you should update the OP with this information

to me it sounds like something trying to hide in a windows system (where a process like that wouldn’t stand out). but it running in your linux system probably means it sits in something other than your storage (like your boot sector or bios).

don’t charge more than the original brick and mortar distribution systems they replaced

which would be absolutely insane considering they have almost zero costs compared to those

i used their version of discover (forgot the name) and found it has mostly everything i was looking for (surprisingly so)

you can usually try a live version of the distro your aiming for to see how it behaves on your hardware. no need to repartition anything that way.

how would i know if Kubuntu 25.10 is affected (based on ubuntu)?
i guess this means yes?
command 'snap' from deb snapd (2.73+ubuntu25.10.1)
as it is lower than the version mentioned in the article “Upstream snapd: versions prior to 2.75”

now the question is how do i force an update on that thing?
sudo apt upgrade did not include an update for snapd:

Upgrading:
bpftool linux-headers-generic linux-libc-dev linux-tools-common
linux-generic linux-image-generic linux-perf

Installing dependencies:
linux-headers-6.17.0-20 linux-image-6.17.0-20-generic linux-tools-6.17.0-20
linux-headers-6.17.0-20-generic linux-modules-6.17.0-20-generic linux-tools-6.17.0-20-generic

Suggested packages:
linux-tools

Not upgrading yet due to phasing:
fwupd libfwupd3

Summary:
Upgrading: 7, Installing: 6, Removing: 0, Not Upgrading: 2
Download size: 212 MB
Space needed: 421 MB / 417 GB available

edit:
i tried sudo apt install snapd but it returned:

snapd is already the newest version (2.73+ubuntu25.10.1).
snapd set to manually installed.

edit2:
or am i save because of this?:

Ubuntu 25.10 LTS: snapd versions prior to 2.73+ubuntu25.10.1

have a look at the de-googled android roms too (like crdroid and lineage os), would guarantee for a much wider selection of devices. unless you have a use case which mandates linux.

i am not in the usa and it is working for me

a video about the situation for those not in the know: https://youtu.be/EegnxkJeDx0

it very well could’ve been, yeah. i tried fedora but due to their “absolutely no proprietary code” policy just getting vlc to play a x265 HEVC video file was a major PITA…
i also tried mint at some point but didn’t like it for some reason. i feel like at this point i tried all the major distros.

i was happy on cachy os but the freezes made it non-viable. maybe i go back at some point and try with a different kernel.

i tried endeavor os at some point but didn’t like it (don’t remember specifics). and i am not keen on kubuntu…

here it lists cpu’s dating back to “Intel 4th Gen Core (Haswell)”:
https://wiki.cachyos.org/installation/installation_prepare/

thanks! nobody on the cachy forums brought this up. what would this mean for a different kernel? would switching to the arch kernel fix/circumvent this?

idk which part of it tickles you but i can always recommend stardew valley

i did switch to x11 on cachyOS and i had no freezes but i only tested it for a little over a week (because it uses a lot more power), so i might’ve gotten lucky idk.

it’s an 8th gen i5 8500

by not switching those and having no more freezes i ruled them out successfully, no?

ah ok, different issue then

thank you!

i didn’t try that but does your audio loop the last ~second too? (all my monitors are external)