That’s in the bios, it’s a pcie device that windows allows to inject root level code into your environement, you have to turn it off and hope nothing ever spoofs that pcie id because that’s a permanent hardware rootkit into your pc like EFI
You can turn it off in the bios, but windows will still execute code with root privileges from devices with the right PCI and USB ID
As far as I know, that one cannot be turned off. I assume it is also a police/intel backdoor for PCs with secure boot and encryption turned on.
Universal Blue is my go-to. Their OSs feel like the future. They are so easy to use and low maintenance. The upgrades happen in the background and apply automatically when you restart your computer.
There are three flavors:
Bazzite for gaming
Bluefin and Aurora for basic workstations and developers
I went with Aurora for myself because I like the developer focused stuff. But I also do a lot of gaming. Even though it’s not gaming focused, it’s still great for gaming.
My wife uses it on her laptop, too. She doesn’t give a shit what her OS is as long as it works and she can use the browser.
Even for beginners it’s got a fantastic starting layout and default packages, but it’s still basically “just Arch Linux” where it counts so you get the best of both worlds.
Garuda is probably a better option if the focus is gaming. It’s the same idea, just with a focus on gaming hardware and software ready to go, out of the gate.
This cracks me up that everyone has a different distro to recommend… But I’ve tried many and OpenSUSE Tumbleweed was the standout that I’ve decided to stick with indefinitely.
Always flash new OS if you buy a computer.
That’s in the bios, it’s a pcie device that windows allows to inject root level code into your environement, you have to turn it off and hope nothing ever spoofs that pcie id because that’s a permanent hardware rootkit into your pc like EFI
Can this “feature” be turned off on Windows?
Edit: nvm, I read the article
You can turn it off in the bios, but windows will still execute code with root privileges from devices with the right PCI and USB ID As far as I know, that one cannot be turned off. I assume it is also a police/intel backdoor for PCs with secure boot and encryption turned on.
This will be executed even on new fresh installation oob.
Yet another vendor-bootkit?
He didn’t say to flash Windows. 😉
Which distro do you recommend?
If you want minimal hassle, Mint is the deal.
Universal Blue is my go-to. Their OSs feel like the future. They are so easy to use and low maintenance. The upgrades happen in the background and apply automatically when you restart your computer.
There are three flavors: Bazzite for gaming Bluefin and Aurora for basic workstations and developers
I went with Aurora for myself because I like the developer focused stuff. But I also do a lot of gaming. Even though it’s not gaming focused, it’s still great for gaming.
My wife uses it on her laptop, too. She doesn’t give a shit what her OS is as long as it works and she can use the browser.
Aurora works very well on my dell laptop
EndeavourOS
Even for beginners it’s got a fantastic starting layout and default packages, but it’s still basically “just Arch Linux” where it counts so you get the best of both worlds.
Garuda is probably a better option if the focus is gaming. It’s the same idea, just with a focus on gaming hardware and software ready to go, out of the gate.
+1 for EndeavourOS here. For 90% of what I do, it was a virtually seamless transition. Only hang up is a few games, VR, etc.
This cracks me up that everyone has a different distro to recommend… But I’ve tried many and OpenSUSE Tumbleweed was the standout that I’ve decided to stick with indefinitely.
Linux Mint or de-snapped Kubuntu.
Depends on your skills and what you want. I’m currently configuring a setup on Void, to learn about login, Wayland & Flatpak. Is that up your alley?