Welp, Xbox is the last thing in the Microsoft ecosystem to go, personally. I've got rid of everything else, backed up everywhere else, and slowly switched OSes even. Just can't deal with the shit anymore. And no, PS/Sony isn't any better.
mrnobody
joined 1 week ago
They can afford it after all the price gouging
Aharr, ye be right!
That's hilarious. Definitely worked with a few like that!
I've been casually spending weeks deGoogling and deMSFTing my life. I say casually because I'm not rushing to wipe it all out. I'm also not super paranoid about fully self-hosting, I'm using what seems to be a mix of convenience plus privacy.
I deleted all social media a decade ago, I use a generic Google acct for my phone, I use Proton for email (generic as can be info) and a few other services for convenience without feeling like it's selling/hoarding all my info. I've got all family using at least RCS if not Signal.
I also don't use fingerprint, facial recognition, or any smart speakers with live mics. I have my home network pretty locked down, with most devices segregated that is anything "smart".
I feel I've accomplished quite a bit having done this, but I know there's so much more I'd like to clear. My biggest downfall is credit cards. Sucked into cash back and perks, but looking to move to prepaid/reloadable debit cards so that I can still buy online as guests with minimal info. I mean, they might have my physical address, but I don't feel like paying for a PO Box at the moment. "Credit" is such a fucked system. I don't care if I run my credit closing these accounts, maybe keeping 1 for emergencies. That'll take time too.
Why isn't anyone recommending Signal? That's also using RCS, no? Or maybe just E2EE?
Edit: nvm, it's its own protocol for E2EE. probably better that way anyway. I've got several group chats that all use RCS, but that sounds like it's TLS encryption and likely not encrypted on the servers where it could still be carrier accessed. I'll have to look into it more
Quad9 DNS is where it's at.
The most annoying thing is the immediate price hikes on consumer RAM and then blaming AI as if they're even the same module types!
I mean, technically they asked for a SPAM filter, but in reality, when they're subscribed to emails and lists they've signed up for, they're marketing emails. Spam would be unsolicited and usually come from their data being sold off. The very fact those notification emails or marketing have the "unsubscribe"button lowers their spam score so they hit the inbox.
So, Proton, for example, claims to not sell off or monetize your data based on strict privacy laws from Switzerland. You don't have to believe their claims, fine. They're derived from scientists though, not businessmen. Didn't seem like they're prioritizing big money. So keeping spam away, this is a good way to do it. Doesn't mean all the other companies OP has subscription emails for hasn't sold their info, so it won't be a fix-all.
OP sounds like they need to go through their emails occasionally to just unsubscribe to help clean it up lol. Really, using rules to filter key phrases would be easiest. The reason the aliases are suggested to help, bc the emails you really want to prioritize from any friends, family, or services you want to focus on, use the primary address. All others, like shopping for insurance, retail accounts, etc, use a junk one so you're not bombarded. You'll get a ton of marketing regardless, so that's a great way to cut out the "spam" notifications.
I would go one step further and give banks/credit cards their own alias too, to avoid reusing the same address to help cut back on data breach info. I exclusively have a login email address and an alias for everything else. That way no one will ever know my login address to get to my account, unless the hosting company themselves are breached.
Why would they be sus? They're a Switzerland based company which means really good privacy laws in regards to keeping your data out of the wrong hands. They're not going to monetize your emails or information, which is a big deal!
Incogni, you're right, give us your data so we know what to scrub? No thanks lol. Feels like the wrong approach lol
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That's understandable. Microsoft, without much information or training unless you're familiar enough with it, gave everyone "cloud storage", but only enough for absolute basics (initially 15GB then only 7GB iirc)
Anyway, it redirects libraries to C:\Users\username\OneDrive\ so those files typically do reside locally but also instruct OneDrive to back those up. The downside is, unless you have the paid version of M365 personal or family, it fills up fast. I think there's a lower tier now with maybe 100GB for $20/year, but still.
The issue is moving large amounts of data with all the power saving shit they also started doing to hibernate and save power overall, but why a data transfer doesn't keep it awake is beyond me. They probably hope everyone just is either too dumb or computer illiterate to try anymore.