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Joined 13 days ago
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Cake day: December 22nd, 2024

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  • Those systems are running frozen versions of Windows, they’re not being updated. Microsoft could introduce a patch for Windows 10 and 11 that removes the vulnerability and people running old software on XP would still be able to run it. Or, at the very least, make it disabled by default but let advanced users and sysadmins re-enable the vulnerable code.

    That’s what they did with SMB 1.0, for instance. It’s disabled on any modern Windows install, even though a lot of universities and companies still have infrastructure based on it. If you browse the “advanced system features” options you can re-enable it manually, with the knowledge that you’re voluntarily opening up your system to well known dangerous exploits in exchange for backwards compatibility.

    EDIT: So further reading that’s exactly what they’re doing. The drivers aren’t loaded by default on Windows 10 and 11, they need to be enabled after plugging a legacy device type requiring it.





  • Honestly, there isn’t much to it when setting up Linux for elderly people - in fact, I find it less troublesome than setting it up for a teenager.

    Most often the issues regular users face with Linux are related to installing packages from external sources or broken updates. Elderly people tend to not do that.

    Set up a stable distro like Debian, Linux Mint or Ubuntu LTS with KDE Plasma or Cinnamon, install LibreOffice, Okular and a browser with strong ad blocking, and any other applications you think they might need. Enable a simple firewall, hide the root / folder from the file browser’s sidebar, and you’re done. Perhaps set up scaling to make everything bigger on their monitors, disable mouse acceleration and set the speed slightly slower than usual.

    I wouldn’t bother with immutable distros, Flatpaks are nice and all until permissions turn using a simple app a confusing chore with broken interactions.