I've been messing around on PC since the Counterstrike days in highschool. For gaming i never owned a console, was always into custom PC. I always enjoy learning new things regarding research, new hardware.
On GAW I have learned how to archive, meme, scrutinize more strictly and find better primary sources among many other things. I would like to learn more from my brethren here.
I will share a few. Keyboard shortcut basics:
https://prabidhi.info/en/keyboard-computer-shortcut-keys/
Clear cache/cookies manually:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/search?query=clear%20cache
We are all thirsty for knowledge!
I have an IT background, so what I do may not be for everyone. I've been a Windows user since it came out. I just lived with the spying. I've used Linux at work, but never thought of using it as my primary OS.
When all the censoring went into full gear after 2020 and we Trump supporters were forced to use alternative social media, I found a Telegram group focusing on using Linux for privacy: https://t.me/jptchat. I made a comprehensive list of all the applications I use and whether or not they either exist on Linux or there are Linux-based alternatives. IE, Libre Office instead of Microsoft Office. What I found was that out of all the applications I routinely use, only one, Quicken, doesn't have a Linux alternative. And most importantly, I found that a vast majority of stuff I do on my computer is done thru web browsers, which of course can run on any OS.
I recently built myself a new PC and am running the Unraid operating system. This is a Linux-based OS that supports both virtual machines (VMs) and Docker containers. I built a Windows VM and run Quicken in that. Everything else I've moved to either Docker containers or Linux VMs. It took me a while to get used to it, but I would never go back to using solely Windows now.
I do not play PC games, so that is not a factor for me. I chose Unraid because this computer will also serve as our household network attached storage (NAS) device to backup everybody's laptops, etc. They will continue using Windows for now, but hopefully I'll convince them to change in the future.
If you're like most people and just use computers for web browsing and email, Linux will serve you just fine. If you're a power user, then do what I did and catalog the applications you use and make sure Linux alternatives exist. I would not even consider an Apple, they're worse than Microsoft for spying IME.
Very helpful, cheers