Hello everyone,
There are a few basic things in my current setup that I’m not very comfortable with. Since we’re on blackfriday -> cybermonday I think it would be a nice season to make some changes [cloud - e-mail - calendar - cloud - DNS] Here’s the deal:
E-mail / Calendar Strategy
- Using tuta for more than 2 years but I still rely on my gmail address for many things; issues with Tuta:
- troublesome to export/make backups (worse since I have many folders, would be folder by folder)
- not a fan of not having an e-mail client on my desktop (not issue in mobile phone), also don’t love the calendar
What would be ideal:
- a nice mail provider, possibility of easy backups, possibility of using e-mail client (this one is not a hard requirement)
- Calendar, end-to-end encrypted: a hard requirement since I store some sensitive data there. Should be easy to see on mobile (e.g.: dedicated app); for desktop it does not matter much to me I guess the calendar requirement excludes nextcloud and most providers, as well as calDav stuff and similar
- I wouldn’t mind if it would be 2 products working side by side if no alternatives are available (calendar and e-mail, but not ideal)
Backups and Cloud Storage (for redundancy)
- I have 1 cold backup at home, another at someone else’s home (both encrypted) but to be safe I’d like to also have a trustworthy cloud Cloud: -end-to-end encrypted or -> next bullet
- compatibility with cryptomator is a big plus (though I want to avoid Apple/Google/MS/Dropbox)
- possibility of mounting the cloud storage as drive on my computer (not hard requirement this one)
- could be 2 products side by side (not ideal though): a storage solution for entire backup (wasabis and stuff) and a cloud solution (day to day usage)
DNS for filtering
I’d like a solution to have all traffic filtered (malware, ads) system wide on my laptop/desktop I have used adguard in the past; open to all other possibilities. I also have mullvadVPN; wouldn’t using a different DNS defeat the purpose of the VPN? Or when VPN is on, the DNS is always the one of the VPN? Possibilities:
- controlD (i have seen people vouching for it)
- NextDNS (system settings)
- MullvadDNS (system settings)
- adguard desktop app
Malware / Virus / etc
I have a linux desktop and macOS laptop. My doubts are regarding macOS. I’ve seen so many new antivirus ads that it almost makes me think that I should have one. I have malwarebytes installed for occasional runs and CleanMyMacX (I have doubts regarding its security claims - I use more for system management)
- Should I opt for an antivirus program? If so, which would be advised intego is showing up all the time weirdly)
This time of the year is when I can gear up, since financially I haven’t been at the top.
For those that will answer, thank you so much in advance!!!
Proton suite. And they have a black Friday deal I think
Personally have this too, but would recommend against it as the support for Linux is tragic.
Use a normal mail provider like mailbox.org, startmail, posteo, and soo many others. Privacyguides
You don’t need an antivirus. No one needs an antivirus. Common sense is good enough.
Thanks!!! Weird that without looking for any there are ads popping up everywhere is for antivirus.
So for the macOS system , if I want to do a scan once in a while (even to catch windows-targeted stuff so that I don’t get bad files in backups) what would you advise ? I go on the “high seas” occasionally for anime, books and tv series… that’s one of my worries
If you REALLY need it, I’ve seen some people recommend ClamAV but really, I don’t like the concept of antiviruses. They run with I’m assuming full access to your storage and generally bog down your system performance. IMO, the best line of defense for your system is you. Use your common sense, stray clear of the shady websites, stick to well known and safe recommendations (especially relevant since you sail the high seas) and don’t run random commands from the internet.
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You’re correct in that you shouldn’t mess with the DNS settings when on the vpn. Off vpn, I have had good experiences with Control D ans Aha Blitz on browsers and mobile, with the latter allowing you to actually select the granular filter lists yourself. I recently switched to Mullvad’s DoH though and it’s been good so far
Ohhh. I think that’s where I’m getting confused in terms of best practice. Which one the following scenarios do you recommend?
- leave DNS in the network settings as default and once in a while use VPN as-is
- change DNS in network settings and onde in a while use VPN without changing anything else
I’m making a big confusion: so you mean that if I change the DNS at network settings I should revert those changes when I decide to activate VPN? Or simply leave the new DNS of the settings and not touch anything while I have VPN on?
Sorry for the trouble!!!
Buy yourself a VPS at a provider that accepts untraceable cryptos, like 1984.hosting and self-host
It’s on my plans to dive a bit into self hosting, but for now only inside LAN. Still reading on it. On a VPS I wouldn’t be capable of securing and doing good administration in the next few months. But definitely on my roadmap (especially since I want to move careers for something more technical)
- would you consider 1984 above orange for instance? The only ones I’d like to avoid are the likes of godaddy stuff
You can set up an account over Tor in case of 1984. Haven’t used Orange but mainly due to bigger costs. Iirc the only time my 1984 Wireguard VPN was facing issues was when trying to edit Wikipedia, so not a big problem. Searxng was also working fine.
