Remember when Google backed off the changes to Chrome that prevented adblockers from working and a short time later implemented those changes anyway? Why TF would Google start caring about what users want now, especially since this issue is way less visible to most people? Google wants people to think they have a voice about what happens with Android, not to actually give them one.

Blocking side loading will force apps and any generated revenue into Google’s Play store which is exactly the point of this no matter what Google says.

The bloviating Google is doing now is irrelevant. The company will move forward with blocking side loading within the next few months, guaranteed.

Remember when Google backed off the changes to Chrome that prevented adblockers from working and a short time later implemented those changes anyway? Why TF would Google start caring about what users want now, especially since this issue is way less visible to most people? Google wants people to think they have a voice about what happens with Android, not to actually give them one.

Blocking side loading will force apps and any generated revenue into Google’s Play store which is exactly the point of this no matter what Google says.

The bloviating Google is doing now is irrelevant. The company will move forward with blocking side loading within the next few months, guaranteed.

I had very similar problems with Realtek wifi on an HP laptop.

A possible fix:

Run “iwconfig” and check your adapter power management setting. If it’s on turn it off: “iwconfig [interface] power off”.

This solved most the wifi problems on my system.

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Glad you haven’t had any issues. Have a good night.

Do you have any experience with Linux viruses? Have you had your own Linux installations infected with viruses or malware?

You sure though?

What do you want? It should go without saying that I am absolutely sure of my own experience.

In probably 15 years total of running Linux I have not had a single problem with malware or viruses. Part of that time was also running Windows regularly and my Windows systems DID become infected with both malware and viruses occasionally, despite my best efforts. And you’re not mentioning the fact that Linux runs on 63% of the server market and those systems are under constant attack.

Reports of Linux system infections are truly rare, and considering the nature of the user community would be widely and loudly reported if they were happening.

Do you have any experience in this matter? Have you had your own Linux installations infected, or are you a Windows user questioning what you’re reading? (Perfectly reasonable if the 2nd one’s the case.) Please fill us in on the details.

I’ve used Linux Mint and other distros daily for more than 10 years. Never had a virus or malware issue and don’t even run antivirus software.

During that same time I’ve had to help friends remove viruses and malware from their Windows machines dozens of times. The latest Windows disaster I’ve assisted with was a few months ago. A retired friend had her Windows 10 machine hijacked and $8K stolen from her savings account. Making sure the malware was removed required hours of work formatting the drive and reinstalling Windows.

IMO you are far safer with a plain vanilla Linux install that you are with Windows, no matter what steps you take to secure your Windows installation.

On my Linux Mint laptop Winboat installed quickly and allowed me to install and run the one program I use that requires Windows. This biggest issues were with that same app’s windows when they were rendered on the Linux desktop. They sometimes couldn’t be moved, resized or closed, however the same app ran just fine on the Winboat Windows Desktop itself.

The latest version is identified as an alpha release on the UI, so these problems aren’t surprising. What is surprising is how well so much of this works for an alpha release, particularly how polished the installation process is.

Looking forward to using Winboat when it progresses to the beta.

I didn’t figure it out either. It was a educated guess and I got lucky.

I had similar issues with Home Assistant initially and had two failures that looked like database corruption in less than 6 months. I decided to give it one last try and switched to MariaDB. That was nearly 3 years ago. Since then it’s been rock solid.

You had a lucky escape, HA is addictive.

I have a Surface Laptop 4 and have been running Mint exclusively for a couple of years. It’s less well supported than the tablets and the initial installation took a bit of work, but once installed it has worked perfectly. The Linux Surface project has a detailed feature matrix that shows what’s supported for each model.

I know my sideloaded apps are safe. I have far less confidence with the apps Google allows in their App Store.

It’s amazing how much damage those scammers cause.

Last year I ran into a retired neighbor at Staples buying a new laptop because her existing machine had been hacked. She came back after leaving it running to find someone was logged in remotely. They drained $8k from her retirement account. Turned out 6 months earlier she got a call from “Microsoft” asking to connect to her machine because they “noticed it had a problem.”

Most of the people I know are computer illiterate. They know nothing about PC’s and don’t care to learn because they think of PCs as appliances. They want word processing, email, photos, and web, and don’t give a damn what’s going on under the hood. Microsoft support is generally pretty bad, but it’s far better than none at all.

That lack of any support (except me) is the only reason I haven’t moved friends and family to Linux.

For non-enterprise users only two things:

1. Zero reasonably priced options for support when things go wrong.
2. Breaking changes caused by updates that make that support necessary.

If my neighbor’s Windows or Apple machine breaks they can call Microsoft or Apple, the PC manufacturer or a bunch of different support providers. Microsoft provides free support if one of their updates causes problems.

I can’t find any Linux support aimed at home users, only very expensive enterprise support options.

Glad to hear they’ve added headless support. Will have to take another look.

When I tried RustDesk it was not able to easily function on headless systems, including servers and my desktop PC if the monitor was powered off. Has that changed?

Anydesk and Teamviewer don’t have that problem, but both companies have had hacking incidents and Teamviewer actually blamed their users instead of taking responsibility. Allowing 3rd parties of any type remote access to my computers is IMO just asking for trouble, especially for always-on systems.

Wireguard plus VNC isn’t as seamless but it works fine the vast majority of the time. When I occasionally need features that VNC doesn’t support, NoMachine is a full-featured, free for non-commercial use alternative that works great with WG.

Edit: It looks like the latest release of NoMachine now offers a intermediate network service that operates like Teamviewer and Anydesk. Access via intermediate network ID is not enabled by default, so with it disabled it should theoretically be more secure than the other apps.

Every time I’m force to use Windows it feels like I’m being punished.