For almost 20 years, I have been in a love/hate relationship with Windows. I started my computer journey with Windows XP and Vista, and I have consistently used all versions of Windows since. My experience with Windows has never been as good as many people think it should be. One of the biggest lies we often hear is that “Windows just works.”

From constant crashes, random blue screens (no death), flickering displays, and sometimes WiFi or audio drivers not loading—or even uninstalling themselves—and the infamous Windows updates that happen whenever you’re in a hurry, Windows has been full of frustrations. However, most of these problems were solved by either updating Windows or installing proprietary drivers from my PC manufacturer’s website. Eventually, I became an expert in Windows against my will—life just led me there.

During my undergrad, I basically became a computational physicist. When things got serious about doing molecular dynamics simulations, I eventually had to use a Linux distribution, as the CLI (Command Line Interface) for GROMACS and LAMMPS worked better there. So, I used WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux).

WSL worked great—I learned commands, how to use the terminal, connect to remote computers, and I worked happily there. However, my laptop had a problem: the keyboard stopped working, and it went to the repair shop for 3 months (I want to rant about this, but I won’t here).

During that time, I tried using my old laptop with Windows 10, and it was horrible (even after formatting). It was slow, heavy, and cumbersome in general, and it could barely run VSCode. So, I thought, “If the binaries I’m using only work on Linux, and I’m already using WSL, why not just try the full Linux experience for once?” So, I installed Linux Mint since it was the distro a researcher from my summer internship recommended.

And how was it? Amazing! My old laptop with an HDD felt like new—no performance issues; in fact, no issues at all—and I could finally run my code natively. During this time, I realized that I wasn’t missing anything from Windows. All of my software for programming, web browsing, online meetings, and even Minecraft (the only game I really play) was already available on Linux. In fact, Minecraft runs extremely well on Linux.

Months passed, and my laptop finally came back… along with Windows. And I hated it. Overheating while idle, high resource usage, and no matter how many settings I disabled on Windows, they would magically turn on again after updates (I’m looking at you, random stocks on my lock screen). So, I installed Ubuntu on this machine. Why Ubuntu? Just to try it. I know people have mixed feelings about what Canonical has been doing, but I figured, why not?

No regrets at all. My overheating issues disappeared, and I was amazed at how efficiently the OS managed resources. Everything worked great, and I have no intention of going back. It’s been more than six months since I fully converted, and I really enjoy not having to deal with Windows shenanigans anymore.

So, if you’re a normal person—not a gamer with specific hardware needs or a professional creative tied to Adobe—and you just want a computer that can handle daily tasks like web browsing, online meetings, and offiRandomAccessThoughtsce documents, give a Linux-based OS a try. Especially if you’re a programmer or a STEM student, you might find you’ll never look back to Windows. I recommend Linux Mint, Fedora, or Ubuntu.