Notices by Blue Ghost (blueghost@mastodon.online)

Windows 10 will no longer receive free software updates, technical assistance, or security fixes after 14.10.2025.

Consider migrating to Linux: https://mastodon.online/@blueghost/112240288637362593

Microsoft instructions on how to download and install Linux on computers running Windows: https://learn.microsoft.com/linux/install

Start using Linux and gradually see if it is an alternative you are comfortable with over the next year.

1/5

#Microsoft #Windows #Windows10 #Linux #CyberSecurity #Privacy #InfoSec #FreeSoftware #OpenSource #FOSS

Windows 10 will no longer receive free software updates, technical assistance, or security fixes after 14.10.2025.

Consider migrating to Linux: https://mastodon.online/@blueghost/112240288637362593

Linux distributions have been deployed in extreme environments such as the International Space Station and nuclear powered submarines.

International Space Station: https://www.theregister.com/2013/05/10/iss_linux_debian_deployment
Submarines: https://www.linuxjournal.com/article/7789

4/5

#Microsoft #Windows #Windows10 #Linux #CyberSecurity #Privacy #InfoSec #FreeSoftware #OpenSource

Windows 10 will no longer receive free software updates, technical assistance, or security fixes after 14.10.2025.

Consider migrating to Linux: https://mastodon.online/@blueghost/112240288637362593

Linux distributions have been developed for a variety of uses.

General: #Debian @debian / #Fedora @fedora
Multimedia: #Dynebolic @dyne
Anonymity: #Tails @torproject
Security: #QubesOS @QubesOS
STEM: #PopOS @pop_os_official @system76

3/5

#Microsoft #Windows #Windows10 #Linux #CyberSecurity #Privacy #InfoSec #FreeSoftware #FOSS

Windows 10 will no longer receive free software updates, technical assistance, or security fixes after 14.10.2025.

Consider migrating to Linux: https://mastodon.online/@blueghost/112240288637362593

The following applications are available via Linux and Windows, try them without having to install Linux.

Office Suite: #LibreOffice / @libreoffice
Email Client: #Thunderbird / @thunderbird
Media Player: #VLC / @videolan

2/5

#Microsoft #Windows #Windows10 #Linux #CyberSecurity #Privacy #InfoSec #FreeSoftware #OpenSource #FOSS

Windows 10 is no longer receiving free software updates, technical assistance, or security fixes.

Consider migrating to Linux.

Resource: @Endof10

PLEASE

1. Donate/Sell your Windows 10 computer if you purchase a Windows 11 replacement.

2. Recycle the computer, precious metals can be recovered: https://mastodon.online/@blueghost/113401045817563250

The computers do not have to become eWaste at landfills.

5/5

#Microsoft #Windows #Windows10 #Linux #CyberSecurity #Privacy #InfoSec #FreeSoftware #FOSS #eWaste #Recycle #FSFE

Microsoft Office 2016 and Office 2019 will no longer receive software updates, technical support, or bug and security fixes after 14.10.2025.

Consider migrating to LibreOffice.

400 million downloads.
Used by businesses, governments, and individuals.

SOURCE
https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2025/01/30/400-million-downloads-and-counting/
https://www.libreoffice.org/discover/who-uses-libreoffice/
https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2025/03/13/updates-on-schleswig-holstein-moving-to-libreoffice/

Website: https://www.libreoffice.org
Mastodon: @libreoffice

2/4

#Microsoft #Office2016 #Office2019 #Office #LibreOffice #Privacy #InfoSec #FreeSoftware #OpenSource #FOSS

Microsoft Office 2016 and Office 2019 will no longer receive software updates, technical support, or bug and security fixes after 14.10.2025.

Consider migrating to LibreOffice.

Supports encryption and digital signatures.

RESOURCE
https://mastodon.online/@blueghost/111515323806273370
https://mastodon.online/@blueghost/113083429177251269
https://mastodon.online/@blueghost/112279507315049711

Website: https://www.libreoffice.org
Mastodon: @libreoffice

3/4

#Microsoft #Office2016 #Office2019 #Office #LibreOffice #Privacy #InfoSec #CyberSecurity #Encryption #FOSS #FreeSoftware #OpenSource

Microsoft Office 2016 and Office 2019 are no longer receiving software updates, technical support, or bug and security fixes.

Consider migrating to LibreOffice.

Microsoft recommends migrating to a Microsoft 365 subscription.

LibreOffice supports the features that a majority of users need for free.

Website: https://www.libreoffice.org
Mastodon: @libreoffice

4/4

#Microsoft #Office2016 #Office2019 #Office #LibreOffice #Privacy #InfoSec #CyberSecurity #Encryption #FOSS #FreeSoftware #OpenSource

Opus is a lossy audio format.

MP3 alternative.

Consider Opus instead of FLAC for use with portable devices.

After ripping audio CD to FLAC, change the format from FLAC to Opus and rip the CD again.

BENEFITS

Opus performs better at low bitrates compared to alternatives such as MP3 and this may result in less battery usage.

Opus files are smaller than FLAC resulting in less storage usage.

Website: https://opus-codec.org

#Opus #Audio #Music #Linux #FreeSoftware #OpenSource #FOSS #FLAC #MP3

FLAC is an audio format, data is compressed with no loss of information or quality.

FLAC is a format option for archiving audio collections such as CDs.

Ripping a CD to FLAC allows an exact copy of an audio CD to be created if the original is lost or damaged.

Supported devices: https://xiph.org/flac/links.html#hardware
Supported software: https://xiph.org/flac/links.html#software
FLAC: https://wikipedia.org/wiki/FLAC

Website: https://xiph.org/flac

#FLAC #Audio #AudioCD #Archive #Linux #Backup #DataBackup

Consider supporting the mobile application funding campaign.

4 days remaining.
58% of €75,000 goal reached.

GOALS
Play videos in background.
Cast videos to TV.
Notifications of newly released content.
Change video definition.
Manage all channels of account.
Edit video chapters and subtitles.
Detailed stats of content.
Upload new videos.
Set up and manage livestream.
Use device cameras and connection.

Website: https://support.joinpeertube.org
Mastodon: @peertube

#PeerTube #FreeSoftware #deGoogle #FOSS

PeerTube is a decentralized platform for video hosting.

Google YouTube alternative.

Automatically import all videos from a YouTube channel along with future videos.

Supports live streaming.
Supports Channel synchronization.

No advertisements.
No tracking.

Instances: https://instances.joinpeertube.org/instances
Platforms: https://joinpeertube.org/instances
Browse content: https://joinpeertube.org/browse-content

Website: https://joinpeertube.org
Mastodon: @peertube
PeerTube: https://peer.tube/c/peertube_news/videos

#PeerTube #Fediverse #deGoogle #YouTube

OpenStreetMap is a map of the world that supports mapping surveillance cameras.

Google Maps alternative.

Identify location of camera.
Identify type of camera.
Identify area under surveillance.

Surveillance under Surveillance is a OpenStreetMap instance focused on surveillance cameras, data used is not visualized on the OpenStreetMap.org instance.

Website: https://sunders.uber.space

Website: https://www.openstreetmap.org
Mastodon: @openstreetmap

#OpenStreetMap #Surveillance #Privacy #deGoogle #OSM

Microsoft Office 2016 and Office 2019 will no longer receive software updates, technical support, or bug and security fixes after 14.10.2025.

Consider migrating to LibreOffice.

LibreOffice is free to use.
LibreOffice supports Office file formats.

Install LibreOffice and compare it with your version of Office.

Website: https://www.libreoffice.org
Mastodon: @libreoffice

1/4

#Microsoft #Office2016 #Office2019 #Office #LibreOffice #CyberSecurity #Privacy #InfoSec #FreeSoftware #OpenSource #FOSS

LibreTranslate is an open source machine translation API.

Google Translate alternative.

Supports hosted/self-hosted instances.
Supports offline use.
Supports per-user limit quotas via API keys.

Run as a Tor Onion Service.
Does not rely on proprietary providers such as Google.

Powered by Argos Translate: https://github.com/argosopentech/argos-translate/
Website: https://www.argosopentech.com
Mastodon: @argosopentech

API: https://wikipedia.org/wiki/API

Website: https://libretranslate.com

#LibreTranslate #Translation #FOSS #deGoogle

Consider the following options if you are interested in supporting a free software project(s).

TOR PROJECT
Donation: https://donate.torproject.org/
Mastodon: @torproject

FRAMASOFT
Donation: https://soutenir.framasoft.org
Mastodon: @Framasoft

FREE SOFTWARE FOUNDATION
Donation: https://my.fsf.org/join?mtm_campaign=fall24&mtm_source=banner
Mastodon: @fsf

KDE
Donation: https://kde.org/fundraisers/yearend2024/
Mastodon: @kde

GNU HEALTH
Donation: https://gnuhealth.org/support
Mastodon: @gnuhealth

DYNE.ORG
Donation: https://dyne.org/donate/
Mastodon: @dyne

#FreeSoftware

Free Software Foundation hosts a XMPP server, associate members are allowed access to the server as a member benefit.

XMPP is a decentralized and federated messaging network.
XMPP supports end-to-end encryption via OMEMO and OpenPGP/GnuPG.

XMPP: https://mastodon.online/@blueghost/112358789838228932
OMEMO: https://mastodon.online/@blueghost/112726876458648823
GnuPG: https://mastodon.online/@blueghost/111974048270035570

Website: https://www.fsf.org/associate/benefits
Mastodon: @fsf

#FSF #FreeSoftware #XMPP #OMEMO #Encryption #Privacy #InfoSec #E2EE #Messaging #OpenPGP #PGP #GnuPG #GPG #OpenSource

ODF wholesome encryption is the default password (symmetric) encryption mode in LibreOffice 24.8.

Supports AES-256-GCM and Argon2id.

LibreOffice 24.2/24.8 is required to open the encrypted files.

Disable: Tools > Options > Load/Save > General > ODF Format Version > 1.3 (drop down menu) > Apply > OK

AES: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Encryption_Standard
GCM: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galois/Counter_Mode
Argon2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argon2

Website: https://www.libreoffice.org
Mastodon: @libreoffice

#LibreOffice #Encryption #InfoSec #Privacy #E2EE

uBlock Origin is a content blocker that supports the AdGuard URL Tracking filter, it may not be enabled by default.

The URL Tracking filter enhances privacy by removing tracking parameters from a URL.

Enable: Dashboard > Filter Lists > Privacy > AdGuard URL Tracking Protection (select checkbox) > Apply Changes

AdGuard post: https://adguard.com/en/blog/adguard-url-tracking-filter.html
URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/URL

Website: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock

#uBlockOrigin #uBO #Privacy #AdGuard #URL #Trackers #FreeSoftware #OpenSource #FOSS

Free Software Foundation (FSF) has a PeerTube account!

PeerTube: https://mastodon.online/@blueghost/111962620267627302

FSF is a nonprofit organization that defends and promotes the right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs.

FSF sponsors the GNU Project: https://www.gnu.org

Website: https://www.fsf.org
Mastodon: @fsf
PeerTube: https://framatube.org/a/fsf/video-channels

#FSF #GNU #FreeSoftware #PeerTube #Framasoft