Linux

Mate, why wait?,

Run to Linux, don't just run from Windows.

Start looking at the desktop environments and use a virtual machine/live usb to try them out. For something similar to Windows I'd recommend KDE plasma or Cinnamon, both can be tried out using KDE Neon or Linux Mint.

What I suggest is to Nobara for gaming or Linux mint. Most distros are the same but depends on what comes preinstalled.

I went with Pop!_OS because it was one of the least Windows-like DEs. Which is what I wanted after getting so damn sick of their garbage. Kinda macOS though with the dock and all. I dig it.

Everyone has different opinions. In the end the different versions, or distributions, are basically the same.

It starts with the Linux vernal, that as far as I know, handles communication with the hardware, and things like directories, storage, users, permissions. On top of that, every distribution creator puts a destropenvioment, like gnome or KDE (plasma?). Gnome is kinda like Mac is, KDE can be what ever you want, very customizable.

Than there is the package manager. Fedora for example uses yum or dnf (dnf is the new version I think) and Ubuntu uses apt. The package manager is like your app store, that you access over the command line. It is managed by the owners and ist mostly safe to download anything. (Installing Spotify would by 'sudo apt/dnf install spotify'. So pretty easy to use.

On top of that the distribution has preinstalled programs, like the browser, writing tools, and some useful apps

That is basically the only difference between distros. You can even get different spins of a distro. If you like fedora, get it with the KDE desktro envioment. It's all the same basically.

So put something on a usb drive and boot from that, try it out for a few minutes and than look at others. There are also websites that allow you to boot into different distros.

If you like something, just install it, maybe as a Dualboot first next to windows (best is on a different drive) and just try it out. If you don't like it, just jump to another one.

Linux can be a little bit pain sometimes, but in my opinion it's worth to invest the time. Have fun!

I can recommend Mint, it's fantasically easy and stable, but take a look at https://distrochooser.de

Nobara if you game.

Before you leave W10, install it in a VM or dual boot so you can test it/get used to the interface

What games do you play?

TIL Win10 is the modern-day XP. And Win11 is the modern-day Vista.

Food for thought: you should start getting familiar with Linux, either with Virtualbox/VMware, or dual booting right now. When the time comes and Win10 reaches EOL, you know you will find reasons to just go with the flow and stay with Microsoft.

As for what flavor? There are a few that come to mind as "windowy": Zorin, Mint, and the anything that uses KDE Plasma. Personally, I prefer Pop!_OS because I use MacOS as well and prefer that feel to windows a bit more, and System76 has done a fantastic job of making a polished product.

That's what I did, anyway. The mental load of still having windows to fall back on if I couldn't do something helped make the anxiety lighter and also helped me be motivated to try new things out. I couldn't imagine having to learn something with a gun to my head!

You should try a bunch and see what you really like! The beauty of Linux is there's so much out there that you'll almost definitely find one that gels with you.

A good place to start is Linux mint! The best way I can describe it is a blend of all the best parts of windows 7, 10 and 11 with very few of the downsides. You'll almost definitely settle in quickly and you might never want to switch as it's very full featured, snappy and well put together. It was designed for people wanting that Linux experience while still feeling familiar to windows users.

Another one to try if you love customisability is ZorinOS. There's a free and paid tier, both of which are excellent with the free tier offering layouts for old and new windows and Mac like experience and the paid tier (only around £30 for a lifetime licence) has layouts and customisability for absolutely everything else and extra tools and options for those that want more of that!

My recommendation is to avoid any overly bleeding edge distro while starting out, as when things will inevitably break you won't have much knowlege on how to fix the issue, and googling it may not always give you an answer.

Half the fun of switching to Linux is exploring all of the different flavours to find what you like best.

I'm also going to say Linux Mint but I'll request using the debian edition. It would be better to wean off Ubuntu earlier for all of us.

Pop OS is great because of up to date kernel and drivers, and they even have a specific version created for nvidia gpus, on disadvantage is that gnome version is a bit old, but its very stable at least

I think it depends on what you are looking for. While Linux Mint is a safe option, it does have some drawbacks... well it's more drawbacks from Ubuntu but as Linux Mint is based off of it, it's also impacted. Primarily the fact that Ubuntu packages are terribly out of date. Thankfully mint makes adding PPA's painless, but for apps that don't have a PPA it's a pain to install them from scratch like Mangohud. It's not impossible, but there is an expect level of Linux knowledge which is required before going in.

Another option is Manjaro. You will hear the litany of endless criticism about it from the community, some of it is valid. But for the most part, while it's not as nice as Linux Mint, I think the OS will get you to the point where you can start using your machine faster. Mostly thanks to Arch's rolling release, as well as the AUR for filling the gap between official packages and flatpaks.

I was using Manjaro for the longest time, but switched to Mint due to a freak bootloader accident. I prefer Manjaro in terms of how well it handled Games and Windows software due to it's association with Arch. But I like how well Mint manages my laptop's battery and performance or lack thereof due to it's pitiful cooler.

Ubuntu or Linux Mint

I'd recommend Zorin. It has a UI similar to windows, easy to get into, great defaults, and being based on Ubuntu, most help on the internet will work just fine

Linux Mint is great, I used it as a daily driver in college on an old IBM T42, however, modern Linux on a modern PC -- Debian/Ubuntu with KDE.

Basically, Kubuntu.

Kubuntu gets you off the ground running with Debian core, KDE Plasma, which is familiar to the Windows workflow and all the compatibility of Debian/Ubuntu. Steam and Proton work FLAWLESSLY via Vulkan API. Zero loss of performance.

If you want to spend a ton of time relearning an OS/tinkering however, get some flavor of Arch.

The AUR is crazy, it's like a huge software library and the Wiki is expansive, BUT, you will be relearning absolutely everything.

Sorry other Linux people, I'm a jaded lifelong Windows user, who unironically uses Kubuntu and Artix on seperate machines.

There are lots of tutorials for something like Debian or Ubuntu..

Ubuntu, mint, fedora, Manjaro are all pretty much in the same class, and it's largely irrelevant which you pick. They're all supported, have decent UI for most of what you want to do, and have good documentation for how to do it.

It's not too difficult to change distros without having to move all your data once you're switched, so it doesn't matter too much, and you'll probably try a couple before finding the one with the best menus for you.

I recently went over to fedora. Love it so far. Really stable and also newer packages than e.g. linux mint.

I started of on Linux Mint, had a couple of niggles with it so I thought 'let's be a spoony and get Ubuntu.' Got on pretty well with Ubuntu but there were a few minor things about Gnome I didn't like. I'm now on Kubuntu and it's the Goldilocks zone for me. It's been about 18 months now since I abandoned Windows 7.

I believe the biggest difference between Linux distributions for beginners will be the DE (desktop environment), you can change it in any distro you choose, but usually there is a DE that is optimized or customized as standard for each distribution. Some DE are very different from the Windows interface. I highly recommend using Cinnamon, Mate or KDE, the transition from Windows to Linux will be smoother in my opinion. The DE also includes a suite of applications such as an office suite, browser, administrative and customizable tools, which will also impact your experience. As other said before Linux Mint is a great option, it is stable and friendly. There is LMDE which is Mint with Debian under the hood instead of Ubuntu if you care about use a non-enterprise based distro, but that is another discussion.

Nvidia or AMD? If Nvidia I would especially suggest pop_OS, but really, either way that distro is great.