Hey you! Don't let Microsoft scare you with the 'end of life' nonsense. Windows 10 will work perfectly fine for years to come, hell, my lenovo laptop is still running windows 10 version 1803. When I bought it years ago, i debloated, removed services, disabled auto updates, and its worked flawlessly. I also have an old desktop running windows 7 just fine.
I did the whole linux thing around 4 years ago, went through Ubunutu, linux mint and its varients, fedora, suse, and so on, they were all simple to install and use, but the amount of time I spent, configuring the system to work the way I wanted to, got old real quick. Id suggest setting up a VM and installing a distro you feel comfortable with first, Ubuntu and linux mint are solid choices for beginners.
@enflicted! Good to see you! Hope everything's going well for you. I know I can keep running 10 but I'm looking at this as an opportunity to disentangle myself from MS nonsense.
Same with my computer and the windows/linux transition! I'm also not a very computery person, depite my love of my pc... I've replaced windows 7 with mint (mate) on an old netbook before though, it's not so bad! I never did much with it beyond some really basic web browsing/getting to know the OS, however, because the netbook itself was on its last leg of life even after being freed of windows OTL;;
I like Linux Mint (xfce); you can try Linux without installing it, but if you use Microsoft Office, have Edge as your browser, and have files backed up to One Drive, maybe just go ahead and grab the Windows 11 "upgrade" on one of your laptops to start with since it's compatible.
@bmh - Luckily, I am not all that tied into Microsoft. Firefox is my browser, I backup files using Backblaze and mostly I use Notepad but I do have LibreOffice in case I need something more. I think all that should make switching over less painful.
@divergentrays since you dont seem to be tied into microsoft's ecosystem, your switch to linux should be an easy transition. ubuntu, and linux mint (which is ubuntu based) makes everything pretty easy, for update and software installation. Can't wait to see and hear about your journey into linux!
I don't know about Backblaze and if they cater for Linux users (it appears not directly). Firefox and LibreOffice are included with Linux Mint.
@enflicted - ha! Best Son also can't wait to hear about my Linux journey. He texted me the other day, "I cannot believe you're contemplating a switch to Linux." I think he's just worried about being summoned for IT help.
Thank you! Your site has a great vibe as well. Love the Miami Vice aesthetic.
healthcare workers unite