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What the heck is an electronic ecosystem?
An electronic ecosystem, which is definitely not a phrase I just coined ten seconds ago, is much like a natural ecosystem. Your computer (the one you're viewing this page on right now, even) is like an environment. It contains software, an analogue to natural life, which can be broadly classified into two categories: data (e.g. text documents, videos, pictures), and applications/apps (e.g. web browsers, games, chat programs). Data are like animals, and apps are like plants; the data relies on the procedures and such provided by the apps (and sometimes by other data) to exist and to change and be changed.
Your computer-ecosystem can influence and be influenced by other computer-ecosystems if it is connected to the Internet, in much the same way that different hamster cages can allow for the transportation of hamsters and hamster byproducts if there is a tube connecting them.
Anyway uh. This is a guide about how to enrich your electronic ecosystem, i.e. protecting your data, planting good apps, safeguarding against invasive species, and the like.
My Credentials
JUST BECAUSE MY PROFILE PICTURE IS A "WAVE TO THE NSA" ICON DOES NOT MEAN THAT I CAN BE TRUSTED.
Some caveats regarding my personal biases:
- I'm not a computer scientist. I know only the basics of programming, very little about software, and even less about hardware. Most of what I have learned about the electronic ecosystem I have learned via stackexchange, Reddit, Github, Wikipedia, asking friends, and goofing around with app and device settings.
- I'm very big on privacy. Some things should remain between you and God (and possibly those whom you can trust). Like your geographic coordinates, for example. And your fingerprint. Which are both things that a lot of modern computers will request for certain features to function as intended. Which greatly concerns me. Would you outlaw curtains? But I digress.
Am I paranoid? Quite possibly. Again: grain of salt. - I largely do not trust new technologies.
- I am one of those "information ought to be free" people: I'm opposed to the notion of copyright (more on that here) and much prefer free/libre and open-source software/hardware. Yes, proprietary stuff often works better. But if given the opportunity, I like to use FLOSS software. Expect to see a lot of that in my recommendations.
I reiterate:
DO NOT TRUST ME JUST BECAUSE I MIGHT LOOK LIKE AN EXPERT.
I am learning about computers just as much as you are. There are many gaps in my knowledge, many things I simply have not thought to try. If there's anything missing that you think I should add, please let me know. Somehow. I'm not giving you my contact info; figure it out yourself. :3
I'm going to use computer as a general term covering phones and tablets as well as PCs and laptops, because a) modern smartphones are fully-functional computers in their own right, b) the majority of these tips are most easily executed on PCs and laptops on account of greater app compatibility, and c) it's easier.
Speaking of which...
Hardware
Every computer geek I've ever asked/who's ever told me (two or so) has recommended Lenovo Thinkpad laptops (note: a friend recently told me that post-2020 Thinkpads are considerably less good). I can confirm: I've had my Thinkpad since mid-2018 and it still runs excellently. I've never had any major issues with it. The biggest stress-tests I've put it through that I can recall include:
- Playing Life Is Strange through Steam (once from an external hard drive, once from the built-in drive). The fans were running super loud. I don't remember any performance issues either time.
- Running the NX 3D modeling software from an external hard drive. Again, fans were running loud, but no performance issues or delays.
- Emulating Fire Emblem: Three Houses through yuzu. Trying to do this while also screen-sharing through Discord crashed Discord. FE3H's most render-intensive sections, the walkarounds, ran at about 20 fps on average with the graphics settings cranked as low as I could manage. Everything else ran with no slowdowns. No other performance issues that I noticed.