Keep a super long story short, getting a Laptop from my University as the course starts in September, and the benefit I have applied for which covers my university course in the UK includes a Laptop.
They pay for the majority of the price.
Intel i5 10th generation or AMD Ryzen 5 4000 8 GB 512 SSD graphics Onboard
Onboard graphics Operating system Windows 10 64 Bit 10 64 Bit 2.8 kg
These are the minimum specs it will come with.
As a privacy consciousness individual, and since I will require the Laptop formy course at university, andpotentially a job, one day perhaps, I would like to make the laptop as privacy friendly and hardened as possible.
I want to basically make it a safe device. I need it to be not monitoring me, or watching me.
Potentinally there will be some sort of system or software that can monitor my activities through my.university orbenefitss people.
As it is for studying and for working, I think best to keep the same operating system (OS) Also I have only ever used windows in my life. Never Linux other than a virtual system on my host windows 11 pro edition PC.
My PC has an amd ryzen 55 000 CPU.
Thanks.
In any case, minimize the number of parties that will have their hands on your data. Uninstall anything that’s unnecessary, compartmentalize personal work in a privacy-respecting browser and office suite, and avoid unofficial Windows ISOs.
If your school is going to install monitoring software on it, consider the laptop compromised. Only do coursework, accessing things licensed through the school, exams, the bare necessities, on the Windows laptop. Start saving up for a (refurbished) laptop to learn and use Linux without risk to your work laptop.
If now is not the time to buy another laptop, consider installing Linux on a second SSD, if a slot is available, or even a USB 3.0 drive, if you’re allowed to boot from one. Just back up and if possible remove the Windows SSD before installing so it’s not overwritten by accident.
Be judicious with debloat scripts as they can interfere with some more invasive programs (e.g. Adobe suite, Autodesk) you may need for your studies. Consider making full disk backups before doing anything drastic. Anyway, if you can’t or won’t use LTSC, the yearly Windows updates can and will undo your hard work debloating and ticking privacy checkboxes.
At the end of the day, Windows is closed-source and we can’t be completely sure what it’s doing behind our back. It’s fine for a dedicated work device, but the time spent on taming it for personal privacy could also be spent getting another machine and getting to know Linux.
You have two options. Either put Linux on it and run Windows in a virtual machine, or buy a second laptop that you only use for work. Because if your university requires monitoring spyware, then you don’t need to be working and doing your studies on the same device.
You do personal stuff on a personal machine. You do work stuff on a work machine. And you do educational stuff on an educational machine. If you don’t want to buy three physical machines, then VMs are your next best bet.
Yep, separate machines is the way.
My employer provides all of us with laptops for remote work, and management with cell phones. Some of these people (managers included) use the laptop as their sole computer for everything, and most of management takes advantage of the fact that if you port your phone number to the company phone you can switch between profiles and have the company pay the phone bill.
I look at these people and just marvel at their stupidity. My work laptop is on a segregated network and shit down when not in use. And if it goes like it looks like it’s going, when I get a manager cell phone, I’ll be keeping my personal phone separate. Keep’em separate always.
As a privacy consciousness individual, …
I think best to keep the same operating system (OS)
Not gonna work
Privacy is an spectrum, not a binary. You can gain some privacy even when using Windows 11, as some comments point out with tools to do so.
Universities often have requirements for student computers in order to use their online or distance learning software and anti cheat/anti llm stuff.
Your first step is gonna be to figure out what that is so you can choose an operating system. The most sleek, trimmed down, hackerman version of windows 10 or linux isn’t gonna cut it if you can’t do your classes on it.
The next thing to accept is giving over control of your device to the university. It is often a requirement, separate but intertwined with their educational software, that you allow them to install at the very least a dns shim but often much much more in order for your device to be recognized as a student computer that’s allowed to access university resources.
Recognizing the above three points, you can’t have what you’re asking for.
You can’t have a “safe device” that’s “not monitoring you” when someone else is the administrator. And in the case of university students, your schools it department is the administrator or you can’t access school resources.
Your real, honest to god best bet is to have a separate device.
It doesn’t even seem like a very good computer, just buy one you want and use it to look at porn instead of the one the university paid for.
Lots of good advice in the thread so I’ll add.
Install WSL (Windows subsystem for Linux) -> Install Docker -> Pihole -> set your network connection’s DNS server to 127.0.0.1.
This will break a lot of tracking by not allowing it to phone home with your data.
First, I’m not a Windows user so my knowledge about modifying the OS is very limited. You did message me asking for help, so I’ll do what I can. Normally, I keep out of Windows and Apple threads.
Often what happens when a computer is being supplied by the work/school is the IT department will be the admin. It’s unlikely you will have enough access dual-boot or debloat the machine.
Use your phone. I once used an Android for two years as my only computer. This could serve for activity you don’t want the Uni to know about, at least for a month or two until you are settled at Uni. No need to rush into anything.
Two computers. Hands down the best way to keep work/play separate. Use the Windows for Uni and a separate machine for personal activity. This could get expensive.
TailsOS can work for you in your off hours. It’s Linux OS that installs on a flash drive and sends all your traffic through Tor. When you unmount the flash drive it leaves no traces on your computer. It’s very easy to set-up and comes pre-loaded with tons of software.
Where could I get this iot enterprise from, for a.legitimate install? And safe. The Laptop comes with specialised software, so it is best keeping it as it is. No?
Massgrave.dev
I don’t know what you mean by “iot enterprise”. I think you replied to the wrong user. lol.
As a privacy consciousness individual,
Potentinally there will be some sort of system or software that can monitor my activities
- Don’t save anything personal on that machine.
- And don’t do anything you would not agree to do publicly, on that machine.
Other than that, as already suggested, run some debloat script but I still would not trust Windows. Even less if it was configured with an official spyware from my employer/university/whomever.
Whether you are planning on using Windows 11 or Win10 or Linux, I would recommend doing a clean reinstall from an ISO. You can download a fresh ISO from Microsoft’s own website. This way, if there is any bloatware from your manufacturer, university, or benefits organization, it will be wiped.
Run a Win11 debloat script. It will remove a lot of privacy-invading windows components.
Apart from that, install a browser that isn’t Chrome, and use an ad blocker.
Don’t install any garbage that gives the Uni IT department any control over the device.
Thanks.
Can u recommend a Decent script for this?
This is my preferred one. Just paste one command into a powershell console to run it.
Is this compatible with Windows 10, which OP said their laptop will be running?
Yes.
I can recommend following tools:
https://github.com/xM4ddy/OFGB (Non tech savvy friendly) https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10 (Beginner friendly) https://privacy.sexy/ (Advanced)
Please make sure to verify which changes you do and what possible side effects they could have.
Open task scheduler and look through.each.entry. Disable the useless ones and a lot with ‘login’ trigger can be set to ‘auto’.
Where could I get this iot enterprise from, for a.legitimate install? And safe. The Laptop comes with specialised software, so it is best keeping it as it is. No?
It sounds like you will be buying the laptop and that it won’t have loads of college security stuff on it, which is good for what you want to do.
Depending on your needs in terms of bespoke software, Linux Mint OS might solve a lot of your issues. Piece of piss to install and way better option than Windows. As a former Windows user since W95, I moved to Linux Mint this year and I will never go back.
I had an old Windows 10 machine that was unable to run Windows 11, so I installed Mint on it and its like a new machine. The OS is quite similar to Windows in a lot of ways.
You can even try it out live from the bootable USB before you install. I tried it like that and within about 30 seconds I was hammering the install button.
Having said all this, if you are required to give the laptop to the college to install stuff on, you might be a bit limited.
Out of curiosity, I thought all USB sticks can boot? I have a 32GB usb, but idk if that would work…
You can usually boot from a USB stick as long a sit has enough space and you prepare it properly by writing the correct file to it.
For Mint you have to write the image file (called an ISO) to the USB, restart the machine, go into boot settinhs, choose “Boot from USB”, and then away you go.
Further deets here: https://linuxmint-installation-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
I’m considering to dual boot an Intel Macbook, but first a legitimately stupid question: is the dual boot ‘undoable’? I sound like a facebook mom right now I feel but I’ve never dual booted before, and I assume that if you assign the GBs of RAM to your Linux boot, and later want to remove the dual boot, you can reassign it fully?
eg:
Initially: 8 GB Macbook boot
Dual: 4 gb mac & 4 gb Linux distro
Later: 8 GB Macbook OR 8 GB Linux distro (ie., fully shifted to Linux).is that possible? i assume it is…
As far as I know, if you have a dual boot setup, when you choose what OS to go into, it will use the 8GB available. You dont have to split it 4/4. You’re only using one OS at a time, so whichever you choose on booting up will use the 8GB you have.
Yes it is “undoable” as such. There won’t be a button to undo it just like that, but there will be plenty guides out there I’m sure.
Gotcha. And choosing this OS happens on every startup?
Yes indeed.
Thanks <3 I will try it out tonight for the first time then! I’ve never gone for Linux before and now I wanna try it. I think I’ll start with Fedora or OpenSUSE, though I considered Arch, but that’s not exactly beginner-friendly nor intermediate-ish, iirc.
Does the Uni require Win11, or would Win10 work? The Windows 10 IoT enterprise LTSC is quite sleek and debloated out of the box. Insert a powrshell script and it becomes even more debloated. W10 IoT Enterprise LTSC is supported until 2034.
Where could I get this iot enterprise from, for a.legitimate install? And safe. The Laptop comes with specialised software, so it is best keeping it as it is. No?
“Use every device connected to the internet like you’re at a public library, and the head librarian is stood behind you with a three letter agent beside.”
You can install Tiny11 as your base Windows OS https://github.com/ntdevlabs/tiny11builder then use a debloat like the ones linked in this thread or this one https://winutil.christitus.com/
I made that on my gaming PC (I use tons of non Linux compatible stuff for flight simming) and zero problems. It’s even riced to not look like Windows DE and act like i3wm.
Where could I get this iot enterprise from, for a.legitimate install? And safe. The Laptop comes with specialised software, so it is best keeping it as it is. No?
From the git above, it downloads an official MS iso and debloat it to create a lighter one. It’s the same as installing a normal iso and then removing stuff like one note etc, except that those are not installed by default so no need to remove them.
Specialized software from laptop brands (asus or whatever) are useless shits. You only need the drivers and an OS.
