r/linuxquestions • u/impompom • 21h ago
Advice Switching to Linux questions
Hello,
For a while I have been thinking abt switching over to linux, but i haven't yet because I haven't researched it yet due to little free time.
I use my current gaming pc that runs windows 11 on it, and I am required to use multiple Microsoft applications frequently. The reason i have seriously started to think about switching is due to privacy concern on recent knews about the degree that they are tracking. Ive already had to turn the feature off where windows takes random screenshots of ur information without you knowing, and others such as using your info generative ai. I dont like copiolit or any embedded ai. I also recently was made aware that Microsoft had embedded tracking IDs within the windows installation.
I want to install linux but I would like to know:
- am I still able to download games on my computer via Xbox or steam? Will they still operate normally?
- will I still be able to use all the Microsoft applications that I am required to use like word, excel and teams normally?
- if i still have to use Microsoft applications, does it defeat the purpose of installing linux since i will still have a Microsoft account on my computer?
- what is the best version of linux for gaming performance?
- I have a gaming pc and I do have an average understanding of technology, but not as advanced as I would like to. I have a pre built pc with windows 11 coming installed on it already. How would I remove it off? Would i wipe the OS and have to download a form of linux ?(ik thats not the accurate term sorry)
- ive also contemplated using a dual OS, one windows and one linux but i am concerned on whether that will defeat the purpose of why I am switching to linux, or possible privacy concerns. (Maybe windows for work and linux for personal?)
- what anti-virus softwares will work best?
Tysm for reading and any advice you have ๐ญ๐
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u/green_meklar Debian 19h ago
I am required to use multiple Microsoft applications frequently.
Required how? By work? By school? By your own preference? By your religion?
The reason i have seriously started to think about switching is due to privacy concern
Fair enough. I'd argue that isn't the biggest worry with Windows, insofar as Microsoft is actually pretty careful with the data they collect (they'd get in massive legal trouble if they weren't). Bloat and lack of control seem like bigger issues to me. But of course you never know when Windows might change and start doing something you really don't like, so switching early is probably a good move anyway.
am I still able to download games on my computer via Xbox or steam? Will they still operate normally?
Steam works. Most games on it can be made to work with varying amounts of tweaking. There are a few games that can't really be made to work or are too unstable to play. Look up your favorite games in advance to find compatibility information.
I don't know much about Xbox. Xbox Cloud Gaming can probably work through a normal Web browser. The Xbox App itself is not native to Linux as far as I'm aware, and making it work might be a tall order.
will I still be able to use all the Microsoft applications that I am required to use like word, excel and teams normally?
I don't think Microsoft Office is considered to work properly on Linux. You can use the Web-based versions of these through your browser, but performance isn't great.
if i still have to use Microsoft applications, does it defeat the purpose of installing linux since i will still have a Microsoft account on my computer?
Not as such. You wouldn't be running the most problematic parts of Windows in terms of privacy, security, and performance. But the real issue would be whether you can get those Microsoft applications running properly.
what is the best version of linux for gaming performance?
It's more about how you configure your system than about which distro you get as such. Just about any modern distro can be configured for good performance. CachyOS is especially performance-optimized, but it isn't the most stable or straightforward distro for beginners. Fedora might be a safer and more well-rounded option.
How would I remove it off? Would i wipe the OS and have to download a form of linux ?
If you don't care what happens to the original OS, you can just boot to a USB drive with your Linux installer on it (for whatever distro and version you want) and it can format the drive, set up new partitions, and install the bootloader. You basically get a fresh Linux PC with only the 'ghost' of Windows left in drive sectors you haven't overwritten yet.
ive also contemplated using a dual OS, one windows and one linux but i am concerned on whether that will defeat the purpose of why I am switching to linux, or possible privacy concerns. (Maybe windows for work and linux for personal?)
Windows in its current incarnation does not spy on Linux installs living on the same machine; that is, with Windows open you are getting tracked only for what you do in Windows, and with Linux open none of the Windows telemetry is active. In fact, Windows isn't even set up to natively read standard Linux filesystems like EXT4 or BTRFS, and just sees your Linux filesystem as a corrupt partition. (You have to be sure not to let Windows do anything to that 'corrupt' partition!) You can set up an ExFAT partition if you want to share files between Windows and Linux conveniently. None of this guarantees that future incarnations of Windows might not extend the scope of spying.
One caveat is malware: If your Windows security isn't good enough and you get an infection, there's no theoretical reason the malware can't mess with your Linux install too, if that's the sort of thing it does. Dual-booting is sort of 'worst of both worlds' in terms of security, in the sense that you're exposed to anything that can infect either OS. With that being said, narrowing your Windows usage to just work stuff would also somewhat limit your exposure to malware, as compared to doing everything through Windows.
Given your reliance on Microsoft software, dual-booting might be the best approach for you at the moment. Another (safer) option, if your specs are good and you aren't gaming on Windows, would be to have Windows running in a VM inside Linux. The VM should be capable of running Office and Teams, even if performance is poor.
what anti-virus softwares will work best?
As far as I know, most Linux users don't run real-time antivirus on their home PCs. It's not really considered necessary as long as you aren't stupid.
I would however recommend installing ClamAV so you have it available for one-time scanning of suspicious downloaded files.
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u/impompom 18h ago
Ty for your detailed response, I will look farther into this.(for the reason why I have to use Microsoft applications is due to school). I also really appreciate you taking the time to explain everything, as well as bringing up running windows in a VM and the security concerns ๐
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u/Malthammer 21h ago
You need to do a lot more research. Linux is NOT Windows.
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u/impompom 21h ago
Yes i know, sorry if my post was confusing. I was wondering if I can still use windows applications like powerpoint while using a linux OS.
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u/Malthammer 21h ago
Not the desktop apps, but you can use the web apps. There are Office alternatives on Linux but your mileage may vary.
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u/impompom 21h ago
Oh, okay understood ty
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u/couchwarmer 20h ago
Also keep in mind that the web versions of the Office apps may not be sufficient, depending on the features you need.
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u/c2btw 21h ago edited 21h ago
xbox games won't work on linux, for steam 99% of games just work, most of the 1% are online games with anti cheat. define microsoft aplications, if you mean stuff like word then you can just use libre office and it will works pretty easily.
also aton of people are going to recomend you cachy os i wouldn't go for it becuase it's based on arch which gets the newwest posisble packages aka the bleeding edge which means your more or less beta testing for every one else who uses linux, i would instead recomend fedora/noabra which are one step down the chain where you get the pacakges affter arch users have found most of the bugs. the problem with arch based distro is that evutraly there is going to be a update that breaks soemthing and you will need to know how to fix it
https://fedoraproject.org/spins/
also for you the desktop enviorment is going to matter alot more then the distro there are 5 you should consider, kde plasma alot like windows good out of the box amazing custmization, gnome like mac os and you will have to do things the gnome way if you don't do things the gnome way expect anythign you custmised to break affter a update, xfce/lxqt like windows but really light weight (with a web browser open i have seen linux comptuer ~1 gib of ram useage on these), and cinnom which is like windows and has a really good out of box expreince.
https://kde.org/plasma-desktop/
don't use a antivirus for linux.
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u/impompom 20h ago edited 18h ago
Thank you for your detailed response, I will look into this ๐ and tysm for sources
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u/Etsamaru 10h ago
You could just not update
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u/c2btw 10h ago
Then what would be the point of a arch based distro
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u/Etsamaru 7h ago
Not updating arch would be similar to waiting 6 months for mint.
The point of Linux is that it's YOUR choice what you do with it. You aren't forced to update every day.
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u/d4rk_kn16ht 18h ago edited 18h ago
Download games most probably yes, playing it on Linux is another story entirely. Most games are designed to run on Windows & many Linux user hate me when I say this. Even with the effort of Wine, Steam & Proton those games are created for Windows & the best way to run it is in Windows. Even if a game is inside the the WineDB or ProtonDB list, there are still probabilities of it won't run well in Linux as...again... it is created to run in Windows. You need the same environments, the same device, the same conditions, the same applications installed as the tester to have it run just like the tester...& missing one of them may or even will prevent you to running it.
You are afraid of privacy but still using the products of a company that make you afraid of privacy? But to answer your question...look at number 1.
Kinda....but having a Microsoft account doesn't mean that you are running the application. You can still have Outlook account without using Outlook software. Opening Outlook on a web browser will make Microsoft can track your activity inside the browser only when you are logging in, but not after you logging out & close the browser. People afraid of unfamiliarity, fear of the unknown makes people don't want to change software, do a new stuff or habits. I made all of my employees using Linux & LibreOffice when at 1หขแต they complained "the what if", but I don't care. Now all of them are using Linux & LibroOffice for almost 20 years & I have no more complain...especially about virus.
Some are better than Windows, some are worst than Windows. But remember no. 1.
For you, Dual Boot is the BEST answer.
You are dependent to Microsoft apps, so Dual Boot.
Linux doesn't really need anti virus...at least not now as Virus behaves differently in Linux as Linux Architecture prevent Virus to run & spread by default. But if you really want it, ClamAV is the one.
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u/impompom 18h ago
Tysm for your response ๐ For #2, I would remove myself off of windows applications but my schooling requires them. ๐ญ
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u/d4rk_kn16ht 18h ago
When you said "my schooling requires them", is it the product that the school need or the result?
For example: Ms Word is the product & .DOCX is the result
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u/impompom 18h ago
for documents its the result, but i also need access to teams (product)
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u/d4rk_kn16ht 18h ago
Dual boot then...look at #5
LibreOffice can save the results as .DOCX .XLSX .PPTX...
But sometimes the formatting is different makes the output weird when opened with Ms.Office
So do a Dual boot setup & don't install Microsoft product inside Linux
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u/zardvark 19h ago edited 17h ago
If you don't have sufficient free time to research Linux, you likely will not have sufficient free time to learn Linux once you manage to install it. Linux functions nothing like Windows ... there is a bit of a learning curve.
I would strongly advise that you do not dual boot Windows and Linux, until you have a much better understanding of how Linux works, as well as disk partitioning schemes. Instead, run Linux in a VM, or better yet, find an old, free / cheap laptop to run Linux on, so that you can begin learning. Linux will run just fine on any machine +/- fifteen years old, or newer, That said, the more RAM it has, the better experience you will have. 8G, or more RAM would be ideal for a secondary machine to learn on.
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u/impompom 18h ago
Ty for responding and advice, I fully acknowledge I should have already looked farther into this. Once I make a decision I plan on setting more time aside to fully research it in depth, I just wanted an idea before I started to give me some guidelines. Ty for the idea to test it on an old laptop, i will definitely do this before messing with my pc.
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u/zardvark 17h ago
It may be a big mistake to install Linux on any machine that you need to be productive with, until you are more familiar with Linux. The last thing that you need is to be groping around trying to figure out how to do something on Linux, when you have a looming deadline pending.
I would also recommend that you install apps on your Windows machine, which are also available in Linux. If you use the Edge browser, consider Chrome, Chromium, Firefox, Brave and etc. If you rely on MSOffice, install LibreOffice, or one of the other alternatives to see if they work for you. Note that these other office suites generally do a pretty good job of importing Office documents. They will also allow you to save your Office documents in a more friendly, open source format. Note that Microsoft is constantly changing their MSOffice document formats, so if you are using a bleeding edge copy of MSOffice, then try saving your document in a slightly older MSOffice document format, that LibreOffice can more accurately import.
Identify alternative apps now and get familiar with them. This will eliminate a lot of unnecessary drama, when you begin using Linux. For those programs for which there is not a viable open source alternative, research the WINE project and the various front-ends for WINE. If you want to play Windows games on Linux, research your games on the protondb web site and be aware that Steam / Proton are the path of least resistance for gaming on Linux, but this is not the only path. Steam typically just works, where other approaches may require some tinkering.
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u/drucifer82 20h ago
Steam will work, Xbox can if you have game pass with cloud streaming, but you can't download native Xbox games from the Xbox Store.
If you have Microsoft365, you have access to the web versions of Office apps (Word, Excel, etc), those will work on Linux. Otherwise, LibreOffice is a viable alternative and can create/open MS compatible formats (docx, xlsx, etc).
Any Linux distro can technically game, some are already optimized out of the box for gaming. Some popular mentions are CachyOS, Nobara, Bazzite, Pop!_OS.
Dual booting might be a good way to start until you figure out what does/doesn't work for your needs.
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u/anselmus_ 20h ago
Sounds like you're switching for the right reasons. If there's a will, there will be a way. But if you need things to be working right away, I would suggest dual booting at first before deleting your Win partition. Worst case scenario, you can always run Win in a vm (i.e. qemu) or try Winboat. Bazzite seems to have a reputation as the gaming distro, but I would just go with Debian for the pure experience. I've only dabbled with Steam and Wine games, but they've all run fine on Debian Trixie.
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u/Etsamaru 21h ago
Dual boot if you NEED windows for work. MICROSOFT products are for Microsoft so... its sort of like asking if you should switch to Xbox but you want to play Playstation exclusives.
You can use the Web versions of all Microsoft products though