Linux a Windows 10/Windows 11 operating system alternative for FREE!
If Microsoft won't allow you to upgrade your pefectly functional computer to Windows 11 now they have ceased to support Windows 10 since October 2025 because of "Hardware Incompatibilities" did you know there is an alternative free Desktop PC operating system called Linux (Pronounced "Lin ux" NOT "Lie Nux") which is aways up to date and has thousands of free Open Source applications including replacements for all of the Microsoft Office suite (and you can also run Microsoft Teams on it)?
Linux will enable you to keep your old hardware and so save you going to the expense of having to buy a new PC or laptop when there is nothing wrong with your old one.
You have probably used Linux already without realising it as varieties of Linux power the majority of web servers and search engines enabling the internet, the majority of Smart TVs, DVD players, TV Set Top Boxes (Freeview), SatNavs, Raspberry Pi computers (used in many schools) and Linux is the basis for Android running Android phones. If you, or your children, have used a Raspberry Pi computer either at home or at school then you have also already used Linux. Many European Governments (e.g. Germany, France, Italy, Denmark) are also moving away from Microsoft and are moving to Linux and free Open Source software like LibreOffice and even trusting it for use in their Ministeries of Defence.
There are multiple varieties of Linux (known as "Distributions" - All based on the same core but with slightly differing packaging and presentation) and most are completely free to download and install direct from the internet. I used both the openSUSE and UBUNTU (I would recommend either Ubuntu or Linux Mint for newcomers to Linux) distributions of Linux as my main PC operating system as an alternative to Microsoft Windows for years and it is great, less likely to be targeted by Computer Viruses and doesn't spy on you the way Microsoft does and is also very customisable.
Among the Thousands of free Open Source Linux applications you can find Libre Office (A Microsoft Office Suite alternative which can read and write Microsoft Word and Excel documents and also edit PDF documents), GIMP (A photoshop alternative), Firefox (Web Browser), Chrome (Web Browser)Thunderbird (email reader), DaVinci Resolve (Hollywood Studio level video editing and colour grading) to name but a few.
Some of the most popular Linux "Distributions" are:
Did I mention Linux is great and what's more it, and all the thousands of application programs available, is Free! So install Linux and allow your perfectly functional old PC or Laptop to have a second lease of life (and quite often run faster and more efficiently than Windows) rather than wastefully consigning it to Landfill. Of course you can also just as easily run Linux on a brand new PC if you want to release yourself from Microsoft Windows or even set your computer up to dual boot so you can choose either Linux or Windows whenever you start it.
So why not give Linux a go today, just download a free copy, create a bootable USB memory stick (you can use the free software "balenaEtcher" to create a bootable USB stick) or DVD from it and install it on your PC or laptop.
You will have to set the BIOS in your device to boot from USB or DVD as appropriate and make sure to back up all of your data first as Linux will reformat your hard drive, and wipe your data, as the first stage of installation. There are a plethora of tutorial videos available on YouTube etc showing you how to install and use Linux but it is pretty straightforward.