Posted on 11/06/2025 9:34:09 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.)
So regardless of short-term solutions, in the end you will have an unsafe OS. Also, the reality is that many of you cannot upgrade to Windows 11, and even if you could, my recent videos show that Windows 11 has AI that watches everything you do. I'll never use it as my main OS.
But I do use Windows 11 too, 1% of the time. 99% of the time I use Linux. While I might state clearly that you should abandon Windows and go to Linux, the reality is that this may not be an easy transition.
This may be because you want to run games or do video editing on Windows, or maybe there's some special software you need to use like CAD CAM software for Windows. But it's very dangerous to leave Windows 10 as-is without some security precautions. So what we will learn today is Windows 10 hardening.
I will teach you some things. Most of the attacks in Windows come from very specific areas, and with the right approaches, we can mitigate the risks and even eliminate them. And this may allow you to use Windows 10 for an extended period of time in conjunction with Linux.
Maybe forever. Safely. Find out how.
And everything I will teach you today will be free. Stay right there. Our objective.
Part-time use. I want to make our objectives clear from the get-go. I'm not suggesting that you just keep going as you are with Windows 10 as-is.
I'm suggesting that you reduce your use of Windows 10 to an occasionally used OS, and that alone reduces the attack footprint for hackers. And I'm also recommending a dual boot setup where you install Linux side-by-side with Windows, and I have a recent video that explains how to do that. And it should be easier to do with Windows 10 versus Windows 11.
So the main objective should be part-time use. This is the only safe way to move forward without getting a new computer and using Windows 11. If you're on Linux, you are going to be a lot safer from hacks than Windows, because generally it is harder to hack Linux, and there are fewer exploits on Linux versus Windows.
You will not need an antivirus for Linux. And of course, Linux will always get security updates while your Windows 10 will not. Therefore, risky operations are better suited for Linux, and that will keep you going safely from here on.
But rest assured, the way we harden this, you will not need any antivirus from Windows 10, nor will you care if you don't receive a security update forever. I realize that some of you may say this is a cybersecurity topic and not a privacy topic. But this cybersecurity procedure is necessary to retain our privacy on the OS by not relying on the Windows Fireware product called Windows 11.
What apps not to keep on Windows To achieve this part-time status, we need to examine the apps we use, and certain things must be moved to Linux. If you control what apps you run on Windows, you already eliminate a ton of hacking risks. In a 2025 Verizon Data Breach Investigations report, it reported that 82% of breaches involve phishing or stolen credentials, mostly via email.
So think of this, if you move your email to Linux, which is the simplest thing, and it's already built in, you basically eliminate a big source of hacking risks. This alone is huge. Secondly, if you move your web browsing to Linux, and again, web browsers are pretty much the same on Linux as Windows, then the second highest source of attacks pretty much disappears.
These two things alone will make you a lot safer. Additionally, if you pass files back and forth with others, like word processing files and spreadsheets, this must be done on Linux. Lots of hacks can happen on Microsoft Office scripts that don't happen on Linux.
But the change I just stated here is huge, and super simple. Windows apps, moving them to Linux The next step to turning Windows into a part-time OS is to review what Windows apps can run on Linux. In case you think this is theory, Steam claims that 85% of the top 1000 games are playable on Steam Deck hardware that used to run only on Windows.
Steam Deck is a portable gaming machine that's actually running Linux and Proton. Proton is doing the Windows emulation, and it is based on Wine. So if Steam can run games on Linux, you can see that it is possible.
I happen to have a Steam Deck, and it is actually cool when you realize that it doesn't use Windows to run these games based on Windows. Steam, of course, has made this seamless for games, and lots of you want to stay with Windows mostly because of games. And yet, there's no reason for it.
Linux will work faster most of the time, so your gaming experience should be better. At least on Steam, only 15% of the top 1000 games are unplayable on Steam Deck's Proton. So at least with that specific hardware configuration, they've solved lots of compatibility issues.
Some of you may be less successful with this, especially with newer computer models, though. The point is to lessen the use of Windows 10 directly, since it is not security patched. But if some of your gaming moves to Linux, then it is another big win right there.
For regular Windows apps, you can use a GUI to manage your executables to run on Wine. This GUI is called Bottles. So the combination of Bottles plus Wine allows you to run Windows apps.
This is a direct execution of Windows EXEs. This is not a virtual machine. Now, I personally find the Bottles UI a bit clunky and hard to understand.
But the point is, it is possible to move Windows apps to Linux. Not all, but certainly some. Another option outside of Bottles with Wine is another GUI for Wine called Lutris with Heroic, which you can use for games from Epic and GOG games.
The rest of this video will focus more on advanced techniques that will really allow you to run Windows 10 for an unlimited period, safely, without caring about security updates. Immutable Windows This technique, which is called Immutable Windows, is the same technique used by the Tails Linux distro or even the typical Linux Live USB. You basically have an instance of Windows that doesn't have persistent storage.
In other words, after a reboot, any changes to data will be removed and restored back to the original automatically. To do this, you need an enterprise version of Windows 10. And the specific version I will tell you to download is called US Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2021.
The number one spot to get this is archive.org. It's a non-profit digital library hosting public domain and archive software like this ISO. Multiple verified downloads exist, all pointing to the exact file EN US Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2021 x64 DVD. This version of Windows can be installed using a local account, so there is no need to ever use a Microsoft ID.
If you run these commands that I show here on your Windows install, the drive will be locked and you cannot store any data permanently after boot. So the feature that restores your OS to its original state is called UWF or Unified Write Filter. It is available only on Windows Enterprise, IoT Enterprise, and LTSC editions.
When enabled, it redirects all your disk write operations to a temporary virtual overlay in RAM. And then on reboot, it will be discarded. Thus restoring your drive to its original state.
For example, running this command will protect your C drive. You can create exclusions, meaning areas where you can allow a write. But be careful here, as malware can write to this as well.
So I would prefer not having any writes on the root drive. But here's an example of how you would do exclusions. This feature is used mainly for kiosks or public computers, but it's very useful here.
Why does this work? In an immutable Windows setup, no malware can survive a boot. Even if you get malware, after a reboot, it will be gone. Here's a good way to use this.
Let's say you like to use your computer for gaming using Steam. What you do is store your Steam files on drive D, so you can still keep your game status data. You can store your real data, like word processing documents, spreadsheets, photos, etc.
also on drive D. So aside from the exception apps, you will use Windows only on C drive in this immutable format. This also means you cannot install new apps, or you have to undo this by disabling UWF. So if you need to, just remember to turn off UWF, install new apps, and then lock it down again with UWF.
This also makes this immune to Windows updates, by the way. To keep things safe, you must also be aware of what data you store on drive D. You must stick to your predetermined apps, like your Steam files and video editing files, and so on, meaning no email or web browsing or office document handling. An important thing is that if you are going to do this, that you followed my advice earlier and moved email and web browsing to Linux.
So there should be no instances where you open email attachments or download from websites from this Windows installation. There are alternate ways to do an immutable Windows, for example, using a virtual machine. If you can use a virtual machine and your apps run well on a virtual machine, you can then just keep an original copy of your VM that you never saved to.
So you always start with a copy. For some of you, this could be the easier answer. However, some apps do not run well on a virtual machine like video editing or gaming.
So unfortunately, the UWF option is still the most practical. Virtual machine. One of the ways to guarantee that your Windows app will work is to install a virtual machine on your Linux computer and run Windows 10 on it.
You can use the same Windows version I used previously. US Windows 10, IoT Enterprise, LTSC 2021. For Linux, the best performing option is to use the KUEMO KVM way of doing virtual machines.
I have an old video on that. Now, there are advantages to using Windows 10 in a virtual machine versus Windows 11. First, the TPM requirements do not exist, so it won't need to create a virtual TPM, which adds complexity.
Things like BitLocker won't be much of an issue. So even if you had the option to use Windows 11, it would be more practical to stick to Windows 10. And just like the UFW procedure we did, you can implement something similar on a virtual machine.
What you do is always work only from backups of your original Windows 10 VM. This way, you can always not save the original state, and thus, again, will ensure that malware doesn't survive the session. If you install new software, start from the original VM, and then save the master, and then use only copies as your VM.
SMB Hacks One of the ways Windows is hacked is by hackers taking advantage of the SMB, or Server Message Block feature, of Windows, which is what allows sharing of files in Windows. In this environment we are creating, we have no need to ever use SMB, so we will turn this off. To verify that SMB is actually disabled, you can run this before and after the steps I just told you about.
RDP Access Another interesting trick to isolating Windows is to leave it on the current computer, lock it down using some of the techniques I already stated, and then remotely access it from your Linux computer using an RDP client. RDP stands for Remote Desktop Protocol and is used to remotely control screens. It is built into Windows and is fairly easy to enable.
To enable RDP in Windows, you need to enable NLA as shown here. Using RDP provides a layer of isolation since it will prevent your Linux computer from ever receiving malware directly from the Windows machine. While it is unlikely with the prior precautions to have hacks on the Windows machine, this is through isolation here and is obviously easier to do, because you do not have to do dual boot.
Just buy a $200 Lenovo ThinkPad 6th Gen, install Linux on it, harden your Windows 10 and use it in a very limited way from there, and access it remotely using Remote Desktop. You can then use an RDP client on Linux to access it. This is very common among system operations techs, so you can do the same yourself.
Most popular Linux distros already have a built-in RDP client called Ramina. Physical Access The other main way a Windows 10 computer will be hacked will be by physical access, typically using the USB drive and using some hacking device like a USB rubber ducky. The assumption I'm making here is that this is for home use, so the threat of an unattended computer accessible by the night cleaning crew isn't a factor.
If this is an issue at your home, then you've got other worries beyond Windows. Obviously, physical access introduces other threats to your person beyond just some hacker getting control of your computer. So this is kind of common sense.
I could tell you to put certain controls on the USB drive and so on, but is that really necessary? Up to you. We need to be able to boot from USB for Linux purposes, so this is not practical in a dual-boot computer. Still, we can add a little safety here for extra insurance.
And what we'll do here before you enable UWF is to prevent autorun in the USB drive. So run this in PowerShell. Beyond this, I think we'll leave the physical access threat to you all.
If this is a risk for your environment, then you can work on physical security, which is outside the scope of this video. What about Windows 11? Well, what about Windows 11? As I talked about in several videos, using Windows 11 as a primary OS is very dangerous as the OS is geared to watching everything you do with the new see-what-you-see technology. And I've stated over and over that I personally use Windows 11.
It came with my computer, which is brand new. And I dual-boot. But 99% of my activity is on Linux, so Windows can watch me all at once.
I do not do email on it, web browsing, searching. I do video editing on it. That's it.
I don't have to spend the time to harden Windows 11 because it is actively updated by Microsoft. I have TPM off, BitLocker off, and Secure Boot off, so it doesn't mess with me. If you're able to upgrade to Windows 11, you can do what I do.
Use it in such a limited way that it is not a threat. But aside from dual-boot, I don't have to do anything special to it. Final thoughts In summary, what we've done here is change the way you use Windows 10.
No, this video does not encourage you to use Windows 10 as is. But it forces you to rethink your computing plan long-term and decide how Windows 10 will fit into it. At some point in the future, you may find that there will be no instance where you need to be on Windows at all.
I'm almost there. I'm at 1% use. You can be there too.
Folks, thank you for watching my videos. As many of you know, this channel does not have sponsors. And we primarily sustain ourselves by just creating products and services that we use to defend our privacy posture.
I'd like to invite you to visit our community site, BraxMe, which has a growing community of privacy enthusiasts. Their people from their walks of life and beliefs converge together in the mutual support of privacy issues. We have a store there with products ranging from the Brax Virtual Phone Service, Brax Mail, Bytes VPN, dGoogle phones, and other services like Flashing and OS.
All these are tools used by the privacy-aware, and you can even talk to the actual users of the products directly. Join us, we'd love to have you there, and you don't even have to identify yourself to be part of the community. The very successful Brax 3 phone is also available for pre-order on its second batch.
The first batch has been sold out. Information about that is on braxtech.net. Thanks also to those who donate to us on Patreon, Locals, and YouTube Memberships. You are all appreciated.
See you next time.
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Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
.
It was the “end of support” that wasn’t. You literally just go in and click a button answering if you like support to continue one more year and amazingly...support continues another year.
Any body have a good app to make Windows 11 look like 10 or even 7 especially the Start page and the File explorer?
I’m still running Windows 7. Who is going to bother attacking it when hardly anyone uses it?
Installing Linux into a Windows 10 computer using the Linux partition manager...without risking data loss.
Vice versa - Windows into Linux. The video fellow said use specific version 'EN_US_Windows_10_IoT_Enterprise_LTSC_2021_x64_DVD' for security's sake, and that it's free to use. I'm wary as this is the first I've heard of this.
When duel booting, are demands on resources increased, does the non-active OS run minimally in the background or does it stay totally off until rebooted as Primary?
Shakin' in my 'boots' trying to avoid mistakes.
I have switched over 20 of my own and other people’s machines to Windows 10 IoT Enterprise 2021 LTSC while preserving all of my already installed programs and apps. This will provide security updates for another 7 years. It cost me about $20 a machine, and they actually run better than the versions of Windows 10 Pro that they replaced which were based on version 22H2 which is actually inferior to version 21H2 in almost every way.
Of course, I use various versions of Linux dual booting in many of these computers which is another solution but less desirable to many people who are used to Windows 10 or 11. By the time we get to 2032 I expect that most of my Windows machine will be so much less capable than even the cheapest computers, tablets, or phones that stubbornness and nostalgia will be the primary reasons to not replace them with newer hardware.
As an example, I have several mini-PCs that I use for various tasks in my home lab that were extremely inexpensive yet they are much more powerful than some of the dinosaurs that I still have around.
👍👍
bookmark.
My favorite is explorer patcher
https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/releases
You have to scroll down aways until you find the exe files under the Assets settings. You should enable the notifications for updates because Microsoft feels it is their duty to prevent you from using this type of tool. You will also get a notice that the file is dangerous, because it is not commonly downloaded.
Some people have reported problems, but I have never had any. I started using it mostly to decrease the annoyingly large taskbar in Windows 11.
Here is a YouTube video that explains how to install and use it. https://youtu.be/k8fpyeQVDYQ
You can only boot one at a time. When you run one the other day is just files on your hard drive. Before you install make a backup image to a USB HDD. I use rescuezilla which is free and simple to use. When I install Linux Mint it gives you the option of installing side by side with your existing OS or deleting the existing OS. If you choose side by side it handles the partitioning.
If you are that worried you should install Linux to a bootable flash drive using Rufus and boot Linux from the flash drive for a while until you feel comfortable
I found IoT licenses for $9.99 at https://flixeasy.com/product/microsoft-windows-10-iot-enterprise-ltsc-2021-lifetime-license-for-1-pc/
In a dual boot system, you run one OS or the other OS, but not both. No background, no resource sharing. The booted OS gets everything, the non-booted OS is completely off, gets nothing. No resource hit.
That's in contrast to using one OS as a host and a second OS as a virtual machine (VM). The two OSes are running at the same time, so resources are shared.
Thank you so much. I will study it.
By the way, I have a nice LG Gram windows laptop, but on many YouTube videos the sound seems to be too low to hear well at Max volume. I’m trying an app called FxSound and it works...
“Free open-source software to boost sound quality, volume, and bass. Including an equalizer, effects, and presets for customized audio.”
Thanks to MikelTackNailer for the ping!
>> You literally just go in and click a button answering if you like support to continue one more year and amazingly...support continues another year.
That was my experience as well. Gives me a year to switch over to Linux; hope I don’t procrastinate too long!
I downloaded Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2021 from...
https://archive.org/details/en-us_windows_10_iot_enterprise_ltsc_2021_x64_dvd_257ad90f_202301
...and got a license key for $9.99 from...
Burned the Windows ISO to a bootable flash drive with Rufus, booted from it and followed the directions.
Consider installing OpenShell (nee Classic Shell) on your Windows 11 system. It lets you customize lots and lots of things back to Win7 or Win10 style.
https://openshellmenu.com/download
Info on Classic Shell (no longer maintained) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_Shell
Thank you, Rob Braxman Tech...
Will definitely look into this...
Maybe you could help me to protect my DOS 6.22 system as well...
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