Tiny11 has problems

[@ChrisTitusTech]

TLDW: Downloading Custom ISOs will compromise you. It is just a matter of time. Build them yourself! Tiny11 has a builder and the only change I'd make is swaping the oscdimg.exe with the Windows ADK official oscdimg.exe as shown in video. MAKE YOUR OWN ISOs! Article Link with links to above resources: christitus.com/tiny11-has-problems/

[@sovo1212]

But I think they're still ok for VMs. I'm planning to make a gaming VM inside Linux soon and Tiny10/11 are the obvious candidates.

[@sovo1212]

@@GerdLPluu You do have a point, however both Steam and Epic have 2FA (Epic is arguably better), so it's nearly impossible for an attacker to gain control over these accounts. Also any trojan upload and download could be identified just by comparing packets with standard Windows.

[@myrminki]

@@sovo1212 and why not proton?

[@sovo1212]

@@myrminki Not enough for some games, mainly because of anticheats.

[@anonymunsichtbar3715]

2FA doesn't help you when your session Cookie is stolen. If it's just games and you don't care, fine. But you should at least look that the VM can't compromise you local network or other devices. Ok, maybe normal Hacker who just want some data from Onlinebanking or PayPal won't do that much. Everyone should know themselve what and how they want protect.

[@panzrok8701]

The official Windows ISO is also spyware though.

[@markh.6687]

We all see what you did there. It is...acceptable. We'll allow it.

[@pumpkingamebox]

But I feel like it’s easier to hold one accountable that the other.

[@williamkirkpatrick6942]

@@markh.6687 why would you accept that? they are freely insecurely giving out your information.

[@FreeJAC]

​@@williamkirkpatrick6942 what information is that? Do you personally know anyone that was affected?

[@markh.6687]

@@williamkirkpatrick6942 It's an Internet meme; I'm acknowledging the wisdom of the comment, not approving Windows spyware.

[@stevewhalen3458]

Reporting you: your clickbait thumbnail says Tiny11 INFECTED but your video has general info about what might happen with custom ISO's only. No info about what is infected int Tiny11. The warnings about custom ISO's are valid, but your clickbait about INFECTED with no proof has cost you the respect I HAD deveoped for you over the years.

[@eMarce1.]

Bo hoo hoo what will he do without a random internet person

[@mnzl3411]

🤓

[@Hardcore_Remixer]

​@@eMarce1. Standing for a trend rather than standing for transparency? Now I see why Microsoft is so big 😒 Also, make it 2 internet persons.

[@BockyDuh]

@@eMarce1. 3.?

[@Hardcore_Remixer]

​@@soggyandroid Then point the moment from the video when he sais Tiny11 IS infected. I listened to the whole video and didn't find it.

[@4ryan42]

IMO that man did not go to prison for what he did. He went to prison for what the prosecutor and MS convinced the court he did. They made the court believe that he was giving away free license keys, when in fact, those license keys were stored on the motherboards of the laptops when they were manufactured.

[@pupdoggify]

💯💯💯

[@davidponder1654]

So its not illegal. Just more lobbyist bullshit

[@TheNerd]

One more reason not to live in the us

[@MattIsTheCat]

Some people do it, not out of the goodness of their hearts, but rather to show off how much skill they have, which is highly valued.

[@ngybrid]

This is mainly why release groups releases their cracked version of software.

[@stage6fan475]

Always make your own lite versions. There are plenty of instructional videos. You will then know what to do if Microsoft Updates break things. The other problem with a custom iso is MS update will eventually break it or install the stuff you wanted left out.

[@Don-me4sq]

Just wondering what you mean by making your own lite version, how do you do this?

[@jimhopper5868]

I tried using ghost spectre and one day Edge browser was in my desktop :) Then I switched back to Linux immediately. I don't want to use KGB-CIA joint spyware.

[@tronalddump8776]

@@jimhopper5868 that happened a while ago because windows was forcing it in a update. use iobituninstaller to remove it even from official install then remove iobit. Spectre is safe so far but ya I wouldn't trust it if I didn't tear it apart several times myself just to check it out thru several of the iterations.

[@sadness_numb]

​@@Don-me4sq msmg toolkit / ntlite

[@stage6fan475]

@@Don-me4sq Chris, CyberCPU Tech, and Britec09 all have videos on making a custom or lite iso using MSMG Toolkit.

[@AbjectMaelstrom]

Bringing some awareness is fine, but there are quite a few conjectures being made with little to no proof to back them up....

[@expolight1926]

Exactly people like to go for a rant on utube and here we are. You can also get false positives but he failed to mention any of those.

[@Britec09]

The problem is Chris, who do you trust? No one. When even using MSMG Toolkit and NTLite, you have no guarantee its not doing something in background when removing stuff and repacking the ISO, because its not an official bit of software from Microsoft. They even get flagged as Malware by some antivirus program, but its probably false positive. I have never shared my own ISO's with anyone, yes I have reviewed some nice custom windows iso from people and some I really like, but I only ever install them on virtual machine. I just done one today which look real nice, but the links he was using are all bad links leading to malware, which I did highlight in the video, debating whether to even leave that video up after thinking about it after I made it. But my advise has always been the same, never use other peoples creations, either create your own or use LTSC from Microsoft if you can get a legit key.

[@barrybritcher]

These custom answer file programs were better in the 9x 2000 days. All behind a paywall now. Or shit

[@DaEpic]

If you're afraid of the debloating tools most of em are actually open source so you can just clone it maybe you're right about closed Source one but at the end of the day the OS is already considered as A Bloat so if privacy mean something to you can use this virus in VM while using the only secure system in the world ... Gnu/linux

[@Netz0]

You trust people and companies every day, even while getting food from the store or going online with your internet provider or driving a car with other drivers on the road. Using an iPhone or Android...trusting the phone manufacturer. With any software you install, you are trusting the developer of that code. To answer your question, if you are using Windows, you obviously have to trust Microsoft, otherwise don't use it. And said that, the only trusted source to download software from Microsoft, specially Windows, is Microsoft and nobody else. Instead of building an ISO just debloat and modify the OS after a fresh new installation, this can also be automated, which means there is no need to create your own ISO in the first place. And Microsoft provides tools for custom installations, which means you can more or less just install exactly what is required and remove any unnecessary packages and services if required. Enterprises and IT departments install custom Windows/Linux for ages and never had to build their own ISO's for that.

[@billydelacey]

*whom

[@Amos_Huclkeberry]

@@billydelacey Both are correct, but only pretentious pricks say "whom".

[@benwu7980]

I used to do a lot of winXP and server 2003 versions and combined iso's, with modified themes, auto installers for software etc. It was both fun and a big time-saver for what I used to do regularly. By the time of 7 there wasn't quite as much need for me, and there were fairly easy installers like Ninite. It was often just having iso's with the updates applied. Haven't really had the need to do too much for 10/11 either, since there was stuff like Rufus, and more recently Ventoy. It now is mostly about de-bloating and cutting telemetry. Most of that I prefer to do manually as Updates have too much of a habit of resetting policies etc.

[@ibobeko4309]

Nlite lost it is appeal because the Windows 10 Version got updated from version to 1507 to 22H2, with every fresh install you already had all the major updates. On windows 7 there was just one version and one big service pack but you had to install a lot of updates and it took longer to install older hardware so it made more sense to automate the process to save time. And Windows 10 became much safer and the times on reinstall windows freshly been also reduced. I remember i had to install Windows Xp much more frequent so it made more sense to reduce the time and instal an individual faster version.

[@Cesar33-pl]

I thought you actually found something in Tiny 11. All video is at the end speculation if you haven't found something concrete.

[@treacletree]

Just built my own Tiny11 iso thanks to you. I had the impression that it'd be a huge undertaking getting it to work but it turned out pretty easy after I understood how to install the APK for a proper oscdimg. While I wouldn't ever trust a custom ISO from the internet, I'm really glad it was possible to create my own. Thanks!

[@arshitvaghasiya7317]

How did you do it? Is there any guide or something that you can share please? Thanks

[@treacletree]

@@arshitvaghasiya7317 I followed the guide in this video and on his linked web page.

[@arshitvaghasiya7317]

@@treacletree oh okay. Thanks for your reply

[@suchangburagohain]

How was your experience with the system?

[@treacletree]

@@suchangburagohain Pratically I didn't notice much difference to be honest, but not sending as much telemetry is the main reason for me to do this. I mainly use Manjaro, but have a Windows gaming rig as well.

[@Spirrwell]

Seeing people completely misunderstand what you're saying in the comments saying with self-affirmation how it seemed "scammy" or how their paranoia saved them really doesn't sit well with me. Doing some reading, it sounded like that person who was sentenced to 15 months in prison was selling it not merely redistributing it. The supposed monetary value in the ruling doesn't really make sense, but claiming that custom ISOs are illegal based on this is complete misrepresentation of the problem. Also bringing up a potential correlation to Tiny11 installs and KZbin hacks with no proof for this statement spreads unnecessary fear and doubt. Don't get me wrong, it probably isn't a good idea to install a prebuilt custom ISO for Windows. There absolutely could be software preinstalled designed to steal your information. But you don't need to misrepresent the situation to get that point across.

[@lilcroissant6476]

preach

[@tercmd]

Such examples are probably one of the few ways to convince someone that WAS going to download it in the first place (people not concerned about security)

[@poika22]

This video is empty fearmongering. Not only is Windows inherently spyware, but the notion that "building your own" is somehow safer is total BS. Yeah, sure, if you literally write the code for the builder yourself, but why would downloading a Tiny11 builder then using that to modify an official MS .iso be any safer than just downloading the custom ISO from the same guy who makes the builder? If he wanted to implant malware, he could do it either way.

[@Mister-Tea]

It's funny how custom Windows ISO trend is coming back. I remember that same trend in the XP era, I was using Windows XP LSD (Light Safe Design). Running a custom used to be being the cool kid XD

[@rishabruh]

Thank you for covering this Chris, I had been on linux for 2 years but had to switch over to windows 2 weeks ago because of general frustrations with little things not working, I saw recommendations for Tiny11 and I thought I would give it a go. I know better than to use custom ISOs but I figured that this would save me some time on debloating manually. Security concerns aside there are already plenty of issues with this ISO. Some critical windows services have been outright removed, most Microsoft related things entirely broken and the resource usage still unforgiving because of using Win11 as a base. After this abrupt reminder on why i stopped with windows in the first place i ran back to linux in a week 😂

[@theosexpertdaymon2774]

Welcome back home comrade, welcome back.

[@ananta6d595]

Which distro? for stability use fedora workstation with cinnamon. It has less problems. fedora stopped my distro hopping fever.

[@rishabruh]

@@ananta6d595 I've been on fedora but on my older hardware plus all the strict open source things fedora puts in your way made me eventually switch back to Pop. That's what i was using when i switched to windows for a while but i wanted to try kubuntu this time... not as good

[@ananta6d595]

​@@rishabruh I have also used Pop OS it was good but wasn't suitable for my laptop. It Heats up the laptop and consumed more ram and had Wifi connection problem. I have to try it one more time and you can try Nobara which is based on Fedora and it has no restriction like fedora. I wanted to love KDE but failed it has multi display problem. OpenSuse is also stable if you want to try. And again, Windows is shit as always, it has issues here and there.

[@caresblair1234]

@@ananta6d595 Try out Kubuntu LTS 22.04 or wait a half year to a year when they properly make Steam OS for regular PCs...those MAY be your best bets...pretty sure you will come to appreciate the DE over anything else. Also, oh wait, you probably are on linux as you dislike windoze...so Kubuntu may also be disliked by you as it is the MOST windows compatible linux on a basic level for years now (like I said only Steam OS will top it soon). Well, my DE suggestion stills stands, you can pop that easy enough on Fedora. Cinnamon is okish though, just inferior on some modern systems...I always found the SCALING pretty trash on almost every other distro I would try. With 4k / 8k being so common these days, that scaling was a major factor in choosing KDE.

[@WarblyWark]

Don't get me wrong, I understand the paranoia. But what is the actual proof of malware? I agree, building your own installer is generally safer, but without actual evidence of malware and malicious bins/exes this is nothing more than shilly paranoia.

[@malikkelly]

Exactly

[@swimfan6292]

and then what? Anyone can simply say the key logger is just collecting passwords and credentials to help you "login faster", "make the experience even better", or some other arbitrary service or feature they could bull shit on the spot. don't be a dick

[@WarblyWark]

@@swimfan6292 According to Ghidra there is no keylogger, other than what windows already included for it's copy/paste, which the installation media iteration is different from the actual os iteration. Ghidra also confirms that the altered exe disables certain telemetry functions so you can create an account without having to create a ms live/outlook account. It also disabled certain other telemetry. That exe contains the locations lookup, and if disabled windows won't enforce certain aspects of the oobe. Unless you're willing to do a deep dive yourself, don't be a d!ck

[@WarblyWark]

Radare is better, btw

[@gogereaver349]

he wasent saying they had such thigs but it could and its a risk.

[@anthonycochran6492]

4:49 With this logic, (which I happen to agree with) why would you trust Microsoft? Being a massive company with a massive tax burden AND government contracts, aren't they capable and beholden to the government and/or bad actors therein? Is there ANYBODY that can be trusted?

[@ethanrivers4057]

Idk man, honestly the video tittle is a bit too clickbaity. I just installed tinyw11 on a vm simply to backup my phone and to refresh my side loaded apps. Honestly I’ll take a look at the builder but for now I probably will just keep tiny11 up cause honestly the uses is simple and I’m not passing too many sensitive things.

[@antibrevity]

THANK YOU. I really appreciate that you ask viewers to question the MOTIVES of people releasing stuff for free. This doesn't mean that everyone's motives are bad, but they obviously have them and it's simply a good starting point to ask yourself or others what they are. My first two questions with every project and binary blob is, "who did this?" and, "why?" Some people just do things because it's a challenge or because they want the attention, but it's all too easy to lure people in with things that are too good to be trustworthy. A related video to watch after this is Linus Tech's video about "Android TV boxes". I was not even slightly surprised by the software discoveries as I've suspected these products since they appeared on the market, but I was surprised by the hardware trickery as I simply hadn't thought of it ;). The irony there is that people *are* paying up front for the products.

[@chaosordeal294]

Yeah, but . . . the answer to who and why is ALWAYS "I could guess, but I don't really know."

[@marklambert5149]

It's just fun. There are many devs, like myself, that writes code just for fun. I don't do it anymore as I have a proper job now and I am no longer a teenager but back in the day, I wrote many nice things, made them available for free and made things (when possible) opensource. I was specialized in making drivers for old hardware to run on new OSes. I got tons of people thanking me for being able to use their PCI, ISA cards on their new Windows Vista installation (hardware that was designed to run with Win98). I mean, as a teenager, my daily routine was just school, homework, masturbation and playing with PCs. Just a typical teen at the time. It was great fun to discover Linux and opensource code, then learning how to make things work and making my discoveries available for free. I suppose, a lot of devs are altruistic. This guy in the video is talking a lot of rubbish as the code of this particular tool is available on github, it is opensource and anyone with knowledge and goodwill would have easily spotted bad or malicious code. I have seen malicious code on github be taken down within hours and this, according to what I've seen, has been there for years now. He's right when he says "don't download ISOs and install - build your own". But making statements saying that files x, y and z are "sus" is just ridiculous.

[@frf5000]

If this guy opened github his brain would combust

[@poika22]

You realize that Linux exists, right? Most computers on this earth run on operating systems people created for free just because they'd be cool to have around.

[@liaminwales]

It's not just the maker of a modified OS, when there's no official site any one can mod the ISO and host it.

[@billydelacey]

Pretty sure it's safe to assume this video's fully sponsored by Microsoft. Tiny 11 works just fine, people. It runs faster on lesser hardware, with Windows Defender and the Microsoft Store still fully functional. Watch ETA Prime's Tiny 11 video instead.

[@BobM48]

I was thinking the same Billy regards sponsorship.

[@x91w]

I've also worked in IT for a long time and we've made sysprepped custom ISO to speed up local installs and include $OEM patches so that the server might actually boot on first run rather than require an expensive field tech visit to bring up the network

[@billydelacey]

Cool story.

[@benign4823]

​@@billydelacey Bro.

[@82NeXus]

What he didn't say was that it was the purchasing of "other local services" that made those field tech visits so expensive..

[@FrankieB-gd2ui]

This was a piss poor video. Had you just stuck to "custom ISOs can't be trusted, they may contain malware" it would've been fine. But the other points you mentioned were just crap. For example, if you're not going to trust NTDev's custom ISOs why the hell would you trust their custom tools to build the ISOs? It goes against everything you rambled on about. As for the "why isn't it on official sites?", that's purposely being deceptive because you already know the answer. You know Microsoft isn't putting these custom ISOs on any of their platforms, so why are you suggesting that they can be? For a random KZbinr that claims to have worked IT, you should know better.

[@redroom6695]

Exactly my point, just another clickbait video, 'dont't use his iso but do use his tool to make your own lite version'.. yea sure IT expert Chris... Personally I've been using Ghost Spectre & ran multiple scans with antimalware/antiviruses + monitored the processes and none of them were consuming many resources in order to suspect them as being 'miners' or anything like that. + benchmark scores talk for themselves, way bigger than on vanilla windows. The devs of Ghost/Atlas for example are very nice & have no malicious intensions, Microsoft on the other hand DOES have malicious intentions by selling your data through telemetry and all that bullcrap. I don't think Chris is even capable of making something as good as Ghost, just saying.

[@kevinsahm5577]

@@redroom6695 I use windows xlite builds and they are really nice made by a really good person with a very nice website so in my view it depends where you go to get your custom builds of windows that can make all the difference for the user experience.

[@FrankieB-gd2ui]

@@kevinsahm5577 Trustworthy sources is part of it. These custom versions are fine to use provided you take precautions and don't deviate because of laziness. I'd either use them in a Virtual Machine or on a completely separate PC that's not my main rig. As long as you don't log into personal accounts in these custom versions (i.e. email, banking), you should be in decent shape.

[@FrankieB-gd2ui]

@@redroom6695 It's funny he brings up "trusting some random tuber" when he in fact is asking viewers to trust his word...the word of a random tuber. He can make any claim he wants, including his occupation, just to give an illusion of authority and keep people watching his videos.

[@maimaibiri9045]

Yeah, I agree while he has good intentions, he tells it like he doesnt know what he says, don't trust ISO but trust the tools, Im like wut? and the fact that he was asking for official site, well there is only official site and they are not giving it till next yr I think, yeah that doesnt like IT to me, sounds like sales rep.

[@alincupunct]

Guess my paranoia saved me this time

[@OverAndOverAndOver]

Paranoia will usually save you

[@Mathias-bz2kr]

True, got saved from the LastPass breach, because I was paranoid that the concept is dumb and only a matter of time before a breach was done.

[@eliotcole]

+1

[@_sneer_]

Same here. Only open source OS for me.

[@wolfVFXmc]

@@Mathias-bz2kr so you don’t use a password manager?

[@slybunda]

So you make a video titled tiny11 has problems with a thumbnail saying tiny11 infected but the video does nothing to prove there is malware in the build. A lot of possibly or maybe but no hard evidence given. You should have done this properly with installing fresh tiny11 then run every virus and malware scanner you can get your hands on to check the system out. Otherwise clickbate for shock value views.

[@nikiiv]

:) Coming from a guy with a video "Remove _ANY_ virus"... Praying on popularity of Tiny11 and without a shred of a proof... Nah... Skip

[@Viking8888]

I installed T11 on a laptop for testing, but then started using it regularly. I've been in IT for over 20 years as well and should have known better. I definitely needed to hear what you had to say Chris. Time to make my own personal version before something bad happens.

[@RoadRunner1980]

So after 20 years of failing common sense you needed another guy in IT for 20 years to to tell you this? I'm also in IT for 21 years and I never ever installed any garbage like this, not even for testing. Why the hell would you test something like this? It's quite scary realising that other IT "pro's" are using this and creating a security vulnerability with every install.

[@Revenant483]

Thanks for putting out this PSA Chris. More people need to wake the hell up!

[@OverAndOverAndOver]

For real.... Survival of the fittest at this point....

[@Revenant483]

@@OverAndOverAndOver 🙌

[@cammy85]

And yet.. watching these PSA videos has lead to many custom build videos in Suggested,,,

[@mmoportal.official]

Could you please tell us exactly what's wrong with Ghost Spectre? Since you mentioned it then you must know something.

[@TazzSmk]

this is an important topic and I think it should be covered better, let's start why people even consider those stripped-down Windows images - this has clearly become Microsoft fault their vanilla operating system is so mediocre people seek for more "usable" options, then there's trickery when trying to legally obtain official Windows ISO - simply impossible, again Microsoft fault, they are so obsessed with pushing people into latest versions one needs a Mac/Linux system to actually bypass Microsoft website check and get full genuine ISO instead of some .exe install download/builder, then, there's problem of installing Windows - again Microsoft fault because it's no longer possible to simply install genuine Windows you download, there's all sorts of trickery like Microsoft online account and other garbage which should not be mandatory, yet they appear they are, then there's lack of core functionality in Windows - again Microsoft fault, they pretend to deliver fully functional product, yet it doesn't include basic dependencies like MSVC, DirectX, can't open Microsoft file formats, print PDFs etc... to sum it up, Microsoft should address the fact their official products is so shitty that majority of those custom ISOs are that much better people are actually opting for them, compromising security and integrity of their work devices - will they? who knows, meanwhile they focus on throwing more useless garbage into Windows instead...

[@ChrisTitusTech]

A very good point, but I was more afraid of scaring folks off with it. I will say the biggest advertiser of Linux and it's adoption is Windows. I didn't try Linux because I wanted to... I tried it because I was mad at Windows lol.

[@dianaalyssa8726]

@@ChrisTitusTech Same, 11 certainly made me change daily drivers.

[@TazzSmk]

@@ChrisTitusTech well I've been using all sorts of Windows, MacOS and Linux, every OS has its pros and cons, fair to say people simply want something that works, if only Microsoft could deliver on their own :))

[@bitelaserkhalif]

Er... You can use the inspect element and change device type to iOS or Android so you can get iso IIRC.

[@keithbrown7685]

Ah... a Linux user, no less. It's in your attitude.

[@HuangShengHong]

I'd say there's always a risk, just trust what you like to trust, and live with it. I trust Ghost Spectre and Garuda Linux, daily driving them time to time everyday.

[@Gendie2000]

❤ I am using it too I have a friend that works in cyber security and ransomware company he did a favor for me and ran the whole OS on there systems and did not find anything as matter in fact it’s better then the original MS OS less tracking and out going and income traffic. He really put it to the test and told me that he never soon this done so clean. The softwares he uses awe for enterprise which coast lots of money. So for that reasons I am running it and it’s been supper no tracking now virus and stable.

[@swimfan6292]

kinda lazy faire, dont you think? probably not

[@zembryoz]

Imagine thinking like this.

[@williamkirkpatrick6942]

im using ghost. and i have watched packets and where they go. i have stared at the processes for hours and no issues.

[@barulicksama3838]

Your point is legit however there's a big difference between suggesting and having a proof. So do you have any proofs that tiny 11 has any malicious software in it?

[@expolight1926]

The proof where is it. I would like to to see the evidence of this.

[@PubgPeaks]

Thank you Chris for bringing this up. I never try any Iso from any company. I still use windows due to their ms office on separate machine and I do not do anything else. I using arch Linux which I had compiled from scratch , keeping things which I need and discarding rest. It’s a steep learning and not for average home user.

[@82NeXus]

ISOs from reputable organisations should be fine. Source code can have malicious stuff added as well. It's more visible but it could stay there for a while before someone notices it, and it could be obfuscated. Verifying files with hashes might improve the security a little bit, but if the ISO or other installer or source code package has been compromised, the provided hash value could have been as well.

[@Nivexity]

I dislike speculation, you can point to the warning of using custom iso's but you can't claim they are inherently bad. You have no evidence of either Spectre or Tiny being bad provided by them directly.

[@kithenry]

Hey there, I am ghostspectre, and I'm here with my friend Tiny. I just wanted to say to you directly , that we are compromised. There you go.. lol

[@Bushidounohana]

Thank you for taking this stand. When the Tiny11 craze first started just a little while back, I was trying to comment on videos like ETA Prime’s about being weary of custom Windows ISOs. At the very least, individuals should be aware of the risks involved in using custom Windows ISOs. If you don’t know where your OS is coming from, you can’t trust your OS.

[@mrkitty777]

No Microsoft product is allowed in France at government. Microsoft is a high-tech company espionage product. Microsoft started selling complete country tech industry data since the 1990s already. Microsoft destroyed and rules the world.

[@murphygoat-k4n]

doesn't mean tiny11 isn't good

[@Bushidounohana]

@@murphygoat-k4n “That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.” ―Christopher Hitchens … In other words-your mileage may vary, so long as you understand the potential risk involved. Your OS is ultimately your choice, go with God, my friend!

[@Charles.Foster.Offdensen]

I mean.... yes. That's true, but I also don't trust windows already

[@TheRobMozza]

I'm delighted you're reminding people Chris, 25 years ago this was commonplace. Remember Vortex Vista, or TinyXP? People eventually got sense (usually buy trial and error) but now we have different generation(s) with a lot more to lose. So props Chris, well done! 👍

[@joefell5311]

Not that I would ever use these custom ISO's, but couldn't the same be said for all these custom Linux distros?

[@fish-j5q]

it could but usually they are open source so if there are any vulnerabilities someone would catch them

[@joefell5311]

@@fish-j5q Good point

[@reimner]

​@@fish-j5qno one caught the xz backdoor though.

[@notjustforhackers4252]

I'll just stick with Linux. Not going through this crap and I ain't trying to fight the oh so "user friendly" Microsoft.

[@davidg5898]

Great advice here. For those who like to experiment with this stuff, I would only do it in a VM on a LAN isolated from your real network. I'd be curious to see what traffic some of these generate during/after install via WireShark. Not curious enough to spend hours installing Tiny11 and combing through its traffic, though. 🤣

[@taskulator]

Did that logging for 2 days (ReviOS) however no suspect connection found, issue is that we don't know (if there is) at what frequency/date backdoor is set to activate hence may be tricky to catch.

[@oosha2000]

I have never tried any custom isos on my main hardware but thanks for the reminder. I would enjoy using windows 7 on my laptop until its death, it got slower with time. Currently, I'm using windows 8.1 and it's great

[@tyrellwreleck4226]

I got a ransomware in my windows 8.1 years ago. Although i haven't stored any important files, it was very clear to me that any windows versions that contains internet explorer is dangerous and should not be trusted.

[@oosha2000]

@@tyrellwreleck4226 Same here. I wasn't supposed to disable windows defender in the meantime but my files got encrypted. I was tempted to run kms to permanently activate windows 8.1 because none of the product keys were working not even mas without realizing it was a malware all along. I tried to upgrade to windows 10 thinking it would resolve the issue but it was still the same. Hopeless, I had to clean install it. My files got deleted but nothing remained encrypted. However, I experienced some other issues like slow performance, apps not responding, ms store error and so on. It was difficult to fix them the simplest way, so I installed windows 7 because I couldn't roll back to windows 8.1. Currently, I'm using windows 8.1. I got kms again but this time, windows defender was enabled and no files got encrypted. Now the license got expired and I dunno whether I should activate it once again or not.

[@alperen_n71]

You have the best timing ever. Built my pc LITERALLY right now and saw this in my notifications, I actually had planned to install and use Tiny11 but never mind that

[@theriddick]

I've been using Ghost Spectre, but your right. I think tomorrow I'll spend some time going back to original ISO and just run the ps de-bloat tool instead. Kernel level keylogger sounds terrifying!

[@ma.nu.22]

same can be said with bat files and exe files prepared by ppl like you. i think you should do a video explaining the bat files that you prepared, going line by line to teach us what each line does? or show us a way to do all the debloating manually without using your file.

[@eMarce1.]

Same *can't* be said with his debloat files. 1. You can look through yourself 2. Why would he ruing his reputation for a bit more money 3. You can debloat it yourself, the aim of the script is to make it easier

[@FARDEENKHANQWE123]

the biggest reason why i never tried tiny 11 is that every video i saw on it,in the task manager they have way way toomany tasks runnning to be called a debloated os.

[@ishara_lakshitha]

thanks Ctt i installed previously tiny 10 on my 6 years old laptop now I know the risk and It's time to remove that shit

[@p1mmelbirne]

I have been a debian fanboy for 15 years. I agree that Debian compared to other distros is kind of "outdated" considering packages etc. But you always reference to debian (stable). I have been using Debian "testing" for years and also Sid (unstable) for a couple of years without any trouble. I would like to see you compare Debian Sid to other distros, especially Arch-based ones. Distros do not matter, that is my opinion. Distributions are just a starting point. You can get to the same result with any distribution. Make a video about Debian Sid, very much appreciated. And keep up the good work!

[@vetrixfx9264]

imo the only big differences between distros are init system, package manager and rolling vs point release. Maybe preconfigured desktop when you are a beginner. To me pacman and the aur is perfect, so much better than adding multiple ppas like i did in ubuntu. systemd or not is something i don't really care for, but it's fun to explore other init systems for sure.

[@Scornfull]

Never had any issues for years with custom Win isos

[@schalachi]

Same

[@danielberrett2179]

A good Followup would be how to get a legit ISO and trim it yourself for performance and features you want (gaming focus?)

[@johnbradshaw3001]

He already done that. Search his custom iso making video

[@eleazar598]

Atlas os

[@revenge977]

he already made multiple videos about it + like he said in the video, you can use tiny11 builder and build a tiny11 iso yourself.

[@zcomputerwiz]

This video is a bunch of hypotheticals and misinformation. Clickbait.

[@repairman2be250]

Would be good to see a video where you show how to find those possibly dangerous tools hidden in some of the customs ISO's.

[@MarcosCodas]

He won't because he's never found anything. It's a pretty deceptive title, despite the good intentions.

[@apreviousseagle836]

@@MarcosCodas I was wondering this as well. I've used quite a few Win XP and Win 7 custom ISO's. They pass virus/malware checks at ISO level, install properly, and pass the same tests running live. My firewalls never catch any weird call-home/telemetry (if anything, they usually come with all the Windows garbage telemetry disabled). But I guess it's a good idea to check everything before running it as a main driver OS.

[@mdio]

So you say that Tiny11 has problems, but in the end it's just assumptions that don't prove anything... is that it?

[@geykum_shakeshigh]

Like even myself I don't get

[@chosenone3137]

I see you really didn't provide any proof that all custom isos are bad. Show me proof! Use a custom ISO and show your audience what's going on in the background. I'm not going to blindly take your word for it while using Atlas OS, I enjoy an incredible smooth experience using Atlas OS. It's strunk the windows processes from 135 to 30. It's amazing. Why would you make a video discussing your point on the why but not go actual real life examples, show me screenshots, show me video footage, give me a live demonstration that it is bad.

[@si4632]

exactly

[@SeanBotha]

FACT CHECK: FALSE Look at the new script you can use an official iso and strip most the win 11 spyware. Sorry but untill you proof that that script is doing something wrong you are failing tje fact check! It is opensource you can see what it is doing!

[@NoobiteArchive]

I always thought that modded windows ISOs are most likely malicious, especially for ghost spectre’s ISO. The only iso that i felt like could be ok is atlas since its open source. ( and popular too ) Opensource is only way to know if ur fully safe

[@ChrisTitusTech]

Yup! Build it yourself! It's the only way to be sure.

[@gamerking64]

I always build the atlas iso myself and it's great! But now after the new atlas update that uses open source ame wizard it's just more safe

[@primo_geniture]

I understand the point, but honestly just being Opensource does not mean you are "fully" safe. Unless you read and understand the code along with any other opensource projects it includes you are not safe. Merely taking a project and building it on your computer does not make you safe as Chris suggests. If you haven't read through the Linux kernel, how do you know you are safe? You have to rely on others and that then provides a chance of compromise. Is opensource better? Absolutely! Is it 100% safe? No and nothing is.

[@gamerking64]

@@primo_geniture As you said nothing is 100% safe, nobody can claim that... But open source is still better than other choices.

[@Kolomy24]

Is ghost spectre malicious? I liked it, planned to install later)

[@alexovicscosplay]

FINALLY, i has been searching for this video, thank you for "saving my pc", i didn't wanted to download it until i see at least one of these videos, thanks man :D

[@truthmatters7573]

Thank you so much for this. It's very important to caution people, because sometimes trusted sources give poor recommendations.

[@nicwilson6587]

I have had a look at the video and site and I agree that building your own is much better (not that you should have to but hey that’s windows) The tittle of the video and article was a bit click bait. Tiny 11 has problems? What are they? The article and video describe the sort of problems that COULD exist (remember I agree with Chris on not running random windows distributions from the internet) but fails to identify and accuse Tiny 11 of actually having anything wrong with it. Chris love ya channel but this was a mis-step to drive traffic to the video. Again I do agree, don’t run random OSs from the internet!

[@KETO_DIET]

Thanks for the advice. I'll stay away from the custom iso's but can we trust Microsoft? "The U.S. Department of Justice said Microsoft Hungary will pay the $8.75 million criminal fine, as part of a three-year non-prosecution agreement in which it “admits, accepts and acknowledges” responsibility for employees’ misconduct. Microsoft also agreed to pay nearly $16.6 million to settle related civil charges by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over its activities in Hungary, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Turkey, without admitting wrongdoing." (reuters)

[@nighthawkvc25a]

I don't think Microsoft can be fully trusted either but in this scenario it's whether Microsoft can be trusted more than vs the modified versions of Windows being redistributed. The world is very different now than the days of Windows 7 or earlier...

[@ThinkingFox1]

This does not shock me whatsoever. Custom isos are bad news

[@guiadopc]

Congratulations! Great click bait title!

[@tech-bore8839]

First, you glanced over your legality example and ignoring a very crucial detail, which is in the article title. The guy was jailed for RE-SELLING these keys, which is definitely illegal, but you claim redistribution as a whole is illegal. To my knowledge, it's not illegal until you're making money from sales, but I'm not an attorney so I accept I may be wrong. Second, you criticize NTDev's custom iso, but praise their customization tools. If you don't trust their custom iso, why should you or anyone trust the tools they used? I do agree with your stance on custom isos, but it's hypocritical to question one product while praising another from the same dev if you don't trust the dev. Third, you're whole "why isn't it on official websites" argument is purposely deceptive. You know Microsoft would never host these custom builds nor do they even offer lighter versions without digging into some hidden developer channel. The fact that there's clearly a demand for lighter versions, yet ignored by Microsoft, should tell you all you need to know about the company. Finally, custom iso or not, nobody should be using Windows for anything personal or important. Unless you're installing Windows behind an isolated VM or on a completely separate machine, nobody should be running any form of Windows including the official versions.

[@jorgem50]

I have Tiny 11 on my HTPC. Love it! NO issues that I can tell.

[@userunknown1030]

yeah i download all sort of costume os and never seem to have these issues he speaks of. most you can check all files like he said and if you don't like what you see you can remove that file before anything happens with installing but i guess he is saying most people don't have that skill and so might be taken for a ride later but honestly if that was the case i would think people would already be reporting issues.

[@TheCleaner6969]

It should be illegal for Microsoft to force the end users to give up rights & choices well Microsoft gains more control.

[@Liperium]

I don't like these "There's a good chance to be compromised" when backed up with one event for one custom ISO... At that point, Windows itself has a lot of security vulnerabilities and probably NSA backdoors too. You do you, but this is just paranoia at this point.

[@Vicorcivius]

I agree, its strange how someone this concerned with Security and Privacy would be advising to use Windows at all. It just boggles my mind.

[@miraiSX]

Old man ranting about ISOs from developers who do this since the early XP Days. Topkek 😂

[@tireseas]

It's always struck me as amusing how people going on about Windows spyware and bloat would then turn around and download sketchy ISOs from random internet clown who are apparently trustworthy because they claim to be... and that crowd wonders why I have trouble taking them remotely seriously.

[@Vicorcivius]

In all actuality that random "clown" distributing ISO's is actually likely to be more trustworthy than Microsoft themselves and likely has a better track record, they likely have not proven themselves untrustworthy, unlike Microsoft which has proven they are untrustworthy time and time again and do not at all have any loyalty to their customers and will do literally anything to extract as much money and resources and exploit them in any way they can legally get away with. I do somewhat understand where you are coming from though. If someone is concerned with security and privacy they should not be using any Microsoft Product. Period.

[@joshallen128]

To trust them implicitly without the source code is a foolish mistake

[@caresblair1234]

@@joshallen128 yet that is exactly what you are doing with apple/windoze...or any other proprietary software, just who are you going to truth more , the ceo of windoze or NTdev? One WE KNOW has hidden code that is proprietary that contains spyware & telemetry AS THOUSANDS of users have reported factually (such as OP Chris), and yet we have ZERO knowledge that the semi-inept NTdev added anything malicious to the code (and quite the opposite as how many people have subjected it to testing/scans)...to think that anyone/everyone would only scan such with what comes with windoze is SILLY btw...people are a bit more tech expert than that, you should expect something more like a VIRUS TOTAL scan done multiple times...and I hope you at least understand what that would entail (scanning with each of those scanners individually until you went though all 50-100 of them or so). So remember, we KNOW that microsofty has either committed actual crimes, or is suspected STRONGLY of doing such. NTdev on the other hand is considered a criminal by that big biz and its ceo, maybe the truth is a bit more in the middle on this one eh? Still advise against anyone using Tiny10-11 because I agree with almost everything this video states on a basic level. Yet there is MORE to the story than only this, thus my comments.

[@CaptainMint]

Ladies and gentleman! This is another reason in why Linux bypasses Windows in security and stability by miles! Have you been seeing videos like these about Ubuntu, Linux Mint, or other distributions? Nope!

[@Evoxyoutube]

Is there any point of doing tiny 11 like you said, if we use your debloat tool on our win 11. Would it be the same thing?

[@trixstuffs0]

Nope

[@risunapple105]

debloating an 'official' iso manually doesn't prevent windows from just installing all the bloat later

[@mordzalpha]

Meanwhile, you've also made a video about the official Windows OS is not being safe. Might as well just make a video to not use computers.

[@ChristopherGray00]

it should have been considered a compromised operating system since 2017

[@MarcosCodas]

So Tiny11 isn't "infected" with anything that you could actually prove? You just know that it *could be*? Damn, I mean, the advice is sound, but talk about bad videos/thumbnails. I build my own, but this is a pretty deceptive premise.

[@williamkirkpatrick6942]

so you didn't find anything except in the make your own. i can understand the warning but your headline was like American media. i would of waited till you investigated more.

[@karabaja4]

What this is saying to me is that there is an actual demand for Windows systems that are not slow and bloated and I wish Microsoft would do something about it with the official release. They probably won't though :(

[@SStarlight9614]

Of course, they won't, they'd rather collect your data by bloating the system and bogging it all down, so they could then turn around and sell it than make an OS like the good ole Windows 7 days :(

[@Mario583a]

You are reading this wrong. What this is saying to me is that people think they can do better than Microsoft.

[@LiterateGoblin]

@@Mario583a they can, lmao

[@Antassium]

​@@Mario583a they literally have lmao

[@BlueSuress]

It's all about money!!

[@heyjoeway]

If we're discussing the security implications of a pre-install debloater script, how about we also address the security implications of asking people to irm iex your own overengineered scripts

[@pattic2436]

Can you show me where in the code these threats are

[@AlDunbar]

Good timing! I saw a youtube recommendation for tiny11 (and tiny10) and had been planning on installing the 10 version on my wife's slow laptop -just haven't found the time to just yet. Making my own windows install iso seems like it could be more work, but it would be better than installing malware unawares.

[@longshot5866]

Tiny10? Hmm I thought that was called Linux Mint ; )

[@noway5096]

"modifying and distributing windows is illegal" "you should make your own" ........

[@tigerscott2966]

Tiny 11 is a good idea, but it's not worth the trouble... Once you get it running the way you want, Windows updates changes things...

[@PaulG.x]

It gets the compromisation over and done with nice and early - out of the box

[@Antassium]

😂

[@slctdmbntwrx]

I'm on Ghost Spectre now and I've never been happier. That combined with simplewall is a beautiful thing.

[@Anonymouzee]

dude... good info but.. it's a bit of clickbaite... all you said in a 10min video was that the digital signature date was not visible!!! and urge people to not trust downloads... (a already hugely stressed theme... 30 secs would be enough for this... ;-) what I was waiting is to see you applying some malware tools over the iso... and came out with some valuable info.... OR put the iso live... and analyse the network traffic,,, or even contacting the author about why the oscdimg.exe signature appears tampered... and show us his reply (or absence of reply) hope you do this in a next video... ;-))

[@dttung80]

I used Tiny 11 for years. Everything run fine, smooth, stable. No problems. Only 2: 1 is Edge installed but not found. 2 is One Drive reg key is disabled. P/s: Old version miss DxPlay, I comment official then they fixed. Love Tiny 11.

[@ArniesTech]

Even if security wasnt an issue, those custom ISOs usually tend to brick the system since Windows is heavily intertwined 😅

[@cutflow2]

Wdym

[@johnbradshaw3001]

You may be right but in the few months i was using them. They worked fine

[@Luke357]

Source? Because what you said no sense at all. A modded Windows should have a real affect on the hardware of a computer.

[@benfazbear3625]

Thought I was being paranoid about custom os's for a long while but you've conformed my fears

[@karateto1]

All this said can be true (loggers,crypto mining ..) , just remember you are already sleeping cell even with official windows iso :).

[@igorthelight]

That's why you should modify your Windows BEFORE or AFTER you installed it.

[@pinchetech]

Thanks Man. I've tested reviOs for some days, but I always return official ISO.

[@martinstaiger1813]

The link to your article is broken.

[@ChrisTitusTech]

Fixed!

[@Mikurusenpai]

I honestly dont know how people can install custom iso's w/o having panic attacks. For a fairly modern system, just install windows normally and debloat manually or using ctt tools. For an old system, id rather run linux but to each their own

[@katrinabryce]

I have my own Windows post-install powershell script that takes bits from your debloat tool and other sources, plus some other modifications that aren't debloating but make it the way I want it, things like adding the network drives.

[@tygi]

do you share that on github?

[@katrinabryce]

@@tygi No, because it is very specific to my setup.

[@duigathem]

15 month in jail? i'll take that

[@techexplosion3853]

I have been trying OS for long time & i can clearly say the optimisation done on Ghost Spectre builds is just impossible for an average user, the level of optimization with perfection is just incomparable with anything else, just an opinion:- then even every Custom Android Roms will be huge security issue right ? But it isn't in 99% case scenarios.

[@techexplosion3853]

@@JuneAtHomePH many believes yes because nobody else has able repeat that kind of stabilized windows builds yet, even windows update system is modified to only give security & driver updates, not windows feature updates, which doesn't break the system in long run !

[@JodyBruchon]

Or you could just use Windows 10 and not dumpster fire Windows 11 that no one should be using ever.

[@m0r4ag]

Does Chris have a video about how he makes his articles?

[@ChrisTitusTech]

Here you go: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rn7ZYmN7aptkjbM

[@tjwreds1]

Saying that Linus's KZbin channel could have been attacked via a tiny 11 as a vector without any evidence to support your claim is just irresponsible youtubing (it's a word now). Yes it's possible. Do you have any evidence to support it, you don't. Also they did a pretty exhaustive "what happened" video. Speculation without careful annotation of the same is the beginning of misinformation. Please be careful in the future.

[@Cyberfoxxy]

If they covered the instructions on how to generate this magic ISO so everything can be verified. Like open-source.

[@FelixLantiguaCamacho]

I knew Tiny11 has problems, oh yeah it contains many malwares, spywares. The sadness thing is, antivirus won`t detect them because it was made for this. That is why I don`t recommend all crap I see on internet, especially on KZbin. Many youtubers think they are pc technicians, and don`t have a real lab.

[@Rahee07]

any proof tho?

[@zil6470]

Thank you Chris ! would appreciate some new videos about deploating windows 10 and windows 11 for 2023, Thank you! God bless and keep up the good work !

[@Choroalp]

Just use linux at that point

[@eatyoursupper]

Thank you for this video. Because of it I ended up building my own install of Tiny11 rather than just trusting the internet.

[@fredy000]

guess I'm gonna do my own iso today thank you

[@bufordmaddogtannen]

I have an LTSC deployed in a VM and its footprint in terms of disk usage is similar to those custom ISOs. Memory wise it can be tamed by disabling services at will.

[@Across_]

Yeah... the uncertainty of "ok sounds good BUT... how compromised is it actually!?" does make one such as my self actually run a debloater after installing a fresh out of the box windows from an official ISO, or even using something like NTLite or MSMG to debloat the original iso file. Don't get me wrong, I totally believe that there are "legit custom distros" for windows isos out there! So far for me at least, from a sent/recieved packets over the network for a period of around a month now... Ghost Spectre win 10 custom iso seems alright! but yeah... you never trully know and it's a sad reality! Which points me to the question we're all eager to ask you Titus... that mega overhall revamp of your windows utility... how far along is it atm? I'm eagerly waiting for that "Windows 10 install just finished, open the tool, run it, reboot, and you're done!"

[@act.13.41]

I think the biggest problem is that Windows Update can undo your debloating. Many times, I have uninstalled programs only to see Windows Update put them right back on my system. You have to keep debloating to stay on top of it.

[@Across_]

@@act.13.41 yep, a sad truth! the only way to prevent that is do 1 major update after install, debloat, allow only security updates i think. But yeah... it's always a trial and error depending on not only your windows version but also the machine it self. Seems so random at times.

[@BrightAngel007]

I disagree. I say that custom ISO is great for specific cases. All of those specific cases should never be where you are trying to keep secure though. Specific cases such as gaming/retro pc gaming/ect. I know you preach "Linux", but Linux is too scattered which makes it extremely difficult to use. Even gaming is extremely difficult where you finally get a game to work, reboot and the system will no longer play the game. The mass misinformation and dated information only causes more issues along with the huge, poisonious Linux community.