i use windows because its the only os i know how to use. i want to get into things like torrenting because free stuff is cool but im afraid to. ive heard of tails os, a os that boots from a flash drive, is that worth checking out or should i stick with windows?

what is your advice? what should i do?

      •  msage   ( @msage@programming.dev ) 
        7•9 months ago

        You need VPN to hide your traffic from your internet provider, your OS will not help with that. Use Mullvad, nothing else.

        If you want more secure OS, that will respect your privacy, your only options are Linux or BSD. If you only have experience with Windows, go with Linux Mint. Keep in mind that it is a fork of Ubuntu, so guides and packages for Ubuntu will work for Mint almost always.

        Mint is more suited for newcomers.

      •  ikiru   ( @ikiru@lemmy.ml ) 
        5•9 months ago

        I use Ubuntu Budgie and that works perfect for me, but I hear Mint is good for beginners too.

        And if you live in the US, always use a VPN when torrenting. But if you live in a country where you know no one will give a shit about you downloading a movie, then have at it.

        In terms of digital security best practices, though, you should pretty much always use a VPN anyway. And follow this guide if you feel like you do need a VPN when torrenting.

      •  Lemongrab   ( @Lemongrab@lemmy.one ) 
        3•9 months ago

        Mint was designed to be easy for windows users. Learn some stuff about the package manager (software manager for GUI, and either apt or apt-get) and you should be alright. Fyi Linux Mint is basically Ubuntu (but with some good changes) so find what Ubuntu version you are running (using cat /etc/upstream-release/lsb-release in the terminal) and thats what software is compatable. I’d avoid full drive encryption because Timeshift (system snapshot app) doesn’t work with ZFS drive partitions.

  •  stifle867   ( @stifle867@programming.dev ) 
    9•9 months ago

    There’s a lot of helpful comments here and being your age is a great time to start tinkering with computers! Just start by installing them into a VirtualBox because if you don’t have the knowledge it’s very easy to break things and anyone else that has to use the computer isn’t going to be very happy with you.

    However, I want to point out something that actually address your concerns.

    1. If you are concerned about getting “caught” for torrenting then Windows vs any other OS makes zero difference.
    2. If you are concerned about viruses, Linux is more secure based on the fact that most viruses target Windows. However, this does not mean it is impossible. Learning basic security practices will help you on Windows and much as any other OS.
    •  ruepfe   ( @ruepfe@feddit.de ) 
      2•9 months ago

      Can recommend this, too!

      I used their script several years ago to debloat my win10. It needed to boot into linux to fully get rid of certain files and features, but this worked fine.

      They now have different scripts used as playbooks to get win to the desired state. Haven’t tried yet.

  •  Boring   ( @Boring@lemmy.ml ) 
    8•9 months ago

    Tails isn’t really designed for daily driving. I’d go for a user friendly distro like Ubuntu if you an on switching from windows.

    It is possible to make windows a little more private if you didn’t want to switch. Here’s a pretty good guide in modifying the the iso before installing: https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/create-custom-windows-11-install-disk

    Modifying window does help users gain more control and privacy, but windows is proprietary so a person can only do so much. Be careful on what you remove if you GI this route, windows relies on weird apps to function.

    Another note, I wouldn’t be afraid of torrenting. The inky person that would care that your getting free movies and such is your ISP, and you can just flip on a VPN to clear their radar.

  •  Killercat103   ( @Killercat103@infosec.pub ) 
    7•9 months ago

    A “just works” distribution like Linux Mint is miles ahead compared to Windows and Tails OS is a step even further as it is only Live and routes everything through TOR.

    Linux is not hard to be honest. Your main concern in difficulty is third-party software support. (Creative cloud and office 365 does not work for instance.)

    If you want to try out any of these, just ask me if you need any help

  •  squid   ( @squid@feddit.uk ) 
    5•9 months ago

    Download whatever distro seems interesting, if tails is something you want to try then try it I actually had a similar introduction to Linux but I doubt youd stick with tails as its not a daily not to say tails doesn’t have its place. I personal like arch distros and if your moving from windows you’d probably like KDE plasma. Using Linux won’t instantly net you privacy, this is something that you’d need to pro actively aim to be private, like what is the URL for the pirate bay, 1337x, can I trust this torrent? Which browser do you use and search engine, what torrent client can be trusted.

    I’d recommend using transmission, qbittorrent or anything Foss with half decent user base. VPN you’ve got proton free, mullvad costs but I’d say its worth it or you can tunnel through tor network. Distros you’ve got lots of options, recommend you look at distrowatch or youtubers like distrotube. Find a small pall of trust worthy torrent sites and names of trust worthy repackere, fitgirl, dodi, jc141 to name a few.

    But most importantly. Make sure to seed 🙃

  •  phanto   ( @phanto@lemmy.ca ) 
    4•9 months ago

    One thing I have done more of, of late, is using an external drive plugged in to the fastest usb port I’ve got (thunderbolt, in my case), and installing Mint on there. I’ve got an NVME enclosure with Linux Mint Debian Edition on it, and it has a USB A or C cable, so I can boot into it from several different computers. It’s also great for rescuing files off of non-booting Windows machines. You take a bit of a speed hit, but it’s not as bad as you’d think, and it fits in my pocket. (Good party trick, too.)

  •  👁️👄👁️   ( @mojo@lemm.ee ) English
    3•9 months ago

    If Windows is the only thing you know how to use, don’t use tails. Use something that has a KDE desktop environment which is like Windows. Suggestions for distros in these comments are pretty good. It’ll look and operate like windows, except you install apps from app stores like you do on your phone.