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Ameliorated: Windows 10 and 11 minus the spyware

ameliorated.io

21–30 of 55 posts

Re: Ameliorated: Windows 10 and 11 minus the spyware

#21

How's this different from NTLite, and does anyone know how this plays along with the ability to update your system?

It's different because of it's a aprils fools joke I guess? Feels off to me - the password-protected playbooks, the empty git repo, and the timing is suspicious.

If so, it's a weird prank. Where's the punchline?

Re: Ameliorated: Windows 10 and 11 minus the spyware

#22
post #14

I'm not sure why Java would be an easier path than C#, the next paragraph is a little weird to read - Native app We did not take the easy path of writing our app in Java or a web-based Java-script heavy framework. Using C# and .NET allows us to craft an experience that minimizes resource use and is very fast.

All of this is really weird. C# is easier than Java, and it isn’t necessarily native code. They’re also using the old .NET Framework [0] instead of the modern .NET for some reason.

[0]: https://git.ameliorated.info/Styris/trusted-uninstaller-cli/...

Re: Ameliorated: Windows 10 and 11 minus the spyware

#23
post #19
post #13

Whole thing screams scam or April Fools joke. There's one commit to the source code repository. Anyone want to try it on a VM and report back?

Playbook files are password protected archives. Anyone cares to reverse engineer the password from the executable?

> Set the Archive format to 7z, and set malte as the password

https://docs.ameliorated.io/developers/playbooks/creation.ht...

Re: Ameliorated: Windows 10 and 11 minus the spyware

#25
post #19
post #13

Whole thing screams scam or April Fools joke. There's one commit to the source code repository. Anyone want to try it on a VM and report back?

Playbook files are password protected archives. Anyone cares to reverse engineer the password from the executable?

The password seems to be "malte". The executable is completely unobfuscated .NET, and all you need for "reverse engineering" is ILSpy or DotPeek.

    public static void ExtractFile(string apbx, string file, string targetDir, bool recursive = false)
    {
      if (recursive)
        APBX.RunCommand("x \"" + file + "\" -o\"" + targetDir + "\" -p\"malte\" -y -r");
      else
        APBX.RunCommand("x \"" + apbx + "\" -o\"" + targetDir + "\" -p\"malte\" \"" + file + "\" -y -r-");
    }

    public static void ExtractArchive(string apbx, string targetDir, string exclude = null)
    {
      if (exclude != null)
        APBX.RunCommand("x \"" + apbx + "\" -o\"" + targetDir + "\" -p\"malte\" -x!\"" + exclude + "\" -y");
      else
        APBX.RunCommand("x \"" + apbx + "\" -o\"" + targetDir + "\" -p\"malte\" -y");
    }

Re: Ameliorated: Windows 10 and 11 minus the spyware

#27
post #19
post #13

Whole thing screams scam or April Fools joke. There's one commit to the source code repository. Anyone want to try it on a VM and report back?

Playbook files are password protected archives. Anyone cares to reverse engineer the password from the executable?

Yikes, this alone is grounds to never ever ever use this tool, intentionally obfuscating what commands are being run is malware-level behavior

Re: Ameliorated: Windows 10 and 11 minus the spyware

#28
post #15

"Security patches are not available for AME, as this subsystem has been disabled. In order to secure the system properly, we revoke administrator privileges from all normal users, and activate the hidden administrator account. This will mediate approximately 75% of the critical attack surface, while locking down the system from most foreseeable major future threats." https://docs.ameliorated.io/common-questions/the-c…

Since you can do the same thing on a normal system, by what % is AME less safe vs a patched Windows?

If you install AME on your Windows copy today? Probably not much. A year from now if you don’t update? However many critical vulnerabilities are found in a year in Windows.

Re: Ameliorated: Windows 10 and 11 minus the spyware

#29
post #15

"Security patches are not available for AME, as this subsystem has been disabled. In order to secure the system properly, we revoke administrator privileges from all normal users, and activate the hidden administrator account. This will mediate approximately 75% of the critical attack surface, while locking down the system from most foreseeable major future threats." https://docs.ameliorated.io/common-questions/the-c…

Since you can do the same thing on a normal system, by what % is AME less safe vs a patched Windows?

If you for example consider a typical company security policy this is 100% less secure considering any vulnerabilities in windows itself minus the the attack surface of the different telemetry systems that have been disabled.

If you care not to report your usage to Microsoft or any agency that Microsoft would need to release data to this is 100% 'secure'.

Security has become the main argument for unwanted ongoing spying and patronising by OS vendors. Look at Google play services and/or safety net. It is like trust us or we render your system unusable it insecure. This amounts to blackmailing IMHO and regulators need to step in.

Re: Ameliorated: Windows 10 and 11 minus the spyware

#30
They link to an LTT video, but guess what? The video links back to another website: ameliorated.info. The source code linked by the website is also hosted on there. For me it seems like someone is trying to revive an old project without approval from the owner. I'm not sure if you should trust it right now without more information
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