It is a fair bit of homework but for those of us who use Linux on a daily basis, we’d rather do the legwork once to have a private, predictable system than deal with the out-of-the-box bloat.

Regarding updates: that’s exactly why I focused on Group Policy tweaks rather than simple registry hacks or UI toggles. Policies are designed for enterprise environments where IT managers would be furious if an update reset their security configurations, so they tend to survive major build updates much better than standard settings, it’s not foolproof but it is the best way to stay ahead!

Those are solid resources but I built mine specifically for the folks who don’t want to pipe a remote bash script into their shell during a malware outbreak. My goal was simple, a private way to audit the list without needing to clone a repo or install Python dependencies.

Use the forensics scripts if you’re a power user, but if you just want a quick, client-side check that doesn’t touch your filesystem, that’s what the tool is there for.

Dedicated PC on LAN talks directly to VPS via Wireguard. The local machine acts as an exit node so when I add a local IP and port to my reverse proxy the whole thing acts like a local network.

I wrote about my setup last month; https://the.unknown-universe.co.uk/home-lab/wireguard-vpn-two-vps/

You’re right, I missed that.

I personally use a reverse proxy and Wireguard setup to access remotely.

I have a dedicated VPS with reverse proxy connected to my network via Wireguard. It acts as the front door to my network so I don’t have to port forward or rely on Cloudflare etc. I used to use Tailscale as the go between but switched to WG recently. Both work fine for streaming content whilst self-hosting all other services including my website.

My bad, GOG is absolutely the gold standard for DRM-free ownership. Personally, I buy on Steam for the convenience and the Proton support but I still collect every free titles on GOG

It’s why I treat everything cloud-based as a rental now. If I can’t install it locally and back up the data myself, I don’t really own it.

The home server is an old, low-powered mini PC running Debian. It acts as the bridge between the WireGuard tunnel and my local LAN.

I’ve just finished migrating one of my AdGuard Home instances onto it today. Its role is now twofold:

Routing: It has ip_forward enabled and a bit of NAT (iptables/nftables) so that traffic arriving from the VPN can actually “hop” onto the local network to reach my other VMs and containers.

DNS: It provides ad-blocking for the tunnel. VPN clients point to this node’s internal WireGuard IP for DNS queries.

Technically, it’s just another WireGuard peer, but with AllowedIPs configured to advertise my 192.168.x.x subnet back to the hub (VPS2). This is what allows  VPS1 and my mobile devices to resolve and reach home services without a single open port on my router.

You’re right, and for a lot of people, one VPS is the sensible choice. I actually addressed this in the post:

"VPS1 is my web-facing server. It handles the public side of things. VPS2 is the VPN hub. At first glance, that probably looks unnecessary. Strictly speaking, it is unnecessary. I could have crammed WireGuard onto VPS1 and called it done. But splitting the roles makes the whole thing cleaner.

One machine serves public traffic. The other handles VPN duties. That means fewer networking compromises, fewer chances of Docker or firewall rules becoming annoying, and a clearer separation between the public-facing stack and the private tunnel. It also means I can change one side without poking the other with a stick and hoping nothing catches fire."

It’s not that I didn’t like it, I just wanted to back to basics! A simple config file on each machine, job done

Exactly that, VPS2 handles the WireGuard port and has no domain pointing to it, so it’s basically hiding in plain sight. VPS1 holds the domain and handles the web traffic.

I keep SSH open on both, but locked down (key-based auth + restricted to my IPs).

Your idea of using the provider firewall (Ionos in my case) as a “mechanical” lock is a good one, block it at the edge and only open it when needed. I’ve thought about doing that, but I’m generally happy relying on a hardened SSH config and the provider’s KVM if everything goes sideways.

Thank you for the heads up, turns out it was the custom html code in the code blocks causing the issue. Fixed now.

No, apt isn’t just a rename. apt upgrade largely replaces apt-get upgrade, but it’s a bit more aggressive: it may install new packages if required as dependencies (it still won’t remove packages). If an upgrade needs to remove packages to resolve dependencies, use apt full-upgrade (same as apt-get dist-upgrade).

dist-upgrade and full-upgrade are essentially the same command but yeah, I won’t be using apt upgrade again in the future! Like I said in my post, the joys of being self taught is that you learn by my making mistakes and that’s part of the “fun” 🤣

Glad you found it useful. I’m the same, I can’t stand those long posts that make you read a life story before getting to the commands, even worse when a page is riddled by ads or behind a paywall!

I figured if I’d missed it, a few other people probably had too.

I’ve not come across this with my non Debian based systems. Only use Debian for servers because it’s so stable, Arch and Fedora everywhere else!

Why?

Toss up between Star Trek First Contact and Snatch!

I recently wrote about why the year of Linux might actually be a trap. Most users want control handed to them even if it means giving up their privacy. If Linux goes mainstream, it could lose what makes it special.

https://the.unknown-universe.co.uk/privacy-security/year-of-linux-trap/

User agents are just the tip of the iceberg. Between TCP/IP stack fingerprinting and modern hardware attestation (TPM/Secure Boot), pretending to be a different OS is becoming a lot harder than just changing a string in your browser settings. The ‘handshake’ I mentioned before is at a much deeper level than that.