and you are in the world of pain.
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.
Did you try the KDE plasma environment for fedora on desktop?
I did not. But that’s basically because I had a similar solution with Mint’s Cinnamon. It’s not off the table, and I might test it out eventually. My computing needs and workflows are changing, and the dust hasn’t quite settled yet.
With that said, do you have any pros you like with plasma over gnome?
No - I prefer gnome. KDE has more “inbuilt” customisability in that you don’t necessarily have to mess about with extensions, but gnome has a large and well enough maintained extensions community that this doesn’t matter. I just thought it’d be more up your alley if you prefer cinnamon, which is also windows-like
Gotcha. Yeah, it’s just a different workflow / mentality I am breaking through. On a laptop the track pad swipes are very natural to me. Whereas on desktop you hit the super key to bring up the main toolbar. Using a mouse I tend to think as point and click for everything which adds a lot of extra movement. Just learning curve on my end and figuring out what I like best (which I am leaning towards gnome at this point). I appreciate the comment though to make sure I knew my options, because it’s not always obvious.
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.
LTSC IoT Enterprise support until 2032 - massgrave dot dev/windows10_eol
I’m running 10 with no security features as my main gaming system. I turned off as much of Windows defender as I could because it was slowing down texture downloads in Second Life + was trying to say my fan control software was malware.
I hope I get a virus because it’ll be the final tug I need to fully cover to linux. I just converted a 10 year old laptop to linux mint to run as a server since everything is getting enshittified and requiring monthly fees, like Mint the budgeting app, so I’m dipping my toe into self-hosting.
I have nothing to lose.
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.
I have TPM disabled in the bios so Windows 11 can’t install itself.
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.
I’m not
I did the free extended update. Will probably swap to the iot version later this year.
