New Windows Operating System

Had to buy a new laptop. Not real happy with 11. Can't add my drivers without leaving "s" mode. Have to sign up for Microsoft bla bla bla to leave "s" mode. Talk about hijack.

Now my old laptop is locked up too. Needs to subscribe to ms.

I hate windblowd. I used to know Xtra Putrid pretty fair, and barely got to know sleven. But when H ate, teHEN and whatever is now came along, I pretty much quit

I have used Linux for everything I can now since XP went obsolete. I use mostly Mint and sometimes Ubuntu, and almost exclusively "Mate" desktop.

Also, littlebill has made it incredibly difficult with probably 8, and certainly 10/11, to dual boot them with Linux. This was fairly easy with 7

I've had Chromebooks for a few years now and love them. That's all I can add.

67Dart273 said:

I hate windblowd. I used to know Xtra Putrid pretty fair, and barely got to know sleven. But when H ate, teHEN and whatever is now came along, I pretty much quit

I have used Linux for everything I can now since XP went obsolete. I use mostly Mint and sometimes Ubuntu, and almost exclusively "Mate" desktop.

Also, littlebill has made it incredibly difficult with probably 8, and certainly 10/11, to dual boot them with Linux. This was fairly easy with 7

Click to expand...

We haven't gone Linux at home yet, but our current "online" computer is getting somewhat long in the tooth, and will need replacing soon. I'm NOT going Windoze again, and I'm not an Apple fanboy, so I've been considering Linux, but other than the name, and the fact that it's Open Source, I know little to nothing about it.

Any words of advice for someone like me/us?

Unfortunately, the S-mode is often installed on the basement bargain models. As stated, you can freely update to regular Windows. Take it back and get a better one. Tell them the salesperson didn't tell you about it. Better yet, make them upgrade it for you

ProjectBazza said:

We haven't gone Linux at home yet, but our current "online" computer is getting somewhat long in the tooth, and will need replacing soon. I'm NOT going Windoze again, and I'm not an Apple fanboy, so I've been considering Linux, but other than the name, and the fact that it's Open Source, I know little to nothing about it.

Any words of advice for someone like me/us?

Click to expand...

Linux can be an effort. In my opinion, there are too many people stirring the pot. They call it "flavors." I cannot even NAME all the variations that pop up. But Ubuntu is very popular, and Mint is a related spin off from Ubuntu. Sometimes I like one, sometimes the other. It depends on that version what is included, and sometimes probably does not matter. Within Ubuntu/ Mint, there are different desktop styles. I use Mint because it seems to mimick the older windows 98/XP/ simplified 7 layout.

DOWNSIDES. Sometimes you have to play to get software installed. You have to learn to search online sometimes for hints and such. But I am no computer expert, and I make it work.

Sometimes software is a bit frustrating, because of some of the names, which mean nothing. A popular (and it's cross platform) photo editor is "GIMP" which makes no real sense unless you know what it stands for. Stuff like that.

But I use it and generally like it. If crashes very seldom. It's easy to shut off updates so that YOU can control them.
I use mostly Firefox browser, and in my particular case I don't use ANY email software. I use the web based version of Roadrunner.com and Yahoo.com for both my emails. I used to also use gmail and abandoned it, pretty much.

I used to set up dual boot a lot with XP or Windows sleven, but 8/10/11 have made that more complicated.

Another thing I do whether windblows or Linux, is I have a SEPARATE physical hard drive with NO OS that I use to store EVERYTHING. Only the OS and immediate operating files and imediately accessed files that I have not had time to move, are on the "OS" drive. That way, if I have a problem, or want to upgrade, I can pull the storage drive out and go screw with the "OS" drive until I get it happy

You can create bootable, runnable, "live" USB sticks so you can try out and install Linux. If you are serious about learning, it is VERY helpful to have 1 or even 2 old computers/ laptops so you can no1 screw around and try stuff, and no2, have a platform with Linux that you can create these USB sticks or DVDs. You can do the same in windows but there is more nonsense involved. IF YOU HAVE either a working Linux laptop or at least a working bootable USB stick, then while running that, you can easily "burn" an ISO you have downloaded to another USB stick to try out some version of Linux.

So understand, you can actually boot up AND RUN these from the USB / DVD just like they are installed, to see how they look and operate. They ARE slower than a hd, and you can not easily store files withing the trial system. They are called "not persistent." But this will give you a feel for what you want to try, without actually installing them.

Thanks for all of the information folks. It definitely is a basement machine.
The set up really freaked me out. Google knows too much. I'm not returning it without formatting the drive.That will void something. Lesson learned.

I am going to go all Apple since already have an iPhone and an iPad. Tired of Microsoft. This way I will only have to sell my soul to one evil empire…..

My youngest daughter gave me a MacBook Pro 8 years ago it is a 2010 model it has all its updates and it still boots faster than the Mrs brand new windows machine which peeves her off big time but I do not like how much the apple stuff does cost initially, both my daughter and her partner both work in IT, where I used to build my own machines up to win 7 I despise that windows now wants to know everything

I have never had a Microsoft or google account. We use office clones on on our windows machines now so we don’t have to create a Microsoft account. It works as good as office and is free.