I've been doing some customization with Librewolf recently; this is still a work in progress, but what do you think?
Extensions and Themes - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/nighttab/
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/minimalist-nord/reviews/
I never said it did?
SpaceBarChat is definitely the most interesting, I would definitely learn about it as well!
You're welcome <3
Keep in mind that I don't encourage anyone to use Discord, and you are definitely better off using open source alternatives like Revolt or Matrix. However, if you absolutely need to use Discord (which I will not advocate), the least you could do is either use it in private browsing and erase the cookies after use, or use any open source client listed in this post!
Today i'll be showing you some open source clients to Discord that will at least try to give you some privacy instead of the original Discord client. Before you use any of these, make sure to turn off Discord telemetry in settings, then uninstall Discord and replace it with these open source clients, or as I said before you can use it in private browsing and erase the cookies after use!
This client has such a silly name, but let me explain what it is first lol. Goofcord is a Discord client that focuses on privacy and customization while providing you full control over everything. It blocks most tracking and uses a variety of features, such as message encryption, to improve your privacy and security. It also includes Vencord and Shelter built in, uses Invidious links instead of YouTube, performs much faster than the original Discord client, has great support on Linux, Windows, Mac and even Windows 7/8 systems and is the best client on this list. I highly recommend it! Download it here on the GitHub
Webcord is a Discord client built without the Discord API. It significantly improves the user's privacy. It prevents known tracking and fingerprinting methods, but it does not end there. It also maintains permissions to sensitive APIs such as the camera and microphone, and it creates its own user agent to match the one used by Chromium browsers. Webcord is also fully written in Typescript rather than Java, runs on Electron, and is very customizable. Download it here on the GitHub
Datcord is an open-source Discord client that respects your privacy, uses Firefox instead of Chromium, and renders emojis better than the standard Discord client. Keep in mind that it just removes some of the tracking, and Discord may can still track you (Just not as much). It will still feel the same as the original Discord client, just significantly faster, and if your computer can't run Goofcord or Webcord, this is a viable alternative! Download it here on the GitHub
Spacebar is a free, open-source communication platform that is compatible with Discord. It is decentralized, adjustable, expandable, secure, and highly customizable. You can easily add your Discord bots and other content to it, and this is likely the best solution for people who prefer to selfhost. I would not call this an open source discord client, but rather a discord compatible alternative. There is actually no client used for Spacebar at all, you just simply make a account and use the website!
Aliucord is a open source modification of the original Android discord app which blocks most Discord Tracking/Analytics (Not all of them), has support for Plugins and has a In-app updater system to keep Aliucord and your plugins up-to-date!
Unfortunately, there is no Open Source IOS Discord client available since IOS is proprietary (unless you jailbreak your phone, which is extremely risky) or until Apple makes IOS open source, which is highly unlikely going to happen in the future. You're probably better off using Discord on your PC only.
Will you now have 100% privacy with Discord? No, you won't, and as I previously stated, your best option is to use a Discord alternative such as Revolt or Matrix, but if you absolutely must use Discord (which I do not recommend), you can at least use one of these Open Source Discord Clients that will at least attempt to provide you with some privacy. Choose whatever runs on your computer best and stick with it!
As always if there is any incorrect information on this post, please notify me and I'll change it right away!
I believe both, particularly Mastodon, will continue to expand. Mastodon has more than 8 million users, while Bluesky has 5.9 million users.
Mastodon is a much better platform than Bluesky and probably has a lot more content. Mastodon uses instances, and you can pick whatever instance you want, and you can do a lot more things on it. Mastodon has most of Twitter's features, and some of Twitter's paid features are available on Mastodon for free!
I'm quite sure everyone understands how dreadful Twitter is: its user base, privacy policy, moderation, and everything else about it is terrible. People usually leave Twitter for one of the four reasons I just mentioned. Most of the time when people leave Twitter, they commonly choose Bluesky or Mastodon, which are both popular open source decentralized social media platforms, and one of them is also known for cats :3
Let's talk about which one is better and make a final decision on what platform you should use instead of Twitter.
Bluesky (Finally) and Mastodon are both open source, decentralized social media platforms. Both are constantly expanding with new features similar to Twitter, but they are all free to use and do not require subscription (unlike Twitter), and you can do a lot more with both! However, there are a few of negatives with one of the social networking networks over the other, which is Bluesky.
Now, while I give the Bluesky developers some respect for making it open source and decentralized, there are a few serious issues with it right now, including its user base and moderation.
One huge thing that BlueSky did was fairly recently released a feature that will make it even easier for people to harass you the moment they join the platform, the feature is called Starter Packs. This is not even an opt-out feature, and there is no genuine moderation involved. Not only that, but Bluesky is full of anti-Iranian racists everywhere on the platform; the Bluesky moderators have done nothing to address it, and it has not changed since, and if someone quits Twitter and switches to Bluesky, they are literally moving to the exact same platform, except slightly decentralized and open source. Bluesky is TWITTER and isn't really so much better in terms of privacy either even as it being open source.
Until Bluesky improves its moderation and other aspects, it is recommended to leave Twitter or Bluesky by deleting your account, find yourself a good Mastodon instance or create your own Mastodon, and make a account on it :3
Huge thanks to Cyrus and David's Creation for giving me some pointers on what Bluesky is doing, you should definitely check both of them out!
As always, if there is any incorrect information on this post, notify me and I will correct it right away!
The way Mozilla is handling Firefox is heading in the wrong direction. I mean, it's easy to tell by looking at whatever search engine Firefox uses by default. Mozilla is compensated by Google every year and actively collaborates with Google, which also helps Israel. Why bother using it when there are many better forks available, such as Librewolf, Floorp, and even Waterfox?
maybe next time
you are in the wrong community lmao
I've never heard of Garuda before, I might check it out!
Given how vanilla Firefox is currently handled right now, I don't really bother hardening it anymore. I suppose you could use ffprofile, but at that point, you should simply use Librewolf.
Floorp makes adjustments to base Firefox was created primarily to increase its customization, and from what I've seen, it appears to be well-maintained and constantly updated? Maybe that's just me, but you do you!
Thank you for telling me! To be honest, this makes Vivaldi increasingly more suspicious
Vivaldi is a Chromium-based browser that appears to support privacy, full customization, performance, and productivity. It is a browser that is commonly used as a privacy alternative to Chrome (and it is far superior to Chrome).
However, in this post, I'll explain why I don't recommend Vivaldi as a truly privacy-friendly browser and why I personally think it's kind of suspicious. Let's talk about it!
Vivaldi claims to be a privacy-friendly browser, and some of its features sound promising! It has tracking & ad protection and some privacy protections turned on by default. It's also one of the most customizable browsers I've ever used, with a smooth, stable, and feature-rich interface. I appreciate the concept of Vivaldi, and in terms of stability, the Vivaldi developers have done an excellent job with it.
However, there are some drawbacks to Vivaldi. You see, Vivaldi is only officially "partially" open source; things like the UI and specific features of Vivaldi are not open source, and I believe that for it to claim to be a privacy browser, it should be completely open source. Vivaldi states that the reason they aren't fully open source is because they are afraid of "forks" and that their brand would be overwhelmed by forks of their product.
Personally, I don't think Vivaldi would be overshadowed at all, given that it's very popular, and browsers like Firefox and Chromium are open source, with plenty of forks revolving around the two. Some of these are well-known, such as Librewolf, Floorp (which will be discussed later during this post), and Waterfox, but they do not completely overshadow Mozilla. Vivaldi when it comes to Privacy is kind of fishy and don't get me wrong their privacy policy and some of the privacy features they offer by default are great but because of it not being completely open source, I just simply wouldn't recommend it as a privacy respecting browser and I can't trust something that isn't fully open source.
I know this project has a strange name, but let me explain what it is first lmao. Floorp is a well-known Firefox fork that is very customizable and closely resembles Vivaldi. It has many similar features to Vivaldi, including customizable design, a flexible layout, and much more. Because it uses Firefox, it is completely open source, so you won't have to worry about anything and you can easily check it's source code. It comes with several security features activated by default, such as strong tracking protection, and it is regularly updated.
I would honestly recommend this over Vivaldi because it is completely open source, has many privacy features enabled by default, is just as customizable, and allows you to do so much more with it.
Vivaldi is honestly mediocre in terms of privacy, and if you want something similar, you should probably go with Floorp. If you just want a simple privacy browser, you should go with Librewolf. Mozilla has been doing some strange things lately, but that is a discussion for another day.
If you have any questions or if I have stated any incorrect information, please let me know, and I will gladly change it.
Yeah I think Curved Monitors would be a great choice for me rather than flat
I've been looking everywhere for a mouse that was of excellent quality and actually worked, but a lot of them were quite bad. I don't like "gaming mouses" and have never been impressed with the quality of Logitech and Razer's other mouses. The only Logitech that was genuinely nice was the ergonomic one. I've tested it before, and it feels much more pleasant to use. I will still keep looking around but for now, that's the only mouse I plan on getting.
The major reason I chose the 5900X in the first place was since a friend recommended it to me; it was actually not bad for the price, and I expected it to be extremely strong, but it turned out to be too much, so I decided not to get it. I've been looking at the Ryzen 7 5800X3d, but the price went over my budget. So for now, I might plan on getting the 5700X3D.
I was considering getting 16 GB of RAM, but I thought it was best for me to get more, 16 gigabytes of RAM is fine, but I want to reach the full potential of gaming. I didn't want 64GB of RAM; it would have been far too much. So I'm sticking with 32. This is also why I chose a 2TB SSD over 1TB, or anything lower.
After having a good talk with a few folks, I've decided to buy a gaming PC and build it myself. I have everything I need, including all of the necessary equipment and accessories. I don't want to buy anything from NVIDIA because of some of its controversial decisions, its drivers' poor performance on Linux, and its high price. I'm going full red (AMD). Keep in mind that I will not be using Windows on this PC at all and will be running Pop OS on it as my primary operating system. I am also buying all the parts from Bestbuy. My budget is not to go completely over $2000
Two questions
Everything is linked here: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/Crafted_104/saved/XcZCrH
The current price for everything is $1716.78
I believe that everyone is already aware of Google's tracking records as one of the most privacy-invading company of all time, given their terrible privacy policy, business choices, and ongoing user tracking. However, Google does have certain products that are pretty good, like Google Photos app is one of its better ones. I can see why people would use it It's quick, packed with incredible features, and makes finding photos simple.
However, it is awful for privacy given Google's track history. Recently, though, I found a upon a fantastic alternative called Ente. With real privacy and it doesn't steal your data, it offers nearly all of the features of Google Photos. It is open source, features easy sharing, end-to-end encryption, and allows you to view, organize, and download your data in its original quality across all of its platforms with consistency.
Unfortunately, if you are someone who frequently takes images and has pictures of years and years worth of stuff, you may have to pay for more storage, although the costs are not too high. To minimize space while using Ente, I would consider copying a bunch of images to an external hard drive or SSD. You can also delete unnecessary old screenshots or photos that you don't want to keep saved in your memories to save up storage.
Hello everyone, I've recently been curious to try Fedora Linux. I've been using Linux Mint for a while now, and while I really enjoy Mint, I think it's time to finally give something else a try. I want to go to a different distribution that will allow me to customize it more and have better support for GNOME and KDE.
Any information I should know before trying it out?
Side Note.
If you don't care about your privacy and want to continue using Windows 11 with Telegram, this isn't for you. If this is correct, please do not respond to the post. If you use Windows 11 and Telegram and are concerned about your privacy, I highly urge that you read this post. Thank you. If there is any incorrect information linked in this post, please let me know so that it can be updated consistently.
What's been going on with Microsoft and Telegram?
Microsoft and Telegram collaborated, and Telegram is now a component of Copilot, which is extremely bad news for privacy. Microsoft is almost becoming another Facebook, given what they are doing with their copilot, which is being included in recent Windows 11 updates. More information about Copilot will be down below this post.
Telegram consistently claims to be "the best and most secure chatting app for privacy" and much more. We all know it's a lie given the number of strange incidents that occur there and the association with Microsoft Copilot. Not only that but they have openly stated multiple times that "They need your data to ensure a secure experience". Which is very suspicious. If you use Telegram on a daily basis, it might be time for you to switch.
What is Microsoft Copilot?
Microsoft Copilot is an artificial intelligence function that, like Alexa, can assist you, but it is built into the Windows 11 operating system. It can communicate with you, hear you, and observe and hear everything you do. It can hear you ask a question, browse the internet, listen to your voice calls unless you turn off your computer, recording and monitoring everything you do. It knows everything. It also sends all of this data to Microsoft and the CIA. Which is extremely bad news for privacy. Microsoft is almost becoming another Facebook, given what they are doing with their copilot, which is being included in recent Windows 11 updates.
What do I need to do to get actual Privacy from now on?
Before you do anything else, I highly recommend that you buy a USB stick and switch to Linux. You have four distribution options to select from.
Linux Mint (2 gigs of ram, NIVIDIA and AMD supported)
Debian (2 gigs of ram, NIVIDIA and AMD supported)
Kubuntu (2-8 gigs of ram, NIVIDIA and AMD supported)
Pop OS (8 gigs of ram, NIVIDA and AMD supported)
Ubuntu (4 gigs of ram, AMD Supported)
These are definitely the best distributions for a beginner, however if you thoroughly understand linux and know how it works once you get used to it, you can finally try something like Arch, Fedora or NixOS.
If you want a alternative to Telegram, you have two options
Signal (Best Option)
Signal is the best alternative to Telegram, it has great end to end to end encryption, it's open source, amazing screen sharing and voice calling, privacy, and it's extremely private compared to telegram.
The only thing that Telegram has that's better than Signal is better built in customization. However, aside from that, it still can't beat Signal. If you have an Android phone, you can install custom clients with it, making it incredibly customizable, or you can even develop your own because the source code is open source; even at that point, Telegram cannot surpass Signal.
Telegram-FOSS (Maybe?) Telegram-FOSS is a Telegram fork that aims to remove Telegram's spyware and data collection while increasing your privacy. However, it is only available on Android through the FDROID App Store, and keep in mind that I am not 100% certain that it will provide you with the finest privacy; use at your own risk.
Matrix (Not Recommended) I suppose Matrix is an additional choice for a Telegram substitute; but, in my opinion, it's more of a messenger alternative. Although it's fantastic for privacy, I don't think it's ready in terms of usability or user friendly. Matrix isn't ideal for communities and isn't very user-friendly. It's more for corporations/software development teams who want a self hosted slack. Yes, Matrix is more private & secure then Telegram, and you don't need to setup your own matrix server to use it. You can register on the public matrix server and message friends etc that way. Matrix just doesn't advertise, it relies on clients & servers to do the advertising. The issue with that is the main client (Element) is only trying to appeal to corporations/non-tech savy people who can't setup their own matrix server so the messaging is based around that. I still think Signal is easily your best alternative
My point is, if you value your privacy, you should quit Windows 11 and Telegram while you still can and try Linux and Signal; it will be well worth it. If there is any wrong information in this post, please notify me so that it can be changed, and if you have any questions, please contact me and I will gladly assist you.
Original post: https://hexbear.net/post/2511019
Don't worry it isn't Windows lmao