Windows 10 is highly unsecure and everything you do on it is been monitored - plus source code is closed - you never know what is going on there. The best thing you can do is downgrade to Windows 7, its more secure then Windows 10. But I highly recommend you give Linux a try its open source and works very stable and much more secure out of the box then any Windows. You can try Ubuntu first, but if you like to learn, try Manjaro linux its based on Arch Linux - its good for beginners. Then once you learn it, switch to Arch Linux to use it directly if like tweak things. Arch Linux is very well documented and has very good community. But if you are a gamer, you will have a tougher time on Linux. Because gamers don't get much love from companies, they mostly release for Windows. But even in this case you can always dual boot or have a second computer - they are dirt cheap nowadays.
I hear you. Do not game. I, alone, could probably switch to a Linux OS and do OK. Math and modelling programs are reasonably plentiful in the Unix galaxy. Office productivity software is not a problem. I have an old early windows bibliography that a) I still use and b) should probably export to something more modern while keeping a flat file. Just wondering about all the changes I would have to make if I went Linux.
My wife uses some Windows-based translation software that is not available in a Linux version.
My PC-workstation is based on an AMD FX 6380 CPU, 3 cores and 6 logical cores, 350 GHz and overclockable, 8 GB RAM. It is still reasonably fast, likely thanks to the Intel SSD. But it certainly it has slowed down over the last few years and much of that seems due to Windows 10 living the good life, i.e., becoming increasingly weighted by bloat-ware.
Was thinking of getting an AMD Ryzen CPU-based system; just procured a Ryzen 2700K system for the wife. We are on roughly a decade replace cycle for PCs. I digress.
Instead, it might be cheaper and a good long-term investment to go Linux. This fellow at A-Power in Greater Vancouver was telling me that if I ever wanted to run a VPN, I might want to use Free BSD firewall in an old stand alone PC. Learning Linux OSes would make that project much easier.
The notion of having to install and maintain a dual boot does not really appeal.
I could install a Linux OS on a separate machine , as there will soon be another older but reasonably fast PC kicking around. That might work.
Windows 10 is highly unsecure and everything you do on it is been monitored - plus source code is closed - you never know what is going on there. The best thing you can do is downgrade to Windows 7, its more secure then Windows 10. But I highly recommend you give Linux a try its open source and works very stable and much more secure out of the box then any Windows. You can try Ubuntu first, but if you like to learn, try Manjaro linux its based on Arch Linux - its good for beginners. Then once you learn it, switch to Arch Linux to use it directly if like tweak things. Arch Linux is very well documented and has very good community. But if you are a gamer, you will have a tougher time on Linux. Because gamers don't get much love from companies, they mostly release for Windows. But even in this case you can always dual boot or have a second computer - they are dirt cheap nowadays.
Have you tried more secure browser? It's called Ungoogled-Chromium (for LInux users) "A lightweight approach to removing Google web service dependency."
No. I do not have Linux (or any other Unix-based OS) installed. But it sounds good.
Windozes 10, especially since the 1809 upgrade, has been a burden and I have wondered about jumping to Linux even if it means loading a windoze shell to run Windoze software.
Apparently, Microsoft plans on revamping Windows 10 and radically altering the way Cortana works. I deleted Cortana and now use 3rd party file searchers. Hopefully with the next major upgrade Windoze 10 will improve. Then Trump might also lay an egg or peace might break out in the former Palestinian mandate.
Safari is crap. Guaranteed to crash at least once if you try to use it for a full day. Sometimes it will force a reboot of the entire machine. I always laugh when I try to open a link in a new tab and Safari asks me "Opening this link will require a reload of umpteen open tabs. Do you want to continue?" Fellas, that's not a feature. That's a f$%#-up.
Chrome is the best browser I've seen. The new Firefox is OK but it's not clear whether it you can use extensions on it.
Have you tried more secure browser? It's called Ungoogled-Chromium (for LInux users) "A lightweight approach to removing Google web service dependency."
For several different reasons, I have been experimenting with various browsers over the past while. I have four, rather five if you include Internet Explorer installed on this Windows 10 Version 1809 OS PC. workstation.
Favourite: Opera. This is an open-source Chromium browser from the land of the Norse people. I love the the way I can use accelerator keys without having to program the browser. The less mousing I do, the better.
Financial: Chrome. Also based on open-source Chromium though some of Chrome itself is apparently not open-source. Recommended by the discount broker and apparently the most popular browser in current use. If not mistaken BillG does much of his RP-site development using Chrome. Chrome is the wife's go-to browser and it seems to serve her well. Microsoft Edge: Can be tricky. Managing individual cookies is a complete pain. As it turns out, Microsoft plans to replace the browser engine on Edge with open-source Chromium. We no longer use it.
RP Slide show: Mozilla FireFox. FireFox is open source, popular and well respected. It works just fine with the RP slide show streaming FLAC but is not so great elsewhere. A number of web-sites seem not to work well with FireFox.
The other annoying thing about both Mozilla FireFox as well as Mozilla Thunderbird, the email client, is that both will occasionally consume large amounts of CPU for unknown reasons. That can be resolved by shutting down tabs in FireFox and by simply closing and restarting Thunderbird. This is a recent problem for Thunderbird and I have yet to make any effort to resolve the problem.
Comodo Dragon: This new browser is based on Chromium and is fast but did not offer me any clear advantages over other browsers so I uninstalled it.
Any comments on relative performance, suggestions or similar would be most welcome.