MICROSOFT HAVE REALLY LOST IT

 They lost it decades ago, but everything aligns at this point to see this scumbag company finally meet the end they deserve. 

While most people meekly put up with Windows 10 even though it was utter crap, Windows 11 has finally overstepped a line, and millions of ex Windows 10 users are now refusing to downgrade to Win 11.

Windows 11 is the massive push that Linux needed and is ready for. Apparently over a million Windows users have already downloaded Linux Zorin 18 since it was released in October. 

I switched from Windows 7 to Linux Mint, and I would never go back to Microsoft. That switch from Windows to Linux Mint is becoming an increasingly popular path this year since Microsoft pulled support for Win 10.

We are now at a point where some Linux desktop systems are really cool, while Windows has hit an all time low that it's very unlikely to ever recover from.

For non geek ex Windows users, my own recommendations are Linux Mint or Linux Zorin. But there are many other Linux options to choose from - learn more about them on Distro Watch. 

 

Linux Mint is like a modernised Windows 7, while Linux Zorin is more like a stylish Windows 10.

 

I'M QUITING VIDEO

Having been feeling quite seedy for the past week or so, I've spent more time than usual lying around looking at stuff on my tablet and laptop.

I've already given up on all social media except for YouTube and Facebook, and I never use my phone for anything to do with the internet. So I'm not a typical phone connected online video addict.

I was stunned to learn that there are people actually paying US$13.99 a month for "YouTube Premium", presumably to avoid seeing ads. I never see any ads on YouTube, simply because I view it using Brave browser with U-Block origin ad blocker installed - it really isn't that difficult!

But there really do seem to be be numpties forking out NZ$300 a year because they are too clueless to find out how to block ads on YouTube. Mind boggling...

 
It only takes about 10 seconds to install an ad blocker...

Often the best way to quit an unhealthy addiction is to do it heaps and get totally sick of it. I don't remember videos being quite this diabolical, but like most things, they seem to have hit new lows in 2025. 

 

I'm at the point where if I hear the words "like" or "insane" only another 400 times I may go completely spastic.

 I generally find most of them totally unwatchable within about 30 seconds, and very seldom seem to find any really worth watching.

So although it may mean missing out on some helpful info, from now on I'm going to run a tighter ship, and pretty much avoid looking at videos. 

I already do that on Facebook anyway, but I'm pretty much going to stop looking at Youtube altogether because it's mostly totally lame and it rapidly becomes a mind numbing waste of time. 

I want to read well presented written information with pictures, and listening to tossers rambling on endlessly is a terrible way to try and absorb any information.

There are a bunch of things I'm already doing my all out best to totally avoid, such as AI, Microsoft, and Fudporn. Today I'm adding videos to my avoid list.

 

HOW MUCH???

Not being into phones myself I had no idea that people were flinging this sort of money at the stupid things, but when I did some looking into phones yesterday, it boggled my mind that there are phones apparently selling in New Zealand for NZ$3799.
 

Are people really paying that much for phones? Are they stark raving mad?

A person who was able to make good second hand selections on Trade Me could buy an entire collection of technologies for that amount of money.

 To see how this might play out, I went imaginary shopping online. What did I buy?:

Firstly a laptop - I like 17" Dell Laptops - here is a fairly good one for $599. And this comes with a good hard drive so it wouldn't need upgrading like my next purchase, the PC, would.

 

 

Next a PC - I like old HP Z240 PC's - this one is just $200 - yes I would do some hard drive upgrades to it, but I'm sure there will be plenty of $ remaining from my imaginary $3799 budget to cover those as well.

 

 

The PC would also need a screen to go with it - I like 32" screens - OK, for this item I'll splash out and go with a brand new LG monitor because they are good, and that would cost $445. So far I'm up to $599 + $200 + $445 = $1244.

 I'd like a new tablet as well - my pick is a 12" Samsung - $699 brand new

 And I might as well buy a phone even though I seldom use them - If I was buying one for real I'd prefer a Brax 3 privacy phone, but for the purposes of this blog I'll just go with the first half decent refurbished phone I see - $169

So now I've spent $599 + $200 + $445 + $699 + $169 = $2112.

 I'm doing an imaginary tech spending spree here, and still have $1687 to spend. Those purchases will cost about an extra $100 in freight, so I'll need to keep at least that much in reserve, and next I'd like to buy some better drives for the PC.

 First a new 500Gb Samsung SSD drive for doing a fresh install of a Linux Mint operating system on the PC - $96

 

Then a big 4TB Samsung SSD slave drive for storing all my data - $689 - those drives are fairly expensive and I could easily find something cheaper, but even after buying one, I'd still be rolling in cash at this point, and wouldn't really need to look for drive bargains.

 I'd also get a stylish keyboard and mouse for the PC, along with a WD 4TB external drive ($229) for doing my backups. That lot will cost about $400 all up, leaving me with $300 to spend on extras like a foot massager.

 

As well as using the external drive to backup the slave drive on the PC, I'd also use it to share my big collections of movies and stuff with the laptop.

  

So for the price of that one total rip off phone I could have a nice laptop, PC, monitor, tablet, phone, and a backup drive with some leftover change.

Yeah, that is pretty much what I already actually do have, and honestly, I think if anyone spends $3800 on a phone they are a complete tool.

Speaking of tools, if you are still looking for something to spend some leftover money on, I recommend a Stanley Fatmax 20oz hammer because I think they have a nicer grip than any other hammers. 

 

LINUX IS FINALLY REPLACING WINDOWS

Since Microsoft ended support for Windows 10 and tried to force everyone to use their appalling spyware system, Windows 11, their past decade of utter bullshit finally seems to be catching up with them.

lt's only this year that the Linux desktop operating systems seem to have finally gone from being geek only - 1-4% of desktop users, to this sudden rapid rise that could mess up the big players - if Windows drops from say 75% down to 50%, while Linux jumps up from 2% to 25% that is really going to shake things up.

In the past Microsoft have rolled out crappy new operating systems and everyone has just "updated" to whatever is put in front of them, even if it is a major step backwards. Like Windows 10 was after Win 7, let alone Win 8 after Win 7. But Win 11 has really created a backlash. It is obvious spyware as well as complete garbage, and many people are not happy. 

I use Linux Mint myself, but I also recommend Linux Zorin.

 

 "Zorin OS, an excellent Linux desktop, reports that its latest release, "Zorin OS 18 has amassed 1 million downloads in just over a month since its release." What makes it especially interesting is that over "78% of these downloads came from Windows" users.

Now, that's got my attention... 780,000 Windows users don't download a 3.5 Gigabyte Linux desktop distribution if they're not giving it serious consideration. Linux desktop fans download different distros all the time. For them, it's a hobby.

For Windows users? You have to think they are considering making the Linux switch.

Many have already been making the leap. By May 2025, StatCounter data showed the Linux desktop had grown from a minute 1.5% global desktop share in 2020 to above 4% in 2024, and was at a new American high of above 5% by 2025"

 https://www.zdnet.com/article/why-people-keep-flocking-to-linux-in-2025-and-its-not-just-to-escape-windows/ 

 

BIGTIME AGAIN

 Back around 2018 on my old www.frot.co.nz blog I used to get over 1000 hits most days, and would get up over 2000 hits on good days too. 

But since the start of the covidhoax in 2020, when I began regularly calling out the whole scam, it's safe to say that my www.frot.co.nz  blog hits took a hammering and never recovered.

For the past two years I've wondered if my new www.sift.co.nz blog would ever get up over 2000 hits a day.

The hits this year have been gradually increasing, and yesterday they finally exceeded 2000 for the first time.

So that's pretty cool. And it's not like I've stopped calling out the covidhoax or the death jabs or anything.

 

 

AVOID USING MICROSOFT

This is only the second topic on my privacy page and I can already see that the page is not going to be a logical and orderly progression of ideas, but rather a bunch of responses and reactions to whatever subjects come up.

 

Like the majority of computer users, I had been using Microsoft Windows forever, and only recently stopped, but I don't want to give the impression that Microsoft is the only one to avoid. Apple is full blown spyware as well, as of course is Google.

  

What seems to have really been the final straw is Microsoft's Windows 11. This appalling pile of full on spyware is so bad it has even aggravated non geeks who in the past would have just gone along with whatever crap Microsoft pushed on them.

 

This was my reply to a friend who yesterday asked what sort of computer she should get to replace a Windows 10 PC that was failing. I've had several friends asking similar questions recently, so I thought I'd better do a blog post to try and cover the basics of the current situation

Microsoft have lost the plot. Personally I stopped at Windows 7, and refused to ever use Win 10 to any extent, so I ended up sticking with Win 7 up until 2024, but I was having increasing problems with software that would no longer work on Win 7.

 

So I shifted to using Linux, which took me ages to get used to after 26 years of Microsoft - I prefer it now, but for the first six months I wished I could just go back to Win 7.

Much as I disliked Win 10, that is nothing to my dislike of Win 11, which is badly designed spyware with built in adverts, mainly designed to sell expensive PC's


Microsoft pulled support for Win 10 in October 2025, and have told everyone to get Win 11 which requires an expensive high end computer.


One good thing about that is that there are now thousands of Win 10 PC's going cheap because they won't update to Win 11


They will run fine for at least the next few years, but over time there will be increasing problems with Win 10, like there now is with Win 7.


A good solution is to switch old PC's over to Linux, which runs much better on older PC's because it's better designed software.


The catch is that you will need to learn to use Linux, which for non-geek Windows users is a big change, and to begin with many find difficult. Linux is different to Microsoft.


With Linux literally everything is a choice, while Windows has very little in the way of choices. For example with Windows you can now essentially only choose between switching to Win 11, or continuing to use Win 10.

https://sift666.blogspot.com/p/linux.html

Meanwhile on Linux there are hundreds of different versions (distros) to choose from which initially seems confusing. But it's often less confusing than it first seems.


For an ex Windows user who is not a geek, and just wants a good general purpose operating system, there are two stand out options - Linux Mint or Linux Zorin.

 

 
Both of those are from Ireland which is now a hotbed of computer development 


As with all things Linux, every last detail on these operating systems can be customised, although you can just run them on the default settings as they come if you want, and that will work fine too. They are not like Windows where all the defaults are set to spy on you, and need to be changed.

But essentially I think the best option for Windows 10 users wanting to buy a PC in 2025 is to buy a good used Win 10 PC, and to continue using Win 10 for now, but to be aware that in a few years you will probably have to convert it to Linux, so to start learning to use Linux now and gradually get used to it.

A lot of geeks recommend setting up a dual boot PC, often suggesting a combination of both Win 10 and Linux Mint, but I don't like dual boot set ups myself and prefer to keep Linux & Windows totally separate.

So for the initial learning stage I recommend getting a second computer, any half decent 64 bit laptop with a 500gb solid state drive (SSD) will be fine, and that means you can get used to Linux under no pressure. If anything goes horribly wrong you can just start over again.

 

Hundreds of old laptops and PC's are going cheap on Trade Me - here is a typical example, this is a 17" Dell laptop for $199, which would be ideal for setting up with Linux to learn the ropes.

 

I see no future in Win 11 and think Microsoft's appalling spyware will always be best avoided.

This my own Linux Mint PC - Linux uses different programs so instead of Word for example it runs Writer, but they are very similar. More difficult for me was that instead of Photoshop, Linux runs GIMP (Graphical Image Manipulation Program) and that is more of a difference.

 

DIGITAL PRIVACY PAGE

I've decided to start a new page about digital privacy, because we are now under serious attack and need to find ways to defend ourselves. Here is the first post:

 https://sift666.blogspot.com/p/digital-privacy.html
 

Digital ID's have been a threat on the horizon for years, but recently they have gone from just being a threat to being an actual hard out attack on our freedoms. 

As with the death jabs during the covid hoax, where I said right from the outset, "I will never submit to any death jabs", I will also never submit to any form of digital ID, but clearly that is rapidly going to cause issues, as "they" ramp up the pressure to submit.

Submission is not an option, so we need work arounds. 

 

 

WAYS TO HAVE SOME DIGITAL PRIVACY

 

The subject of digital privacy is huge but we have to start somewhere, even if we have no idea where this is going to lead, or even where is the best place to start.

 

 

1. AVOID USING CELL PHONES 

 

Back in the 90's, cell phones were the hot new fashion, and my friends all got them, so I got one too, but I can honestly say I never liked them, and I refused right from the outset to pay for any sort of monthly account.

 

I've stuck to using pre-pay only for nearly 30 years now, and most years I forget to even do a $10 top up, so my balance gets wiped nearly every year. I very seldom make any calls, and never use data, so I generally spend less than $20 on pre-pay per year.

 

In this day and age, I may well be one of the most clueless people in the world when it comes to cell phones, and for me of all people to start off here talking about phones is completely fruit-loops.

 

But if I had to start with one practical suggestion for achieving some degree of digital privacy, it would be to avoid using cell phones as much as possible.

 

I do have a Samsung phone running Android, not because I think it has any degree of privacy at all, but because I had nearly a full decade of reliability out of my first one, so got another one when it finally met with nasty accident (admittedly I seldom use them). 

 

So I'm not saying to not have a phone at all, because from time to time there is no easy work around, and occasionally a phone is fairly essential. But I am recommending to avoid using phones as much as possible.

 

Eventually I will need to replace my Samsung phone, and then I will look at privacy options like a Brax phone, or some sort of Linux phone if there is a suitable option for me by then, but in the meantime I'll keep on not using my Samsung phone for as long as it still runs.

 

When it comes to phones I'm clueless because I've always done my upmost to avoid using them, but I'm putting them here in first place because I think they are arguably the technology that presents the biggest danger to our privacy and freedom.

 

 

DOES MONERO EVEN STILL WORK?

With all things relating to computer privacy we are in an awkward position that if something is widely used it won't be private, and if something is really private it will be prevented from becoming widely used. 

The crypto Monero is a good example - it was the only properly private cryptocurrency, but this year it has been made near to unusable - no exchanges will trade it, and no wallets will store it - it is still spoken of like it is the best privacy crypto, which it would be if it was usable, but it isn't.

I still have US$45 of Monero that I missed when I was selling my Monero at the start of the year. If I wanted to use it, that would not be easy, so I've written it off - It would require setting up an old wallet to even be able to see it, and any person I might send it to would need to do the same. 

No exchanges will accept Monero now so it can't easily be sold or traded. So the coin is essentially unusable, but nobody is talking about that, and it's still currently trading at US$400 seemingly unaffected by the fact that it's now a completely useless privacy coin. 

The fact that this coin is still supposedly happily trading like it's still usable and nobody is talking about this situation was the final straw that made me lose any remaining faith I had in cryptos. 

The elephant in the room is, who is trading it? and how are they trading it? If I can't trade my $45 of Monero, how are people trading millions of $ of it? Are all these trades of Monero even really happening? Why would anyone pay $400 for a privacy coin that is nearly unusable?

And that is why privacy is a really complex subject - nothing is what it seems! 

BUT IT DOES WORK

When I was checking out some Linux links as part of the updates I’m doing to my LINUX PAGE, I revisited a page called "Why Linux is not ready for the desktop" that I first read years ago.

It was written by a geek called Artem S. Tashkinov, who makes a really full on case that Linux doesn’t work as a desktop operating system, and is not suitable as a replacement for Windows.

It is fully researched and well presented. Mr Tashkinov really seems to know his stuff, and I remember when I originally read it I was fully convinced, so I went back to Windows 7.

He updates the page regularly, and has hundreds of people commenting, who mostly agree with him.

But he is wrong.

He is an experienced computer geek who really knows his stuff (an expert), while I am a clueless numpty who often struggles with the basics. So how on earth can I definitively say he is wrong?

Mainly because of one simple fact. For the past year I have used Linux as my desktop operating system every day, on both my PC and Laptop. I used it to replace Windows and it is not only working, it is generally working well.

Here is a screenshot of my Linux desktop operating system happily working well this morning:

He is not the only person online saying Linux doesn’t work and is unsuitable to replace Windows. There are dozens of YouTube videos essentially saying the same thing, but they don’t have all the research to back them up that Mr Tashkinov does.

But I’m certainly not the only person successfully using Linux as a desktop operating system. As of 2025, Linux-based operating systems now exceed 4% of the global desktop market.

There are estimated to be more than two billion PC’s in 2025, so 4% of that is more than 80 million. That means there are literally MILLIONS of people using Linux as their desktop operating system.

As well as all those PC’s, 100% of the top 500 supercomputers in the world are running on Linux in 2025, which tends to confirm that it must have some good points.

I’m not a geek and have no desire to get into arguments with geeks, because using their thinking methods and playing by their rules, they would shred me.

But as far as I’m concerned, if I’m using Linux as my everyday operating system, and millions of other people are as well, then this argument is done and dusted. Linux does work as a desktop operating system, the proof is right there in plain sight.

So how can these geeks claim otherwise? Personally I think they are deliberately ignoring all the millions of instances of it working, and focusing only on when it doesn’t.

However I’m not about to deny that for non geeks fleeing from Windows, Linux often initially doesn’t work very well, so next I’m going to do a post with 10 common mistakes and how to avoid them.

I’ve done multiple installs of Linux, and on some occasions have not been happy with the results, and have had to start over again. But I've found that by sticking to Linux Mint and avoiding some basic mistakes, it's not that hard to avoid most common Linux problems.