Academy

Qubes OS – Security by Compartmentalization

Qubes OS splits the desktop into virtual machines. Work, personal, and a disposable browser each run apart, so one bad site does not automatically see the other windows. Edward Snowden has pointed people at it for years. The project assumes the base system can be attacked and tries to make that attack small.

It wants a lot of RAM, a CPU that does virtualization cleanly, and patience. Hardware compatibility is picky. USB, video calls, and games are where people give up. It is not a theme you apply on top of Windows. If you will not keep the compartments straight, you bought friction and then copied files between them until the wall was gone.

Use it on a machine you can dedicate. qubes-os.org

Qubes compartments only work if you stop dragging files between them. Disposable qubes are for the link you do not trust. The vault qube is for the passwords. Hardware needs VT-x or VT-d and enough RAM to run several systems at once. If the laptop fans scream and you start using one qube for everything, you have reinstalled a normal computer with extra steps. Check the hardware compatibility list before you wipe a machine.

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