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-sf.cu > Blog > My New Browser Setup
Posted on 17 March 2023
Categories:
SoftwareI have a new browser setup on my desktop to increase my privacy and convenience. It is divided into two profiles that perform differently based on what I need to do in the moment.
I use Librewolf as my browser. It is a fork of Firefox that is enhanced for privacy without heavily impacting user experience. I divided it into two profiles:
Let me walk through how each profile is setup.
Firstly, let me talk about common settings between both profiles.
On both profiles, I have my settings to optimize my privacy. On Firefox-based browsers, it is very easy to use these settings because most of them have little impact on convenience. I use Brave Search as my search engine and will switch to my own SearX instance when I get a good server. In terms of extensions, I have the 'uBlock Origin' extension installed setup to block JavaScript and remote fonts by default. I have the default lists along all the others unchecked by default apart from language lists. I block every single domain from Google, Facebook, Microsoft and other websites which are known for tracking. If a website breaks, I whitelist that website in particular.
My accounts profile is optimized to work well with day-to-day logins and important websites. I use this profile for all websites where I can login like Google or Microsoft.
I use the following extensions:
My browsing profile runs in permanent private browsing mode so my cookies, cache and browsing history are automatically deleted when I close my browser. I use it for general web browsing like watching videos, viewing articles and more. I have most of the content I like in an RSS feed but this profile is useful for some websites which either do not have an RSS feed or I only need to use once.
For this profile, I use these extensions:
This setup has been serving me extremely well. I will continue using this setup and building on it if any specific need arises.
sf.cu > Blog > Keep Crypto Off Exchanges
Posted on 14 March 2023
Categories:
Software && Technology -In this article, we will discover why it is horrible to keep cryptocurrency on exchanges. If you do not have time to read this article, please stop keeping your cryptocurrencies on exchanges. If you do, your crypto may get stolen or lost. If you are interested in the details, please keep reading.
When you keep cryptocurrencies on exchanges like Coinbase, they have your private keys. Anyone who has your private keys can manage your wallet as if it is their own. They can send, receive and do whatever they want with your wallet. Even if the exchange you are trading on is trusted, if they shut down, you will lose your crypto. This happened a few times before and thousands of people lost all of their crypto. This is why exchanges should be used for what they are good at; purchasing crypto. Keep exchanges only for one purpose.
Currently, the whole crypto exchange industry has a severe lack of regulation. The fact that exchanges have your private keys means that they can freeze your account which would cut off your access to your own crypto. Governments can request such freezes. This may seem improbable but it happened in South Korea.
Even if the exchange you are trading on is secure, they may store your private keys in plaintext. This happens much more than people think. If this happens, hackers can easily take control of people's wallets and send all the crypto to themselves. If a hack like this happens through Bitcoin, it can at least be tracked. However, many hackers convert their crypto to Monero which cannot be tracked. If this happens, you will never get your money back unless the hacker decides to return the money.
To sum it up, you should never store your crypto on exchanges because you do not own your own crypto. There is little regulation and your account or the exchange can also be hacked. All of these pose serious risks to your crypto. Just get a wallet like Electrum or Monero and start using it.
sf.cu > Blog > Delete Your Discord Account
Posted on 22 March 2023
Categories:
Software && GuidesAs mentioned in the title, I have deleted my Discord account. This was obviously not without a reason. There are two reasons due to which I deleted my Discord account:
The most prominent reason is privacy but lack of use compelled me to actually take the plunge and delete my Discord account.
Discord is a hellhole for your privacy. Avoid it at all costs. In this section, I will show you the various things that Discord tracks.
OpenFeint was a mobile social network for gaming. The Founder of OpenFeint was Jason Citron, the current CEO of Discord. OpenFeint received a class-action lawsuit for storing data like:
OpenFeint then revealed all of this data to any mobile game developer who asked for it and advertising networks.
Well, if they collected all of this data, you must have agreed to it, right?
No. The company never asked for your consent. This data collection involved over 100M mobile devices.
So, when you have the CEO of a company that did all of this data collection become the CEO of another company, what do you think he is going to do? The answer is obvious. Of course he will do the same thing.
Let us go over what privacy issues there currently are with Discord.
... this is not all that Discord does. If we know that Discord does all of this, there is obviously more that they are doing that we do not know. You should always assume closed-source pieces of software are tracking you and sending your information to a third-party.
I was not using Discord anymore so I deleted it. The reason is that my previous account got banned for botting when I did not do anything. I made a new account, chatted with three or four of my friends. Afterwards, the CounterHawks Discord server got banned. Due to this, I realized there is no use for my account and that there is no reason for me to support Discord.
I do not use Discord anymore and probably never will. Previously, it was difficult to delete my Discord account but Discord themselves have done all the hard work for me.
sf.cu > Blog > Do It Yourself
-Posted on 19 May 2023
Categories:
Software -With regards to technology, the average person would rather buy a new computer when their WiFi stops working instead of taking it to a repair shop or fixing it themselves. They would rather buy a new smartphone when their screen cracks than repair it. They would also rather buy a device because of its looks and arbitrary specifications than one specific to their use case and their interests. They focus on the marketing of a company and become 'fanboys' of a specific company, buying nothing but their products, stating that the company in question makes the best products in the world. Self-servicing and repairability are not even factors in their decision to buy a device. -
-As an example, a plethora of technology enthusiasts still buy ThinkPads to this day. When others look at ThinkPads, they think whoever buys them is not making a good decision. They think ThinkPads look ugly. They do not focus on the usability of a device. ThinkPads are used because of their durability, repairability, fast performance, and more. The fact that they are made for businesses means that there is no profit for Lenovo in letting a ThinkPad break early. Instead, they earn money by selling long-lasting and durable devices that last individuals for years on end.
-Instead of buying ThinkPads that function amazingly, people go for looks that impress amazingly. A computer is a device designed to perform computation. If you are shelling out a lot of money, you should have a device that performs fast and can be repaired by you.
-What I have realized is that you should 'do it yourself' as much as possible. This is why my computer is custom-built. Had I bought a pre-built computer, I would have never known what was inside my computer. This is tedious on smartphones since they are becoming more and more locked down. Linux phones are alternatives but they are not great as of 2023. I hope they become mainstream soon because I want to buy one.
-Doing it yourself also helps in terms of software. I used to flash custom ROMs on my old phone and used LineageOS extensively. Now, I use Arch Linux on my computer, which is a Linux distribution that is basically barebones. It has only the packages required to boot up. Everything else is done by you. The advantage of an operating system like this is that you know what runs on your system and there is minimal resource usage. If there is an issue, you can easily find out which program it is from and fix it immediately after gaining knowledge.
-You should try to 'do it yourself'. Take control of your hardware and software and know what you are running. It will not only be cheaper, but it will make it easier to fix issues and learn about computing and technology in the long run.
- - -sf.cu > Blog > Use Doas Instead Of Sudo
Posted on 20 April 2023
Categories: Linux && Software && Guides
Sudo. It is often used by Linux users to perform commands with root privileges instead of being in a root shell all the time. However, there has recently been a vulnerability in sudo due to which people are switching to doas.
OpenDoas or Doas is a portable version of the doas utility that is used on OpenBSD. OpenDoas can be installed on Unix-like system which includes Linux. It is designed to be more minimal and has less configuration options than sudo. If you are on a personal computer, then I highly recommend you switch to doas because it has a much smaller codebase which leaves less room for error.
However, if you are part of a professional environment with many individuals needing to use sudo, I recommend staying with sudo because it offers more configuration options to be used for groups and users.
Doas is available on almost all major distributions. If your distribution is Debian-based (Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Zorin OS), simply type:
sudo apt install doas
If you run an Arch-based system (Artix, Arco, Endeavour, Manjaro), type:
sudo pacman -S opendoas
If you use RHEL-based systems (Fedora, CentOS), type:
sudo dnf install opendoas
Doas should now be installed but it will not work out of the box. There is one line that we need to add to the configuration file.
You have to configure doas as it is not included in most distributions by default but do not fret! One of its plus points is that its configuration is much better than sudo's.
To begin, edit the /etc/doas.conf file as root.
If you are the only user on your system and do not plan to allow other users to use your system, this line will suffice.
permit persist username as root
Many distributions have a group (wheel, sudoers) that are allowed to run sudo commands. If you would like to allow that group to send commands as root, type this:
permit persist :wheel as root
Using doas is incredibly simple. Just type doas instead of sudo. For example, if you usually type:
sudo pacman -Syu
then just type:
doas pacman -Syu
I also recommend aliasing doas to 'doas --' since it causes issues sometimes if you just use doas. Apart from that, this is it for the setup.
If you are the only person on your Linux machine, you should switch to doas. It is much more lightweight and is similar to sudo. It has a smaller codebase which, in my opinion, prevents exploits from popping up as often as sudo.
However, if you are in a professional environment, you should stick with sudo.
sf.cu > Blog > Eid Mubarak!
Posted on 21 April 2023
Categories:
OtherI would like to wish an 🌙 AUSPICIOUS EID 🌙 to you and your family!
sf.cu > Blog > How To Encrypt Emails
Posted on 14 March 2023
Categories:
Software && GuidesIn this article, I will show you how to encrypt emails. You can encrypt emails on almost any device. In this article, however, I will be focusing on Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo. I will also be focusing on making ProtonMail encrypt emails with Gmail.
Firstly, let us dispell a few myths. The first myth is a big one.
Yes, you heard that right. Gmail's confidential mode does not encrypt your emails. Whenever I speak about email encryption, I hear something along the lines of:
“Why are you making things so complicated? Just use Gmail's confidential mode! It encrypts your emails for you!”
No, Gmail's confidential mode does not encrypt emails. It simply puts a password on your email.
This is also a huge myth. ProtonMail encrypts emails sent to other ProtonMail users. However, they do not encrypt emails sent to or received from non-ProtonMail users. It collects less data about you and it stores your emails with encryption on their servers but the email itself is not encrypted on the other person's end.
Encryption for non-ProtonMail users works on a user-to-user basis. You have to have the encryption keys of the other person if they are a non-ProtonMail user and they also have to encrypt their emails manually. We will learn how to do this in this guide.
Encrypting your emails online is a simple process.
Mailvelope is a free, libre and open-source browser extension which allows you to not only encrypt emails using public keys but also has a keyserver which has a list of other people who use Mailvelope. Emails sent to other people using Mailvelope will automatically be encrypted.
Open the extension and generate your keypair if you do not have a keypair or import your keypair if you do have one.
Encourage all of your friends to get the Mailvelope extension. Afterwards, you can import their public keys. Henceforth, all emails will be encrypted. Many websites also give their own public key along with their emails so that you can encrypt them as well. If you have friends who use ProtonMail, go to the ProtonMail import section of this post.
Whenever you go to compose an email, there will be a button like the image below. Just click on it and there will be a popup to compose your encrypted email. Just fill in the info and send your email!
Firstly, I would like to give a disclaimer. There is no way to use PGP encryption on iOS. Most encryption that is used on iOS is either paid or unavailable. On Android, you cannot encrypt emails using the native applications for Gmail, Outlook or Yahoo. Even if there is such a feature, you should not use their official clients due to their invasive tracking. To encrypt emails, we will use an email app called K-9 Mail. I believe that everyone should use K-9 Mail even if they are not encrypting their emails. It is a fantastic app.
K-9 Mail is a free and open-source email app that has a lot of features. I believe that no one should be writing emails on their phones but it is a great app to have just to make sure there is nothing urgent in your inbox.
K-9 Mail is on the Play Store, but do not get it from there. Get F-Droid and make it a habit to download apps you use and the alternatives to them through F-Droid. K-9 Mail is available on F-Droid and is a popular app there.
Follow the guide to enter your email address and get it working through K-9 Mail. I have tried Gmail and it works flawlessly. Other email providers will work well but some may not work at all.
OpenKeychain is an app that allows you to import and manage PGP keys. It is also available on F-Droid.
Generate your key by pressing the option to create a key or import the key file.
Go back to K-9 Mail, go to settings, go to your account that you added, go to end-to-end encryption and enable it. Select your key. Turn on autocrypt mutual mode. That is it! You should see a lock icon whenever you are sending an email to someone if you have their PGP public key. If you need to import more keys, just go to the OpenKeychain app and import them.
To export your ProtonMail public keys, follow these steps.
The image below is how it looks like in 2023.
You can now send these keys to anyone to import into their PGP keychain. They will then be able to encrypt emails when sending them to your ProtonMail address!
That is it! You have setup encryption on your emails. This is a great step as email itself is very unsecure, so this will boost your privacy and security by a lot. Sharing passwords through email has never been safe but encryption allows you to do it with a good range of security.
In this category, I post guides about computing and technology.
13/05/23 - Start Using 2FA Properly02/05/23 - Password Systems20/04/23 - Use Doas Instead Of Sudo20/04/23 - Stop Using Social Media22/03/23 - Delete Your Discord Account14/03/23 - How To Encrypt EmailsYou have read the last page!
Read my (mostly) computing-related articles here.
19/05/23 - Do It Yourself13/05/23 - Start Using 2FA Properly07/05/23 - Instagram Deleted!06/05/23 - Buy Only Metal USBs02/05/23 - Password Systems21/04/23 - Eid Mubarak!20/04/23 - Use Doas Instead Of Sudo20/04/23 - Stop Using Social Media22/03/23 - Delete Your Discord Account17/03/23 - My New Browser Setup14/03/23 - How To Encrypt Emails14/03/23 - Keep Crypto Off Exchanges13/03/23 - Why I Use Terminal AppsYou have hit rock bottom!
In this category, I post about tools and information related to Linux.
20/04/23 - Use Doas Instead Of Sudo13/03/23 - Why I Use Terminal AppsYou reached the bottom of your screen!
sf.cu > Blog > Buy Only Metal USBs
-Posted on 6 May 2023
Categories:
Technology -You should only buy metal USBs because they last longer. Metal USBs should be used for everything that a USB is used for. First, let me clarify what USBs are supposed to be used for:
-Here is what USBs are not good for:
-For both use cases listed above, disks like hard drives and SSDs are much better.
-Metal USBs are durable. They are not slower than their plastic counterparts and can flash operating systems just as well. However, the real difference appears in its build quality.
-Metal is a superior material to plastic. It lasts much longer and breaks less easily. This is especially important for data transfer and having an emergency drive ready-to-go. If it dies or breaks at an unfortunate time, it can wreak havoc on both you and your sanity. This is why everyone should use metal USBs. They last longer and eventually break even with the price you paid for them.
-You should try to buy thinner metal USBs. This is because a thin USB can dissipate heat better than a thick one. Metal is a conductor of heat. Because of this, you should try to buy a USB that is able to reduce the heat's effect.
- -In this category, I post about miscellaneous things. These posts may be information related to me or general things which do not apply to my regular posts.
20/04/23 - Eid Mubarak!You have hit rock bottom!
sf.cu > Blog > Password Systems
-Posted on 2 May 2023
Categories:
Software && Guides - -If you find it difficult to maintain strong passwords, then this guide is the only article you need to refer to. In this article, I will talk about an amazing trick to remember and manage all of your passwords.
-It goes without saying that passwords are incredibly important. It is undeniably important to make sure your passwords are:
-However, it seems futile to try using different passwords on every website. It is incredibly hard to remember just one; how can I remember more than 10?
-The solution to this undeniably rampant issue is to use a password system. A password system is a set of rules and guidelines that you make and follow to create your passwords. Using a password system, you need not remember your passwords. All you have to do is string together available pieces of data, and you can remember your password immediately.
-The most common response I hear from people when I ask them to create a password system is:
-"I think using the same password on all accounts is better because I don't have a good memory to use a password system."
-That response always baffles me. The whole point of a password system is not to remember your passwords but to remember a ruleset that will be cemented into your brain after 3 or 4 times of entering your passwords.
-As aforementioned, a password system is a set of rules that you need to remember instead of all of your passwords separately. An effective password system consists of the following elements:
-The main format and order of a password system is completely managed by you. First, let us go over creating a master password.
-I recommend this method of creating master passwords to anyone since the passwords that are created are easy to remember but practically impossible to guess.
-Make sure it is long but easily memorable. The one which pops in your mind when someone asks you to think of a sentence is a perfect choice as long as it is of considerable length.
-Example: I love eating 43 and a half coconuts a day, I am not going to lie!
Take the first letter of each word in the sentence and write it as is. Do not change any characters to uppercase or lowercase or use a symbol to represent it.
-Example: Ile43aahcad,Iangtl!
Take the password you have in the last step and make it stronger in a way that you will remember. This step is the one you have to be the most careful in because making it too strong will make it difficult to recollect in the future.
-Do not use common substitutions like:
-Example: I<3e43&1/2cad,IangtLIE!
Do not proceed to the next section without doing this step. Recall the sentence in your mind and try to write the same password you got in the previous step. Do this at least 10 times. This may seem unnecesarry, but most people underestimate the power of muscle memory. If you login to an account regularly, then you type your password without even thinking about it. The same trick can be applied here.
-After a while, you will be able to type your extremely long password without any effort. You just think about it and your mind glides through the keyboard. This is super useful.
-To make your password different for every website and service you go to, there needs to be a service differentiator. A service differentiator is a special combination of characters you add in your password system to make it unique to the service you are on. It is not very difficult to create a service differentiator and it is easier to remember.
-The elements of a service differentiator are the name of the service and length of the name of the service. Below is an example of a name differentiator used for creating a Nextcloud account, Microsoft account and Google account respectively.
-nextcLOUD!999
microSOFT!999
googlE!666
As you can see, I added the name of the service in with the first 5 letter capitalized with an exclamation mark and the length of the service three times.
-By this point, you can make your own service differentiator easily.
-It is finally time to integrate your master password into a password system. It is called a password system, which means that it is dynamic and changes for every website. A sample password system can be the following:
-"3007AXB" + (SERVICE DIFFERENTIATOR) + (MASTER PASSWORD)
In my example's case, my Google account password would be:
-3007AXBgooglE!666I<3e43&1/2cad,IangtLIE!
The password above is 40 characters, yes 40 characters long. No one will be able to guess it and it will take hundreds of centuries to crack. Best of all, it is different for each account.
-You can mix the order up. Just make sure you don't keep changing the system and use one system. The best part is that if you need to change your passwords, you can just make another system that will work just as well. By that point, the previous system will be embedded into your brain. So, you can remember multiple strong passwords using this step.
-Congratulations! You now know how to create an extremely strong password that is different on each account.
-Posted on XX XXXXX XXXX
Categories: Linux
-Hey... you are not supposed to be here! Here, have an icon!
-sf.cu > Blog > Instagram Deleted!
-Posted on 7 May 2023
Categories:
Software - -This post is to inform you that the grace period for the deletion of my public Instagram account has been completed. My Instagram account has been deleted... forever. I highly recommend you do it too. Read this post for more information.
- -sf.cu > Blog > Stop Using Social Media
Posted on 20 April 2023
Categories:
Software && GuidesI know how you felt reading the title. If you are a heavy social media user, you probably said:
"What? Who in their right mind would delete their social media accounts? How are they supposed to live life and talk to their friends?"
Don't worry. That was me last year. I understand your feelings. However, the disadvantages of social media and the perks of deleting it far outweigh its benefits. In this post, I will go over the reasons why you should delete all of your social media.
A study counted 5 billion internet users and it was concluded that, on average, an internet user spends 6 hours and 53 minutes online per day. 6. HOURS. AND. 53. MINUTES. That is almost a whole third of people's daily lives. Another study concluded that people spend more time on social media in their whole lifetime than grooming, socialising (social media !=socialising) and doing the laundry combined.
It is not as if any of the time spent is valuable. Sure, you may learn one or two 'fun facts, which will make you think that you need social media. You may talk with your friends a lot, which will make you think that your account is required to socialise with people. However, these are all nonsensical excuses that your brain makes to justify getting cheap dopamine. Imagine how much work you can get done, how many actual connections you can make with people, and how many good habits can be formed that will make you happier in the long term than social media.
Whenever people hear that social media affects your mental health, they agree but say that it does not affect them specifically. The most common argument I hear is:
"Yeah, I know that it affects other people. However, I am fine with it. I feel normal and do not feel depressed at all.
All I can say is not to trust what your brain tells you whenever you are dealing with any addiction, not just social media. Think about it. The same brain that is telling you that you should keep using social media for meaningless reasons is the one telling you that it is not affecting you.
Social media is a constant source of comparison. You open it up, view a few triggering posts, find out that your favourite actor has passed away, and see your friends perfect lives. Before closing the app, you apply filters to yourself and edit the picture as much as possible for your stories to make yourself look artificially good.
You see, not only is social media fake, it also has an absurd effect on your mental health. It has been proven that many social media platforms track you to show you personalised content. They use human psychology to hook you onto their platforms.
There are two chemicals in your brain that are responsible for happiness:
In many cases, the effect of dopamine is much greater than the effect of endorphins. Recall back to a young age when you realised you were about to receive a toy that you had been waiting for for a few days. The feeling you got when you realised you would get it soon was more intense than the actual feeling of getting the toy.
The same trick applies on social media. Many social media platforms show you content that is completely different from the content that you like just before showing you content that you really like. This results in more dopamine being released, with a good amount of endorphin being released as well. To your brain, it has just achieved something great when, in reality, you have not.
Constantly high dopamine and endorphin releases raise your base happiness levels. This is why things that you used to love now seem boring to you. It is not 'growing up'. It is your social media addiction.
Social media metrics also contribute to this. It makes you think that likes and comments are proportional to your worth, which is simply not the case. When you get a like, it is a form of validation that you are valuable to someone. Someone not liking your post does not mean that you are not valuable.
FOMO (fear of missing out) plays a big role as well. The phrase:
"If everyone is using [insert anything here], why shouldn't I?"
is commonly said by an individual who experiences FOMO without the thing in question. There is a constant fear of missing out on information, which simply will not happen. You may miss some arbitrary information that you would not care about otherwise, but this is not a reason at all to continue using social media.
To hook you into their addiction, social media companies hire "attention designers" who take references and inspiration from casinos to keep you hooked.
Before ending this unexpectedly long section, I would like you to read this quote.
"You're either on, and you're connected and distracted all the time, or you're off, but then you're wondering, Am I missing something important? In other words, you're either distracted or you have a fear of missing out."
Tristan Harris, Former Design Ethicist at Google
If you post everything you do on social media, there is no longer any privacy. Anything you do is public information. If you have a 'private' account, your friends know everything you do. There is no privacy at all if you keep posting everything on social media.
Then there is the elephant in the room. Digital Privacy.
It is well-known that apps like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and some Google apps collect your data like their lives depend on it (technically, they do). Everything from your name to your IP address and phone number to even the amount of network requests you make or the model of your phone. Not to mention, literally everything you do on the app. This all goes to their servers and is used for more advertisements.
It is pretty safe to say that your digital footprint, as it is called, can be nearly eliminated by deleting your accounts. There are more steps that you have to take to take care of your privacy, but preventing data collection from big corporations is a huge step.
Fake news. It's everywhere. Even the worst social media addict cannot deny it. You see parody pages that copy the design of famous news channels perfectly and post random news. You see people edit images to exaggerate or divert the subject of an article. There is not much that I need to say. You know what I mean.
The blue-light from your phone tricks your brain into thinking it's daytime. So, when you use your phone late into the night scrolling on your social media feed, it makes you feel less sleepy.
When this happens, do you know what most people do? They pick up their phones again since they cannot sleep, thinking that they will sleep in 30 minutes when they are sleepy. This cycle goes on. Many individuals of Generation Z do not sleep the whole night for many days on end and instead take naps in the afternoon. Does this sound healthy to you?
And no, using a blue-light filter does not fix the issue. It only slightly reduces its effect.
When you spend hours and hours a day sitting down with no exercise or action apart from flicking your thumb, what do you think will happen? You may experience the following effects:
Many individuals who use social media are experiencing these problems, which are usually experienced by older people, at ages like 25.
When you are working and are in the zone (a phase in which you do high-quality work without even thinking about it), any minor disturbance will move you out of that state. A notification about someone liking your post can shake you out of the zone. In the long-term, this will waste hours of your time.
So, you are ready. You want to quit social media and break this horrible addiction. You realise the effects it has on your life. However, you do not know where to start. If this is the case, check out 'The AIR Method'. If you would like to read how I did it, please refer to the steps below. Referring to the steps I took may help you understand your weak points and how to combat them.
Make a list of all of your friends and cross out the ones that you know can be reached on other chat applications. Ask the rest for alternative contact methods. This may be through apps like Signal, Session, XMPP, Matrix, or WhatsApp. Just make sure that it is not another social media app.
Download your data to refer to in the future. Most social media platforms include chats along with it so that you can refer back to the chats if needed. A website like JustGetMyData will allow you to quickly get to this section. Most websites place it in places which are difficult to access to prevent people from deleting their accounts.
Quitting social media 'cold-turkey' (abruptly) may work for the first few days but it will cause you to fail completely. It is better to slowly reduce your usage by using healthier apps.
If you haven't already, start using RSS feeds. There is nothing wrong with using old technology. RSS provides you with a similar feed to social media but with content you actually like and want to read. It is managed by you, not an algorithm. You read what you want and stop. There is no algorithm or endless feed that compells you to keep using the app.
I am going to make a post about RSS feeds soon. It will be updated here.
It is also important to announce that you are deleting your accounts. This may not be necessary if you have less than five friends you talk to on your accounts but it is important if you have many friends. This announcement will allow your friends to contact you and tell you their alternative forms of contact. It will also allow people to know that you are leaving for good.
The moment you have been waiting for. Click on the delete button.
This is much easier said than done, however. Most social media accounts have a grace period during which if you login to your account, your account deletion will be cancelled. For Instagram, the grace period is 1 month. To combat this, I did the following:
These steps were drastic but they practically cemented the fact that my account was going to be deleted, no matter what.
There is not much left to say. I am much, much happier without social media. I have more time on my hands and I am still getting the information I want from RSS feeds without an algorithm trying to pull me in. Big corporations have much less data about me, I have a lot of time and have produced a lot of work. In terms of academics, my overall percentage in school has increased by over 20%. I find difficult subjects easier and easy subjects a piece of cake.
All in all, if you care about yourself, delete your social media. It is a hellhole that is getting worse by the day.
In this category, I post new software I find, information about current software or tricks that can be utilised in current software.
19/05/23 - Do It Yourself13/05/23 - Start Using 2FA Properly07/05/23 - Instagram Deleted!02/05/23 - Password Systems20/04/23 - Use Doas Instead Of Sudo20/04/23 - Stop Using Social Media22/03/23 - Delete Your Discord Account17/03/23 - My New Browser Setup14/03/23 - How To Encrypt Emails14/03/23 - Keep Crypto Off Exchanges13/03/23 - Why I Use Terminal AppsERROR: Cannot show more posts (EOFError)
sf.cu > Blog > Technology
-In this category, I post about tools and information related to Linux.
06/05/23 - Buy Only Metal USBs14/03/23 - Keep Crypto Off ExchangesYou have hit rock bottom!
sf.cu > Blog > Why I Use Terminal Apps
Posted on 13 March 2023
“Ah, yes. Graphical-user interface (GUI) apps. They are so comfortable and easy to use. You just click some buttons and get your computer to do what you want.”
That was what I thought before I learned how spectacular terminal applications are. I do not use a calendar or email GUI app. I use its terminal equivalent. Specifically, I use Calcurse for my calendar/todo, neomutt for my email, sxiv for my image viewing, mpv for my video playing and even Joplin (CLI) for my notes. I am still actively looking for more apps like terminal file managers (lf, ranger, mc) and terminal versions of GUI apps I use (Bitwarden?). What compelled me to switch?
Firstly, I realized that apps that allow me to use my keyboard and reduce mouse usage to as little as possible saved me a lot of time. By a lot of time, I don't mean a few minutes. I mean hours in the long run. Moving your hand to your mouse and clicking a button takes at least three seconds. Multiply that hundreds of times a day and 365 days an year. That leads to a lot of time wasted just moving your hand to your mouse.
The speed of terminal apps have helped me get a lot more productive. Getting myself to start working immediately helped me a lot. I use Neovim for my text editor, and whenever I need to write text, its much faster to press a shortcut to open a blank file in Neovim than to open a GUI equivalent. It is also much faster to press a shortcut than to open my applications menu and search for my calendar app and wait a few seconds for the bloated app to open up. Terminal apps are just more lightweight. As a result, they operate faster and save me more than just a few seconds.
CLI apps are more standardized. With a GUI, the procedure for solving an issue or using the application's functionality is similar to this:
This is the sole reason that you see the terminal being used so much in Linux. It's easier to say “Open your terminal and type this” than to blabber a long list of instructions that will become redundant if the application in question decides to change their UI in an update.
Due to the lightweight nature of the command line, your tools can run on just about any computer. It does not matter if your computer has a Pentium processor or a 12th-generation i9. GUI tools have system requirements and if it is a robust tool with a fancy interface, chances are that the requirements just for the app to look good knocks that tool off your app list on your 10-year-old computer.
While GUI apps are simple to use initially, your speed using the apps remains slow all the time. Sure, you may learn where every button is and be able to open any setting you want quickly, but that speed is nothing compared to one of a command line. With a command line, your speed is slower than a snail at first. However, after some time of using the program, you can do things at a similar speed as a GUI app.
If you daily-drive a terminal program, it takes only a few days for you to become faster at it than using a GUI program. After that, you will be able to understand your most used commands and use aliases to shorten them.
For example, if you view your free space regulary, instead of typing a 50-line command to print your free space, you can just alias that command to 'free-space'. Doing this will make it so that whenever you type 'free-space', it performs the aforementioned 50-line command and displays the output. This will save your more than just a few hours of time.
With terminal apps, you have a plethora of choices. I can almost guarantee that an app with functionality you wish existed does exist in the form of a command line application. There are obscure apps with spectacular functionality which can change your computing experience that you will miss out on if you stay away from the terminal.
When it comes to GUI apps, you have to be honest. They do not have 100% functionality. It is simply implausible to fit every single function in a GUI app. Doing so would result in a lot of code to maintain, an extremely heavy app and a confusing layout. However, with a terminal app, all you have to do is type:
man command
or
command --help
and get the complete functionality of the app, all within less than 5% of the app size of its GUI equivalent.
All GUI apps are basically middlemen for the command line. They essentially use the command line for you. When you ditch the GUI and go straight for the terminal, you talk directly to the computer in a way in which the computer understands.
When people first look at the terminal, it becomes set in their mind that it is difficult to use and that mentality stays for an extraordinarily long time. Due to this, they never experiment or even open the terminal application. If they run into an issue which requires the use of the terminal to fix, they decide to just live with the issue instead of using the terminal. However, if people use the terminal for a few weeks, they realize that it outpaces almost every other GUI app in almost everything.
... including terminal applications. Terminal applications are amazing. They allow me to do so much. However, there are extremely rare cases in which I have no choice but to use a GUI. This is if the GUI application in question requires you to use only their app. There are also some specific use-cases in which GUI apps just make more sense. Video editing, advanced photo manipulation and 3D modelling are great examples.
...terminal applications should be used as much as possible. They are swift. They can be used quickly and also use less resources and space while running on just about anything. They are not as difficult as they look and can be used for uses which GUI apps do not have. They cannot be used all the time because there are rare exceptions in which GUI applications have to be used. However, these are so little that I do not mind keeping GUI apps just for these use cases.
sf.cu > Blog > Start Using 2FA Properly
-Posted on 13 May 2023
Categories:
Software && Guides - -If you use any online account, you should use 2FA keys. It does not matter if it is your Google account that has all of your personal information or if it is some random account you use once in a while. You should at least have 2FA enabled in an authenticator app or preferably a 2FA key. Do not use SMS.
-Why buy a 2FA key when you can use 2FA codes or SMS for free? Let us start with SMS.
-SMS is inherently insecure. It is not encrypted, and your SIM card is always susceptible to SIM swap attacks. A SIM swap attack is a type of identity theft where a cybercriminal pretends to be you and asks for your number to be switched to a SIM card in their possession. They do this by claiming that their phone was lost or stolen. Most employees working for mobile networks speak with hundreds of people a day. They cannot differentiate people's voices. Even with a small amount of voice modulation, almost anyone can trick them into thinking it's you. -
-After gaining possession of your SIM card, the cybercriminal goes to your online accounts and tries to reset your passwords. If they already have your passwords, they may try to login using your phone number and the 2FA code received through SMS. This may seem rare, and it may also seem like it does not work on most people. However, in 2019, Jack Dorsey's (the former CEO of Twitter) account got hacked using this exact method. -
As commonly said by many privacy and security professionals, you are only as secure as your weakest link. Make sure your weakest link is not SMS. -
An authenticator app is much better than SMS-based 2FA. This is because authenticator apps usually follow the TOTP or HOTP standard, which is very secure. It basically uses a secret key along with the current time to create a unique code that changes every thirty seconds.
-One thing that you should absolutely not do is use Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, Authy or anything as such. This is because the clients are close-sourced, which means that the code is not public. This means that they could be doing anything with your 2FA secret keys. Authy syncs your codes which is convenient but it does not allow you to export your keys, just like other properietary authentication apps. This is unethical as you should have complete control over what is required to access your own accounts. If your Authy account gets disabled, you will no longer be able to log in to most accounts. A much better alternative is:
-You should also be taking frequent encrypted backups of not only your 2FA codes, but all data that is important to you. Read this post to learn how to take encrypted backups properly. Remember, you should keep your backups as far away from other people's hands as possible. If they have your secret keys, they have your 2FA codes.
-Security keys are the best form of two-factor authentication. They are physical keys which need to be plugged in to your computer or smartphone in order to be used. They use NFC, USB-C, USB-A and also the Lightning port. This 2FA method makes it so that it does not matter which person gets your credentials because they need access to your key physically in order to login. One drawback of this method is that, if you lose your key, you cannot login to your accounts. This is why people buy 2 or 3 as a backup. It should be noted that, although other methods can be used alongside security keys, it is not recommended as it is still possible to just use the other insecure methods for a cybercriminal and bypass your security key.
-I recommend Yubico and NitroKey security keys.
-If there is one thing you take away from this post, it is to make 2FA your baseline security protocol. Use 2FA for every account that has it. Do not use SMS, use authenticator apps. If possible, spend money on three security keys.
- -sf.cu > Definitions > Arch Linux
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Arch Linux is a barebones Linux Distribution. It is often referred to as a 'do it yourself' distribution due to the fact that it has the absolute essential packages and nothing else. Everything else, you install yourself. It is also known for the AUR or the Arch User Repository. It is a community-driven repository that has a plethora of packages. It has so many packages that many people switch to Arch Linux because of the AUR. There is no need to add extra repositories like Debian-based distros or RHEL-based distros because almost every package you can think of is on the AUR.
-Arch Linux has become a meme in the Linux community. This is because there are many people who say that they use Arch. Due to this, the phrase 'i use arch btw' became famous.
-sf.cu > Definitions > Free Software
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- Free software is used to describe software that gives users the freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. It is often referred to as 'libre' software, borrowing the French or Spanish word.
-Free software has the following four essential freedoms.
-Freedom 0: The freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose.
-Freedom 1: The freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it does your computing as you wish. Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
-Freedom 2: The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help others.
-Freedom 3: The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others. By doing this you can give the whole community a chance to benefit from your changes. Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
-A lot of free software uses the GNU General Public License (GPL). By using it, you support the free software movement and empower people through software.
-This is just the tip of the iceberg. To read more about free software, start with the "What is Free Software?" page on GNU's website.
-These are all the definitions that I used in my blog posts.
-sf.cu > Definitions > LineageOS
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- LineageOS is an Android-based custom ROM for smartphones and tablets. It has mostly free and open-source software. It is a degoogled custom ROM, which means that all Google services are removed, including Google Play Services. This makes it nearly impossible to access Google services through their apps. However, most individuals using LineageOS use it for privacy and use alternatives to Google's apps. Many of these alternatives perform and function better than Google's counterpart.
-sf.cu > Definitions > Linux Distribution
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- A Linux Distribution is an operating system made from a software collection that includes the Linux kernel, GNU shell utilities, the X or Wayland server, a package manager and optionally, the desktop environment and other services.
-Linux is a kernel, not an operating system. When people say Linux in terms of operating systems, they really mean Linux distributions, not the kernel itself.
-If you are just starting out with Linux, you should try one of the following distributions.
-Just don't use Ubuntu when starting out. It has degraded since the last few years.
-After some experience, try these:
-These distributions are all solid and should last you a long time.
-sf.cu > Definitions > Linux Phones
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- Linux phones are smartphones which run Linux distributions, most of which are versions of famous Linux distributions modified to run well on a mobile device. Linux phones are not mainstream. However, many people speculate that they will as popular as Android phones in a few years.
-Linux phones have numerous advantages. Firstly, they are privacy friendly. They run Linux distributions which are known for reduced tracking. Next, they allow people to flash any operating system they like and have complete customizability unlike Android and iOS.
-Some famous Linux phones are:
- -All of these phones have kill-switches, which are physical switches that you can turn on or off that toggle the cameras, microphone, Wi-Fi, modems and more to prevent tracking.
-sf.cu > Definitions > Malicious Software [malware]
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- Malware is used to describe any type of malicious software that is designed to exploit, harm or take control of a device or a network. It is of many types:
-To stay safe from malware, you should get a good anti-malware. ClamAV is one of the few open-source anti-malware software. It is available on Linux, MacOS and of course, Windows. I believe that your anti-malware should be free software as it is an application that scans all files on your PC and checks them against a database.
-As for smartphones, Android has many options. One of them is the free and open-source app Hypatia, which is available on F-Droid. It has 7 different lists that will be scanned for viruses. On the other hand, iOS does not have any open-source anti-malware or antivirus applications. It does have closed-source ones, but they are not super good. You have to rely on iOS' security.
- -sf.cu > Definitions > Operating System
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- An operating system (often shortened to OS) is a collection of software responsible for managing hardware resources and booting the system. It provides resources for common services like computation and storage. It acts as an interface between the software and the hardware of the computer. It is so important that, without an operating system, a computer is useless. It is responsible for the following tasks:
-This is just the tip of the iceberg. Operating systems are responsible for practically everything you do on a computer.
-sf.cu > Definitions > Pre-Built Computer
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- A pre-built computer is a computer that is sold without the need for assembly. This is different from building your own PC by buying each part and assembling it yourself. Pre-built computers have merits and demerits.
-Advantages:
-Disadvantages:
-Basically, if you use a computer for more than just watching videos or browsing the web, you should build a PC or get someone to build it for you.
-sf.cu > Definitions > Security Key
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- A security key is a multi-factor authentication device that allows access to an account or a system. It is incredibly secure as it is physical. Anyone trying to log into your account needs your security key in order to do so.
-It works by using cryptographic algorithms to generate unique codes that are difficult to guess, intercept or steal. Most websites and browsers support it and it is considered essential if you want to take your online security and privacy to the next level.
-Security keys are often used along with TOTP as a backup. However, this is not recommended as an attacker who has your TOTP codes can simply use it. There is no need for them to try and get your security key.
-A few trusted security key companies are:
- -Security keys are expensive. They start from $20 and can go up to $100+. However, they are a worthwhile purchase for your security. You should always purchase two. This is because, if one is lost, the other can still be used to login. If you do not do this, you may lose access to your accounts.
-
- OK... so here goes the definition... wait what! Why are you here?
-sf.cu > Definitions > ThinkPad
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- ThinkPad is a series of business-oriented laptops manufactured and sold by Lenovo. ThinkPad was created by IBM and then sold to Lenovo in 2005. Many technology enthusiasts and Linux users use ThinkPads as their primary machines due to its:
ThinkPads have numerous features. Over the years, the number of features has gone down. However, they are still going strong. For example, the ThinkPad T500 (listed above) had lights that would blink green based on status of different parts like Wi-Fi.
-Because of the long-lasting property of ThinkPads, it is easy to find a cheap, used ThinkPad that performs faster than it ever did by installing Linux. This is how many people get laptops to test out or for personal usage.
-sf.cu > Definitions > UNIX Philosophy
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- The UNIX philosophy is a set of norms and methods for minimalist and modular software development. It was created by the lead developers of the UNIX operating system. To summarize it, it basically says that a program should not be ridden with features. A program should have one feature and do it well. It is much better to have multiple programs that do one thing well each instead of a single program that tries to do many things. This leads to a smaller codebase which is easier to maintain and develop.
-The UNIX philosophy is followed by many people to this day. There are many programs which follow it. For example, Zathura, a simple PDF viewer for Linux views PDFs and a few other file formats similar to it extremely well. It is extremely rapid and has a small memory footprint. It also has features that are extremely useful instead of gimmicks that no one would use. It is also easier to maintain as a result of the simple usecase.
-The UNIX philosophy is vast. To read more about it, check out this Wikipedia page for more information. It is worth a read. If you would like a shorter read, check out this post on Hackaday.
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