One thing I’ve noticed about Qubes OS is that it seems to change the way people think about using a computer. Instead of just installing apps and getting to work, people often develop their own habits for organizing qubes, separating tasks, and staying secure.
That made me wonder:
What’s one habit or workflow you’ve adopted because of Qubes OS that you now couldn’t imagine working without? It could be something simple, like how you organize your qubes, handle downloads, manage updates, or separate personal and work activities.
I always enjoy hearing about the little things that make everyday use smoother. Looking forward to seeing how everyone approaches it!
Trying to keep things clean (files and so on) and not messy in a VM. Its absolutely temporary, so whatever. I use unnamed dispvms as much as possible and love it, because you can just mess around.
Having a virtualizer with full X support - copy paste, shows windows like a normal desktop linux would, bla, is SO MUCH NICER to have than a regular desktop where everything runs in one “debian”.
Network chains - this is utterly annoying to realize on regular Linux - here you just chain ProxyVMs, its is SO COMFORTABLE
The knowledge that all apps are properly isolated from each others and regular cyber attacks are not an issue anymore. You have to put pretty good money into h4x0ring qubes - I’m sure it exists and ppl do it, and that my Qubes is far from secure, but 90% of attacks fail on the Qubes / XEN layer or stay confined. It is so much security while being SO comfortable. I love it.
And its so cool to automate / scripts things for Qubes - my greatest hobby around Qubes
Also I love the community. Its an endless stream of “I came up with this funky thing for paranoid ephemeral deniability RAM dom0 whatever the heck buzzword bingo” stuff. I love the ideas passed around in the forum.
Qubes is like a logic puzzle for me. Its not even really about security for me (I kiiiiinda dont care that much, I ofc embrace and enhance it, but if its broken “nothing happens”) - its just that Qubes and security is a never ending logic-puzzle. Qubes absolutely supports that style of computing, or handling a computer, for lack of a better word.
Its like an endless logic security puzzle sandbox. There is always some new crazy thing to do and explore in Qubes, new ideas to check out, and so on.
As I have to do a lot of testing VMs, especially Windows, being able to
clone a VM in seconds is the biggest help for me. If the tests break
something, which they often do, is no longer a problem. I just discard
the clone and create a new one. So the repair after ruining a test
system just takes a few seconds and not hours!
In Global config, my default net qube is none and I have only one that has net qube set by default. You’ll never know when you’ll click the wrong qube to open sensitive thing with. Also it speeds up life.
What I can’t use with Qubes, I just don’t use. Just like WhatsApp on the phone. Whoever wants to contact me, can freely do that via SimpleX Chat. Who doesn’t, they don’t need me.
Qubes got me so much more real life, by freeing me of wasting my time with “hardening” and other fancy apps and stuff.
Thanks for the detailed reply! It was really interesting to read how Qubes has influenced the way you think about using a computer.I like the idea of treating AppVMs and DispVMs as temporary workspaces instead of trying to keep everything in one place. The emphasis on isolation and separating tasks also seems to be one of the biggest mindset shifts that people mention.
It’s also great to hear how much you enjoy experimenting with different workflows and automation. Reading everyone’s experiences is giving me a better understanding of why so many users stick with Qubes once they get comfortable with it. Thanks again for sharing your perspective!
