First, sorry for the long post and billion questions (and hopefully it’s ok in this community? I saw a couple multiple-question posts without one in the title but I might have misunderstood the rule)

So, my PC is running W10 with ESU, and I’m very paranoid about… most things really, but the relevant one here is malware. I don’t just randomly download stuff from the internet, but I know you can get malware even without consciously doing that, and even though I have an AV (Bitdefender Free) I’m hesitant to just stay on W10 after the free ESU ends. But there’s no way in hell I’m switching to 11.

So, besides staying on regular W10, my main options would be Linux or W10 LTSC. And I have various questions regarding these three choices.

I consider myself relatively tech savvy compared to the average person, but definitely ignorant on the matter compared to the average Lemmy user. So it’s not exactly an ELI5, but definitely an ELI15 or something.

I also have access to a different, W11 PC that I could use as “testing environment”.

Option 1: Switching to Linux

Even regardless of security updates, Microsoft is getting on my nerves and I’ve been telling myself I need to switch to Linux or at least dual-boot for a while, but there’s various things making me question it:

(For most purposes, “Linux” here refers to Mint since that’s usually the one I see recommended for beginners, but if other distros work better for certain aspects I’d appreciate to know)

1a - Is there no file system that works perfectly on both Linux and Windows? I could technically dual-boot using two different drives, but what if I need to access/move files between two drives with different file systems? Which issues would I face if, say, one is NTFS and the other is ext4? I think all of my drives are currently in NTFS, would I have to reformat everything to safely access them from Linux without worrying about data/metadata loss?

1b - I read that to open an .exe on Linux I would have to do it through WINE, and that there’s a database to check compatibility of individual programs with it, but are the worst compatibility issues just “the program doesn’t open”, or can a compatibility issue result in data loss/corruption too?

1c - I’m currently using Firefox on Windows, is it possible to copy all my settings and data (browsing history included) from the Windows version to the Linux one?

1d - Other than specific .exe without WINE compatibility, are there any relatively common file types which can’t be opened with Linux that I should be aware of? (Mostly talking about picture/video/audio/text files, compressed archives or similar).

1e - What can I mess up by testing an USB live version? Are there any things I should be careful about? I’ve heard “changes aren’t saved”, but that’s referring only to OS configuration, right? And, going back to file systems, can I even access the data that’s on my NTFS drive from a live version or would I just be working with the stuff inside the USB?

1f - I read often that “you can’t get viruses on Linux”, but that’s mostly because they’re not developed specifically for it, so you might “get” them but they won’t work, right? If I dual boot, is there the chance that I get a malware while browsing with Linux and then it infects my pc when I boot Windows (even without consciously opening unknown .exe files)?

1g - Which Pc components should I pay attention to because they/their drivers might not work on Linux? Is there a site/tool that can check if my current hardware would have any issues? (For example, I have a Nvidia graphics card and I think I read that might be a problem?)

Option 2: Windows 10 LTSC

Linux would be the ideal, but if I get too paranoid or can’t invest enough time in it to figure how it works before October, my second choice would be W10 LTSC, since from what I understood, that one has much more extended security updates. I do have my share of doubts about it too, though:

2a - I heard there’s various different versions of W10 LTSC (IoT or not, RTM, 2021, I think there’s even an Enterprise version that isn’t LTSC?), but what are the actual differences? Is one version objectively better than the others?

2b - I know LTSC is meant to be used in a “company environment”, but are there any downsides to it compared to the Home version? Does it have some hard limitations on what can I do with it? (For example, can I play every Steam game currently supported by regular W10 on it?)

2c - The main place where I’m finding LTSC information is Massgrave, is the procedure to keep files on their page safe/advised or should I backup and format just in case? And after doing that, can I activate it with a Key bought from a third-party site? (I heard their Activation Script isn’t 100% perfect, and keys are not that expensive anyway)

Option 3: Regular Windows 10

If both Linux and LTSC end up being too overwhelming to trust myself with, the only choice left would be to stay on W10 with Bitdefender, at least for my main PC. Though I’m still pretty anxious about malware:

3 - I initially thought that you could get malware only by consciously downloading files, opening mail attachments, going on uncertified sites or plugging in infected devices, but apparently there’s some types of malware that can infect your PC without you consciously doing anything? (For example, I read the WannaCry attack affected even machines that did none of the above?) Is there nothing you can do to prevent this from happening on an unsupported OS besides “not connecting it to the internet at all”? Is this just not a viable choice if I don’t want to risk losing my files or having my data stolen?

Even getting some of these answered would be great, and of course, if you think I have some misconceptions that need to be corrected I’d love if you did so, thanks in advance!

  • sbird@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    2·
    6 hours ago

    Some more tips if you end up switching to Linux, specifically on methods of installing programs (because that can be confusing), distributions/“distros” (since lots of people ask about that), and desktop environments (since those are separate from the distro, which many people don’t know if they come from Windows! I certainly didn’t…)

    There are five main options to install programs on Linux:

    • The ones packaged for your specific family of distro (like .deb for Debian based distros, .rpm for Fedora/RHEL based distros). These will work the best and should be your default.
    • Flatpak, a universally compatible Linux app format that most desktop programs support. They have what’s called “sandboxing”, which basically means that apps don’t have full system-wide access by default. This can be annoying for some applications, but with a bit of configuration it seems that you can get it working. Additionally,
    • AppImage, another universally compatible format. This one is more similar to a standalone exe on Windows, where it doesn’t install itself anywhere, it just runs as a program. Optionally you can get a program called “AppImageLauncher” which handles the “installing” part (e.g. adding entry in the applications menu, moving it to an applications directory) if you need that.
    • Executable w/ some other stuff wrapped in a tar.gz (Linux equivalent of .zip, both formats work but tar.gz will remember Linux-specific information like symlinks and can offer better compression too I think). The executable usually doesn’t have a specific file extension. This would be similar to installing a portable application in a zip file on Windows.
    • There are also snap files, but the community doesn’t really like them since they are sourced from a centralised and not-so-open repository controlled by Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, and it isn’t as widely adopted as Flatpak. Unless no other alternatives exist, I wouldn’t really go for this option.

    Most distros have a graphical user interface to install programs, usually letting you install programs via either specific packages (like rpm for Fedora) or via Flatpak. You can also install those two through the command line (“sudo apt/dnf install [name]” and “flatpak install [name]”, note that flatpak doesn’t require admin privileges! You can update programs using “sudo apt update” and “sudo apt upgrade” on Debian-based distros, “sudo dnf update” on Fedora-based distros, and “flatpak update” with Flatpak. You need to update repos and then upgrade packages separately on Debian-based distros, while on Fedora with dnf it is done with just one command)

    You can also go to the website/git repo of the software you wish to install and download the respective file to manually install stuff, as well as to get programs that come in AppImage or as tar.gz archives.

    The community can’t agree on which distro is the best, because there is no best. They’re all good. Pick and choose! Personally, I have used Fedora, Linux Mint, and am currently using EndeavourOS. As long as your hardware is compatible and you aren’t using something super unstable, you should have a good experience.

    For beginners, I would recommend either Linux Mint (Cinnamon) or Fedora (Workstation/GNOME or KDE, other DE spins also exist), which faster release than Mint, so it’s better for newer hardware. These are the ones I’ve personally used and was happy with. I have not yet used Bazzite, Nobara, or similar gaming-oriented distros. Nobara is a fork of Fedora that is gaming-centric, and it seems that most people are happy with it. Bazzite is also Fedora based, but it’s an atomic distro, meaning there’s some stuff you can’t do on the system (which can be good, less likely to bork it, but also bad, as it gives you less control and there are limitations on what stuff you can install)

    Although Pop! OS used to be a recommended option (you can find it in a few articles here and there) they are currently transitioning to their new DE called COSMIC, which sounds really cool but is a bit buggy it seems, given that it only recently went into beta, so it needs a bit more time in the oven. Just a note so you don’t do a Linus Tech Tips and translate a bad experience with buggy COSMIC as a bad experience on Linux.

    If you want to experiment and don’t mind tinkering a bit to fix issues with a more unstable distro, you could try out a rolling release distribution. If you’re a beginner simply looking for an alternate OS and don’t want to do that, I wouldn’t recommend these. You of course have the Arch-based ones, like EndeavourOS (which is more standard) and CachyOS (which has gaming optimisations) that are easier to install than vanilla Arch Linux, but you also have openSUSE Tumbleweed, which sounds like a decent option. I currently use EndeavourOS as there were a few specific software that I wanted to try that were built for Arch-based distros but weren’t built for non-Arch distros (like rmpc, an awesome mpd music player which requires manual building if you don’t use Arch), and I also wanted to experiment with being on the “bleeding edge” of software. The package manager on Arch is called “pacman”, and you can get the loading bar when installing programs to look like a yellow C pacman eating little dots rather than through hashes (e.g. [#### ]), it’s amazing!

    What are the differences between GNOME, KDE, and Cinnamon? Those are desktop environments, and most distros allow you to interchange between them since Linux is super modular! I started out with Fedora Workstation, which uses GNOME, and I was able to install KDE Plasma and then after remove GNOME. If you want, you can install multiple DEs and switch between them from the login screen (but then you would get duplicated system apps, like file managers and stuff). Different desktop environments give you a different user interface with different features and theming options, and it truly is simply which one you like more! GNOME, KDE, and Cinnamon are the most established options, but you also have ones like XFCE and MATE. If you want, you can even run Linux without a desktop and work solely in the terminal (this is how Linux servers run, for instance, as it saves on unnecessary processing power and disk usage)!

    Between the “big three”, GNOME is the most “minimal” with lots of padding and it looks very nice (but some people hate it), especially when you install apps that match its aesthetic, but is not as customisable by default (it’s kind of like macOS in a way where you need to install extensions and apps to add additional functionality). KDE Plasma is the most feature-rich and customisable out of the box, so much so that some people have mentioned that there could be too many options. It’s really polished and intuitive to use, and their default Breeze theme (which is more boxy and contrasty) looks equally good as GNOME’s libadwaita, it’s just a matter of taste. I personally use KDE for its extensive theming options, you can really make it looks like anything you want! Cinnamon is Linux Mint’s homegrown DE. It’s somewhere in the middle in terms of customisability, and out of the box (!), it is the most similar to the Windows 10 interface.