Mikelius

Probably already said here, but it’s going to just come down to your end goal to know what distro fits what you’re looking for.

I am personally a huge fan of Gentoo, another distro that’s all about “from the ground up” approach. It’s actually where I started with Linux and is how I became as proficient in it as I am today. In fact my internal server that does everything is running Gentoo as it’s OS… Has never had any problems in the last decade that would require a reinstall or anything crazy like that.

But even as much love as I have for Gentoo, I have Linux Mint installed on my laptop. Why? Because it’s just more convenient when I need my full focus on the 10 other personal projects I’m working on… Also amazing on the gaming front. Doesn’t have nearly as much bloat as some other Ubuntu-based distros on first install, has a huge community support, and is just great all around to have.

Edit: autocorrect being annoying

Again, no Ubuntu expert here, so do this at your own risk (someone jump in and say this is a bad idea if it is). Not irreversible as you can just revert what I’m telling you via live CD, but just wanted to leave the warning.

If uname -r shows the old kernel *-24, and grub update is choosing that instead of *-25, perhaps Ubuntu relies on the last change/created date or something weird. What you can check is if *-24 AND *-25 show up in /usr/src. If both are there, do (as root/sudo): mv /usr/src/*6.2.0-24* /root. Now run grub-update again. I think it should tell you which version it chose for the boot menu.

Next try: grep 6.2.0 /boot/grub/grub.cfg to verify you see the new version.

• If you see it, reboot and see if it starts with it. If you can’t boot, go through the liveCD and move that directories back to /usr/src, chroot to the drive (see https://www.turnkeylinux.org/docs/chroot-to-repair-system for how to do this properly), and after chrooting, run grub-update again.
• If you don’t see it or get nothing back from grep, move the directory back and re-run grub-update to avoid not being able to boot back in. This wasn’t the fix we were hoping for.

^ this is all assuming Ubuntu puts its kernels in /usr/src and uses that location as reference to what’s available/installed. If you see nothing there, then something else will need to be attempted

Edit 2: another thing to check is if the compiled kernels are in /boot. Basically follow the same instructions above but use /boot/*-24 instead. This might actually be what needs to be done now that I think about it, not necessarily /usr/src.

I don’t, but that’s because of how I have things setup around the network. While most people here say it’s because they don’t need it, I am in a position that I need SOMETHING simply because others in the household could bring in malware and rather than trust them to make smart decisions, I proactively monitor all network activity for anything unusual. That being said, I have clamAv installed and run a weekly scan, but my real “antivirus solutions” are as follows: A syslog server that’s connected to grafana/MySQL and alerts me based on very specific criteria. Along this, I’ve got my network firewall configured to block all “untrustworthy countries” in and out 100%, as well as use an IDS/IPS (also connected to syslog for alerts). Lastly, an internal DNS which grabs from like 20 sources that include some reliable lists with malware domains and such, and a custom list of my own that I add to as useful security news feeds hit my RSS feed with urls in their blog posts.

Actually got a list of other things going on in the network to make it even more secure, but just wanted to list the main things that’ll give you a step up in the anti-malware front.

None of this is buletproof without proper care for how you use the Internet, though.

• Check for router/modem/firewall updates weekly if they can’t be auto updated
• never click any links in an email even if you feel you know you trust it (exception to this would be something you KNOW is coming into your inbox, such as an account registration verification)
• avoid tiny urls or suspicious looking urls when possible
• don’t open ports unless you really really really know what you’re doing. If you absolutely need to open a port, then for the love of god define the source IP address/CIDR. Opening ports to the world includes opening them to cyber criminals
• turn off upnp, I don’t care what that game or service you use says, it doesn’t need it

You get the idea. My message got way too long and turned into a rant lol.

Have you tried a normal “grub-update” command to make sure it gets the right kernel to boot up for you? Not 100% familiar with Ubuntu, but perhaps that’s all you’d need to run to get it booting to the right version.

Meanwhile I just ignore sms messages for a week, then respond, then ignore again with an occasional reminder I don’t use sms and signal or something else is better to reach me with. Only a couple people left to convince… The most stubborn of the bunch.

But yeah as others said, lying like that ain’t going to be good down the road, especially when they’re close people to you. Hope this doesn’t come back to bite you.

Dunno if anyone mentioned it, but if I had to guess, you have a DNS leak. Basically your DNS requests are going through your ISP instead of the VPN, resulting in them knowing where you’re going online anyway. Be sure to check for those DNS leaks and setup a custom one if your VPN doesn’t offer one. Don’t forget, DNS traffic over port 53 is also unencrypted, so unless you force those through the VPN, they could still know where you’re going.

Join the Linux club. You’ll never go back once you get the hang of it! Nothing in my house has Windows. Left it years ago and have had zero regrets.

I would argue a VPS is less secure than a trusted provider. Of course, the definition of what’s trustworthy is up to each person. The reason I say it’s less secure is for 2 reasons:

1. As you stated, the VPS provider sees everything. They also have direct access to the box themselves. Trusting them is just the same as asking to trust a VPN provider, the only difference being that a VPS provider will ask for personal information where a good VPN provider won’t (i.e. Mullvad)
2. You’re a part of the security of the device. If you’re not 100% familiar with exactly what you’re doing to secure the VPS, you’re likely exposing yourself in some way to bad actors. I also say you’re “part” of it because you also have the dependency of the VPS provider being secure so someone can’t compromise your machine.

The belief that a VPN provider doesn’t help privacy is a myth. But it’s true that you can’t depend on the VPN being your only solution to privacy. There are more steps you must take beyond just a VPN, but it’s definitely a required step if you want to be truly private. As an analogy: if people said “drinking water won’t make you healthy” that’s not true… But it’s also only a part of what you need to be healthy and the statement’s only true if you ignore the other things you need.

Further on the privacy front for my personal opinion: I don’t think there’s a such thing as a trustworthy ISP with personal data since they definitely track everything you access and probably sell that data, but there are a few trustworthy VPNs who likely don’t do this. I’d rather take the risk in a VPN provider that is probably not doing what ISPs do, also allowing me to further enhance my anonymity online.

For me, I’ve been using Mullvad for about maybe 5 years now, along with a ton of other things I’ve setup for privacy. Haven’t seen a targeted ad in nearly that amount of time, websites always think I’m located somewhere else, and any data breaches I’ve been a part of where IP addresses are in the data are of no concern to me.

Be sure to also look into geo tracking. If the device you’re using is wireless, chances are Google and such can get your exact location if you’re exposing your browser or software to geo tracking on the web, or if you don’t spoof your Mac addresses. How they do this: the Google maps vehicle that drives around collects the locations of wireless devices and their Mac addresses, so that when you have geo enabled, they can pinpoint you down to a very close lat/long coordinate.

I like having the internet and technology. It’s the abusive use of it that I don’t like.I am also one who wishes phones were of no necessary use. Why do I need a phone number to sign up to an online service? Why must I have an email address and internet access just to see what lab results came in from the doctor’s office? What use is my email address being “real” to some online community and services? I would be okay in a world where the phone and emails were just a nice thing to have and not required. I understand that everyone is saying “just turn off the phone, watch tv, unplug the computer”… But with how just about every company in the world requires this to even function, it’s a lot easier said than done. I think the real thing folks on surveys like this are looking for is a world where the internet, phones, computers, etc are nice to have but not needed to live a life. Or maybe I’m just unique in how I feel, dunno, just had to share my thoughts lol.