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The rebuild approach after a clean install

The machine was wiped this morning. Nothing is installed on it. This is what a rebuild of my market approach looks like from an empty machine.

Rebuild approach 4 min read why no author line

The three addresses

Nexus Market publishes these three onion addresses. Present as supplied, in no order, with no ranking. This site does not probe them and shows no uptime figure.

nexusb2l7fmqnefwphyy7m5zjhlkytlbo7qbb5lu5dlczr3azgii2gyd.onion
nexusma2iqgauqqvjcgds4ckv5xbf272tkfagq4epojjhsgleqpwxiqd.onion
nexusabcd6tyfhdwilyitaqiri6tisj2v2hueyjuj6qkvd6azvi5tuqd.onion

The order matters

A clean install is the rebuild where order matters most. The operating system is the first thing that exists. Nothing else exists yet. Every choice I make in the next hour shapes the setup for the year that follows, and the rebuild is easier if I do the choices in a boring order rather than a rushed one.

The order I do them in is deliberate. The order is: operating system settled, Tor Browser installed, this site found, address copied, market front page loaded. Nothing else in that sequence, and nothing before it.

The operating system, first and only

I let the operating system finish setting itself up before I do anything else. I do not sign into any account. I do not install anything from a bundle. I do not connect a phone. If I am asked to make an account for the operating system, I make a local one with a name that does not name me.

The rebuild after a clean install is a rare chance to start with a machine that has no accounts on it. I keep that state as long as I can, at least through the first market visit.

Tor Browser, from its own site

I install Tor Browser from its own site. I do not use a mirror somebody recommended in a forum. I do not use a bundled version from a friend. The rebuild after a clean install is the visit where the browser gets its most honest start.

I let the browser open, connect, and finish its own first setup. I do not fiddle with the security slider. I do not install extensions. The browser is the browser and it stays that way.

This site, then the address

In Tor Browser I type the name of this site into a search engine. The site loads. I read the three onion addresses at the top of any article. I copy one.

I open a fresh tab in Tor Browser, paste, press enter. The market loads. My rebuild is done.

It took an hour if I count the operating system install and the browser download. The market part of it took four minutes. The rebuild after a clean install is a long one only because the operating system is a long thing.

What I do not put on the machine before the first market visit

I do not sign into email. I do not sign into cloud storage. I do not install a note taking app. I do not sync a photo library. I do not connect any device that would relay information off the machine.

The clean install rebuild gets the market visit before any of that, so that the visit is the visit and nothing else has attached to it yet.

After the visit I close the browser, and then I decide, calmly, which of the daily services I actually want on this machine. Most of them can wait until tomorrow.

The addresses on a fresh machine

The three onion addresses at the top of this article are the same three they always are. A clean install does not change what the market publishes. It only changes what the machine had lying around before it was wiped.

The rebuild after a clean install is a rebuild of the machine, not of the addresses. The addresses live on this site, and this site is the source through every rebuild.

Small habits I add to the fresh machine

  • A bookmark to this site in the regular browser, not in Tor Browser, so I do not have to search for it every time.
  • A password manager, unlocked only when I ask it to be, and never signed into any cloud sync.
  • A screen lock timeout that is short. A fresh machine deserves a short one.
  • No autoinstalling of anything the operating system suggests. Each install is a decision.

What the clean install rebuild teaches me

It teaches me how thin the setup was. A rebuild from empty took an hour, and most of that hour was the operating system. The market part was small, because the market part on my setup was designed to be small.

Every year or two, when I do the next clean install, this article is what I read to remind myself of the order.

The opposite approach

The routine approach on a normal evening, the same visit from a machine that has been used for years

What this article is not. This is not an install guide. It is a description of the order I do things in when a wipe forces me to start over.

Read another in this approach

The rebuild approach after losing every noteWhen my notes about the market are gone, the recovery is not technical. It is a walk back through what I actually remembered. The rebuild approach when one mirror has gone quietOne mirror going quiet is not the market being down. It is a rebuild of my habit, from one preferred address to two others. The rebuild approach after losing the phoneA lost phone takes bookmarks, notes and copies with it. What remains is what I can rebuild from memory and from this site.
Every page on this site
All approaches on this siteHow to read this siteThe words people searchThe three nexus market addressesWhat this site is notThe first-time approachThe cautious approachThe impatient approachThe rebuild approachThe verify approachThe routine approachThe secondary approachThe helper approachThe journalistic approachThe operator approachThe first-time approach when a friend sent me a noteThe first-time approach out of a forum threadThe first-time approach starting on a search pageThe first-time approach after reading a news articleThe first-time approach after hearing it on a podcastThe cautious approach before I touch the keyboardThe cautious approach when the network is not mineThe cautious approach with a second machineThe cautious approach to what I copy and what I typeThe cautious approach that never signs inThe impatient approach that goes straight to the address barThe impatient approach from a tab I already had openThe impatient approach inside a five minute windowThe impatient approach when a mirror is slowThe impatient approach that skips the second checkThe rebuild approach after losing the phoneThe rebuild approach after losing every noteThe rebuild approach after losing the passwordThe rebuild approach after a clean installThe rebuild approach when one mirror has gone quietThe verify approach with two lists side by sideThe verify approach for a friends messageThe verify approach against this site aloneThe verify approach that reads the string itselfThe verify approach across two visitsThe routine approach on a normal eveningThe routine approach with one eye on a newer mirrorThe routine approach when nothing has changedThe routine approach that reads the front page firstThe routine approach with one eye on my own consistencyThe secondary approach coming from another marketThe secondary approach that keeps two markets separateThe secondary approach during a move between marketsThe secondary approach that eventually stops being secondaryThe secondary approach that reads one market and uses anotherThe helper approach at one desk with two readersThe helper approach for questions coming through a chatThe helper approach on paper, for laterThe helper approach and the things I refuse to doThe helper approach that only points at this siteThe journalistic approach for a story I am not going to nameThe journalistic approach for a story that names peopleThe journalistic approach when I interview somebodyThe journalistic approach and what not to publishThe journalistic approach in a shared CMSThe operator approach: what a request tells the marketThe operator approach: what a slow visit looks like from thereThe operator approach: what the inbox tells themThe operator approach: what a mirror does and does not shareThe operator approach: what I cannot know and choose not to guess