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“At my age I don’t have hundreds of hours to spare. I would just like to have system that I can turn on without the endless MS and OIS up dates and other BS.”

Well you are in luck. If you have ever used Windows 7 that is what most Linux flavors are like now. I use Linux Mint “Cinnamon”. It is almost a clone of using Win 7. And the menus, functions like drag and drop, etc. are all the same and do the same things. The new versions do not require knowing how to use commands in the terminal. They are almost just like Windows.

You would be able to fly on it right away because it is already familiar if you know Win 7 or Win XP. And they come with Super help instructions. But the cherry on top is the OS and machine will BELONG TO YOU. All that MS proprietary control and carp shoved at you is gone. The closest it get is Linux will “Suggest” updates. But you can pick through the list and only install what you want. Nothing is automatic, you have to approve updates. And you can even turn off updates altogether if you like.

But of course security updates are important to allow but it is always up to you. Here is the best part... Because it is open source, there is a whole world out there who can read the code and almost immediately find viruses and bugs because it is transparent, there is nothing hidden like MS. So it has all been picked over very well before you download it and is safe. If you can’t do it yourself you should commandeer someone who can and just make a Linux Mint Cinnamon USB stick.

You can run it externally and never have it touch or change anything in your computer. You can run it harmlessly straight from the stick itself as an isolated system. I think you will be pleasantly surprised what it really is and how it works... I was... I can PM you the detailed step by step instructions how to do this if you ever decide to. I have helped about 50 folks here get Linux up and running. :)