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Have you restarted your computer this week?

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Re: Have you restarted your computer this week?

#281

Post by Gigachad »

michaelt wrote: post #266
Gigachad wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exploits break out of the sandbox for higher system access. Rebooting flushes them out because the exploits have abused some memory bug to load custom code in the system, but this can not persist a reboot since everything gets cyrptographically verified on boot. This is why things like the Nintendo Switch hacks and iphone jailbreaks have to be reloaded every time the system reboots, while they could modify the system…

> This is why things like the Nintendo Switch hacks and iphone jailbreaks have to be reloaded every time the system reboots, Why is it this particular form of 'malware protection' always seems to involve a 30% fee?

It doesn’t. You get exactly the same protections on Graphine OS with Fdroid. It’s just difficult to retroactively sandbox applications on the desktop because it’s a breaking change.

Mobile platforms just got a clean slate to implement a new security model.

Re: Have you restarted your computer this week?

#282

Post by 14 »

Zecc wrote: post #227
zelphirkalt wrote: post #221

I don't feel like keeping my tower pc running more than necessary. When I don't use it for hours, I usually turn it off. At least when I go to bed I turn it off. Next day I turn it on again. Like a normal person. I don't see a need to save 1 minute or so, by keeping it running.

Same here. But I hibernate it, which defeats the purpose.

Even with the increase in bloat on windows once I moved to an SSD the boot time went down to like 20 seconds. Never felt the need to do anything other than shut down if I was going to be away for more than a few minutes.

Re: Have you restarted your computer this week?

#283

Post by Gigachad »

michaelmrose wrote: post #235
Gigachad wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your computer has any kind of secure boot / boot chain attestation stuff going on, like all phones do now, rebooting clears out pretty much all malware. Software bugs can put the system in to a bad state which can be abused by malware, but none of it can persist through a reboot since everything is checked and measured from scratch during the boot.

Most methods of persisting state have absolutely nothing whatosoever with kernel or modules which are a powerful way to hide malicious activity but far from the only way to persist state including malicious state. The only sane response to being infected with malicious software is to reinstall everything starting with the OS and scan user files AFTER reinstalling. It is possible even plausible that you can disinfect…

If you know for sure you have been infected with malware then it’s better to reinstall. But on iOS/Android and any other OS with strong boot chain security you can proactively reboot your device periodically and wipe out malware you weren’t aware of.

It’s borderline impossible to persist malware across reboots on iOS these days.

Re: Have you restarted your computer this week?

#285

Post by vintagedave »

gloosx wrote: post #278

My Macbook needs a restart periodically. Somehow my quite limited disk space (500GB) is getting lower and lower and lower to the point where spotlight will stop working. After restart, I magically get 50GB of disk space back, I'm not sure what is wrong with it and I never took the time to investigate, but I guess it's caches and temp files of all kinds. I also HATE the invention of "open all apps and windows back so…

Yes! Same here! And the same disk space issue.

I remember switching to Mac OS from Windows. That was back in the days where you had to restart Windows, and Windows apps could steal focus. Mac OS X: rarely restarted, soon moving for a good decade to never; and apps could not steal focus, the Dock icon bounced.

Where are we today? I reboot macOS regularly, deal with the same frustrating issues on login, and when I type sometimes a dialog or app steals my keystrokes. That includes permissions dialogs, 'Foo wants to access your Documents folder'. I do not know every app I have granted permissions to, because I do know that I was typing in a text field and the dialog appeared as I was doing it.

I feel there's a loss there of valuing:

* Uptime, or rather, lack of interruption and losing state, as a value for users

* Control: the user is using an app, respect that and don't allow other apps to disrespect and take control away from it, again as value or attitude towards users.

The worst part about the apps restarting is not that they do it, though today it feels a hack to mostly-not-quite restore state that shouldn't have been lost in the first place. It's how long it takes. I have an Apple Silicon Mac. It can take over a minute for apps to restore, Spaces to switch as they re-maximise, etc. And forget trying to interact during that time: if you want to quit an app (say) it's risky because any other app can steal focus and you find yourself in another app while trying to deal with the first.

And Spaces restoration? I have a permanent black Space. It belongs to Parallels, which is actually on another space. And I have one Space with multiple windows: they belong to Fork, and each one should be in its own Space, but they overlap like a mini windowing system.

The bugs. I realise I sound like I'm complaining, but... I am. I paid money for this and I know how good it used to be. I've been seriously looking at Linux and maybe KDE Plasma recently. There's little barrier to switching, not when you actively annoy your users and push them. I did it once (to Mac), and I've been thinking, well, I can do it again.

Re: Have you restarted your computer this week?

#286

Post by paolfs »

jorisw wrote: post #276
paolfs wrote: post #259

When you use disk encryption for security reasons it seems to me you need to turn off your computer after your done.

Logging the user out would achieve the same no?

No. Unlocking of the disk happens at boot time. Logging out will keep your disk unlocked.

Hybernate will also lock your disk.

Edit: it might depend on your hardware. The latest Macs are more secure while sleeping / logged out.

Re: Have you restarted your computer this week?

#287

Post by jorisw »

paolfs wrote: post #286
jorisw wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Logging the user out would achieve the same no?

No. Unlocking of the disk happens at boot time. Logging out will keep your disk unlocked. Hybernate will also lock your disk. Edit: it might depend on your hardware. The latest Macs are more secure while sleeping / logged out.

I've always assumed that (a derivative of) the user's password decrypts their section of the filesystem.

Re: Have you restarted your computer this week?

#289

Post by gloosx »

vintagedave wrote: post #285
gloosx wrote: post #278

My Macbook needs a restart periodically. Somehow my quite limited disk space (500GB) is getting lower and lower and lower to the point where spotlight will stop working. After restart, I magically get 50GB of disk space back, I'm not sure what is wrong with it and I never took the time to investigate, but I guess it's caches and temp files of all kinds. I also HATE the invention of "open all apps and windows back so…

Yes! Same here! And the same disk space issue. I remember switching to Mac OS from Windows. That was back in the days where you had to restart Windows, and Windows apps could steal focus. Mac OS X: rarely restarted, soon moving for a good decade to never; and apps could not steal focus, the Dock icon bounced. Where are we today? I reboot macOS regularly, deal with the same frustrating issues on login, and when I type…

The quality of the macos for sure degraded over time. My first MacOS was OSX Lion and after Windows 7 it was feeling like a sport car. Now I'm even scared of attempting this Tahoe upgrade, and I have to use some beta-toggle hacks to evade their intrusive notification pop-up begging me to update.
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