Friday, 27 July 2012

My switch from MS Windows to Linux

Firstly, I'll say this: I love technology, mostly. The issues and foibles are annoying but it is satisfying to fix, customise or improve something.

This blog is not really directed at anyone in particular, except perhaps those seeking answers to PC related problems. I'll be posting my solutions to problems as I find them, so I have a place I can find my solutions later. If they help you, that's great. If they don't sorry, so keep 'googling'. If you have a constructive comment, I'd love to hear it. If you are a 'hater', you are not welcome here and you will be blocked.


I have several children and as such I have many PCs. I always build my PCs as I get what I want for a fraction of the price of a 'brand name' PC. Of course, having many PCs with several kids as users, I get many problems I must fix, ugh..
Recently 3 of these PCs would make themselves unusable on an almost daily basis. I think the culprit was a 64 bit Windows 7 update, as my 32 bit Windows 7 still runs fine.

Anyway, I got incredibly sick of a daily PC fix using System Restore (if it worked) or having to do a complete reinstall. Therefore I thought I would go back and try Linux as it's free, much more resistant to viruses, reliable and very secure.

I hadn't really used Linux much for many years but I had started with it back around 1993. Back then, getting your mouse to work was something to brag about! Since then each time I tried Linux, it was better in user-friendliness.

I would not recommend Linux to newbies (new computers users) as I don't want to have train people.

Having heard of many people's dislike of the new Unity interface in Ubuntu Linux, I went with Linux Mint. I have to say I am loving how far Linux has come in only a few years. Here are some of my reasons:
  • It boots VERY fast (in seconds, not minutes),
  • It auto-detects and uses new hardware quickly, if not instantly,
  • It's reliable (not one system crash yet),
  • Most software is free and is easy to get.
  • A usable and compatible Office is included,
So I finish off here and start adding 'tips and tricks' that may help other's trying to go down the Linux path.

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