so, i had to sleep early this morning - that wasn't optional. and, i've been experimenting with a few things in the image, which has slowed me down.

i've decided that i'm staying in this weekend to catch up, regardless.

have i learned anything profound? the answer is "not really". the one thing i was able to figure out is that the virus or hacker has found a way to disable the group policy via the active directory.

i may be coming up against a contradiction, though. what i want to do is disable the active directory so they can't use it to disable the security features. i don't think it's likely that i'll be able to completely lock something like that down - so long as it exists, there's a potential to break into it. it simply shouldn't exist. but, you have to understand that windows is stupid, like this, because it's designed for office use. there might not be a way to disable the active directory without breaking the local file structure. so, what i'm trying to figure out is that happy medium, where the functionality to control the pc from a distance is removed, but the local functionality continues to exist. i may end up disappointed...

i also accidentally deleted the winsxs folder on my pc. oops. i was planning on reinstalling this machine relatively soon anyways, so we can just leave a half-install in place for now. i'm just going to reinstall on top of the existing directory, and run the wipe script.

i really, really, really wanted to do some work this week. i'd actually like to apologize to future audiences for the amount of time i'm wasting with this, but i can't do as much as i'd like to about it. i'm living through an era defined by heavy-handed police state tactics that the law hasn't really caught up to yet. we don't have the kind of police oversight that we will hopefully have in the future, so they're essentially allowed to run roughshod over everybody's rights, because we don't have an effective system of checks in place. i promise you that whatever they're doing here is being done without any kind of convincing probable cause, and without getting any kind of warrant. if this ever becomes clear to me, i'm going to drag them through court to try to get the laws changed, but, for right now, in this dark period where we haven't adjusted to the technology yet, the cops are essentially allowed to get away with doing whatever they want, without even having to ask anybody first. it's going to require decades worth of legal action and other hard work to get a proper systems of checks in place.

for right now, all i can do is struggle against this system of oppression the best way that i'm able to.

once i get up and check my email, i'm going to have to keep myself offline for a while to catch up. i might even have to continue to use this chromebook to post and to check things online. there's no way around it.