Microsoft has officially closed the door on Windows 10 support. Now, if you’re not on Windows 11, and didn’t sign up for the extended support, you’re out of luck. But if you’re sick of embedded advertisements, data collection, and strict hardware requirements, I don’t blame you.
If you’ve ever considered making the jump to a different operating system, you could switch to macOS or Google’s lightweight Chromebook platform. Still, you’re likely to find many of the same issues here, so I’d like to turn your attention to Linux. Despite what you may think, it’s easy to make the jump with just a little patience and some command-line acumen. Here’s how to install a Linux distro and download apps to get you started.
Choose Your Distribution
Unlike Windows and macOS, there isn’t just one version of Linux. Instead, Linux is packaged into many different distributions, or “distros,” each with their own interface and set of features. One may use a Mac-like interface with a dock and “app store,” while others may be more minimalistic and require installing apps from the command line. For your first installation, you’ll likely want something popular and beginner-friendly, so it’s easy to use but also has a large community from which you can get help when you need it. Zorin OS mimics Windows in layout and functionality, but it won’t have as big a community. Ubuntu, on the other hand, is arguably the most popular distro, but it isn’t very Windows-like these days.
This is why I recommend starting with Linux Mint for the first installation, since it’s a perfect in-between option: It’s designed for beginners, offers a familiar environment, and is based on Ubuntu, so you can ask for help from the enormous Ubuntu/Mint community. I’ll be using Mint for the purpose of this guide. It’s not my personal distro of choice, but it’s great for new Windows migrants. It’s also easier to explore other distros once you’ve nailed down the basics.
(Credit: PCMag / Linux Mint)
Create Your Installation Drive
Head to Mint’s download page and you’ll see multiple editions of the same OS version. Cinnamon is sleek and modern, and the desktop environment I recommend for former Windows users. Xfce offers a lightweight experience for old or low-powered PCs, but it lacks some of the features that come with Cinnamon. MATE looks a bit less modern-looking as a continuation of an older version of the OS.
Click Download for your preferred version of Linux Mint. You can view the installation guide or release notes from the link at the top of the page. If you’re a BitTorrent user, I recommend grabbing the torrent file, which will download much faster. Otherwise, scroll down to the Download mirrors section and select a file to download.
(Credit: Linux Mint / PCMag)
The installer will come as an ISO file. To install it, you’ll need to burn the file to a DVD or USB flash drive. I’ll be doing the latter using a tool called Rufus. Install Rufus, open it up, and insert a flash drive that is 2.5GB or larger. (If you have a fast USB 3.0 or 3.1 drive, all the better.) It should appear in the Device drop-down at the top of Rufus’ main window.
Next, click the Select button next to Disk or ISO image, and choose the freshly downloaded Linux Mint ISO. Press the Start button, and if prompted to download new versions of Syslinux, click Yes. This will erase the flash drive, so make sure there is nothing important on there before continuing. When finished, you’ll see a success message, and the flash drive will be named LINUX MINT. Now it’s time to back up your data.
(Credit: PCMag / Microsoft / Rufus)
Install Linux on Your PC
Reboot your computer. As it boots back up, press a certain key to access the Boot Menu—usually F12 or Delete (it’ll say on the screen). Look for the option to boot from the inserted USB drive. When done, exit the menu to reboot again. You’ll then be greeted by GRUB, Linux Mint’s boot menu, where you can choose to boot into Linux Mint. If there are any errors, you’ll need to search around for a fix. I had to enable the nomodeset option for my graphics card, for example. Others may have to tweak or disable Secure Boot in the BIOS.
(Credit: Linux Mint)
This installer is what we call a Live CD, where you can actually poke around and use the Linux Mint desktop before installing it. This gives you a chance to test the distro without it actually touching your system drive. Double-click the Install Linux Mint icon and go through the installation wizard. Be sure to check the box next to Install third-party software, since it contains useful drivers and codecs you almost certainly want.
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From here, wipe the drive entirely to erase Windows. Alternatively, you can partition the drive and dual boot Linux alongside Windows. This allows you to reboot into one or the other at any time and provides a safety net during the transition before removing Windows entirely. Choose the relevant option from the Installation Type menu, and click Install Now. The process may take a little while, but when it’s done, click the Restart Now button to boot back into Linux Mint only this time, it’s installed on your PC.
(Credit: PCMag / Linux Mint)
Set Up Linux Mint
When you first open Linux Mint, a welcome window will help set up the new operating system by choosing among different desktop layouts, installing any desired multimedia codecs, and grabbing necessary hardware drivers. You’ll find that basic navigation inside Linux Mint is pretty familiar: Click the button in the lower-left corner to see applications, manage windows from the bottom taskbar, and so on.
Take some time to browse around Mint’s interface and settings, though it should mostly look similar to Windows. The Mint (and Ubuntu) forums are always there to help if you get stuck. Just be sure to search around, since there is a good chance someone has already had the same question. It won’t be long before you run into a few things that work differently in Linux, such as the app installation and management process.
(Credit: Mint Linux)
How to Install (or Delete) Apps
How you install and manage apps will be very different from what you’re accustomed. In Linux, it’s less common to download apps from the web. Instead, each distro has its own repository—kind of like a free app store, with a directory of popular apps. You can install an app from the repositories one of two ways: From a graphical software manager (which looks like an app store) or from the command line.
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To open Linux Mint’s Software Manager, click the menu button in the lower-left corner and head to Administration > Software Manager (or just type “software manager,” like you would in Windows). From here, browse for apps to download or search using the bar at the top. You will come across Linux versions of Windows software, such as Steam and Spotify, or open-source alternatives to common apps, like Banshee in place of iTunes and Gimp instead of Photoshop.
(Credit: PCMag / Linux Mint)
If you know what you’re looking for, it’s generally faster to install apps from the command line. And while it may seem intimidating at first, Linux relies on the command line for various tasks, so it might behoove you to get comfortable with it. To install an app—let’s say the open-source media player VLC—open a Terminal window, type Sudo apt update, press Enter, then sudo apt install vlc, and press Enter again.
Let’s break that down: sudo tells the system to run the command as root (or, as it might be called in Windows, as an administrator), apt is the name of Linux Mint’s package manager, and update ensures the list of available apps is up to date. You should run sudo apt update before installing any app. The second command, which includes install vlc, tells the OS to install the program. To install other apps, replace “vlc” with the name of the app. If you aren’t sure what the repository calls it, run the sudo apt cache search [search term] command.
Now, if you want to uninstall an app, just run sudo apt remove vlc to remove the app. This won’t delete the configuration files, so if you decide to reinstall it later, your settings will still be there. However, if you also want to remove configuration files, run the sudo apt purge vlc command to wipe everything.
(Credit: PCMag / Linux Mint)
How to Update Your Apps
You’ll also want to periodically update those apps to have the latest versions. You can do this from the graphical tool by clicking the shield icon in the lower-right corner to open the Update Manager app. Click the Install Updates button to update all installed software.
Alternatively, you can do it manually by opening a Terminal and running sudo apt update again, followed by the sudo apt upgrade this time. Again, the update command checks for new versions of the installed software, and the upgrade command actually upgrades all the apps. You’ll want to run these two together, just like you do for installing new apps.
(Credit: PCMag / Linux Mint)
About Our Expert
Whitson Gordon
Contributing Writer
Experience
Whitson Gordon is a writer, gamer, and tech nerd who has been building PCs for 10 years. He eats potato chips with chopsticks so he doesn’t get grease on his mechanical keyboard.
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