I’m closer to the average user than someone who has built a fortress. I use Firefox with ublock, ghostery, and privacy badger. I use the free tier of proton vpn. I run avast daily and malwarebytes weekly.

I think that I should already be close to best practices but I’m not sure how changing OS will affect that. I’m not really worried about being targeted for anything. I don’t think that I really do much risky beyond the occasional torrent or downloading a patch for a game. I get games primarily from gog, don’t open strange emails or click strange links, and use a password manager to generate secure passwords. One of the things that I’m most unsure about is keeping everything updated. Microsoft manages keeping everything updated for the most part on Windows and the last time I needed to find a driver anywhere except from Microsoft it came on a 3.5" floppy.

I use my computer primarily for single player gaming, discord, and fediverse sites. I need a spreadsheet and word processer, I use open office for that right now. I do financial and work related things on a different device.

Still checking in. I want to learn as much as I can. Thanks for the reply and the link. Links especially give me more places to look.

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Order_of_the_Sith_Lords#Secret_apprentices

The Sith aren’t exactly known for their honor and loyalty. If a master wanted to replace an apprentice they would find a new one and begin training them first. When an apprentice wanted to replace their master secretly taking an apprentice could help them consolidate power.

Darth Plagueis was alive up until Palpatine was named Chancellor. Darth Maul was a match for Jedi Masters. Darth Tyranus was a very accomplished duelist even before becoming a sith. So I would say it was through training/sparring with his master and apprentices as well as the use things like training droids.

Not my most controversial take. Mace Windu never had a chance against Palpatine. Palpatine let Windu take an advantageous position in the fight as his final ploy to turn Anakin. I offer three points as evidence for this.

First, Windu went to Palpatine’s office with three other Jedi masters, all of whom were members of the council, to arrest Palpatine. Despite having four of the most powerful Jedi, knowing that Palpatine was a dangerous Sith Lord, and having every opportunity to choose the place, time, and manner of the confrontation two of the four Jedi were dead before Windu even got his lightsaber activated and a third died almost immediately after.

Second, Windu got the upper hand just as Anakin arrived in the office. Palpatine appears to be a weakened pitiful old man as Windu turns his force lightening back on him and then decides to execute him instead of arresting him but as soon as Anakin attacks Windu formalizing his turn to the dark side Palpatine is on his feet and both his force lightening and his trademark cackle are at full force.

Third, despite his supposed grievous injuries, a day after the duel with Windu Palpatine fought Yoda to a stalemate.

Luke’s 23 in Return of the Jedi when he defeats the combined power of Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine to not only resist turning to the dark side himself but also redeem Anakin turning him back to the light side of the force. Luke’s the real strongest Jedi even with his truncated training.

Movies confirm that Anakin is roughly equal in power to Obi-Wan and Yoda is roughly equal in power to Palpatine. Anakin is the chosen one and the prophecy that he would bring balance to the force was fulfilled at the end of Episode 3 when those were the only four left.

In 2024 a reporter asked Jordan if his 90s Bulls team could beat LeBron’s Lakers and Jordan answered that they could but only by a slim margin. When the reporter followed up by asking why it would be so close Jordan explained that most of the 90s Bulls team are in their sixties and have slowed down a bit.