Pros and Cons of Using Linux for Everyday Tasks

Hello there.

Today, I will discuss the pros and cons of using Linux, which distribution you should consider, and whether it's worth just using a Virtual Machine, dual booting or completely replacing Windows.

Every link in this article is NOT sponsored. I used them, they worked, so i link them.

What I (Personally) Use:

Since I was 16, I have been dual booting Windows 10/11 and Debian. It was easy to install and maintain, but for me, it felt "slow". So, after a few months, I switched to EndeavourOS (an Arch-based distribution with a GUI installer and a live version featuring KDE Plasma, allowing you to test it out), after taking a test on a website that gives you a test and, based on the answers, it suggest you some distros that could like you. After a few months, I accidentally removed an important file related to pacman or system configuration file while trying to install a driver (everyone makes mistakes sometime… right?). This prevented me from running sudo or installing packages. At this point, I backed up my files to Windows using a free software called Linux File Subsystem for Windows (Paragon Software) and switched to Arch. Now, I dual boot Arch and Windows 11, although I primarily use Arch, and use Windows only when i need to run applications that run only on Windows, and that Wine can’t run.

Wine, if you don’t know, is a package that lets you run Windows applications under Linux, simulating DLLs. Not every application works under Wine, sometimes you either need to change some configuration or use Windows directly.

So, what should i use?

First of all, take the test linked in the paragraph above. It will give you some of the distros that you will probably like. The result will look like this.

If you don’t want to take the test, here’s what i suggest:

• Very anonymous OS and you are very paranoic? Use Whonix + Qubes, but only if you have 16+ GB. “Why all this ram?”, you may ask: since each app is run in an isolated container and it pretty much ciphers everything, you can guess why it requires 16+ GB of RAM. It uses TOR for pretty much everything and it has persistence (unlike Tails, even though you can configure Tails to have persistence but it defeats the whole point of using Tails, at least for me).

• You can troubleshoot most of the problems on your PC, and you love customizing everything? I suggest either Artix, Devuan or Arch.

  Artix and Devuan are, respectively, an Arch fork and a Debian fork. They let you use others init instead of systemd. This “old” thread explains pretty much why people who like having full control over their PC, don't use systemd. It’s just a personal choice, to be honest. You can use systemd if you want.

• You’re just starting to use Linux, and you don’t mind doing some terminal stuff? Use Debian, or if you want an Arch-based distro that is pretty easy to maintain and use, use EndeavourOS.

• You’re just starting to use Linux, and you want an easy to install (and maintain) distro, and you can sacrifice your privacy? Then i suggest you either Ubuntu (Lubuntu and Kubuntu too), Pop OS or something like Zorin OS or Linux Mint. I haven’t used Pop OS personally, but i heard it’s better for gaming.

But how can i try them, without formatting an SSD/HDD?

You can use a Virtual Machine such as Oracle Virtual Box to install and try them. Don’t worry, whatever happens in the Virtual Machine, stays in the Virtual Machine.

But i always used Windows, how can i do such a big change?

You can do what i did: start with VMs, understand the basics of Linux (the shell, bash scripts, how to use it, how to install packages, etcetera). Once you’ve chosen a distro you like, and you’ve managed to survive your first update without breaking the system, you should start dual booting it. If you boot Linux almost 80/90% of the time, and you see that you can stop relying on Windows, you can just wipe Windows out and enjoy your beautiful, no bloat, full privacy OS.