this post was submitted on 11 Feb 2026
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Privacy
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Have you considered slowly transitioning to another account/service?
I’ve been going through my google account for almost a year now, taking my time to really deal with all that stuff so I can close it for good.
I have Kubuntu on a VM. I feel like I need to buy another device right now, just to pull it off. It takes me basically all day to do one hour of work, because idk why...I'm totally fucked. So I'm afraid of messing up the transition.
I'm already used to the sudo, apt, and npm package nonsense that everyone has to deal with.
I already accepted that it will always be broken, there will always be more workarounds, and one type might fuck up my entire OS (happened already).
EDIT: I did delete Paypal.
I hear ya, getting into it can be messy. And having a VM on the side is a good choice.
My current idea of a solid setup to manage long term:
*A main machine that has a bare-bones, lightweight Distro on it. Just the stuff you need to work + a VM program to run:
VM1: a copy of your main OS, test stuff out here first if you think it’s risky.
VM2: big tech corp spy software IF you need it. (Keep that sucker offline)
(And make backups/snapshots of your installation every once in a while).
If you have it: second machine: this one is for degoogling ect, save your social media stuff here before you take it out back.
If you have it: 3rd machine to run as a personal server (working on that myself)
This can all be old gear. In the process of getting to know Linux better and better (which is an ongoing process for all of us) you’ll get more and more fluent.
You got this! Don’t give up!