The build shown here is the stable build that everyone on the regular track has. If you are an insider you got build 10565 today. It does have a somewhat different start menu.
The home page for the program says, "Spybot Anti-Beacon comes in two flavours; as a standard installation or as a Portable Edition compatible with PortableApps." Can you give us a link to the stand-alone version 1.5?
Added later: OK, someone has pointed out the section on the home page called "Safer-Networking Download Section", which I overlooked.
I changed internet service recently..Now I have 512 kbps connection.
My previous connection was 256 kbps. and in torrent it used to give down speed of 60 kbps.
However for new connection I am not even getting down speed of 60 kbps.. :(
Is it a problem of my connection or do I need to delete cookies or something. If that is the case does anyone know how to do that?
I always make sure that seeds to peer ratio is high..
on speedtest.net download speed is . 0.51 Mbps upload speed is 0.21 Mbps.
Can anyone help?
The last time upgraded my connection from 128kbps to 256kbps my torrent speed incresed from 30kbps to 60kbps.
Downloaded the Comodo software but the website is degenerate. You cannot create a User Account - just loops back to the Sign In Page... contacting Comodo is also difficult and when you do they just say there nothing we can do?
I Changed the color as indicated on both
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Colors
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\Colors.
But every time I hibernate the PC (Win 8.1) the windows go back to white background, only the log-off log-on actually works.
I tried changing the color even in all the HKEY_USERS but nothing changed.
Any idea?
I did find a way to keep the colors, have no image at all as desktop background, pretty soon we'll go back to dos, sure pc would be faster.
Thanks Microsoft..
No, again every windows goes back to white after a screen lock or PC hibernate, only the logon gets the wanted color.
Any idea how to make the system reconsider the colors in the registry without having to close every program and logoff?
Like many on here I used teh free version of LogMeIn for many years and now find myself looking for another provider. Can anyone make a suitable recommendation please? My requirements are:
1 Simple remote access of my home pc, from my laptop and/or ipad when I'm away from home
2 Unattended access of my home pc
3 Just need simple access to my documents etc on my home pc. Don't need options to print to local printer, file share etc
4 Speed and smooth operation is important. I don't want to wait several seconds for a responce after clicking mouse
5 Free
6 Easy set up
There seems to be so much on the market and as I'm not the most IT literate, any help would be appreciated.
Your "download" button for Comodo is actually the link to Avira.
Also, there's a separate page for Linux antivirus. https://www.comodo.com/home/internet-security/antivirus-for-linux.php
I'm not so sure there's really any point because Linux is so virus-resistant anyhow. But it's good to see Tux getting some love.
If you need to file a state tax e.g., New York, TaxAct's "free" suddenly jumps to $18 because you need the "Ultimate" bundle, fees, addons, yadda yadda.
I tried Quanta Plus; I'm sure it's very powerful but it sure isn't user friendly.
So I've gone back to SeaMonkey. It doesn't look like it's changed in ten years. Whether that's good or bad you decide. It makes better code than LibreOffice.
I still think OcenAudio beats Audacity, most of the time. Better set of tools, and smaller download. I just installed the latest version on LinuxMint, piece of cake.
I just did this with a cassette tape of our choir. I connected my cassette player into the line in of my pc, and recorded it to one file (didn't need to babysit it, just let it run). I opened the file and by zooming in I can see where songs begin and end. I highlight what looks to be one song with the mouse and copy and paste that one song (and a little extra) to a new file. I trim it to just the right length, apply any filters etc. then save as a mp3 and wav file (for CD).
I used OcenAudio on LinuxMint, but Audacity should work the same way.
I have a bunch of old PZM mics, and they pick up everything. Their main claim is they don't pick up reflections from nearby floors or table tops, so there is no strange comb-filtering effect that puts nulls in your frequency response. (That Media College blurb misstates this effect as "reverberation", which is way different.)
What you want to reduce extraneous sound is a directional mic. Cardioid is usually the best you can get in a cheap mic, but unidirectional ones have tighter patterns. A paraboloid reflector is better yet, for faraway sounds (think bird calls). But usually you will get the best sound by putting your mic as close to the source as possible. Use a clip-on mic or headset-mounted.
KDirStat is the program that WinDirStat was cloned from. And, naturally, you don't have to worry about trojans in that.
Baobab is a Gnome app that comes with some distros, like Mint. It's also called "Disk Usage Analyzer". After searching around Gismo's in vain, I discovered I already had it.
You have to watch where you get software when you run Windows. Get it right from the Gramps Project, not a "freeware site". And antivirus programs have a lot of false positives.
I run Linux, and usually get apps right from the distro repositories so I know they're clean.
Gramps is probably the only open source genealogy program, so deserves support. It runs great in openSUSE (KDE based) and Mint (Debian/Ubuntu/Gnome3 based). No fooling around with Wine or VM.
Gramps is up to version 4.1.1. I found some bugs in ver.3 and I see they've been fixed.It's in the repositories of openSUSE and Ubuntu so install is quick & EZ in Linux.
Every genealogy propgram will import and export to a GEDCOM file. I imported my dad's Roots Magic GEDCOM file into Gramps and it worked great.
You will run into trouble if you start saving data that isn't included in the GEDCOM scheme. Proprietary formats could include sources, images, recordings. Those are fine as long as the company stays in business and you want to pay what they ask, but if you share the data with someone else they probably won't have the same program. If you use Excel (or the open source LibreOffice Calc) you will have your own format to sort out.
Gramps seems to be the only real open source genealogy program. It is better than the old PAF from the Mormons, and has a ton of capabilities. I back it up in their format, but also back up occasionally in GEDCOM.
I sent in a minor bug report to Gramps and they came right back replying that they fixed that bug in the latest version. So they are moving quick and actively developing and polishing.
And it runs natively on Linux for when you outgrow Windows... ;-)
I went to the Orba Design site and opened up their template with LibreOffice Calc, and it worked fine. But I didn't try their converter.
I found out that GEDCOM was started by the LDS and just kind of grew from there, with some companies making extensions to it for various things.GEDCOM is text based, but others like Excel and LO spreadsheets and Gramps's are XML. There's no standard, or official sanctioning entity to evaluate new formats or features and make them standard. Us engineers have the IEEE, which is why your wireless card works with your router.
"I tried to use Gramps but this can only show the parents for every individual, that is definitely not what I want."
Not sure what you're trying to do here, but if you go into the View-->Configure menu, you can set up Gramps to show all kinds of weird stuff, like vertical up/down (like Ancestry.com) or a descendent fan chart (which can show hundreds of people in a small area). It just has tons of capability.
You can change the chart to vertical, different direction, fan chart, etc. by going to View-->Configure. The fan chart is pretty cool, you can see hundreds of people at once.
The Reports menu has lots of different things that are produced with a Graphwiz plugin. It should be installed, so you just hit a button and it makes a chart in SVG format that you can manipulate using a vector graphics program.
You can install plugins pretty easily, and there's a bunch of them at https://gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php?title=4.2_Addons . Maybe some of them will do what you want. Like this? https://gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php?title=File:RelationshipChartDescendants.png
The wiki has support for new users. https://gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php?title=Main_page Probably the place to go for help.
Video editors: PiTiVi is improving quickly and deserves a look. KDenLive has always been reliable for me. OpenShot is easy and quick, kind of like Windows Movie Maker (except it works).
Haroopad, an interesting HTML editor. It was reviewed favorably on last Sunday's Linux Action Show from Jupiter Broadcasting. I haven't tried because I usually use a WYSIWYG editor, but it looks useful.
"... Haroopad is a markdown enabled document processor for creating
web-friendly documents. You can author professional-looking documents of various formats: blog posts,
slides, presentations, reports, email and more ...":
Variety is a newer wallpaper changer that I like better than Wally, Wallch and others. It also can show quotes, clock, and is highly configurable and tweakable. It wasn't in the Mint repository (the non-functioning Wallch was, though); you have to search for it, add the ppa, then install. Three lines in the terminal, but worth it. Runs on all Linuxes. Written by Peter Levi, so find his page.
LIOS (Linux Intelligent OCR Solution) is a one-stop OCR solution. It interfaces with a scanner, camera, PDF or image file, runs an OCR using the Tesseract or Cuneiform OCR engines, and saves the text in multiple formats, including reading it aloud in a robot voice. It sounded good, and there's a .deb package (there's also rpm packages), so I installed easily it in my Mint 17.1 by clicking on the downloaded package.
The OCR engine worked fine on whatever I threw at it with few errors, except for a 30 year old dot matrix print. Unfortunately, the program itself tends to be a "work in progress"; I haven't been able to export to PDF or text, except by highlighting text and cut-and-paste. Some of the other buttons will simply crash it.
The version I tried, 1.9.2, was released December 8, 2014, and version 2 will be releaased "soon", so this bears watching because it shows promise.
Variety wallpaper changer has been updated to 0.5.0 beta (works pretty good though). It has a ton of features, but the new version features collaboration between users at https://vrty.org/ . I haven't figured out how that's supposed to work, though. There doesn't seem to be a lot of "variety" among the wallpapers so far. I guess I'm a different kind of geek.
i-nex gives an impressive amount of hardware information displayed in an easy to read format.
I couldn't install the stable version on Mint 17.1 because of dependencies, but the daily version installed and ran well.
pulseaudio-equalizer is a multiband audio frequency equalizer; a super tone control. It needs to be on your multimedia page because it took me 2 hours to find it. You can install it in Debian variants (I have Mint 17.1) by cuttin' and pastin' this into a terminal:
Maybe I missed it, but how about listing some good WebRTC sites for video chat? Maybe a whole article on replacing Skype or other video teleconferencing software? The only ones I know off the top of my head are appear.in and sylaps, but there are scads of others.
"Nobody is listening to your phone conversations" says President Hopey-Changey. True, but they have computers that can recognize your words and sort them into key phrases for further analysis.
The best solution is an operating system that maintains a repository of clean software, and is itself malware resistant. Microsoft Windows is not it.
Try Ubuntu MATE. You get an "app store" with descriptions and ratings, one click install, and regular updating (when and how you want it). Not to say the other 200 Linux distributions are not good, but Ubuntu MATE is probably the best place to start for a new user, right now.
Copy.com is a new Dropbox-like cloud that gives away 5 GB. You can also get an additional 5 GB per friend who signs up. Or enemy, doesn't matter; they get the 5 GB too.
I'm up to 25 GB. Here's my link, so you can get your extra 5 GB:
[edited out. referral links not allowed]
I went to Zoolz and tried to sign up, and these are the lies Zoolz told me:
"Linux Soon
Oops! We've noticed that you are on a Mac, we are working 24/7 to release it. It will be out April 30, 2013"
...along with a frowning "Mac" icon. I question if they are truly working 24/7.
Well, I went to a SugarSync features request forum where crowds of Linux users gather to complain fruitlessly about no support, and posted my referral link to Copy.com (where I get 5 GB for each referral). So, I'm up to 125 GB on Copy.com. I uploaded two hours of home movies and due to the slow upload speeds of our cable, it took all night. But at least it works great on Linux, like UbuntuOne and Dropbox.
Zoolz must have gotten their million free users, because now they're pay-only, and aimed at business users. And no mention of Linux client. Maybe they're still "working on it 24/7".
If you get hit with the CryptoLocker trojan, all your attached storage (network, extra HDD or flash drive) will be locked. But you can backup to an ext4 formatted drive which Windows can't see, and so it will be safe. Any Linux OS can read or write it it.
So why not just use Linux instead of Windows? You don't have to do any of the things in the list above, except backup your data. You keep your OS backup on the disk you loaded it from, and you can reinstall it in 15 minutes with no keys or licenses needed.
You have the original Linux OS on a CD, DVD or flash drive, right? Slap that sucker in, hit "Install on the entire disk", and you'll format the whole disk to (probably) Ext4 format and install Linux. Your data, your malware, your Windows, and your worries will be toast.
If you don't have experience loading Linux or don't have the original disks, download Ubuntu, Mint, or Zorin and follow the instructions for burning to a disk.
Then, load your backups and get back to work. But scan files before you email or transfer anything to a Windows PC, because it might have malware on it, even though it won't run on Linux.
If you install Windows after Linux, your Linux OS won't work anymore, because Windows is too stupid to recognize it.
Most of the big antivirus companies have an online scan that Linux users can use to scan a file before we send it to a windows user (one we haven't converted yet). I guess it would be improbable unless you copied a whole directory or one file you got off an email from a Nigerian prince or Russian p0rn site.
Simple Screen Recorder works pretty well. http://www.maartenbaert.be/simplescreenrecorder/
You can record the whole screen, a window, or an openGL object, plus audio.
It's in most Linux distro repositories, so it's clean.
I've successfully converted machines to Linux Mint, Ubuntu, Bodhi, openSuSE, and Puppy. At work I collaborate with guys still stuck on Windows 7 or XP, no problems. My 7 year old machine with Mint Cinnamon does all I need to do (presentations, movie editing, Gimp).
So don't complain about buying new PCs or how terrible Windows 8 is. Pay up or convert to Linux. You have a choice.
"Buy Windows 7 or buy a new PC" is what Microsoft wants you to do. Well, I took off their handcuffs a couple years ago and haven't looked back. Zorin, Linux Lite, or Mint will look most familiar to XP users and are easy to install.
I like digiKam and showFoto, which does about the same thing. They came with my openSUSE but there are versions for those who haven't converted to Linux yet.
My operating system updates itself PLUS all my installed apps, does it on my schedule, asks politely, and tells me what each one does (if I really want to know). And that's why I switched from Windows to Linux.
Does clonezilla do what you want to do? I just used it for my dad to copy a failing hard drive contents to a new HDD, Windows 7 and all. And I put Zorin on the extra space hoping he'd try it out!
If they're 32 bit machines, I usually put Lubuntu on them. Some had 256MB RAM, and those need to have the "alternate" installer, because the fancy "new" installer of Ubuntu won't run in that, even though Lubuntu will. Xubuntu is another good choice.
I find that using Windows is painful, because of all the menus full of useless garbage. That's why people ended up putting lots of shortcuts all over their desktop, so they can find them! I use Mint mostly, and the menus are a couple nested steps to get the app you want, or just type in the name if you know it. Ubuntu MATE is another easy to use one.
CDRoms are getting rare, so I usually put ISOs on a flash drive (1-2 GB if you can find them forgotten in a drawer). Bodhi and Puppy should fit on a CD. If you go to Distrowatch's Search page and search on "old computer" you'll find a few choices. Flash drives are easily reused when a new version comes out.
Everybody has their favorite distro, or several. I usually suggest a Debian variant to the noobs. Elementary, Zorin, Mint, Lite. Put it on a stick, have your victim boot off it and try it. Money back guarantee. Make SURE their favorite card game is on it, and their favorite wallpaper, and they'll be happy.
Don't throw away all those peripherals that won't run on newer Windows. They'll probably run on Linux!
I looked at React, but it's so last century. Ugh. I occasionally run Wine but almost everything I need is already in most distros, or easily installed from their repos.
My first PC at work was a 8086. Leading Edge D, with a full 640K RAM and a COLOR screen, I was hot stuff.
That's too many versions to upgrade. Better off saving all your data (you do that anyhow, right?) and nuke it. I just keep a list of apps and install new versions after upgrading. Download the latest Mint, install in the partition that had the old Mint. If you have a separate /home partition you won't even have to reload your data. This avoids a lot of problems, in fact Mint used to insist on reloading for every new version, but now you can upgrade one level at a time.
5. Unplug from the internet. Use XP for the rest of your or your PC's lives, whichever comes first. Good alternative for stand-alone machines; let's face it, you're not getting any more updates.
6. Run XP in a virtual machine with a safe OS such as Linux as host. Bonus: start using more and more cross-platform apps, and soon you will not need XP. If you install Zorin, Mint, LinuxLite, or ElementaryOS, you will soon wonder why you loved XP so much.
7. Use another PC to log into the XP machine over a secure net, using a remote desktop app like Remmina or Teamviewer.
Multiple panes is a feature that, after you get to use it, you wonder how you got along without it. I used XYPlorer in my Windows days and it's great. (Now I use Nemo on Linux Mint, or Dolphin on openSuSE.)
My wife just found a Simon game in the cellar, and now the grandkids want to play with it! You get to move your hands instead of just your thumbs. And the colors on the top look like the new Microsoft logo, isn't that a throwback?
The way I partition my machines is by using one partition just for my data. I keep each operating system and its programs (and its potential troubles) in its own partition. when upgrade time comes along (or I just want to try something new), I put the new OS in its own partition. 60-80 GB is plenty, leaving me 300 or more for data. I have 4 OS's on my laptop and choose between them at bootup, and access my data from any. (Well, except windows, which I rarely use; the data is formatted ext4 which Windows can't read, but I could have formatted it so it could.) If I have a problem or want to upgrade, I just write over that OS with a new live disk. Almost all Linux OS disks are free to download, so there's no reason not to burn one and try it out. Zorin, Mint, or Ubuntu are great for beginners.
It has some interesting tweaks, but they don't explain what some of them do so you just have to play with them. The integration with Dropbox and other cloud services is interesting. It would be handy if I used a Chromebook but I'll stick with DigiKam and Gimp.
This is the first place I go to for Linux apps. As for the decline of Windows, good that you see the handwriting on the wall and are going with the times.
All the sites listed above are for Windows, so are mostly useless for me.
I first go to the forum maintained by the Linux distro I'm using, or its derivative (e.g., Mint, Ubuntu). If I have a problem, a thousand others have had it too and a hundred have figured out the answer.
If I can't, there's a lot of small Linux forums but I find the best way of finding the topic is searching for it, making sure I use "linux" as one of the search terms.
Make Use Of is a great site with lots of articles on...everything, but heavy on the computer help. You have to search for the Linux stuff, but there's plenty of it.
OpenSUSE was the easiest install I've seen, Zorin was pretty good too. Deepin is reported to be simple too (looks pretty also). I always dual boot, even though I'll probably never use Windows again.
On many distros there are beginner forums that you can ask really basic questions and get a kind (if slightly condescending perhaps) answer. We were all noobs once.
You need to be specific, though, about your problem, what the result was, what you tried, and what hardware you are using. If you have a 32 bit system with a weird video card, 512MB memory, and a non-supported wifi card, you will be frustrated trying to install Ubuntu 64 bit.
On an old machine, you might find that Lubuntu 32 bit will run off the CD, but it won't install because the nice pretty installer won't run on low memory. But you can use the "altenate installer" (old one) for that.
And the #1 reason people stay with Windows: Laziness! They don't want to fool with their PC or learn something new. Still, they put up with upgrades, not realizing that there are modern Linux distros that are more like XP or 7 than Windows 8 is.
The last reason to switch to Linux: a lot of "old" hardware will run on it, like scanners and printers. And it's 2 clicks to install, no hunting for the driver disks like in Windows.
I've put Lubuntu on 10-12 year old machines with less than that. It will run off the CD, but not install with the "new" installer. Use the alternate download with the old installer, and it loads fine. I've run SuperGrub (a Debian spin) on a PC with 256MB, then run Firefox on it (one tab at a time, and slowly). Puppy is another good OS choice, and runs well off a CD if you have no hard drive. Midori is a better browser if you have tired hardware.
At some point you just need to throw out your antique machine, if it's worth less than a month's internet service.
A good video on switching to Linux: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gVZxQWlLOk
Jupiter Broadcasting is going to continue this show this year, so subscribe and learn. Their regular weekly "Linux Action Show" can get a bit...involved.
I'm a retired vacuum tube engineer, and I've used PCs since the 8086 days. I like the menu systems in Cinnamon, MATE and KDE, where the first menu is categories (sound & video, graphics, preferences, office) and the next level is applications (GIMP, Image Viewer, Scan). If I can remember what the name is, I just type it in the search (GIMP) and there it is; otherwise I run through the menus.
When you install a Windows app, it gets put where the autor wants it, plus a bunch of other cruft. So you get menu items for "Funkysoft --> FunkySoft on the Web Link, Uninstall FunkySoft, FunkySoft" etc. So, after trying to sort them into logical submenus, you just give up and put a shortcut to FunkySoft on your desktop. When the desktop gets full, you buy another monitor.
ZorinOS is specifically designed to not shock Windows users when they see the desktop, and there's a "look changer" that goes from Windows 2000 to XP to 7. Mint Cinnamon looks like Win7 to me. There are distros for Mac switchers, too: they have nice docks on the bottom, where they "should" be. Elementary is another gateway distro. Of course you can change a lot of things to suit your fancy, but it's better to start with something close to what you like.
So, go to distrowatch.com. Go to the Search at the top and click on "beginners" in the search box. There's links on each distro page to reviews and screenshots. Download a couple and give them a spin as a live disk, to see how your hardware works and how you like it.
We all know people who haven't changed the wallpaper on their XP system because they're afraid to "blow it up". In fact, for some of these people, that is a valid concern.
I pull out my Mint USB stick and tell them that in 15 minutes they can have a new operating system, complete with apps like an office suite, video/audio players, and image editors.
With another 30 seconds, we can find a nice wallpaper, I can show how the menu works and where the files go, and we're good to go.
I run mainly Linux Mint Cinnamon on machines all older/slower than yours. I do genealogy with the Gramps program. Edit videos with KDenLive, AviDemux, or OpenShot, view with VLC, edit photos with DigiKam, Gimp; edit audio with OcenAudio or Audacity. Mint or Zorin are best for beginners.
You can install any of these apps that aren't included by going to the distro's "app store" and searching, reading the review, and click once to install. None of this going to dodgy shareware sites and getting adware included with your download. Or worse.
Speaking of which: if your Windows machine was hit with a Cryptolocker virus, all your files would be toast. If you keep backups in a Linux format (ext4, btrfs) there's no way they can get infected, even if the virus gets stored with your files. Just sayin'.
I'd stick with Debian based distros; if you want to install stuff, most apps are packaged for Debian first. You'll find a .deb extension on the downloads. Half the distros are Debian based. The biggies are Ubuntu, Zorin, Bodhi, Mint, Lite, Elementary, Deepin; and they're all good for beginners. Go to the distro web site for instructions and introductions, then the forums for more info & resolve problems. If you install Mint or Zorin, look at the Ubuntu info too.
My point just went woosh over your head. I can install Mint quickly and a user can have a complete operating system with all the apps they're apt to need, and won't have to fool with. They can use the stock wallpaper forever. They don't have to customize anything.
Why would they do that, when XP will run forever? Well, I have a ten year old car, and it does what I need it to do, but doesn't have antilock brakes, a backup camera, tire pressure monitoring, LED running lights, GPS, or mp3 player input. At some point it will be uneconomical, impractical and/or unsafe to drive long distances, so I'm shopping for a new(er) one. I'll probably get one off the lot that has the best mix of features I want, although I could order exactly the features I want and wait for delivery.
XP is fine if you never want new features and never go on the internet, and never buy new hardware. Same with Windows 2000, or 98, or 95. If they serve your needs, fine. I've moved on, and I surf the web (with no antivirus).
If you want a new operating system or PC, you will have to learn it and set it up. If you buy Microsoft, you are stuck with whatever they want you to have. If you are overjoyed with Windows 8 or 10, good for you. But if you try Linux, you have a choice of many different distros, with different desktop "looks" and different purposes. You may want a multimedia server, an educational suite, some odd language, or just something that runs on an old machine. You might like Gnome's icons, KDE's menus, or a tiled window manager. Whatever, just download it, install and go. If you don't want to change the wallpaper, fine. If you want to add more desktops or apps, change themes or colors, have wobbly windows, etc. just do it.
The big difference between Windows and FOSS is important to some people. It's not just "free, as in free beer", it's "free, as in freedom". What's the big deal if the NSA has a back door into your operating system? Well, I have nothing to hide and probably you don't either, but there's a principle involved. Also, I don't like the idea of a proprietary "standard".
My "new" PC is an eMachine that I got when a buddy of mine died. It's 6+ years old and I edit photos, audio, web pages, and even videos; design 3D architecture, and electronic circuit simulation and schematics. It has 3 GB ram but it never bumps up against the limit. I run 2 or 3 Linux distros just for fun. (It also boots Windows 7, although I haven't updated it or used it in ... maybe 2 years, I don't know.)
The only thing you have to be careful about is the video. I have a 1920x1080 screen and an NVidia video in the computer, and the proprietary NVidia driver gives me fits when it gets updated. If you have a smaller screen it will probably work fine. Best way to find out is try it, you can't lose. Load a couple distros on a flash drive and boot 'em up. Check out how all your hardware works; sound, video, wifi, etc..
I've put a stripped down Debian on a 256 MB laptop that had Windows 2000. PCs that ran XP, I usually try Lubuntu 32 bit. (Note that you have to use the legacy installer, because the "new" installer takes too much memory). Puppy is another good one. There's a bunch listed in Distrowatch on their "search" page, just type in "old computer" in the search.
If you've got a 64 bit PC with a mammoth 2 GB of memory, anything should work. Mint is my usual favorite, Ubuntu MATE second.
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The home page for the program says, "Spybot Anti-Beacon comes in two flavours; as a standard installation or as a Portable Edition compatible with PortableApps." Can you give us a link to the stand-alone version 1.5?
Added later: OK, someone has pointed out the section on the home page called "Safer-Networking Download Section", which I overlooked.
I changed internet service recently..Now I have 512 kbps connection.
My previous connection was 256 kbps. and in torrent it used to give down speed of 60 kbps.
However for new connection I am not even getting down speed of 60 kbps.. :(
Is it a problem of my connection or do I need to delete cookies or something. If that is the case does anyone know how to do that?
I always make sure that seeds to peer ratio is high..
on speedtest.net download speed is . 0.51 Mbps upload speed is 0.21 Mbps.
Can anyone help?
The last time upgraded my connection from 128kbps to 256kbps my torrent speed incresed from 30kbps to 60kbps.
Downloaded the Comodo software but the website is degenerate. You cannot create a User Account - just loops back to the Sign In Page... contacting Comodo is also difficult and when you do they just say there nothing we can do?
Does not deserve 5 stars!
I Changed the color as indicated on both
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Colors
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\Colors.
But every time I hibernate the PC (Win 8.1) the windows go back to white background, only the log-off log-on actually works.
I tried changing the color even in all the HKEY_USERS but nothing changed.
Any idea?
I did find a way to keep the colors, have no image at all as desktop background, pretty soon we'll go back to dos, sure pc would be faster.
Thanks Microsoft..
No, again every windows goes back to white after a screen lock or PC hibernate, only the logon gets the wanted color.
Any idea how to make the system reconsider the colors in the registry without having to close every program and logoff?
Do they know what the W10 will cost after the year has come and gone?
http://onevidtube.com/ is great one that support maximum size of 2 GB
Like many on here I used teh free version of LogMeIn for many years and now find myself looking for another provider. Can anyone make a suitable recommendation please? My requirements are:
1 Simple remote access of my home pc, from my laptop and/or ipad when I'm away from home
2 Unattended access of my home pc
3 Just need simple access to my documents etc on my home pc. Don't need options to print to local printer, file share etc
4 Speed and smooth operation is important. I don't want to wait several seconds for a responce after clicking mouse
5 Free
6 Easy set up
There seems to be so much on the market and as I'm not the most IT literate, any help would be appreciated.
Your "download" button for Comodo is actually the link to Avira.
Also, there's a separate page for Linux antivirus. https://www.comodo.com/home/internet-security/antivirus-for-linux.php
I'm not so sure there's really any point because Linux is so virus-resistant anyhow. But it's good to see Tux getting some love.
If you need to file a state tax e.g., New York, TaxAct's "free" suddenly jumps to $18 because you need the "Ultimate" bundle, fees, addons, yadda yadda.
I tried Quanta Plus; I'm sure it's very powerful but it sure isn't user friendly.
So I've gone back to SeaMonkey. It doesn't look like it's changed in ten years. Whether that's good or bad you decide. It makes better code than LibreOffice.
I still think OcenAudio beats Audacity, most of the time. Better set of tools, and smaller download. I just installed the latest version on LinuxMint, piece of cake.
I just did this with a cassette tape of our choir. I connected my cassette player into the line in of my pc, and recorded it to one file (didn't need to babysit it, just let it run). I opened the file and by zooming in I can see where songs begin and end. I highlight what looks to be one song with the mouse and copy and paste that one song (and a little extra) to a new file. I trim it to just the right length, apply any filters etc. then save as a mp3 and wav file (for CD).
I used OcenAudio on LinuxMint, but Audacity should work the same way.
I have a bunch of old PZM mics, and they pick up everything. Their main claim is they don't pick up reflections from nearby floors or table tops, so there is no strange comb-filtering effect that puts nulls in your frequency response. (That Media College blurb misstates this effect as "reverberation", which is way different.)
What you want to reduce extraneous sound is a directional mic. Cardioid is usually the best you can get in a cheap mic, but unidirectional ones have tighter patterns. A paraboloid reflector is better yet, for faraway sounds (think bird calls). But usually you will get the best sound by putting your mic as close to the source as possible. Use a clip-on mic or headset-mounted.
The free version of DaVinci doesn't run on Linux.
You forgot the Linux versions!
KDirStat is the program that WinDirStat was cloned from. And, naturally, you don't have to worry about trojans in that.
Baobab is a Gnome app that comes with some distros, like Mint. It's also called "Disk Usage Analyzer". After searching around Gismo's in vain, I discovered I already had it.
You have to watch where you get software when you run Windows. Get it right from the Gramps Project, not a "freeware site". And antivirus programs have a lot of false positives.
I run Linux, and usually get apps right from the distro repositories so I know they're clean.
Gramps is probably the only open source genealogy program, so deserves support. It runs great in openSUSE (KDE based) and Mint (Debian/Ubuntu/Gnome3 based). No fooling around with Wine or VM.
Gramps is up to version 4.1.1. I found some bugs in ver.3 and I see they've been fixed.It's in the repositories of openSUSE and Ubuntu so install is quick & EZ in Linux.
Every genealogy propgram will import and export to a GEDCOM file. I imported my dad's Roots Magic GEDCOM file into Gramps and it worked great.
You will run into trouble if you start saving data that isn't included in the GEDCOM scheme. Proprietary formats could include sources, images, recordings. Those are fine as long as the company stays in business and you want to pay what they ask, but if you share the data with someone else they probably won't have the same program. If you use Excel (or the open source LibreOffice Calc) you will have your own format to sort out.
Gramps seems to be the only real open source genealogy program. It is better than the old PAF from the Mormons, and has a ton of capabilities. I back it up in their format, but also back up occasionally in GEDCOM.
I sent in a minor bug report to Gramps and they came right back replying that they fixed that bug in the latest version. So they are moving quick and actively developing and polishing.
And it runs natively on Linux for when you outgrow Windows... ;-)
I went to the Orba Design site and opened up their template with LibreOffice Calc, and it worked fine. But I didn't try their converter.
I found out that GEDCOM was started by the LDS and just kind of grew from there, with some companies making extensions to it for various things.GEDCOM is text based, but others like Excel and LO spreadsheets and Gramps's are XML. There's no standard, or official sanctioning entity to evaluate new formats or features and make them standard. Us engineers have the IEEE, which is why your wireless card works with your router.
"I tried to use Gramps but this can only show the parents for every individual, that is definitely not what I want."
Not sure what you're trying to do here, but if you go into the View-->Configure menu, you can set up Gramps to show all kinds of weird stuff, like vertical up/down (like Ancestry.com) or a descendent fan chart (which can show hundreds of people in a small area). It just has tons of capability.
Interestingly, Gramps uses Graphviz to show charts. Scribus also has a plug in. Haven't tried.
Gimp works on images, not vectors or databases.
Graphviz isn't in my Mint repository, so haven't tried that either. Getting late anyhow....zzzzz
You can change the chart to vertical, different direction, fan chart, etc. by going to View-->Configure. The fan chart is pretty cool, you can see hundreds of people at once.
The Reports menu has lots of different things that are produced with a Graphwiz plugin. It should be installed, so you just hit a button and it makes a chart in SVG format that you can manipulate using a vector graphics program.
You can install plugins pretty easily, and there's a bunch of them at https://gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php?title=4.2_Addons . Maybe some of them will do what you want. Like this? https://gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php?title=File:RelationshipChartDescendants.png
The wiki has support for new users. https://gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php?title=Main_page Probably the place to go for help.
How about FreeCAD? http://www.freecadweb.org/
XnView is a great photo editor. Fast, easy, yet powerful.
Flowblade video editor deserves a look. An updated version came out recently. It looks slicker than OpenShot but easier than AviDemux.
http://code.google.com/p/flowblade/
Video editors: PiTiVi is improving quickly and deserves a look. KDenLive has always been reliable for me. OpenShot is easy and quick, kind of like Windows Movie Maker (except it works).
Haroopad, an interesting HTML editor. It was reviewed favorably on last Sunday's Linux Action Show from Jupiter Broadcasting. I haven't tried because I usually use a WYSIWYG editor, but it looks useful.
"... Haroopad is a markdown enabled document processor for creating
web-friendly documents. You can author professional-looking documents of various formats: blog posts,
slides, presentations, reports, email and more ...":
http://pad.haroopress.com/user.html
Ooops. One of these days I'll figure out how to find stuff here.
Variety is a newer wallpaper changer that I like better than Wally, Wallch and others. It also can show quotes, clock, and is highly configurable and tweakable. It wasn't in the Mint repository (the non-functioning Wallch was, though); you have to search for it, add the ppa, then install. Three lines in the terminal, but worth it. Runs on all Linuxes. Written by Peter Levi, so find his page.
LIOS (Linux Intelligent OCR Solution) is a one-stop OCR solution. It interfaces with a scanner, camera, PDF or image file, runs an OCR using the Tesseract or Cuneiform OCR engines, and saves the text in multiple formats, including reading it aloud in a robot voice. It sounded good, and there's a .deb package (there's also rpm packages), so I installed easily it in my Mint 17.1 by clicking on the downloaded package.
The OCR engine worked fine on whatever I threw at it with few errors, except for a 30 year old dot matrix print. Unfortunately, the program itself tends to be a "work in progress"; I haven't been able to export to PDF or text, except by highlighting text and cut-and-paste. Some of the other buttons will simply crash it.
The version I tried, 1.9.2, was released December 8, 2014, and version 2 will be releaased "soon", so this bears watching because it shows promise.
https://code.google.com/p/linux-intelligent-ocr-solution/
Variety wallpaper changer has been updated to 0.5.0 beta (works pretty good though). It has a ton of features, but the new version features collaboration between users at https://vrty.org/ . I haven't figured out how that's supposed to work, though. There doesn't seem to be a lot of "variety" among the wallpapers so far. I guess I'm a different kind of geek.
i-nex gives an impressive amount of hardware information displayed in an easy to read format.
I couldn't install the stable version on Mint 17.1 because of dependencies, but the daily version installed and ran well.
pulseaudio-equalizer is a multiband audio frequency equalizer; a super tone control. It needs to be on your multimedia page because it took me 2 hours to find it. You can install it in Debian variants (I have Mint 17.1) by cuttin' and pastin' this into a terminal:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install pulseaudio-equalizer
The whole sad story of why it's missing from distros is here:
http://www.webupd8.org/2013/03/install-pulseaudio-with-built-in-system.html
Unfortunately FileZilla Secure is "under development" for Linux. The question I have is, is the original FileZilla in Linux susceptible to hacking?
Maybe I missed it, but how about listing some good WebRTC sites for video chat? Maybe a whole article on replacing Skype or other video teleconferencing software? The only ones I know off the top of my head are appear.in and sylaps, but there are scads of others.
I don't see any discussion of Universal Media Server.
"Nobody is listening to your phone conversations" says President Hopey-Changey. True, but they have computers that can recognize your words and sort them into key phrases for further analysis.
The best solution is an operating system that maintains a repository of clean software, and is itself malware resistant. Microsoft Windows is not it.
Try Ubuntu MATE. You get an "app store" with descriptions and ratings, one click install, and regular updating (when and how you want it). Not to say the other 200 Linux distributions are not good, but Ubuntu MATE is probably the best place to start for a new user, right now.
Kidzui looks like a plugin for Firefox; at least that's what it tells me (I'm running FF on LinuxMint).
Their "Sign Up" button has no link...?
Copy.com is a new Dropbox-like cloud that gives away 5 GB. You can also get an additional 5 GB per friend who signs up. Or enemy, doesn't matter; they get the 5 GB too.
I'm up to 25 GB. Here's my link, so you can get your extra 5 GB:
[edited out. referral links not allowed]
I went to Zoolz and tried to sign up, and these are the lies Zoolz told me:
"Linux Soon
Oops! We've noticed that you are on a Mac, we are working 24/7 to release it. It will be out April 30, 2013"
...along with a frowning "Mac" icon. I question if they are truly working 24/7.
Well, I went to a SugarSync features request forum where crowds of Linux users gather to complain fruitlessly about no support, and posted my referral link to Copy.com (where I get 5 GB for each referral). So, I'm up to 125 GB on Copy.com. I uploaded two hours of home movies and due to the slow upload speeds of our cable, it took all night. But at least it works great on Linux, like UbuntuOne and Dropbox.
Zoolz must have gotten their million free users, because now they're pay-only, and aimed at business users. And no mention of Linux client. Maybe they're still "working on it 24/7".
I wonder how a dictionary attack would work against a password that's a combination of Flemish, Malagasy, Latin and Hawaiian words?
Moral of the story: don't run Windows.
This is why I use DuckDuckGo for search.
If you get hit with the CryptoLocker trojan, all your attached storage (network, extra HDD or flash drive) will be locked. But you can backup to an ext4 formatted drive which Windows can't see, and so it will be safe. Any Linux OS can read or write it it.
So why not just use Linux instead of Windows? You don't have to do any of the things in the list above, except backup your data. You keep your OS backup on the disk you loaded it from, and you can reinstall it in 15 minutes with no keys or licenses needed.
You have the original Linux OS on a CD, DVD or flash drive, right? Slap that sucker in, hit "Install on the entire disk", and you'll format the whole disk to (probably) Ext4 format and install Linux. Your data, your malware, your Windows, and your worries will be toast.
If you don't have experience loading Linux or don't have the original disks, download Ubuntu, Mint, or Zorin and follow the instructions for burning to a disk.
Then, load your backups and get back to work. But scan files before you email or transfer anything to a Windows PC, because it might have malware on it, even though it won't run on Linux.
If you install Windows after Linux, your Linux OS won't work anymore, because Windows is too stupid to recognize it.
Most of the big antivirus companies have an online scan that Linux users can use to scan a file before we send it to a windows user (one we haven't converted yet). I guess it would be improbable unless you copied a whole directory or one file you got off an email from a Nigerian prince or Russian p0rn site.
I like Rescatux because it's a small download, yet contains a complete operating system. I use it to restore bootloaders and erase windows passwords.
http://www.supergrubdisk.org/rescatux/
Simple Screen Recorder works pretty well. http://www.maartenbaert.be/simplescreenrecorder/
You can record the whole screen, a window, or an openGL object, plus audio.
It's in most Linux distro repositories, so it's clean.
Plan B (not mentioned by Microsoft):
Copy your data files onto a flash drive or portable hard drive (which you should do anyway).
Install Linux.
Copy files back to your /home directory.
Get back to work. Elapsed time: half an hour or so, plus backup time. Cost: whatever the backup cost you.
I've successfully converted machines to Linux Mint, Ubuntu, Bodhi, openSuSE, and Puppy. At work I collaborate with guys still stuck on Windows 7 or XP, no problems. My 7 year old machine with Mint Cinnamon does all I need to do (presentations, movie editing, Gimp).
So don't complain about buying new PCs or how terrible Windows 8 is. Pay up or convert to Linux. You have a choice.
Hasta la Vista, Microsoft!
"Buy Windows 7 or buy a new PC" is what Microsoft wants you to do. Well, I took off their handcuffs a couple years ago and haven't looked back. Zorin, Linux Lite, or Mint will look most familiar to XP users and are easy to install.
MuseScore is a blast. I used Finale for many years, but I finally converted to Linux.
In other news, LMMS has finally reached version 1.0.0. So I can write scores, and render them.
Clever (works in Linux too, of course). But I'm addicted to Tomboy Notes.
I like digiKam and showFoto, which does about the same thing. They came with my openSUSE but there are versions for those who haven't converted to Linux yet.
Thanks for reminding me why I use Linux. It updates all my apps safely and easily.
What's the latest Linux equivalent? x2x was first developed in 1996. I wonder what happened to it.
My operating system updates itself PLUS all my installed apps, does it on my schedule, asks politely, and tells me what each one does (if I really want to know). And that's why I switched from Windows to Linux.
I use Remmina on Linux to RDP into Windows or Linux PCs.
Does clonezilla do what you want to do? I just used it for my dad to copy a failing hard drive contents to a new HDD, Windows 7 and all. And I put Zorin on the extra space hoping he'd try it out!
If they're 32 bit machines, I usually put Lubuntu on them. Some had 256MB RAM, and those need to have the "alternate" installer, because the fancy "new" installer of Ubuntu won't run in that, even though Lubuntu will. Xubuntu is another good choice.
I find that using Windows is painful, because of all the menus full of useless garbage. That's why people ended up putting lots of shortcuts all over their desktop, so they can find them! I use Mint mostly, and the menus are a couple nested steps to get the app you want, or just type in the name if you know it. Ubuntu MATE is another easy to use one.
CDRoms are getting rare, so I usually put ISOs on a flash drive (1-2 GB if you can find them forgotten in a drawer). Bodhi and Puppy should fit on a CD. If you go to Distrowatch's Search page and search on "old computer" you'll find a few choices. Flash drives are easily reused when a new version comes out.
Everybody has their favorite distro, or several. I usually suggest a Debian variant to the noobs. Elementary, Zorin, Mint, Lite. Put it on a stick, have your victim boot off it and try it. Money back guarantee. Make SURE their favorite card game is on it, and their favorite wallpaper, and they'll be happy.
Don't throw away all those peripherals that won't run on newer Windows. They'll probably run on Linux!
I looked at React, but it's so last century. Ugh. I occasionally run Wine but almost everything I need is already in most distros, or easily installed from their repos.
My first PC at work was a 8086. Leading Edge D, with a full 640K RAM and a COLOR screen, I was hot stuff.
That's too many versions to upgrade. Better off saving all your data (you do that anyhow, right?) and nuke it. I just keep a list of apps and install new versions after upgrading. Download the latest Mint, install in the partition that had the old Mint. If you have a separate /home partition you won't even have to reload your data. This avoids a lot of problems, in fact Mint used to insist on reloading for every new version, but now you can upgrade one level at a time.
Great article. I wish you had written this ten years ago. The registry is one of the reasons I converted to Linux.
That would really be painful.
5. Unplug from the internet. Use XP for the rest of your or your PC's lives, whichever comes first. Good alternative for stand-alone machines; let's face it, you're not getting any more updates.
6. Run XP in a virtual machine with a safe OS such as Linux as host. Bonus: start using more and more cross-platform apps, and soon you will not need XP. If you install Zorin, Mint, LinuxLite, or ElementaryOS, you will soon wonder why you loved XP so much.
7. Use another PC to log into the XP machine over a secure net, using a remote desktop app like Remmina or Teamviewer.
Multiple panes is a feature that, after you get to use it, you wonder how you got along without it. I used XYPlorer in my Windows days and it's great. (Now I use Nemo on Linux Mint, or Dolphin on openSuSE.)
Why be an unpaid beta tester for Microsoft? I'm open source now.
No caps lock, so you can't get the : to work. That's OK, I've seen enough! (shudder)
Your first advice is good though: "Forget Windows Ten"! I'm on Linux and I'm not looking back.
Don't miss the "making of" Animator IV, link at the end of it.
I need uplifting, not calming. Our local radio station (wcny.org) is presently playing Mozart's Coronation Mass ....
My wife just found a Simon game in the cellar, and now the grandkids want to play with it! You get to move your hands instead of just your thumbs. And the colors on the top look like the new Microsoft logo, isn't that a throwback?
The way I partition my machines is by using one partition just for my data. I keep each operating system and its programs (and its potential troubles) in its own partition. when upgrade time comes along (or I just want to try something new), I put the new OS in its own partition. 60-80 GB is plenty, leaving me 300 or more for data. I have 4 OS's on my laptop and choose between them at bootup, and access my data from any. (Well, except windows, which I rarely use; the data is formatted ext4 which Windows can't read, but I could have formatted it so it could.) If I have a problem or want to upgrade, I just write over that OS with a new live disk. Almost all Linux OS disks are free to download, so there's no reason not to burn one and try it out. Zorin, Mint, or Ubuntu are great for beginners.
It has some interesting tweaks, but they don't explain what some of them do so you just have to play with them. The integration with Dropbox and other cloud services is interesting. It would be handy if I used a Chromebook but I'll stick with DigiKam and Gimp.
If it helps Mozilla, I'll keep the ads. Might be something interesting, but most likely I won't notice them.
MuseScore is open source, runs native on Linux, and...well, I think it's better.
The "New comment" box is at the bottom of all the comments.
You can go to the Wine app data base and give a (thumbs down) report on Forte. It might help out other folks. https://appdb.winehq.org/
Another thing thant helps Linux is to contact Forte and explain you'd love to be a customer but can't get their trial to run on Ubuntu.
Zalig Kerstfeest en Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!
This is the first place I go to for Linux apps. As for the decline of Windows, good that you see the handwriting on the wall and are going with the times.
All the sites listed above are for Windows, so are mostly useless for me.
I first go to the forum maintained by the Linux distro I'm using, or its derivative (e.g., Mint, Ubuntu). If I have a problem, a thousand others have had it too and a hundred have figured out the answer.
If I can't, there's a lot of small Linux forums but I find the best way of finding the topic is searching for it, making sure I use "linux" as one of the search terms.
Make Use Of is a great site with lots of articles on...everything, but heavy on the computer help. You have to search for the Linux stuff, but there's plenty of it.
http://www.makeuseof.com/
If you use Linux, use Redshift. I use it to color-correct my monitor, which is too blue for me. Redshift is in the Mint repository. Two clicks, done.
If you use Windows, just get Linux.
Does anybody know a similar program for Linux?
OpenSUSE was the easiest install I've seen, Zorin was pretty good too. Deepin is reported to be simple too (looks pretty also). I always dual boot, even though I'll probably never use Windows again.
On many distros there are beginner forums that you can ask really basic questions and get a kind (if slightly condescending perhaps) answer. We were all noobs once.
You need to be specific, though, about your problem, what the result was, what you tried, and what hardware you are using. If you have a 32 bit system with a weird video card, 512MB memory, and a non-supported wifi card, you will be frustrated trying to install Ubuntu 64 bit.
On an old machine, you might find that Lubuntu 32 bit will run off the CD, but it won't install because the nice pretty installer won't run on low memory. But you can use the "altenate installer" (old one) for that.
"Misery loves company."
Try Hylafax: http://www.hylafax.org/content/Main_Page
And the #1 reason people stay with Windows: Laziness! They don't want to fool with their PC or learn something new. Still, they put up with upgrades, not realizing that there are modern Linux distros that are more like XP or 7 than Windows 8 is.
The last reason to switch to Linux: a lot of "old" hardware will run on it, like scanners and printers. And it's 2 clicks to install, no hunting for the driver disks like in Windows.
I've put Lubuntu on 10-12 year old machines with less than that. It will run off the CD, but not install with the "new" installer. Use the alternate download with the old installer, and it loads fine. I've run SuperGrub (a Debian spin) on a PC with 256MB, then run Firefox on it (one tab at a time, and slowly). Puppy is another good OS choice, and runs well off a CD if you have no hard drive. Midori is a better browser if you have tired hardware.
At some point you just need to throw out your antique machine, if it's worth less than a month's internet service.
A good video on switching to Linux: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gVZxQWlLOk
Jupiter Broadcasting is going to continue this show this year, so subscribe and learn. Their regular weekly "Linux Action Show" can get a bit...involved.
I'm a retired vacuum tube engineer, and I've used PCs since the 8086 days. I like the menu systems in Cinnamon, MATE and KDE, where the first menu is categories (sound & video, graphics, preferences, office) and the next level is applications (GIMP, Image Viewer, Scan). If I can remember what the name is, I just type it in the search (GIMP) and there it is; otherwise I run through the menus.
When you install a Windows app, it gets put where the autor wants it, plus a bunch of other cruft. So you get menu items for "Funkysoft --> FunkySoft on the Web Link, Uninstall FunkySoft, FunkySoft" etc. So, after trying to sort them into logical submenus, you just give up and put a shortcut to FunkySoft on your desktop. When the desktop gets full, you buy another monitor.
ZorinOS is specifically designed to not shock Windows users when they see the desktop, and there's a "look changer" that goes from Windows 2000 to XP to 7. Mint Cinnamon looks like Win7 to me. There are distros for Mac switchers, too: they have nice docks on the bottom, where they "should" be. Elementary is another gateway distro. Of course you can change a lot of things to suit your fancy, but it's better to start with something close to what you like.
So, go to distrowatch.com. Go to the Search at the top and click on "beginners" in the search box. There's links on each distro page to reviews and screenshots. Download a couple and give them a spin as a live disk, to see how your hardware works and how you like it.
We all know people who haven't changed the wallpaper on their XP system because they're afraid to "blow it up". In fact, for some of these people, that is a valid concern.
I pull out my Mint USB stick and tell them that in 15 minutes they can have a new operating system, complete with apps like an office suite, video/audio players, and image editors.
With another 30 seconds, we can find a nice wallpaper, I can show how the menu works and where the files go, and we're good to go.
I run mainly Linux Mint Cinnamon on machines all older/slower than yours. I do genealogy with the Gramps program. Edit videos with KDenLive, AviDemux, or OpenShot, view with VLC, edit photos with DigiKam, Gimp; edit audio with OcenAudio or Audacity. Mint or Zorin are best for beginners.
You can install any of these apps that aren't included by going to the distro's "app store" and searching, reading the review, and click once to install. None of this going to dodgy shareware sites and getting adware included with your download. Or worse.
Speaking of which: if your Windows machine was hit with a Cryptolocker virus, all your files would be toast. If you keep backups in a Linux format (ext4, btrfs) there's no way they can get infected, even if the virus gets stored with your files. Just sayin'.
I'd stick with Debian based distros; if you want to install stuff, most apps are packaged for Debian first. You'll find a .deb extension on the downloads. Half the distros are Debian based. The biggies are Ubuntu, Zorin, Bodhi, Mint, Lite, Elementary, Deepin; and they're all good for beginners. Go to the distro web site for instructions and introductions, then the forums for more info & resolve problems. If you install Mint or Zorin, look at the Ubuntu info too.
My point just went woosh over your head. I can install Mint quickly and a user can have a complete operating system with all the apps they're apt to need, and won't have to fool with. They can use the stock wallpaper forever. They don't have to customize anything.
Why would they do that, when XP will run forever? Well, I have a ten year old car, and it does what I need it to do, but doesn't have antilock brakes, a backup camera, tire pressure monitoring, LED running lights, GPS, or mp3 player input. At some point it will be uneconomical, impractical and/or unsafe to drive long distances, so I'm shopping for a new(er) one. I'll probably get one off the lot that has the best mix of features I want, although I could order exactly the features I want and wait for delivery.
XP is fine if you never want new features and never go on the internet, and never buy new hardware. Same with Windows 2000, or 98, or 95. If they serve your needs, fine. I've moved on, and I surf the web (with no antivirus).
If you want a new operating system or PC, you will have to learn it and set it up. If you buy Microsoft, you are stuck with whatever they want you to have. If you are overjoyed with Windows 8 or 10, good for you. But if you try Linux, you have a choice of many different distros, with different desktop "looks" and different purposes. You may want a multimedia server, an educational suite, some odd language, or just something that runs on an old machine. You might like Gnome's icons, KDE's menus, or a tiled window manager. Whatever, just download it, install and go. If you don't want to change the wallpaper, fine. If you want to add more desktops or apps, change themes or colors, have wobbly windows, etc. just do it.
The big difference between Windows and FOSS is important to some people. It's not just "free, as in free beer", it's "free, as in freedom". What's the big deal if the NSA has a back door into your operating system? Well, I have nothing to hide and probably you don't either, but there's a principle involved. Also, I don't like the idea of a proprietary "standard".
My "new" PC is an eMachine that I got when a buddy of mine died. It's 6+ years old and I edit photos, audio, web pages, and even videos; design 3D architecture, and electronic circuit simulation and schematics. It has 3 GB ram but it never bumps up against the limit. I run 2 or 3 Linux distros just for fun. (It also boots Windows 7, although I haven't updated it or used it in ... maybe 2 years, I don't know.)
The only thing you have to be careful about is the video. I have a 1920x1080 screen and an NVidia video in the computer, and the proprietary NVidia driver gives me fits when it gets updated. If you have a smaller screen it will probably work fine. Best way to find out is try it, you can't lose. Load a couple distros on a flash drive and boot 'em up. Check out how all your hardware works; sound, video, wifi, etc..
I've put a stripped down Debian on a 256 MB laptop that had Windows 2000. PCs that ran XP, I usually try Lubuntu 32 bit. (Note that you have to use the legacy installer, because the "new" installer takes too much memory). Puppy is another good one. There's a bunch listed in Distrowatch on their "search" page, just type in "old computer" in the search.
If you've got a 64 bit PC with a mammoth 2 GB of memory, anything should work. Mint is my usual favorite, Ubuntu MATE second.
Yes: first take 15 minutes to install ZorinOS, Mint, Deepin, or Ubuntu; then install Airtime. Be free of Microsoft.
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