I’ve seen Atlasos in the Discord and LTT made a video about it today. I would like to try it, 1. because I am a gamer and 2. Its supposed to remove most microsoft bloatware. There are some downsides mentioned in the LTT video (listed below). MY question is, would it be better to install Atlasos, or use something like privacy.sexy to disable the telemetry myself? It disabled Windows Defender by default, but I think that can be changed (someone please correct me if I’m wrong)
-Windows restore points dont work
-windows defender doesnt work (I think you can change that)
-potential imcompatibility with programs
-security implications of modifying stock windfows
-spectre/meltdown mitigations are disabled (Im pretty sure you can change this because a dev said so in the comments of the vid(should be top))
-you have to wait for atlas os to support new major windows updates before being able to update
-there is likely to be bugs
As far as I know Atlas OS only supports Windows 10 (for now) I would say Windows 11 is significantly better from a security perspective so if your PC supports it use that instead. You are trusting a third party to apply the changes on your operating system, so I guess it’s up to you on how comfortable you are trusting Atlas OS or privacy.sexy. I would personally recommend reading through Microsofts documentation on group policy so that you can remove things that you don’t want, then you don’t have to trust a third party with editing your system.
According to their docs Atlas OS only removes:
Windows Defender
Restore Points and System Reset
I also think you might run into issues with Anti-cheat because you have edited the system so heavily.
As of right now, they are working on Windows 11 support, and my laptop doesn’t support windows 11 anyways.
I’ve used privacy.sexy before so I am comfortable with them, but even though I’ve never tried atlas, I’ve read some good reviews about them and they are open source. For me, I can trust an open source project.
Idk why but I feel like using Microsoft policy editor doesn’t fully remove things like telemetry, even though it most likely does. Its a trust issue I guess. However, when I get a pro version of windows, Ill most likely go with that. I know you can get it on the home version, but I’m upgrading soon anyways.
I would hope that because they say that the OS is built for gaming, they would find a way to have anti cheat work.
From your response, I’ve gathered that no side is objectively better than the other. When the windows 11 version comes out, it would be better to use that. Some games might not work because of possible issues with the anti cheat.
Another question. Do you think that the slower windows updates will be a deal breaker?
Same I use privacy.sexy on Windows devices, I find it acceptable but some may not.
It removes a lot of the invasive stuff, they need to honour group policy changes because they have enterprise customers that use Windows that require a certain level of security and privacy. That’s why I generally favour Enterprise versions of Windows if I have to use it.
Yes I think it’s incredibly important to be up to date on security updates, Last patch tuesday Microsoft rolled out security fixes for 97 flaws and 1 zero day. Delaying these types of updates is probably not a good idea. If it doesn’t delay security updates and only feature updates I guess that is okay
Ok. I think for now, I’ll find a way to test the os, maybe on a spare computer. I’ll see how everything works and make a decision. But reading your reply, I’ll also try the group policy editor as well. Thanks for your help!
