And yes, Linux Mint is awesome. Be careful with partitions if you are doing dual boot (choose to boot up either Windows or Mint at the time you start your computer) or else you could lose all the data on your Windows partition.
What exactly do you do with your PC? Work, personal; what? Mirosoft office / internet?
Can you give more info & detail, pretty please?
I'm so completely, totally & utterly sick of Mirosoft & all the crap that comes along with it, I'm seriously considering switching to Linux...and I'm the last person on the planet who ever would have said that....!!!!!
Liight office work (LibreOffice is more than adequate for that), browsing, gaming (It‘s amazing, 95% of my steam library just works, and Java Minecraft with mods is a breeze with an App called „prism launcher“), watching movies, storing photographs), ripping dvds, doing my taxes, light video editing, eMail… actually, I do almost everything on Linux - except VR.
I dual boot for the time being, as I also like to play some VR now and then (Quest 3 cableless via Wifi-Streaming), and although there is a streaming app for linux that works (ALVR), it‘s still flakey and not (yet) viable compared to windows.
If not for VR gaming, I‘d delete the Win 10 install (it‘s on a second SSD).
Linux Mint is probably your best choice for the Windows like experience. I don’t necessarily like it but it has the “feel” of Windows.
You’ll need a program called Balena Etcher to write a bootable usb, download the version of Linux you want by going directly to the site. Most casual users like Ubuntu, smaller percentage use versions like Mint.
Balena Etcher will do all the work of getting the usb ready. Then back up all of your important files.
You can dual boot but there are some issues with that.
For gamers, last I checked Nobara is still one of the better distros for plug and play though any game with an anticheat will likely screw you over unless they explicitly whitelist Linux. Another option is what it is built off of, Fedora or Bazzite. Bazzite seems to be more up and coming in this space, as it seems to do a better job handling what Fedora sets out to do (as it is also built on Fedora).
All of these work for workstation use, although the inclusion of gaming related software (Steam, Lutris, etc.) would just be bloat if that's your main use case.
I'm not personally team Balena Etcher though, I tend to prefer Ventoy since I keep OS backups for Windows, Linux (especially SteamOS) etc. on it and Ventoy is a simple drag and drop process, and lets you use the stick for things outside of being a bootable disk.
For Mint vs Ubuntu though, a lot of prevailing opinion seems to generally be that Mint is flat out better for most average users. It's been a minute since I looked in on those conversations, but a quick search seems to yield basically the same sentiments.
I don't think average users can go wrong with Mint.
I can say that Mint, from a zero experience Linux person was really easy to kick off and install on an older Thinkpad. All drivers were there for every day functionality. I was able to load and specialty driver for one of my printers as well. Overall, mint for a newbie installed and functioned with ease, highly recommend. I have been on windows since the 3.0 / 3.11 days.
Note- this experience is solely based on a stand alone PC, no 3rd party apps other than a zebra driver.
Yeah, Mint and Bazzite in particular sound like some of the better installation experiences I've seen from Linux.
I had a few problems from Nobara, and Wayland always gave me problems on desktop that I couldn't successfully rid myself of and at the time IIRC Wayland was the only thing that worked properly with GSync/FreeSync, or it was driver related issues with the RTX 4090 which is not uncommon with Linux.
Hilariously, I think Thinkpads are probably still one of the favorites for installing Linux on when it comes to workstation / every day use.
I'm riding my Windows 7 key out until Microsoft finally tries to make me pay directly for it, and then I'll probably end up jumping to Bazzite for my personal PC personally. Provided that everything functions properly which is a hit or miss on high end components.
Linux is probably one of my favorite OS platforms to look at, KDE Plasma and Gnome are both pretty damn neat with so many options.
Cinnamon (the most popular desktop environment for Mint, apparently) also looks close enough to Windows that I would be inclined to agree that transition should be pretty smooth in terms of visual familiarity.
Yes I may be nerding out right now about Linux and I definitely don't have 20 different tabs open catching up on things that have changed since I last used it.
I made my Cinnamon Desktop look like the Gnome desktop with a Dock.
Main Panel on top, made it smaller, put the clock in the middle, added an extra „power off“ applet in the top right corner and added a dock (Plank) on the lower edge, plus replaced the icons with a more appealing set - couldn‘t be happier.
Edit: I have to add, I started with Mint a month ago, then tried out CachyOS (Arch based) and Fedora KDE and Fedora Gnome, but nothing came close in stabilty and useability to Mint. If you don‘t have the newest hardware, Mint completely delivers. Might be a bit different with the latest GPU or other components, because most of the drivers are implemented in the Kernel of the distribution. And Mint is on a bit older Kernel, so not quite up to date with the latest and newest hardware.
As a rule of thumb, if your hardware is older than about 2 years, Mint should work just fine. If it‘s newer, a more up to date distro like Fedora (Nobara, Bazzite) or Arch (EndevourOS, CachyOS, Manjaro) might be better.
It's all I have ever used it seems like. Used dell for a bit and HP. My corp switched to HP, I stuck with my old thinkpad (X240) versus upgrading. It's so bad since I can only use a laptop with the pointer on the keyboard. When I had an HP for a bit, I bought and swapped out my keypad to one with a pointer built in. Old habits are hard to break. They're tanks. Back to Mint, it's one and done on my thinkpads. I will never go back to windows. I also need to get a deeper understanding of Linux as well. Implementing a NAS at home and most seem to be some flavor of Linux.
My friend installed Ubuntu on his Mac and thought it was alright, but then he tried Mint and liked it better. Mint is based on Ubuntu, but goes an extra step to win over converts.
I just have to add, almost any linux distro is good for gaming. I‘m gaming on Mint, with an nVidia GPU, and thanks to the in-built driver manager of Linux Mint, setting up the GPU was a breeze.
For windows games, just install Steam from the Repository, or Heroic for Epic and GoG games, and lutris for the rest.
And you can also run most (not all unfortunately) windows programs with WINE, a compatibilty layer that „translates“ between Linux and the programs. There‘s an application called „Bottles“ which makes setting up WINE pretty easy.
Yeah, you can make it work but if your express purpose is gaming, the distros I listed are more focused and also come bundled with necessary drivers and other software like Gamescope (Valve's micro compositor) and also makes it a breeze to update everything required.
Gaming on Linux is also better in 99% of instances if you have it working properly.
Linux is nowhere near as bloated as Windows, so that frame pacing yum.
Yes, I was tempted to go for a custom gaming distro, but with Mint, everything just worked. Network printer? There it is. (formerly) NTFS formatted drives? Non problem (had some trouble with that on the gaming-centric CachyOS distro). Gaming correctly chosing on which display to show? Works. And a few little things more.
Seriousl, installing the latest nVidia driver from the driver manager app, installing steam and setting „compatibilty mode“ to „all games“ isn‘t really difficult or bothersome, and Mint is rock-solid, stable and just works.
And it‘s true that games sometimes run better. Red Dead Redemption 2 runs better in Linux than in my windows install.
All I‘m saying is, don‘t sleep on Mint for gaming. If you don‘t have the latest and newest hardware, Mint just works for many people, and is really easy to understand and use. Heck, you don‘t even have to use the terminal, and the options are all there in the GUI, sensibly arranged in the menus etc. .
Mint is a beginner friendly distro, which isn‘t to be confused with beginner-distro.
As a previous SLES and Mint user I have been championing the HOLO iso steam OS for gaming PCs. It's an arch linux distro that steam uses for their steam deck and runs amazingly on PC hardware. It has a familiar windows feel to the desktop, full nvidia support built in and it's extremely easy to install from a thumb drive. I cannot recommend this enough.
HoloISO is also an immutable OS, which does make it easier for the end user to ensure that updating the OS retains its functionality. Although some people prefer not to go down that route, it's probably one of the best things for newbies.
Mint Ubuntu Etcher Ventoy Bezzite Fedora Nobara....Call me cynical, but I'm thinking yah really are going to lose most the public that has a hard time understanding the difference between USB-A and USB-C. Although it does sound like a good time to rework my network & passwords right now for some reason, no matter how bad I cringe at the thought.
XFCE (Mate's window manager) is nice if one wants to dig in and customize. I use it on my Debian 12 install (13" Macbook Pro from 2010). I only mention it because that's another beauty of Linux- the freedom to do what you want to your OS. I built mine from a basic install, piece by piece, and it's blazingly fast on that old machine. Definitely not something new Linux users will do (and vanilla Debian is probably not the best distro to start with for them), but just an example of what they could eventually do.
That's true about XFCE on Debian, however Mate on Ubuntu isn't something you have to fiddle with. I used to run Debian with the Mate desktop, but I kept having issues with USB devices not working unless I updated permissions and decided to switch to Ubuntu.
It's the same with secondary hard drives as well, with Debian, as I found out. Not for those new to Linux, as I stated, but I just wanted to mention the possibilities for those who like to get their hands dirty. I always suggest Manjaro, Mint, or Ubuntu to those who want to try Linux out, and suggest that they stick to vanilla installs.
I use POP_OS! -- yes, weird name, but a really nice Linux distribution. And for all of us out there that are tech support for their family: I switched my Mom from Windows to Linux with almost zero learning issues, because the POP_OS! experience is very user friendly.
Use some search-fu for clear directions - it's not as hard as you think to switch out your machine. (Example article)
I did, about twelve years ago. Been using Ubuntu, and perfectly satisified with it. And there's enough open-source software out there that I haven't had to pay for Office, PhotoShop, et al. since then. In fact, I am typing this post on my Ubuntu laptop right now.
As a caveat, I do have to say that it may not be for the utterly computer-ignorant. Getting things configured or recovering from a damaged update may prove baffling and frustrating for those who consider CTRL/ALT/DEL a complex operation.
My only excuse for holding off on Linux over the years has been my Steam library of games on my PC. Now that VALVe have brute forced Linux compatibility for the vast majority of my library, I really have no excuse.
This was my issue, until I found HOLO iso steam OS (arch linux) which is what the steam deck is run on. It is amazing on any modern gaming rig. I was anchored to windows 7 for my steam library until I installed this. If you are a heavy steam user like I am, I cannot recommend this distro enough.
I have quite a steam library myself. Look up games on the Proton Database to check compatibility. Most games I've wanted work. I took a chance and bought a game recently that has no ratings yet on Proton and it worked, so I'll add my review to it soon.
I generally play 2D games, but my daughter enjoys 3D games as well.
For those considering switching, but don't want to outright nuke their Windows installation, there are a couple of options to try it out while keeping Windows around which isn't a bad idea when your learning.
Install VirtualBox which is free software that can create virtual machines which you can run Linux in. There are loads of videos on Youtube showing how to set it up and install Linux. This is a great option to play around with Linux and get comfortable with it. Don't expect to run your games in a virtual machine though.. it can be done if you have two graphics cards, but it's complex to setup.
Another option is to look into dual-booting windows and Linux. If you have lots of disk space, you can resize the windows partition using the disk management utility and install Linux into the freed up space. When you start your computer, you will get a boot menu from which you can choose windows or Linux. Again, as much as Youtube sucks, there are loads of video tutorials which will show you how to do this step by step.
It’s not Microsoft updates, not that I’m defending them.
Crowdstrike is a cybersecurity company. They pushed an update to their software that impacted their costumers. If you don’t use crowdstrike you are unaffected.
I remember I downloaded a pack of maps and one of them was a re-creation of the old windows 95/98 Maze screensaver. it was a tiny map so it was chaos but those were the fun days. Now kids spend 20 dollars to play Call of Duty as nicki minaj or a fuckin' mouse.
Yeah you are not likely running CrowdStrike at home. Way too costly for anyone other than businesses. Stopping Windows updates won't help home users, and business users likely can't stop updates anyway since IT controls your group policies.
Disable the Windows Update service
One way to disable Windows updates is by stopping the Windows Update service. Here’s how you can do it:
Press the Windows key + R on your keyboard to open the Run dialog box.
Type “services.msc” and press Enter to open the Services window.
Scroll down and locate the “Windows Update” service.
Right-click on the service and select “Properties.”
In the Properties window, change the “Startup type” to “Disabled.”
Click on “Apply” and then “OK” to save the changes.
By disabling the Windows Update service, you prevent Windows from automatically checking for and installing updates. However, remember that this method only disables the service temporarily and will not prevent updates from being installed when the service is enabled again.
Thanks! I started my computer today and the first thing was a MS message telling me my computer hasn't been totally set up yet (I've had it since 2016) and asking if I want to complete it, I clicked the "later" option, then came here to find your post! Done!
I’ve only tread the subject headline but I would only imagine this only applies to windows pc that has crowdstrike installed. Which are typically corp envs that use it fo> r tracking their employees keystrokes or “cyber security”
I don't think this will affect the average home user. It's an issue with security software used by big corporations.
The big issue with this, is that it is causing a 'blue screen of death'. Many systems are configured to automatically reboot when a BSOD happens, so they just end up in a loop. Either way, they can't be reached over the network to be fixed en mass. Someone is going to have to visit each physical machine to reboot into recovery mode to delete the necessary files. Slow going for sure.
Ok, it got tested, never caused a BSoD in testing environment, was then globally (no, not in waves, but all at once) rolled out and took down how many devices? Thousands? A hundred thousands? Millions? Sure.
I have been in software development for 25 years... most of that time I used linux as a desktop - mostly Fedora to be on the same distro flavor as most enterprise companies, RHEL. I've always had a windows PC for gaming, but for work I "upgraded" to MacOS a good 8 years ago. As a developer working with mostly GoLang, Ruby and (blech)Python and PHP this has worked out better than ANY linux out there. No more recompiling the kernel just because of an NVidia update and the countless other PITA things that comes along with a linux desktop. MacOS on a Macbook Pro is the way to go - dog on Apple all you want, but they make the best hardware and software out there. NCSWIC!
Glad I've been dual booting Zorin lately. I know there are tons of Linux distros, but forcing myself to learn a new OS has been beneficial as M$ keeps shitting the bed.
Mine is fine, probably because the laptop was sitting in my backpack turned off overnight. It dodged a ransomware attack that way years ago, only those who left their laptops turned on overnight were affected.
How about phones. I have android and can't stand updates. They always screw something up. Yet I can only delay so many times before it is forced. Can I turn that off?
If you have an unlocked bootloader you can flash a custom ROM like LineageOS. Depends on your exact phone model. You can buy a new phone unlocked instead of leasing it from a provider, then you actually own the device and can do whatever you want with it.
SWITCH TO LINUX!
Just did about a month ago. Feels good man.
Congrats
Videos about Linux Mint by STL
SwitchedToLinux: Will WINDOWS Next Stunt FINALLY Get Your Attention? Screenshots every 3 minutes, for 3 months!
SwitchedToLinux: Mozilla Dabbles with Ad Networks
I recommend this channel for all things privacy.
And yes, Linux Mint is awesome. Be careful with partitions if you are doing dual boot (choose to boot up either Windows or Mint at the time you start your computer) or else you could lose all the data on your Windows partition.
Always keep two backups of your data.
What exactly do you do with your PC? Work, personal; what? Mirosoft office / internet? Can you give more info & detail, pretty please?
I'm so completely, totally & utterly sick of Mirosoft & all the crap that comes along with it, I'm seriously considering switching to Linux...and I'm the last person on the planet who ever would have said that....!!!!!
Liight office work (LibreOffice is more than adequate for that), browsing, gaming (It‘s amazing, 95% of my steam library just works, and Java Minecraft with mods is a breeze with an App called „prism launcher“), watching movies, storing photographs), ripping dvds, doing my taxes, light video editing, eMail… actually, I do almost everything on Linux - except VR.
I dual boot for the time being, as I also like to play some VR now and then (Quest 3 cableless via Wifi-Streaming), and although there is a streaming app for linux that works (ALVR), it‘s still flakey and not (yet) viable compared to windows.
If not for VR gaming, I‘d delete the Win 10 install (it‘s on a second SSD).
How do you fo this?
I am not real computer savvy.
Linux Mint is probably your best choice for the Windows like experience. I don’t necessarily like it but it has the “feel” of Windows.
You’ll need a program called Balena Etcher to write a bootable usb, download the version of Linux you want by going directly to the site. Most casual users like Ubuntu, smaller percentage use versions like Mint.
Balena Etcher will do all the work of getting the usb ready. Then back up all of your important files.
You can dual boot but there are some issues with that.
Linux Mint is pretty mint for sure.
For gamers, last I checked Nobara is still one of the better distros for plug and play though any game with an anticheat will likely screw you over unless they explicitly whitelist Linux. Another option is what it is built off of, Fedora or Bazzite. Bazzite seems to be more up and coming in this space, as it seems to do a better job handling what Fedora sets out to do (as it is also built on Fedora).
All of these work for workstation use, although the inclusion of gaming related software (Steam, Lutris, etc.) would just be bloat if that's your main use case.
I'm not personally team Balena Etcher though, I tend to prefer Ventoy since I keep OS backups for Windows, Linux (especially SteamOS) etc. on it and Ventoy is a simple drag and drop process, and lets you use the stick for things outside of being a bootable disk.
For Mint vs Ubuntu though, a lot of prevailing opinion seems to generally be that Mint is flat out better for most average users. It's been a minute since I looked in on those conversations, but a quick search seems to yield basically the same sentiments.
I don't think average users can go wrong with Mint.
I can say that Mint, from a zero experience Linux person was really easy to kick off and install on an older Thinkpad. All drivers were there for every day functionality. I was able to load and specialty driver for one of my printers as well. Overall, mint for a newbie installed and functioned with ease, highly recommend. I have been on windows since the 3.0 / 3.11 days.
Note- this experience is solely based on a stand alone PC, no 3rd party apps other than a zebra driver.
Yeah, Mint and Bazzite in particular sound like some of the better installation experiences I've seen from Linux.
I had a few problems from Nobara, and Wayland always gave me problems on desktop that I couldn't successfully rid myself of and at the time IIRC Wayland was the only thing that worked properly with GSync/FreeSync, or it was driver related issues with the RTX 4090 which is not uncommon with Linux.
Hilariously, I think Thinkpads are probably still one of the favorites for installing Linux on when it comes to workstation / every day use.
I'm riding my Windows 7 key out until Microsoft finally tries to make me pay directly for it, and then I'll probably end up jumping to Bazzite for my personal PC personally. Provided that everything functions properly which is a hit or miss on high end components.
Linux is probably one of my favorite OS platforms to look at, KDE Plasma and Gnome are both pretty damn neat with so many options.
Cinnamon (the most popular desktop environment for Mint, apparently) also looks close enough to Windows that I would be inclined to agree that transition should be pretty smooth in terms of visual familiarity.
Yes I may be nerding out right now about Linux and I definitely don't have 20 different tabs open catching up on things that have changed since I last used it.
I made my Cinnamon Desktop look like the Gnome desktop with a Dock.
Main Panel on top, made it smaller, put the clock in the middle, added an extra „power off“ applet in the top right corner and added a dock (Plank) on the lower edge, plus replaced the icons with a more appealing set - couldn‘t be happier.
Edit: I have to add, I started with Mint a month ago, then tried out CachyOS (Arch based) and Fedora KDE and Fedora Gnome, but nothing came close in stabilty and useability to Mint. If you don‘t have the newest hardware, Mint completely delivers. Might be a bit different with the latest GPU or other components, because most of the drivers are implemented in the Kernel of the distribution. And Mint is on a bit older Kernel, so not quite up to date with the latest and newest hardware.
As a rule of thumb, if your hardware is older than about 2 years, Mint should work just fine. If it‘s newer, a more up to date distro like Fedora (Nobara, Bazzite) or Arch (EndevourOS, CachyOS, Manjaro) might be better.
And that's why Linux is ultimately the best, being able to personalize so many different ways.
Well, and the fact that you don't have to run a script to turn off most of the telemetry like you do with Windows.
It's all I have ever used it seems like. Used dell for a bit and HP. My corp switched to HP, I stuck with my old thinkpad (X240) versus upgrading. It's so bad since I can only use a laptop with the pointer on the keyboard. When I had an HP for a bit, I bought and swapped out my keypad to one with a pointer built in. Old habits are hard to break. They're tanks. Back to Mint, it's one and done on my thinkpads. I will never go back to windows. I also need to get a deeper understanding of Linux as well. Implementing a NAS at home and most seem to be some flavor of Linux.
My friend installed Ubuntu on his Mac and thought it was alright, but then he tried Mint and liked it better. Mint is based on Ubuntu, but goes an extra step to win over converts.
I just have to add, almost any linux distro is good for gaming. I‘m gaming on Mint, with an nVidia GPU, and thanks to the in-built driver manager of Linux Mint, setting up the GPU was a breeze.
For windows games, just install Steam from the Repository, or Heroic for Epic and GoG games, and lutris for the rest.
And you can also run most (not all unfortunately) windows programs with WINE, a compatibilty layer that „translates“ between Linux and the programs. There‘s an application called „Bottles“ which makes setting up WINE pretty easy.
Yeah, you can make it work but if your express purpose is gaming, the distros I listed are more focused and also come bundled with necessary drivers and other software like Gamescope (Valve's micro compositor) and also makes it a breeze to update everything required.
Gaming on Linux is also better in 99% of instances if you have it working properly.
Linux is nowhere near as bloated as Windows, so that frame pacing yum.
Yes, I was tempted to go for a custom gaming distro, but with Mint, everything just worked. Network printer? There it is. (formerly) NTFS formatted drives? Non problem (had some trouble with that on the gaming-centric CachyOS distro). Gaming correctly chosing on which display to show? Works. And a few little things more.
Seriousl, installing the latest nVidia driver from the driver manager app, installing steam and setting „compatibilty mode“ to „all games“ isn‘t really difficult or bothersome, and Mint is rock-solid, stable and just works.
And it‘s true that games sometimes run better. Red Dead Redemption 2 runs better in Linux than in my windows install.
All I‘m saying is, don‘t sleep on Mint for gaming. If you don‘t have the latest and newest hardware, Mint just works for many people, and is really easy to understand and use. Heck, you don‘t even have to use the terminal, and the options are all there in the GUI, sensibly arranged in the menus etc. .
Mint is a beginner friendly distro, which isn‘t to be confused with beginner-distro.
As a previous SLES and Mint user I have been championing the HOLO iso steam OS for gaming PCs. It's an arch linux distro that steam uses for their steam deck and runs amazingly on PC hardware. It has a familiar windows feel to the desktop, full nvidia support built in and it's extremely easy to install from a thumb drive. I cannot recommend this enough.
HoloISO is also an immutable OS, which does make it easier for the end user to ensure that updating the OS retains its functionality. Although some people prefer not to go down that route, it's probably one of the best things for newbies.
I forgot to include HoloISO for sure!
Mint Ubuntu Etcher Ventoy Bezzite Fedora Nobara....Call me cynical, but I'm thinking yah really are going to lose most the public that has a hard time understanding the difference between USB-A and USB-C. Although it does sound like a good time to rework my network & passwords right now for some reason, no matter how bad I cringe at the thought.
Some people like to go deeper into it or have a more focused use case 😂
It's never a bad time to verify your security though!
Thank you.
This is way over my pay grade.
I am friends with our IT guy at work. I asked him to navigate through this with me.
I use Ubuntu with the Mate desktop. Mate is more of an "old school" desktop. https://ubuntu-mate.org
XFCE (Mate's window manager) is nice if one wants to dig in and customize. I use it on my Debian 12 install (13" Macbook Pro from 2010). I only mention it because that's another beauty of Linux- the freedom to do what you want to your OS. I built mine from a basic install, piece by piece, and it's blazingly fast on that old machine. Definitely not something new Linux users will do (and vanilla Debian is probably not the best distro to start with for them), but just an example of what they could eventually do.
That's true about XFCE on Debian, however Mate on Ubuntu isn't something you have to fiddle with. I used to run Debian with the Mate desktop, but I kept having issues with USB devices not working unless I updated permissions and decided to switch to Ubuntu.
It's the same with secondary hard drives as well, with Debian, as I found out. Not for those new to Linux, as I stated, but I just wanted to mention the possibilities for those who like to get their hands dirty. I always suggest Manjaro, Mint, or Ubuntu to those who want to try Linux out, and suggest that they stick to vanilla installs.
Thank you.
I am learning so much.
https://linuxmint-installation-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
One way to do it.
Thank you.
linux is a great way to learn more about how computers work too. you will eventually get comfortable using the terminal and never want to go back
Thank you.
I am friends with our work IT guy.
I asked him to help me navigate through this.
I use POP_OS! -- yes, weird name, but a really nice Linux distribution. And for all of us out there that are tech support for their family: I switched my Mom from Windows to Linux with almost zero learning issues, because the POP_OS! experience is very user friendly.
Use some search-fu for clear directions - it's not as hard as you think to switch out your machine. (Example article)
Thank you.
I didn't know this.
"SWITCH TO LINUX!"
I did, about twelve years ago. Been using Ubuntu, and perfectly satisified with it. And there's enough open-source software out there that I haven't had to pay for Office, PhotoShop, et al. since then. In fact, I am typing this post on my Ubuntu laptop right now.
As a caveat, I do have to say that it may not be for the utterly computer-ignorant. Getting things configured or recovering from a damaged update may prove baffling and frustrating for those who consider CTRL/ALT/DEL a complex operation.
My only excuse for holding off on Linux over the years has been my Steam library of games on my PC. Now that VALVe have brute forced Linux compatibility for the vast majority of my library, I really have no excuse.
This was my issue, until I found HOLO iso steam OS (arch linux) which is what the steam deck is run on. It is amazing on any modern gaming rig. I was anchored to windows 7 for my steam library until I installed this. If you are a heavy steam user like I am, I cannot recommend this distro enough.
I have quite a steam library myself. Look up games on the Proton Database to check compatibility. Most games I've wanted work. I took a chance and bought a game recently that has no ratings yet on Proton and it worked, so I'll add my review to it soon.
I generally play 2D games, but my daughter enjoys 3D games as well.
For those considering switching, but don't want to outright nuke their Windows installation, there are a couple of options to try it out while keeping Windows around which isn't a bad idea when your learning.
Install VirtualBox which is free software that can create virtual machines which you can run Linux in. There are loads of videos on Youtube showing how to set it up and install Linux. This is a great option to play around with Linux and get comfortable with it. Don't expect to run your games in a virtual machine though.. it can be done if you have two graphics cards, but it's complex to setup.
Another option is to look into dual-booting windows and Linux. If you have lots of disk space, you can resize the windows partition using the disk management utility and install Linux into the freed up space. When you start your computer, you will get a boot menu from which you can choose windows or Linux. Again, as much as Youtube sucks, there are loads of video tutorials which will show you how to do this step by step.
It’s not Microsoft updates, not that I’m defending them.
Crowdstrike is a cybersecurity company. They pushed an update to their software that impacted their costumers. If you don’t use crowdstrike you are unaffected.
Looks like some did not get the joke, I'm sorry they are faggots.
Qeq
Map vote: Fy_pool_day
I remember I downloaded a pack of maps and one of them was a re-creation of the old windows 95/98 Maze screensaver. it was a tiny map so it was chaos but those were the fun days. Now kids spend 20 dollars to play Call of Duty as nicki minaj or a fuckin' mouse.
Can confirm our company uses it and my laptop it toast......my home pc running 10 is fine...
I saw this on teh goog looking into this issue to see if it affects any of the dozens of pc I look after:
https://www.windowslatest.com/2024/07/19/windows-10-crashes-with-bsod-stuck-at-recovery-due-to-crowdstrike-update/
has some methods to fix it
Yeah you are not likely running CrowdStrike at home. Way too costly for anyone other than businesses. Stopping Windows updates won't help home users, and business users likely can't stop updates anyway since IT controls your group policies.
Russian airline workers are trolling super hard right now. They use Linux at their terminals.
Disable the Windows Update service One way to disable Windows updates is by stopping the Windows Update service. Here’s how you can do it:
Press the Windows key + R on your keyboard to open the Run dialog box. Type “services.msc” and press Enter to open the Services window. Scroll down and locate the “Windows Update” service. Right-click on the service and select “Properties.” In the Properties window, change the “Startup type” to “Disabled.” Click on “Apply” and then “OK” to save the changes. By disabling the Windows Update service, you prevent Windows from automatically checking for and installing updates. However, remember that this method only disables the service temporarily and will not prevent updates from being installed when the service is enabled again.
Thanks! I started my computer today and the first thing was a MS message telling me my computer hasn't been totally set up yet (I've had it since 2016) and asking if I want to complete it, I clicked the "later" option, then came here to find your post! Done!
Mine has randomly done that to me for years now, I just click later every time.
Yup, Mine do it randomly and i'm always like "if there isnt anything set up by now its not something I want set up"
I’ve only tread the subject headline but I would only imagine this only applies to windows pc that has crowdstrike installed. Which are typically corp envs that use it fo> r tracking their employees keystrokes or “cyber security”
I don't think this will affect the average home user. It's an issue with security software used by big corporations.
The big issue with this, is that it is causing a 'blue screen of death'. Many systems are configured to automatically reboot when a BSOD happens, so they just end up in a loop. Either way, they can't be reached over the network to be fixed en mass. Someone is going to have to visit each physical machine to reboot into recovery mode to delete the necessary files. Slow going for sure.
Maybe this punch in the face for IT admins will encourage a more decentralized, resilient approach going forward? Nah. Who am I kidding...
If only the IT Admins truly got a say and the Crowdstrike was not thrust upon them by executives who probably got a kickback.
Also BSOD doesn't always mean your shit is bricked.
There's no way this was a "mistake". Patches get tested before rollout, they had to figure out the issue beforehand. This has been done on purpose.
This is so so silly.
Just come on, everyone who pushes software has had a push that was tested and then screwed up big time once it hit the real production environment
Ok, it got tested, never caused a BSoD in testing environment, was then globally (no, not in waves, but all at once) rolled out and took down how many devices? Thousands? A hundred thousands? Millions? Sure.
My buddy works for Microsoft, said it was just 'bad code' OOPSIE. I'm like welcome to the Psyop breh.
We will make LINUX great again!
The year of the Linux desktop! 😝
A week to remember?
fromhttps://www.rt.com/news/601303-major-global-it-outage/
I have been in software development for 25 years... most of that time I used linux as a desktop - mostly Fedora to be on the same distro flavor as most enterprise companies, RHEL. I've always had a windows PC for gaming, but for work I "upgraded" to MacOS a good 8 years ago. As a developer working with mostly GoLang, Ruby and (blech)Python and PHP this has worked out better than ANY linux out there. No more recompiling the kernel just because of an NVidia update and the countless other PITA things that comes along with a linux desktop. MacOS on a Macbook Pro is the way to go - dog on Apple all you want, but they make the best hardware and software out there. NCSWIC!
Thanks for the tip; I just disabled it for now.
Glad I've been dual booting Zorin lately. I know there are tons of Linux distros, but forcing myself to learn a new OS has been beneficial as M$ keeps shitting the bed.
Luckily, one month ago, I switched my main Rig, my wifes laptop and just now the HTPC to Linux Mint.
No turning back to Windows spyware.
currently at work and only 4 pcs are running. Mine is one of them because i have auto updates off.
Mine is fine, probably because the laptop was sitting in my backpack turned off overnight. It dodged a ransomware attack that way years ago, only those who left their laptops turned on overnight were affected.
Mine can't update because it constantly tells me I don't have enough space even though I hardly have anything on my computer.
one of the few times im thankful i am using Windows 11? lol
How about phones. I have android and can't stand updates. They always screw something up. Yet I can only delay so many times before it is forced. Can I turn that off?
mine can't update because there's not space left lol
If you have an unlocked bootloader you can flash a custom ROM like LineageOS. Depends on your exact phone model. You can buy a new phone unlocked instead of leasing it from a provider, then you actually own the device and can do whatever you want with it.
I wish I could turn it off, I've been delaying it on my phone daily for over a year. Mine never forced it, just nags.
Mine is nagging me right now. I started just hitting the back button and it goes away
Thank you for the heads up!
Roger Roger!
I just downloaded Linux Mint and I ordered another computer to put it on, I'll need to practice on it before I switch my other machines.
I just updated....nothing happened. DANG IT! I wanted a new pc.
This happened to me. had to get new laptop
Crowdstrike are saying they've released a fix.
You can also pause updates for 7 days until more is known.
Got rid of windows years ago. Bad code on top of bad code. Linux is the way.
People have Microsoft?
Whats a microsoft?
You see, when you go waist deep into a cold body of water.... ehh nvm.
😂😂😂
Why are you taking technology advice from Russia Today?