Thinking of switching from windows to ubuntu, need advice

**l0xz** · April 4th, 2013

Hi,

I'm new to ubuntu. And I have a few question for you guys that already use ubuntu. My PC recently got hacked and the data from it got uploaded on the internet and I lost my job because of that. I'm now scanning my PC with every good tool on the internet. I scanned it before with bitdefender and it didn't give me any warning or virus alert. Now I am thinking of switching to Ubuntu, as I heard there are not that much viruses on Ubuntu. Will it be worth it?
I work online, develop sites, sell seo services and so on. So my PC is like my home, i cannot let anything happen to it. Don't want to write more about this, but can you guys tell me the advantages for being a ubuntu user?

can i find filezilla, chrome, firefox, video players so I can watch some movies, you know the basic programs that are needed for a user?
will my PC run better then before when I had windows (xp)
can i still play wow occasionally?

It will help me a lot if you could answer some questions.

Thanks!

**ibjsb4** · April 4th, 2013

What are your computer specs?

And you can load the live CD and try Ubuntu before installing to see what its like

**ibjsb4** · April 4th, 2013

http://releases.ubuntu.com/precise/

**mJayk** · April 4th, 2013

can i find filezilla, chrome, firefox, video players so I can watch some movies, you know the basic programs that are needed for a user? YES
will my PC run better then before when I had windows (xp) MAYBE
can i still play wow occasionally? YES

**grahammechanical** · April 4th, 2013

as I heard there are not that much viruses on Ubuntu. Will it be worth it?

Ubuntu is a distribution of Linux and not an operating system. Ubuntu is as secure as Linux is. That does not mean that you should not take precautions. We the user are the weakest link in any security defence.

Will it be worth it? Well, it is distributed for free and If we choose Ubuntu 12.04 we get four more years of security updates and fixes without charge. Or we can upgrade to Ubuntu 14.04 at the end of April 2014 and get 5 years support from then on. Does that sound like a good deal?

My advice would be to install Ubuntu in a dual boot set up then you can experiment setting up Ubuntu to do everything that you want to do and the way you want to do it. Ubuntu 12.04 will certainly be more secure the Windows XP and much more cost effective than Windows 7 or 8 without loosing any of the quality that one would expect.

Regards

**Mark Phelps** · April 4th, 2013

Originally Posted by l0xz

... can you guys tell me the advantages for being a ubuntu user?

can i find filezilla, chrome, firefox, video players so I can watch some movies, you know the basic programs that are needed for a user?
will my PC run better then before when I had windows (xp)
can i still play wow occasionally?

It will help me a lot if you could answer some questions.

Thanks!

In my experience, one of the Main advantages of being a user of any Linux distro is that the cost to try it out is essentially nothing -- you can run from CD or DVD to try it out, and to install, all you need to do is make some room on a drive. Unlike with Windows, there are no fees to acquire or use Linux Os's or applications. If Ubuntu doesn't work well for you, there are a host of other Linux distros you can try -- without having to buy anything.

The main downside is that Linux is not designed to be a free version of Windows, that is, many Windows apps will run poorly, if at all, in Linux. So, if you're looking to only change OSs but keep using Windows apps, then the switch to Linux is going to be very disappointing.

There is going to be some learning involved, as even in the cases where there are both Windows and Linux versions of the same app, there are often differences in the screen presentations and features. In other cases, you have to be willing to learn a whole new application to do something you've done for years a different way by using Windows apps.

Whether that effort is worth it, or if that is a better situation -- these are entirely personal decisions, so anything anyone tells you is simply their opinion.

As to if your machine will run better than it did with XP, in my personal experience, the answer is -- probably NOT. Vista was the big "failure" in the Windows world, so practically anything looks better than Vista. Windows 7, not so much. Windows 8 -- in some views, is going back to the Vista days.

**Impavidus** · April 5th, 2013

When I first installed Ubuntu 6.06 on a win xp machine there was a significant increase in performance. Since then Ubuntu has had a few upgrades (running xubuntu 12.04 now on that old machine) whilst win xp has stayed the same. Ubuntu is still faster, but mostly because it doesn't have to update the virus scanner and run some tests at start up, which renders win xp unusable for the first few minutes after boot.

**mastablasta** · April 5th, 2013

Originally Posted by l0xz

I work online, develop sites, sell seo services and so on.

we do all that on linux. not sure what applications you use in windows for that. but we do it in linux for the most part.

can i find filezilla, chrome, firefox, video players so I can watch some movies, you know the basic programs that are needed for a user?

boot it, select try it and open software center to see if all programmes you want are there. each user defines their basic needs differently.

[/QUOTE]
will my PC run better then before when I had windows (xp)[/QUOTE]
depends on hardware and on the type of desktop environment you plan to use. you have Linux that works on less than 32MB. but there are some like Ubuntu that need good GPU support and at least 1GB ram to be snappy.
Xubuntu - you need 512MB
Lubuntu works ok even on 256 MB ram
Kubuntu at least 512MB preferably 1GB.

if GPU is well supported in linux then you shouldn't have much issues regarding speed.

can i still play wow occasionally?

probably via WINE, but you can always dualboot.

**fantab** · April 5th, 2013

When compared to Windows, Linux Distributions are 'considered' to be more secure. However 'security' is only as good as the end-user. Like they say, the most (100%) secure computer is the one that is turned off.

Refer the following Links on how to make you computer 'secure':
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/security
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=510812
https://www.techsupportalert.com/con...list-world.htm

As adviced do consider Dual-Booting Windows and Ubuntu until you are comfortable enough with Ubuntu and can live without Windows.

My two cents...

**3rdalbum** · April 5th, 2013

You seem to be a very good candidate for Linux. There are, in fact, no viruses on Linux at the moment so you really don't need an anti-virus program.

If your computer is running Windows XP it may be using an old graphics card. Radeon HD 4000 and older Radeon cards are not well supported with 3D on Linux due to AMD not making drivers for them anymore.

If your card is a Radeon HD 2000 or later, up to the 4000 series, you should use Ubuntu 12.04 as it still can use the older AMD graphics driver. For Nvidia cards, Intel graphics or recent AMD cards you can use 12.10 or 12.04.

For AMD graphics before the HD 2000 you are entirely out of luck and wont be able to play WoW.

The most important thing to know is that Ubuntu is not Windows. It is very, very, very different to Windows. Not difficult to use, just different. If you can accept that you are a newb, and can learn new things and persist through the learning phase and don't be afraid to ask simple questions, you will be fine.