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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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The power of Linux (aussie.zone)

submitted 1 day ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Today i took my first steps into the world of Linux by creating a bookable Mint Cinamon USB stick to fuck around on without wiping or portioning my laptop drive.

I realised windows has the biggest vulnerability for the average user.

While booting off of the usb I could access all the data on my laptop without having to input a password.

After some research it appears drives need to be encrypted to prevent this, so how is this not the default case in Windows?

I'm sure there are people aware but for the laymen this is such a massive vulnerability.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Blah blah blah. Unencrypted data is the wrong default in 2025 for any OS. Linux should not be a poor man's OS.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 12 hours ago

It depends on your use-case.

Encryption of data at rest (this discussion) is mostly helpful for physical theft, so a device that never leaves the house, there's little reason for encryption.

Similarly, on a lower powered mobile device, maybe you only want / need user data to be encrypted, and there's no need to encrypt the OS, which keeps the performance up.

Maybe you want the whole thing encrypted on your high performance laptop.

So, it's difficult to define a sane default for everyone, thus making it an option for the end user to decide on.

Linux has more choice than Windows - and the encryption algorithm(s) can be verified - so it's definitely the better choice.