[Ghost of SVR4]

2) What “must have” software is out there for Linux? I’m talking antivirus, VLC for media, DVD burners, Firefox for Linux, Open Office, others?

Not sure if you are not in the know or just advising..There is antivirus, VLC and mplayer for media, A litany of browsers, Libre is a solid office suite.

These days, unless you are on the bleeding edge with printers or games, I can't see a reason not to run linux. If you absolutely need to run a windows app, install windows as a VM on VirtualBox and run the app there.

Personally, I like openSuSE but that is still too geeky and not ready for primetime. Fedora or Mint are excellent choices as viable candidates to get off of windows however.

[zeugma]

These days, unless you are on the bleeding edge with printers or games, I can't see a reason not to run linux. If you absolutely need to run a windows app, install windows as a VM on VirtualBox and run the app there.

One of the best things about that, is you can disable internet access at the hardware level for the VM. That way, it's never getting to the internet.

I'm not even sure that windows 10 will function with no internet access at all.