AVOID USING MICROSOFT

This is only the second topic on my privacy page and I can already see that 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, but I ended up still using Win 7 to some extent right up until 2024, although I was having increasing problems with software that would no longer work properly on Win 7.

 

When I shifted to Linux, it took me ages to get used it 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 dislike Win 10, that is nothing to my loathing 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 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.

 

COPY & PASTE

Is there any point in doing copy and paste blog posts where I just copy somebody else's post, change a few things that I think look a bit shit and bang it up on my own blog like I'm pretending I wrote it myself?

That is something I really don't have a firm opinion on, as there is a solid argument to be made that it's pointless plagiarism that pisses off the authors and serves no useful purpose. 

On the other hand I do have reasons for doing it from time to time. I don't make any income from this blog so it's not about that. Most of the content I post is primarily aimed at me, rather than any unknown and possibly non existent readers. Those thousands of hits I appear to be getting could well be mostly AI.

But when I'm trying to share some good info with my friends sometimes the links I send them just kill the whole experience. A prime example is anything on Substack. To me, the whole platform is a dog's breakfast, confusing, filled with subscriptions and pop-ups, an ugly looking mess.

Another example is the Miles Mathis website. I don't know what is really going on with any of his bizarre story, there are some great essays on there, but his entire website is a digital train wreck. I previously did a post about Miles Mathis here. 

And there are several other sites with some good content I'd like to share, but either the sites are a mess, or sometimes the links don't work at all, so I often just give up and skip posting them.

This year I decided to change my attitudes to blogging, and stop being so anal. To just post whatever I feel like. And that is going to include doing more copy and paste posts. I'm not sure how many or where from, but just some things that I find interesting and would like share.

Hopefully they won't piss off too many content creators and I will include a link to the original content even if those don't always work very well. The links to the original content will look something like this:

 This post is a lightly edited copy of an article by "Messy but Perceptive Dude" which can be found here: https:/the.original.url

I NEED TO QUIT

Seeing an endless stream of fake AI driven fudporn every day is really unhealthy.

I've already given up most "social media" but until now have still been regularly looking at Facebook, YouTube, and some of the blogroll posts on this www.sift.co.nz blog.

But the 2026 online fictional universe is a whole new level of mindfuck. Almost none of this crap is real, it's all just a never ending script designed to crush our will to live.

If I ask myself the question "Is seeing this good for me?" the honest answer is almost always a resounding "NO". So why am I still looking at it? Mainly because I'm addicted to it. Can I overcome my addiction? YES!. 

This year I plan to very nearly quit ALL social media. As far as my SIFT blog goes, I will post whatever I feel like, whenever I feel like it, and not give a toss if anyone else looks at it. It will be the only online posting I do, and if I don't feel like posting anything I won't. 

Facebook can sometimes be a handy way to catch up with a massive collection of online friends, but even viewing it with a chronological feed, most of the content that is being shared is AI generated fudporn designed to generate emotional reactions. 

Paddling around in a sea of fake online sewage is not healthy. 

 

And while Youtube has some cool music videos and some useful content, it has now devolved to the point of being about 90% AI generated garbage. YouSlop...

So as well as continuing to avoid all social media I'm going to keep limiting my time on those two sites to a maximum of 15 minutes a day using the StayFocusd extension.

When I originally posted the following in May 2020 I was doing my best to not be dragged down by fudporn, but the truth is the damn stuff is pretty addictive and in 2026 I need to remind myself again…

FUDPORN IS DOING NONE OF US ANY GOOD

A message to my fellow “conspiracy theorists” – mainstream FUDPORN (Fear Uncertainty & Doubt) is constantly programming the masses to believe that the end is nigh. 

And lots of us do get that part. But another aspect to FUDPORN is choosing to constantly focus on the evil plan. I have been part of that mindset myself for years. But what does exposing it and focusing on it really achieve?

 Clearly the sheeple don’t believe a word we say, as they have been fully programmed by the media and by all the crap they look at all day on their “smart” phones

Meanwhile many of us “conspiracy theorists” have been reduced to a position of being nearly defeated before we start, staring down the barrel of a plan so cunning and run by people so evil that we sometimes argue about whether they are even human, as we are constantly being told how rich, how evil, and how cunning this enemy is.

If they are really that cunning, they are certainly cunning enough to be running the “alt” media as well as the mainstream media, and making sure shills like Alex Jones get lots of attention. Play both sides is a key tactic, along with divide and conquer – we know that, yet for some reason we believe “alt media” is telling us some secret truth while “mainstream media” lies.

But “play both sides” doesn’t work like that. It fills the heads of both sides with utter shit while doing something completely different while we are all distracted.

Have we become our own worst enemies, constantly focusing on how totally fucked we are because “they” are so powerful? Why are alt media sites constantly going on about police brutality, state oppression, forced vaccinations, 5G rollout, race riots, and endless other variations of “you are fucked”? 

Even if all these things are taking place, relentlessly talking about them will not stop them happening.

Every time we are told “this is how it is now” we are not being informed, we are being programmed and beaten into submission. Maybe this moment in time is a turning point, and how we evolve right now determines the lesson we learn next.

We can only change ourselves, the sheeple will do what they will, and so will any evil satan worshiping pedophiles who run everything. But do they really? – or are they just using “alt media” to tell us they do, when in reality they are a bunch of fading old farts, terrified of losing their power as the world evolves.

That may or may not be true, but if one belief keeps us in a state of fear, and one gives us hope and power, why not choose the empowering one? We can choose to believe we are fucked, or we can choose to believe this is our chance to move forward. Because it might be, but it certainly won’t be if we keep believing all the stories saying how fucked we are.

Right now is the time to give this a shot – watching fudporn (wherever it stems from) has not been working for us.

“FUD is an age-old manipulation tactic intended to create knee-jerk reactions instead of intellectual reasoning. Used by politicians, advertisers, and sales people since nearly the dawn of time, it’s more successful than it should be. Instil fear in the audience, and they will need, not want, to do as you instruct”

RANDOMS 2026 #5

A BUSY WEEK

 What have the satanic globalist scum been up to this week? Well it's been pretty full on, they have crashed both cryptos and bullion at the same time, and are now having a full on go at crashing trump, microslop, and the entire US economy, all at once! 

As well as starting a new imaginary "virus" psyop and continuing to push their moronic "global warming" story...

They are doing this to make trillions of dollars and control the world, which is quite understandable really. But normies just believe all the crap they are spoon fed because they are gullible retards, which is tragic.