this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2025
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How to grandma-proof Linux? (self.linux)
submitted 2 days ago by stefounet to c/linux
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In short, my question is "Is there a way to prevent a non-malicious but unknowledgable and clumsy user to ruin their own home directory?"

Say my grandma opens a file browser looking for a picture, finds those dot files or those mysteriously-named directories distracting, sets her mind to deleting them. And assume she somehow finds a way to do so. While I understand that dot files or mysteriously-named directories of a non-privileged user are of no ultimate importance, it is a maintenance nightmare.

Plus, it's not only mysterious files that are prone to be targetted. She might well delete by accident the picture she was looking for.

Two kinds of solutions that come to mind are: -Restrict file permissions in an adequate way -Implement an easily operable, fool-proof, back-in-time scheme

Is there a mainstream, well-supported distro of GNU/Linux that has figured this use-case out?

I figure it might come in handy when Window 10 is no longer supported and the reports of hacks keep coming in.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Yeah that was my first thought too. Automated backups and very few visible buttons. I tend to find that people who aren't very computer-minded don't like poking around much, so if you just have a button for internet and a button for email or whatever that should cover things pretty well. And then automated backups that they can't get to just in case lol.

I think Silverblue is a good call too, anything immutable so all the inner workings are protected.