Advanced Plus Security Geminis3's Security Config 2020

Last updated
Dec 13, 2020
How it's used?
For home and private use
Operating system
Windows 10
Log-in security
Security updates
Allow security updates and latest features
User Access Control
Notify me only when programs try to make changes to my computer
Real-time security
Microsoft Defender
Firewall security
Microsoft Defender Firewall
About custom security
PUP detection
Periodic malware scanners
  • MBAM Free
  • EEK
  • Hitman.Pro
  • NPE
Malware sample testing
I do not participate in malware testing
Browser(s) and extensions
Firefox, Chrome and Edge:
  • uBlock Origin
  • Bitwarden
Maintenance tools
Cleanmgr+
CCleaner portable
File and Photo backup
Google Drive
System recovery
Macrium Reflect
Risk factors
    • Browsing to popular websites
    • Downloading software and files from reputable sites
    • Browsing to unknown / untrusted / shady sites
    • Working from home
    • Gaming
    • Streaming audio/video content from trusted sites or paid subscriptions
    • Streaming audio/video content from shady sites
Computer specs
Acer Predator Helios 300 (G3-571-77QK):
  • i7-7700HQ
  • GTX 1060 6GB
  • 16GB DDR4
  • 1TB WD Blue SN550 NVMe
  • 120GB Kingston SSD

Vitali Ortzi

Level 22
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Dec 12, 2016
1,147
Linux is good until you find out a program that refuses to run with WINE, but you can always use a VM or dual boot. If you decide to install Linux, avoid GNOME at all costs it's slow, unintuitive and uses more RAM than Windows 10 with all telemetry enabled
Yeah that's why I'm still on windows XD.
Some mod loaders I use can probably work but require a lot of trouble shooting(best case scenario ).
So instead of wasting my time on troubleshooting /reading Reddit all day long .
I just play !
so far not worth it especially since you can use DXVK on windows to get maybe 1-2 less fps over Linux in worst case so similar performance with more usability
 

Vitali Ortzi

Level 22
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Dec 12, 2016
1,147
Yeah that's why I'm still on windows XD.
Some mod loaders I use can probably work but require a lot of trouble shooting(best case scenario ).
So instead of wasting my time on troubleshooting /reading Reddit all day long .
I just play !
so far not worth it especially since you can use DXVK on windows to get maybe 1-2 less fps over Linux in worst case so similar performance with more usability
Still I really love the Linux community for DXVK .
I use a dx9 wrapper (older dx to dx9 translation layer)+ DXVK to get better performance out of old games then I use graphics mods with Pascal glitcher reshade shaders and driver level sharpening .
Then play games in 4k with my RX 580 :)
 

bayasdev

Level 19
Thread author
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Sep 10, 2015
901
F

ForgottenSeer 72227

21/06/2020

Using Arch Manjaro btw
  • Windscribe is broken in Arch so replaced it with ProtonVPN
  • Browsers: FF, Chromium (from Arch repo), Opera and Brave
  • Pamac is the best Linux store, everything from OSS to propietary software, snaps, AUR, flatpak, etc in a fast and simple GUI
  • Free SoftMaker Office
  • Games work the same as in Windows
  • Virtualbox instead of VMware
  • Optimus working out of the box with non-free drivers, just use prime-run (app) and enjoy

Manjaro is a really good distro and one of my favorites. The team behind it is doing a great job IMHO. It's a really good distro for those who want an Arch based distro, but don't want to go through the hassle of installing Arch.

Linux is good until you find out a program that refuses to run with WINE, but you can always use a VM or dual boot. If you decide to install Linux, avoid GNOME at all costs it's slow, unintuitive and uses more RAM than Windows 10 with all telemetry enabled

While gaming on Linux has come a long ways and continues to get better, there are still come things that refuse to work (right now anyways). Depending on what it is, Windows in a VM, or dual boot is a good compromise. Now if you really want to get fancy, one could attempt VFIO which basically runs Windows in a VM, but allow it to have direct access to hardware (ie: GPU), so it runs as if it was installed directly on the hardware.

As to Gnome, ya...you either like it, or you hate it. I actually like it, but I can see why others don't. They've designed it to be a keyboard driven interface, which is the complete opposite of most DE's which are more mouse driven interfaces. KDE is also high up on my list, I like it a lot and it's probably the most popular DE out there right now. This is really the best part of linux. Don't like the DE, swap it out for one you like more. I've done that with Pop!_OS as well. In trying out different things, I installed KDE plasma on top and it ran really well!
 

sepik

Level 11
Verified
Well-known
Aug 21, 2018
505
Hello,
As a "distrohopper" too (i have two old laptops for linux distro testing purposes, one oldie for testing windows softwares and malwares). I also do some wierd things, like installing Mac OSX Sierra on a VM and installing it via bootable USB stick to a PC. Its quite easy to install to 300$ market machines.
Sure it took a lot of research to learn how to do that. I have really old asus eeepc with 1 gb ram and single core processor 32bit. Damn, how fast ldme 2 works. You can even watch 480p without framedrops. Managed to tweaked(services) to using only 220mb/1gb of memory. Firefox strugled to play 480p videos, chrome played them well.
 

Chri.Mi

Level 7
Well-known
Apr 30, 2020
337
Manjaro is a really good distro and one of my favorites. The team behind it is doing a great job IMHO. It's a really good distro for those who want an Arch based distro, but don't want to go through the hassle of installing Arch.



While gaming on Linux has come a long ways and continues to get better, there are still come things that refuse to work (right now anyways). Depending on what it is, Windows in a VM, or dual boot is a good compromise. Now if you really want to get fancy, one could attempt VFIO which basically runs Windows in a VM, but allow it to have direct access to hardware (ie: GPU), so it runs as if it was installed directly on the hardware.

As to Gnome, ya...you either like it, or you hate it. I actually like it, but I can see why others don't. They've designed it to be a keyboard driven interface, which is the complete opposite of most DE's which are more mouse driven interfaces. KDE is also high up on my list, I like it a lot and it's probably the most popular DE out there right now. This is really the best part of linux. Don't like the DE, swap it out for one you like more. I've done that with Pop!_OS as well. In trying out different things, I installed KDE plasma on top and it ran really well!
I love manjaro too, used for 3 years. The best part is arch based which give a slim rolling release, but with 2 weeks of delays respect arch. In this way u dont have to download new versions, and dont have much risk of break the system when some applications get update (bugs,etc can be solved in some days). If i could uninstall fortnite there was no reason for use windows. For ppls that like windows games, u can try to install lutris. It support many games.
 
Last edited:
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bayasdev

Level 19
Thread author
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Sep 10, 2015
901
04/07/2020
  • Switched Manjaro branch for stable to testing
  • Arch Chromium is now my default browsing (till FF80 arrives with VA-API support under X11)

The latest builds of Arch Chromium have full hardware acceleration so I can finally play 4K@60 videos under Linux without stressing the CPU, btw I also use Mangohud, gamemode and intel-undervolt tools.
 

bayasdev

Level 19
Thread author
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Sep 10, 2015
901
18/07/2020

After a month of using Linux (mostly Manjaro KDE) I went back to Windows 10 but not before telling my experience so far.

The good
  • The Linux kernel is more optimized and there are some light desktop environments (DE) like LxQT which can make an old computer feel faster (and save RAM ofc).
  • Updates are fast and they don't eat your disk space (I'm looking at you always-growing WinSxS folder which can only be managed by DISM), the software you install also gets updated automatically and there's no need for 3rd party updaters cause everything is unified unlike MS ecosystem where you can't even update your UWP apps whithin Windows Update.
  • No messy regedit, most apps store their settings inside .conf files (which are far easier to manipulate) and since the package manager handles installs you can completely remove all of their traces when uninstalling also EXT4 drives are rarely fragmented so those days of running a defrag overnight are a thing of the past (aka average "enlightened" Linux user referring to its Windows days).
  • You can play most AAA games without major performance impact using Wine, DXVK, Steam Proton nor Lutris excluding games with kernel level anticheat/DRM.
  • It makes you more tech savvy, btw avoid blindly copying & pasting random commands in a terminal as root without knowing what they do.
  • Good memes on Reddit.
The bad (aka everything that glitters is not gold)
  • Linux's graphics stack is inferior Windows' in terms of daily computing, e.g most browsers don't support VA-API hardware acceleration (Firefox 80 will address this while Chromium requires a special patch to be applied during compilation which is found on Arch builds out of the box) so expect high CPU spikes when playing high-resolution videos.
  • Some well-known software like O365 or the Adobe CC suite doesn't runs on Wine so this can be a no go for most people.
  • Firefox despite being the default browser in most distros runs slower on Linux.
  • Most of the times if you screw up something it's easier to reinstall everything and you will develop distrohopping, a mental disease that causes an individual to change its distro several times per day/week.
  • Linux User at Best Buy
The ugly
  • Nvidia drivers for Linux are low quality (e.g you can't hibernate without having a kernel panic), only AMD/Intel drivers are good on Linux.
  • My laptop speakers make cracking sounds during videoconferences.

What I use now on my Windows 10 Pro
  • WPD privacy tweaks with block OneDrive option enabled and most UWP apps deleted.
    Captura de pantalla (47).png
  • WD with ConfigureDefender since I prefer compatibility over false security feelings.
  • Usual system utilities, Macrium backups and NVCleanstall to remove telemetry from Nvidia drivers (GeForce Experience is a RAM hog).
  • I also monitor background services, autostart entries and disk space usage regularly to keep my installation as tidy as possible.
I close this by saying that Linux will always be in my hearth... my phone, the smart TV too, most web servers, the router and probably everything else that isn't a personal computer but connects to the Internet 😂
 
Last edited:

oldschool

Level 81
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Mar 29, 2018
7,043
Most of the times if you screw up something it's easier to reinstall everything and you will develop distrohopping, a mental disease that causes an individual to change its distro several times per day/week.
:ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:
WD with ConfigureDefender since I prefer compatibility over false security feelings.
(y)(y) Now you can take part in the Windows Defender Only challenge. :D

Please edit your configuration above.
 
F

ForgottenSeer 72227

18/07/2020

After a month of using Linux (mostly Manjaro KDE) I went back to Windows 10 but not before telling my experience so far.

The good
  • The Linux kernel is more optimized and there are some light desktop environments (DE) like LxQT which can make an old computer feel faster (and save RAM ofc).
  • Updates are fast and they don't eat your disk space (I'm looking at you always-growing WinSxS folder which can only be managed by DISM), the software you install also gets updated automatically and there's no need for 3rd party updaters cause everything is unified unlike MS ecosystem where you can't even update your UWP apps whithin Windows Update.
  • No messy regedit, most apps store their settings inside .conf files (which are far easier to manipulate) and since the package manager handles installs you can completely remove all of their traces when uninstalling also EXT4 drives are rarely fragmented so those days of running a defrag overnight are a thing of the past (aka average "enlightened" Linux user referring to its Windows days).
  • You can play most AAA games without major performance impact using Wine, DXVK, Steam Proton nor Lutris excluding games with kernel level anticheat/DRM.
  • It makes you more tech savvy, btw avoid blindly copying & pasting random commands in a terminal as root without knowing what they do.
  • Good memes on Reddit.
The bad (aka everything that glitters is not gold)
  • Linux's graphics stack is inferior Windows' in terms of daily computing, e.g most browsers don't support VA-API hardware acceleration (Firefox 80 will address this while Chromium requires a special patch to be applied during compilation which is found on Arch builds out of the box) so expect high CPU spikes when playing high-resolution videos.
  • Some well-known software like O365 or the Adobe CC suite doesn't runs on Wine so this can be a no go for most people.
  • Firefox despite being the default browser in most distros runs slower on Linux.
  • Most of the times if you screw up something it's easier to reinstall everything and you will develop distrohopping, a mental disease that causes an individual to change its distro several times per day/week.
  • Linux User at Best Buy
The ugly
  • Nvidia drivers for Linux are low quality (e.g you can't hibernate without having a kernel panic), only AMD/Intel drivers are good on Linux.
  • My laptop speakers make cracking sounds during videoconferences.
I close this by saying that Linux will always be in my hearth... my phone, the smart TV too, most web servers, the router and probably everything else that isn't a personal computer but connects to the Internet 😂

Good summary.

I like Linux a lot as well, but like you said, there are still many reasons as to why it has never taken off on the desktop side of things. People in the Linux community like to constantly bash MS and Windows, but at the same time are blind (or don't want o admit to) to many issues on the Linux side of things. Linux does a lot of things better than Windows, but Windows also does a lot of things better than Linux. As the old saying goes, it's the small things that makes the biggest difference. Things like power management aren't fully there yet on Linux. One of my biggest annoyances with Linux is fractional scaling. It's a mess in Linux, it's either not present, or not consistent. So using a 4k display with Linux can be a pain.

Personally I would really like to use linux, but until the Linux community wakes up, stops the stupid in-fighting that is present on Linux (hence a million distros, and DE's, package mangers etc...). Don't get me wrong, having the choice to use and setup Linux the way you want is what makes it great, it's also an hinderance, as their is no straight forward path to improvement. With everyone doing their own thing, Linux on the desktop is adanving like a pie shape forward. It's going forward, but really slowly compared to MS and Apple where they have teams and project managers that drive focus in a much more narrow path.
 

bayasdev

Level 19
Thread author
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Sep 10, 2015
901
Went back to Manjaro, Windows 10 was using like 5GB of RAM with the same things open vs 3GB with Manjaro.

PD: this year programming teacher uses Debian so no problems with my uni studies

1601988687666.jpeg
 
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F

ForgottenSeer 85179

Went back to Manjaro, Windows 10 was using like 5GB of RAM with the same things open vs 3GB with Manjaro.
RAM is there to use and Windows does a great step managing it which means too much used will get unused if other programs need it.
Anyway this sounds not like a Windows problem as my Windows never use so much and i have 16GB.
 

bayasdev

Level 19
Thread author
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Sep 10, 2015
901
RAM is there to use and Windows does a great step managing it which means too much used will get unused if other programs need it.
Anyway this sounds not like a Windows problem as my Windows never use so much and i have 16GB.
My Linux also uses it all with 4 VMs, tons of browser tabs, videos playing, discord, Steam, etc.

Edit: I love to play a game called Cities Skylines with lots of mods and assets it uses 8GB of RAM (no matter what OS), on Windows I almost ran out of RAM (then Windows starts moving everything into swapfile and system starts to slowdown) when using Firefox at the same time. On Linux it uses 10GB (8 from game + 2 OS + Firefox) and I still have like 6GB of free RAM.
 
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bayasdev

Level 19
Thread author
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Sep 10, 2015
901
Well I'm back to Windows 10 as my main OS (despite getting used to doing things right from the terminal) because it made no sense for me to use compatibility layers to run programs designed for another OS, Linux it's a very efficient OS but all the benefits and improved performance get lost when you run Windows software.

To get MS Office working I setup a VirtualBox VM but I actually started playing with Windows 10 inside the VM and found that OneDrive it's the culprit of the random CPU spikes when you boot the system.

I used builtbybel/privatezilla to disable telemetry and remove OneDrive along with Cortana (it's not available on my country but still eating resources in the background).

I actually wanted to play a game that you can see in the screenshot

1602907324708.png


PD: KDE has a better UI than Windows 10 😄

cowsay bye tux :(
 

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