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Originally Posted by Blossom
I got to laugh because I'm running Windows 10 and Firefox takes way longer than a minute to launch. Chrome takes several to launch and connect. My Windows 10 installation is definitely not snappy. Boot time is ridiculous. I just despise Windows 10. My husband laptop he got for his birthday last year has it and he's always asking me to do things that Microsoft removed. Mom's laptop also has it and it has nothing but problems. I finally gave my brother in Canada her TeamViewer info and let him deal with the mess.
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What are the specs on the Win10 machine you're running?
The desktop here is a refurbished ex-corporate HP Small Form Factor box. The box came with Win7 Pro,with a 3.1-3.4ghz quadcore Intel i5-2400 CPU, 8GB RAM, a 500GB SATA HD, and onboard Intel HD2000 graphics.
I added a 240GB SSD from the failed desktop the current one replaced, and set it as boot drive. Win10 and applications live on the SSD. Data is on the HD.
I've been delighted. The box cold boots to a Win10 desktop in about 45 seconds. Firefox invokes in about 10 seconds, with the biggest lag being fully loading and initializing Gmail once it's up.
My machine is middle or low end by current standards, but performance is more than adequate for what I do. I can increase RAM to 32GB, but have no current need. I seldom see more than half of the RAM I have now used. Another upgrade would be a video card to replace the built-in Intel HD2000 graphics, but I'm not a gamer and feel no need to do so now. (I did originally install a low profile AMD-ATI card I'd gotten for the desktop this one replaced, but the Intel HD200 graphics performed
better, so it's in a parts drawer.)
The last upgrades I made were adding a USB3 PCIe card, as the box didn't have USB3 on the motherboard, a USB3 external drive enclosure, and a Bluetooth dongle that installed in a front USB port. (I don't have much that uses BT, but the dongle cost about $10 and was for possible future expansion.)
Something is awry in your Win10 installation, but I have no idea what. Win10 here was an upgrade from Win7, but it didn't need more hardware and performance has been just as good.
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My impression of Linux Mint is pretty positive so far. I see me putting it on the desktop once Vista goes the way of XP.
The desktop is quadcore and has 8GB of ram. It should run Cinnamon without issues. The only problem I forsee is the netbook is 32bit and I read 32bit will be dropped in a couple years. The desktop is 64bit.
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I don't think you really care on the netbook. 32 bit may be dropped for newer versions, but older versions will still run, and support the applications you currently use. I had an ancient 32 bit notebook running Ubuntu 12.x and wasn't concerned. Various security patches got released for applications but not having a current Linux version wasn't a concern. I was vanishingly unlikely to get bit by the vulnerabilities that were patched.
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Do I need a firewall with Linux? I know you said no antivirus needed. On my Window install I use an AV/Firewall and allow/deny setups.
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Linux includes a firewall based on IPtables which is enabled by default. You don't need a third party product.
I'm behind a hardware firewall in my router here, so I'm less concerned about a software firewall on the desktop. The router firewall is secured with WPA2/PSK, and I took some pains to lock down the file systems of devices connecting through it. In general, the only connections allowed to the outside are those initiated
from my machine. I don't do the sorts of things that require incoming connections I must open ports for.
Viruses are a Windows problem, and don't exist on Linux. There are Linux A/V products like ClamAV, but folks I know using them exchange files with Windows machines, and run AV to make sure they aren't passing along potential problems they won't see on Linux.
(On Windows, I use Microsoft Defender, and don't bother with third-party A/V. I run Defender mostly to keep Windows happy and wouldn't miss it if it was gone. I have layered defenses, practice Safe Hex, and don't
do the sorts of things that let viruses onto the machine. The biggest defense is using Gmail as my primary address. The primary vector for virus delivery is email. My mailstore resides on Google's servers and I read/reply in my browser. Potential infections never reach my machine.
Back when I was running third party A/V, it was Symantec Corporate on XP. The only thing it ever "caught" was false positives. When the version I ran reached End Of Life and would not get signature updates, I asked myself if I really
needed A/V and concluded I didn't. It went away and was not missed.)
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Dennis