“The only thing I’d add is, before the time comes to wipe the laptop and install anything else, be sure to copy/backup all your personal files and data from the laptop Windows installation, and make sure you can read the copies.”
You are absolutely right! I should have noted doing backups! I sometimes take it for granted that everyone already knows this but I will adjust accordingly for sharing in the future.
And one more thing I should have included is that when the Linux installer asks if you want to “unmount” the target drive you have to select “yes”.
Okay, once everything is done and I now have a Linux Laptop sitting on my desk, then what?
Are all my Windows programs now useless? Or will they function as normal?
That is my main question............