Watch this video before using Atlas OS Windows (Historical)

Linus Tech Tips just recently dropped a video about reviving an old PC and recommended there viewers to use a modified version of Windows called Atlas OS, this is an incredibly dangerous recommendation and an outright irresponsible use of there platform without fully describing the dangers.

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#LinusTechTips #Windows #AtlasOS #Windows10

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[johngalt]

If anybody sees this while scrolling through the comments, looking for the low-down on 'what atlas actually is, ' and 'is it good/bad, ' here you go. Since a lot of info seems to revolve around having surface level knowledge of the systems revolving around this issue...

It's not an OS, and it's misleading to call it opensource in the context of opensource being 'safer.' It's effectively the same thing as if you would install a large feature update on Windows. It's still the same OS. Most if not all of what we would consider the GUI in a stock windows distribution can be modified, and Atlas leverages the components of Windows 'running under the hood' to modify variables, add/delete variables, add extensions to Windows components, and otherwise change the manner in which the Microsoft components interact with each other.

Anything that Atlas modifies is done in situ, on the Windows system itself. People in the tuning community modify many of the same things, but in varying degrees, as needed.

The reason Atlas boasts a performance increase can easily be summed up in how it disables a large portion of the telemetry and security infrastructure of Windows. The constant analysis, measurement, processing, capturing, filtering, auditing, etc, of a stock Windows system generally adds up to - - - this is without exaggeration - - - about a 50% decrease in overall system latency. Most specs listed by manufacturers are fluff, and while the numbers are usually true, they're only relevant to a small percentage of the time spent using the system. For instance, having the highest sequential read/write speed SSD only sees a benefit with the processing of large files. The vast, vast majority of the operations that happen while we're actually using these machines are very quick and random operations. This is why the disabled features of Atlas have such an impact, because all of the telemetry and processing the stock Windows system uses causes a - - - persistent cascade of interruptions to disk, memory, and processing.

Whether one or the other is more secure, is entirely subjective and depends on the user. I could make the argument that the belief in a system being secure leads to more severe security breaches. My personal view is that nothing is really secure, and my system template is the answer to the question, 'what is more valuable to me, system performance that I can use right now, or data protection?'

Lastly, I don't use Atlas. I don't think I would either, but that's because I choose to modify the system myself in a controllable way that I can analyze and compare to the stock system.

[scooter]

The ATLAS "OS" deal can be a security nightmare if someone doesn't understand what they're doing. I wonder if using WINGET to install your applications would be safe long-term.

[mstrsrvr]

For a guy who recently got his channel hijacked, Linus continues doing intense security gambles.

[swerber]

If nobody has already pointed it out, this is officially old news. AtlasOS does support windows defender and update according to their FAQ and UAC is enabled by default. Considering that Spectre/Meltdown mitigation can also be enabled (in the setup now, not just settings), anyone techy enough to install a custom windows config should be considering this and all other security features anyway. I watched through the whole video and I don't think anything mentioned is an issue anymore. As far as a review of Linus is concerned, I'll let that be...

[MmntechCa]

A lot of problems could be solved if Microsoft just released an official "Lite" version for older hardware. That'd probably piss off their hardware partners though. I'd probably use Tiny11 over this, as it supposedly doesn't disable basic security features. But any of these third party Windows spins should be looked at with some degree of apprehension.

[DashieTM]

He proves time and time again that he knows a lot about hardware, but not so much about software.
Thanks for pointing this out, hope some people see it before they might be affected by one of these exploits.

[_thePineapple_]

Atlas recently made a statement on Twitter that they are planning to make defender optional. 3:26 now optional to enable upon install

[dynamic]

Apparently in the latest version of the AtlasOS, the devs has enabled UAC by default and Windows Defender + Updates as optional features

[katrinabryce]

A big part of why Linux has historically been much more secure than Windows is because you never run regular software as root. UAC was Microsoft’s answer to that, so clearly very important.

Also, why would you replace Windows Defender with third party antivirus? From a performance perspective, Defender is definitely a lot faster, and it’s effectiveness is about the same as other offerings.

[landoc]

Linus Media Group is not a tech company. They're an ADVERTISING company. They get paid to promote products, and they try to do it with as much good faith as possible. But their revenue is dependent on pushing products made by other companies.

[VeiledHorizons]

I recently switched to atlas and all I can say is that before installing: 1.) be an advanced power user so you know what everything does and 2.) understand what your doing

[NarendraU]

The least he could do is say something like "don't try this at home, I haven't researched it myself" instead of presenting it as "the" solution for old PC. He could also boot up Linux for performance comparison, and present it as the more secure option. I can imagine some kid's PC ruined by malware from trying this out.

[unsolaci]

Hey, you can disable CPU mitigations, etc. on Linux as well, and I wouldn't want it to be any other way. If anything, I appreciate that the option is there for when I want to try it and know what I'm doing. Which on Windows is quite often a pain, the options usually just aren't there. So I can appreciate the Altas project as well.

That said, I can't agree more that advertising it mostly as "the thing that makes your Windows go vroom" to a broad audience maybe isn't the best idea. They should've clearly said that this most probably isn't something you want to be daily driving. On a separate, gaming-only machine, preferably not connected to the Internet - sure, why not.

[momomomomomomomomoto]

Windows LTSC and Chris Titus debloat tool is the only way to make windows usable these days.

[munkycoolgaming]

I'm surprised that you didn't mention what was one of my personal biggest worries, the Atlas OS team themselves. I'm sure they're trustworthy, but it would be really easy for them to embed malware in the system, especially with how much they edit Windows it would be hard to find.

[tyrannosaurus_x]

Linus often has no idea about what he's talking about. I'm not sure if it was always like that but I have started noticing it more and more lately, especially on WAN show.

[kadette]

As someone who uses Atlas. The CPU mitigation disabler is optional and you are promoted to choose when installing

[FullAnarchyDotNet]

that "I use arch btw" moment xD

[zrden_]

Linus:”it killed linux”
Lets see
-Resource usage lower EVEN they closed the defender and other things
-Security is infinite times better because there isnt have ANY of security piece
-İt is really open source(did anyone really believed its open source? Man windows is closed source cmon)
-Mostly it will be fcked up as what happened to other iso’s linux wont die until dooms day will come(because community making the linux no one can stop us)
-Linux have a community, do windows have?
-İts just for gaming or other basic things, in linux you can do everything you want
-İn atlas everything is cropped so I dont think you can feel the complete os which linux have everything you want and you can download it if there isnt have
-Good luck when you try to find the real download link in web browser but in linux you can just 1 click download or just use a command to download what you want
-You need to install a lotta crap to customize windows, in linux its easy and have infinite ways to customize
-I frogor 💀 but I’m sure there have more things which linux is superior
Yeah linus it killed the linux absolutely 🤡 change your channel to “Winfked and blue pilled tech tips channel” thanks

[clintmurphy]

The issue with these "lite" versions of 11 is that it has very little, if any impact on gaming performance, which is one of the most popular reasons for wanting a "lite" version to begin with.