I’ll review again. Last time I looked was 3 to 4 years ago.

I’m sticking with Proton for now. If Switzerland ends up being no different than the 5 eyes, I’ll be more intent on finding a replacement.

Is 50 too late?

Tutonota is German, which is part of the already full on surveilance state.

I’m guessing his/her point involves the location of its incorporation. Any company in the “five eyes” zone can be forced to release details about its users to any member state. One must evaluate whether NordVPN keeps anything more than a few hours - days tops - to decide if it is “safe enough”. I was worried enough about this particular point that I chose a VPN that is not in any way beholden to five eyes or the fourteen eyes, which is a similar agreement.

Proton caught heat because of its release of information to the local law enforcement recently. While Switzerland is not part of the five eyes, it does have its own laws requiring a reveal in certain circumstances. I forgot the details, but I think they had an IP address that had not yet been wiped from cache, and that was enough to pinpoint the hackers being sought.

In truth, there’s no sure way to be sure. One still must trust the organization is both honest and competent enough to properly wipe any residual information. No matter who it is, some amount of information has to be in cache for some time in order to be able to deliver the service, and there also needs something tracking the workings of the system to ensure it isn’t overloaded or to find opportunities to improve it.

I’m American and switched to all that except ksuite over a decade ago. Started with linux back in '95 with Slackware.

I suggest you fully switch to Linux, and use QEMU to host Windows 10. Fire that up when necessary. Most windows software including games can be run in linux with Wine/Proton - no Windows needed.

Best to have 32G RAM, for flexibility.

Once you get comfortable, set up your own cloud. The simple hands-off choice is Synology, but there are good FOSS options. Set up a personal vpn secured with a certificate and a domain name, and you have your cloud wherever you need it.

I use OpenVPN and activate it briefly when i need something on my NAS, then disconnect. Joplin via WebDAV works well with this setup, as do shared volumes.

Must be nice. I bought mine 5 years ago and apparently will never receive it. $700 - poof! $700 gone forever. At this point, it’d be good for a paperweight.

I know a few are on F-droid, so he could get those at least

I get those with Magisk/LSposed, but having it by default is nice. Maybe i will check it out sometime.

Does it have parental controls?

Anything you get from f-droid or Izzy will work fine. OsmAnd is on F-droid. Anything from play store will expect google push notifications, etc., so you need microg or equivalent.

I found that google voice is working with LineageOS with MicroG. The last time i checked a year or so ago, it didn’t.

Neo Backup is the new titanium as of about 5 years ago. Now, if only i could get TWRP back…

Neo Backup on F-Droid. Backs up everything based on how you configure it. Copy the backupsvto your new phone and restore.

It requires root, of course. Yet another reason to have root. I run backup before flashing and copy it to a flash card in case i have to reset or wipe the phone as part of the process, or i screw it up and have to start from scratch.

I feel the way you do. I always keep some cash, don’t bother with those cash apps, and use a credit card with a good cash back plan. To me the cost of going digital in this area outweighs all benefits.

Those of us who actually use VPN don’t have that option since only one can be in use. Magisk + AdAway, for me.

It’s painful disabling knox so you can root or flash custom roms.

This is what i motivates me, too, though you go in more than i. I love having my degoogled pixel 2xl on Android 14 and running almost as snappy as my pixel 6.

I finally gave up on my moto x 2013 about 2 years ago, but i still have it. It’s like holding a river stone that perfectly firs my hand.

That only blocks for the browser. What about your apps? I never see add banners or popups in apps as i use adaway. Further, I can customize with well maintained blocklists that include other categories like malware and harvesting sites.

I left the pc gaming scene about 20 years ago and only came bacj this year. I found my steam credentials from when they were initially seeking players and revived my account (I closed my email on the account back in 2009, so i couldn’t recover).

I’ve mostly been playing vSkyrim, BG 3, and a few emulated Zelda games. I finally ordered a new gaming laptop because Cyberpunk 2077 is hard to rrad on the Deck, even on a 50" tv on hi-res.

All that is just so you all know where I’m coming from, i am both a newb and a veteran!

From a business standpoint, looking ant it form the non-gaming financial point of view, the move to online-only makes very compelling sense.

It fully implements the licensing model, gives them total control over the property, enables them to generate reports that accurately identify trndsvin user populations, pinpoint steady revenue figures, and they can kill the game as soon as it isn’t valuable to them anymore, and they don’t have to worry about losing revenue from sharing, passing the copy to an otherwise paying customer for free, or a significant pirtiin of piracy loss.

Itvis the end state of the “we are mearly licensing it to you until such time as we decide ee want it back” model.

It sucks, and if i can know it is online only before buying, i will pass. All of us should. Revenue is king to them, and if they lose even a little, they will try something else.

Well said… Two weeks before the equivalent i posted moments ago.

I’ll elaborate for him/her: mesh devices sold by untrusted companies with a profit model will almost surely be collecting your data.

The problem is not “mesh”, it is the companies using a new, cool, buzzword to sell their spyware that is the problem.

They are basically enhanced repeaters that don’t require a seperate network access point.

If you get a device that is primarily marketed as basic hardware, like the Asus router, you are more likely to avoid the collection. Bonus points if you can flash FOSS software to it, also like Asus, so yiu know it is clean. Regardless, use a VPN for external communications.

My home is small enough that mesh is unnecessary, but I’d buy another Asus device for mesh if it were necessary.

Well, i haven’t neen much of a gamer for years (got too adicted to WoW), but just started again this year. I am amazed by Skyrim, and am now modding it up.

I also just got Cyberpunk 2077, and will get into it soon.