I have been a windows user all my life. I've been on windows since Windows XP & stayed on Windows till June 2015. I transferred over to Linux to experience a new OS. I wanted to see what it was like to move Operating systems. Linux is very fast and Safe. Its Security measures are ridiculous and your PC will stay safe from anything. If you did not know. Linux does not require you to have an anti virus due to its complex system its a safe and amazing piece of work. But Linux does tend to have some things that i am not used to. For Example. You can not open a .exe file without using another 3rd party software known as Wine. This is something that i my self did not like at first due to me not being able to install my photoshop on Linux. Also this is a feature that upset me the most. It made everything difficult from installing Skype to installing Steam and other of my favorite softwares. If you are not ready to be confused out of your mind i do not recommend you switch over to Linux. Yes its an amazing OS but for Software developers and mostly people that do web hosting or programming. Its a Open Source Free OS which you can download for free from their website. Also it is very easy to set up. You can even do a Dual Boot to have Linux and Windows running side by side and you can decide which OS you want to use when you reboot your PC. It gives you the option to choose from Windows or Linux. I my self did a full install which deleted Windows. Its an amazing OS but if you want to have freedom to download anything i recommend you stay with windows as Linux does tend to have many restrictions when it comes to downloading software. I also encountered a problem with Linux where my INTERNET speed slowed down to the point where it was unbearable and this is a Problem that happens when you install Ubuntu on a ASUS laptop. So i had to download some Drivers for my INTERNET chip which was one of the most annoying things to do since their are no tutorials or support on how to fix this issue. At the end of the day i recommend you stay with Windows if you want it for Personal use and if you want a computer for work,programming, and software development then Ubuntu is for you. Linux does offer amazing features don't get me wrong it is an amazing OS but it does lack some features which would make this OS much better.
Ubuntu while it is a nice OS, it isn't for the normal PC user as you described. Linux by default is a very secure lightweight OS, and Apple's Mac OS is built off of a early distro of Linux which is why Mac's are honestly quite indestructible with viruses and malware. The issue MOST people will run into are drivers, Linux and Windows drivers don't get a long, much like Kobe Bryant and passing of the basketball. Plus, natively speaking, the computer you or anyone purchases are usually built to run on Windows and hence why you will usually never find OFFICIAL drivers for that certain computer. Linux is dual booted on my computer, but not Ubuntu, BackTrack which is basically a hacking OS built off of Ubuntu. Overall good post.
For most people, a secondary OS won't get used as much, so here's what I did. I have a 600GB SSD, I broke it into 3 partitions. First one is 400gb, which is my Windows partition, my main OS. Next is a 100gb partition for my Linux OS, which is Kali Linux, it's like backtrack, but on steroids. As for the last partition, it's currently unallocated, I use it for testing, I tried windows 10 tech review recently, swapped my ram to try something and it said the install was invalid so I scrapped the OS and it's unallocated again. Dual-booting, even tri-booting is well worth the time. Many people don't like the GRUB boot menu that comes with Linux most of the time, and I don't either, so I repaired my MBR, fixed my boot sectors on Windows 7, made it to the primary boot, and edited that menu so it always appears to me on boot, and let's me select between Windows 7, or Kali Linux. When I install an OS on the third partition, I just add another OS entry to my Win7 boot menu. So in the end, on power-up, the boot menu, black screen with white text, appears, asking me to pick an OS, and then I pick which one I need, and go about my business. For those reading this that don't know what I'm talking about, look into dual booting if it's a new term to you. I don't feel comfortable instructing other people to mess with their partitions, because if they mess something up, that's it, I'm at a loss of words because I'd need to see it first hand to fix something like that, but I'm sure many others on this site are more comfortable instructing people on how to dual-boot efficiently. Macs can also dual-boot but I'm not sure of the process as I'm a Microsoft fangirl
