Well now that YOU got the snarkiness out of the way......./s
Ubuntu.org
What’s an anti-virus program? Oh yeah, I remember those from my windows days. That and the constant required restarts for every stupid little update.
I run ubuntu on all four of our our laptops with a dual boot setup. Preferably Win7 Pro. The ubuntu(or other linux) installation will shove windows to one side to make room for itself to be installed in a new partition, install itself and then during startup, you choose whether to boot to windows or ubuntu. Using disk defragmenter on the windows side first is more proper/safer but not necessary. Usually fine without it. You can see and access all your windows files from within ubuntu and with the exception of some small obscure programs(my only reason for keeping windows), you can open and work with most any files. Images, office docs, all can be opened and edited with FREE linux software. LiberOffice is a direct replacement to windows Office, GIMP is a decent replacement for Photoshop. Ubuntu/linux is invisible to windows however. Small updates with no restart and only when the linux core get’s updated, do you need to restart but you’re not required to restart it immediately.
No viruses and the source code for all linux programs is open for the world to see so you know there’s no malicious code, adware etc.(vetted by an army of programmers actually) The software is kept in repositories that can be searched from within ubuntu. No scouring the web looking for some little utility and hoping it’s safe and it’s all free. Safe surfing. If you use Chrome, the original, Chromium, is available and all of google’s addons are compatible. I use firefox for a browser and thunderbird for an email client.
Brave browser also avail
Screenshot programs, several to choose from
Media players, plenty to choose from including VLC which is the best imho
dictionary, incl
calculator incl
text editor included — plus advanced versions for coders
calibre ebook reader/editor/library management(can convert between different ebook formats — awesome program)
Gramps — only option — genealogy aka family tree program
video editors
audio editors
FTP programs
Cherry Tree note taking prog
Inkscape for vector graphics aka svg files
Gourmet — recipe organizer
File roller — zip, tar archiver
Catfish — file search with indexing capability
gParted — hard drive partitioner with graphical user interface
LibreCAD
That’s just what I have as my task bar program shortcuts. Any other utility you could think of is available.
Back in my windows days, I used malwarebytes and superantispyware but I’ve never run them on win10. Both are free and also have very affordable paid versions for “live protection”. Both are highly recommended by programmer/techie types and both have support sites with people that will help you debug your system.
I only use LiberCAD for opening files that I create on TurboCAD which is about the only time I go to windows.
Linux flavors/variants are numerous and range from small versions that will run on old low power systems to full blown versions and of course terminal/text only versions like ubuntu server which serves up the majority of all websites.
What he said...