While I've come close in the past, I've had it with Microsoft! They're not going to tell me I have to buy a new PC for the honor of purchasing their product, ain't gonna happen.

Mac is an alternative but that puts me back in the position of purchasing a new Apple computer and learning a new operating system. Not an enticing option. I recently replace my SSD as a preventative measure, and maxed out my RAM capacity. My initial thoughts are go with Linux Zorin OS core (then pro if I like it), if not satisfied then try Mint cinnamon.

I'm way out of my comfort zone here and would appreciate any advise anyone would care to give.

Well, guess I'm the only one making this journey?

Do you have experience with the Linux OS. If not you'll be learning a totally new OS just like the Mac. From what I have been told the UI of the Linux OS is not intuitive at all but I have 0 experience with it.

I'm also assuming you are referring to Windows recent removing support of W10. you don't HAVE to update to W11. But if you want to stay up to date on the latest OS securities and your device is less than 5 years old, then updating wouldn't be a bad idea.

If you're PC is 7-8yrs or older, its time to replace anyway.

How you use the PC is also a big factor. if this a PC you just use for racing/racepak review, I would leave it in the trailer and continue on. if its a daily work horse or getting used for gaming, the above is more prevelent.

Are you talking Windows 10 or 11? Ya 11 has it's certain requirements My truck diagnostic software, i stay with Win 10. It is sound. Yes they did state win 10 has and will have EOL.. If you want win 11. PM me.

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Do you have experience with the Linux OS.

No, just what I've been able to glean from research. My understanding is that the Zorn and Mint are the two most like Windows. Regarding security, a major factor of course, it is alleged Linux is safer due to a lesser user base being less attractive to hackers, and being open source, it's less intrusive than MS. Of course I can't validate that at my skill level. My use is minor, I'm retired, but I do want to maintain security of personal business of course.

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Are you talking Windows 10 or 11?

Windows 10. Call me paranoid but Microsoft is becoming increasingly more invasive and Windows 11 only builds on that. That is my motivation to move away from MS.

Zorin core and Zorin Pro 18 look very interesting. I will have to put it on a test box. the "Core" is free and the Pro is about $48.00. Reading about the pro is more inline with Win 11.

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Zorin core and Zorin Pro 18 look very interesting.

I spoke with a guy WAY above my pay grade that uses Zorn Pro. He stated Pro comes with many more programs already loaded, thus the value. Allegedly can pretty much duplicate the same thing in Core but has to be done manually. And the bucks support the programmers.

I will keep you in mind, per BP758's recommendation, if I decide on Windows 11.

I just had a talk with my brother. He builds also. He tried the Zorin core on one of his new Asus boxes. Having some issues with load and boot times
He stated not to happy. I don't know if pro resolves any issues.

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Having some issues with load and boot times

Interesting, please follow up if it's of continued interest to you.

He sent me this link last night. Pretty helpful.

https://www.techbloat.com/fix-...-codes-and-boot.html

They are going to have to pry my Windows 7 boxes from my cold, dead hands.

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Pretty helpful.

While hoping I don't need it, it's a valuable resource. Thanks!

You don't "have" to upgrade. You can keep win10, they just won't support/update it after EOL date.

What "I" did was dual boot. IOW, partition the hard drive into two separate "drives" and one is win 10, the other Linux Mint. 99.99% of the time I'm on Mint. There are a few times when I have to use Windows but not often.

It is easy to do. Basically you download the Mint software, it is 100% free. Download it to a thumb drive. You will have to make it bootable. If you get stuck on any of it just google it. It is all open source meaning some smart people out there develop it and answer questions all the time. You can get on one of the many linux forums, they have answers, and usually quickly. Anyway once downloaded, leave the stick in the confuser I mean computer, restart it, and follow the prompts. You MAY have go go into bios and change the boot sequence so that it'll allow boot from USB which is easy (google that too, the process differs with different PC's and laptops).

one thing worth noting. If you have a small hard drive, you may be forced to upgrade anyway because if the drive is small it won't give you much "room" to dual boot. I like to split the drive up when partitioning, so that win10 uses about half, linux the other half. Again google will help you with that but it's self-explanatory as you boot from the usb drive and it starts the install process.

Linux is faster than windows with a lot of things. I don't need windows but maybe 2-3 times a year. My basic confuser uses are web, pictures (download from phone and/or camera & send them to a thumb drive), some youtube, etc--nothing that is intensive to speak of. Linux can do a LOT but there are some apps that are 100% windows only. The tuning software I used for the Mustang was windows-only, for instance.

but yes I'd recommend linux anyday.

I like mac, same styling as the iphone and quite easy to use for the most part. Really locked down though and if you need to make a change somewhere, if it's not something you can change you're screwed. That's why I like linux-it's open source so if you want something a little different, just ask and you'll get the answer. Sometimes it's through apt, sometimes it's command line but every time, someone has given me the correct answer to get it done. use Firefox browser if you go with linux, they work well together. Didn't like any of the others I tried. Mail, I use Thunderbird but am not sure I like it much. Openoffice.org is an option that I have no looked into (and it can open/edit word files, etc as well).

linux is like mac as far as staiblity. Many big coroprations and some government stuff used UNIX which is what linux is based on, and had uptimes in years and in some cases decades. No or very few viruses work with it so you can basically go wherever you want online without that fear, and you don't need an antivirus to hose the system up either.

you can also run a live linux, where linux runs kind of through windows. This way you can try it before you actually install it. Pretty slick but it's going to be slow and laggy-the installed version is MUCH faster.

i'm as computer illerate as they come and linux mint works well for me. Wife is stuck with her chromebook because she refuses to change. I hate chrome.

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...the other Linux Mint.

With Mint, was it one and done or did you try other distributions?

The old PC I am on I built in the Windows 7 era. Then dumped it and loaded Windows 10. Since I don't look at porn in ulta high definition, or do anything else that might seem nefarious, I think I am going to drag the unsupported version of 10 out for as long as I can.

I could have probably stayed with 7 and still be fine.

Ever heard of Windows X-lite? Welcome.