I for one hate Microsoft Windows a great amount, yet am in love with C#... Just because a company has one terrible product, doesn't mean everything they make is terrible.
Also... What everyone else here already said. No reason for me to rinse and repeat what's been said lol.
Title probably needs to be reworded. Terms clearly mention they won't use it without user consent, not that they MUST use it. Doesn't mean it'll stay that way, but just don't consent for it when asked and you're probably okay (I'm mentioning this for those who have no choice but to use it, for things like work)
Probably already said here, but it's going to just come down to your end goal to know what distro fits what you're looking for.
I am personally a huge fan of Gentoo, another distro that's all about "from the ground up" approach. It's actually where I started with Linux and is how I became as proficient in it as I am today. In fact my internal server that does everything is running Gentoo as it's OS... Has never had any problems in the last decade that would require a reinstall or anything crazy like that.
But even as much love as I have for Gentoo, I have Linux Mint installed on my laptop. Why? Because it's just more convenient when I need my full focus on the 10 other personal projects I'm working on... Also amazing on the gaming front. Doesn't have nearly as much bloat as some other Ubuntu-based distros on first install, has a huge community support, and is just great all around to have.
Why not just self host? What happens when/if their service goes down without any warning? You lose everything?
Got my things all on a server with RAID for redundancy and backup weekly to an external (encrypted) device, monthly to another that doesn't stay at home. Also means I don't have to rely on the Internet to use all my services if the ISP goes down, the firewall explodes, etc. Self hosting is the way to go!
I don't, but that's because of how I have things setup around the network. While most people here say it's because they don't need it, I am in a position that I need SOMETHING simply because others in the household could bring in malware and rather than trust them to make smart decisions, I proactively monitor all network activity for anything unusual. That being said, I have clamAv installed and run a weekly scan, but my real "antivirus solutions" are as follows: A syslog server that's connected to grafana/MySQL and alerts me based on very specific criteria. Along this, I've got my network firewall configured to block all "untrustworthy countries" in and out 100%, as well as use an IDS/IPS (also connected to syslog for alerts). Lastly, an internal DNS which grabs from like 20 sources that include some reliable lists with malware domains and such, and a custom list of my own that I add to as useful security news feeds hit my RSS feed with urls in their blog posts.
Actually got a list of other things going on in the network to make it even more secure, but just wanted to list the main things that'll give you a step up in the anti-malware front.
None of this is buletproof without proper care for how you use the Internet, though.
You get the idea. My message got way too long and turned into a rant lol.
You have comments in your legacy codebases?? Luckyyyyy
Dunno if anyone mentioned it, but if I had to guess, you have a DNS leak. Basically your DNS requests are going through your ISP instead of the VPN, resulting in them knowing where you're going online anyway. Be sure to check for those DNS leaks and setup a custom one if your VPN doesn't offer one. Don't forget, DNS traffic over port 53 is also unencrypted, so unless you force those through the VPN, they could still know where you're going.
If in the US, check out privacy.com. It's a bank so expect the signup process to be as invasive as any other bank, but they allow you to create masked cards and you can fill in any name and address you want into the billing info to keep your real info away from websites. Paid version also hides transactions you make from your actual bank.
Join the Linux club. You'll never go back once you get the hang of it! Nothing in my house has Windows. Left it years ago and have had zero regrets.
I won't lie, I had to look at the comments and do a real quick search engine check to find out that the kids these days call the old FPS games "boomer shooter". One hell of a way to remind me about my age by calling me a boomer for liking my childhood FPS games :(
I like having the internet and technology. It's the abusive use of it that I don't like.I am also one who wishes phones were of no necessary use. Why do I need a phone number to sign up to an online service? Why must I have an email address and internet access just to see what lab results came in from the doctor's office? What use is my email address being "real" to some online community and services? I would be okay in a world where the phone and emails were just a nice thing to have and not required. I understand that everyone is saying "just turn off the phone, watch tv, unplug the computer"... But with how just about every company in the world requires this to even function, it's a lot easier said than done. I think the real thing folks on surveys like this are looking for is a world where the internet, phones, computers, etc are nice to have but not needed to live a life. Or maybe I'm just unique in how I feel, dunno, just had to share my thoughts lol.
What I did was just buy the tv I wanted for the hardware and block it from internet access by Mac address, then plugged it into the network with eth. I then put dns blocks on every request it made (I log things before blocking them, and did this on the scenario a kill switch gets messed up or something) and installed the media software from there. Smart tv made private.