linux

[Max]

is it good? I imagine so if you get less viruses but are you unable to install any decent software on it? I have a really old computer and update it just about every day, and yet i am still infested with spyware. I have two antivirus programs and yet it still goes slow . Do you think installing linux would help?

[Endless]

What do you use your computer for?

[Mirage]

Linux is no problem as long as you aren't playing games on your computer. That is, proper games, not just web based flash games or solitaire.
On Linux you've got enough programs to do common stuff. You've got OpenOffice for all your office-suite needs, Gaim for MSN, AIM and other instant messengers, XMMS for audio playback (looks surprisingly similiar to Winamp), and 99% of all viruses will not be affect you, because they are written for windows. You've also got a built in firewall.
This stuff is included in most new distributions, along with tons of other software. Note that you can not use windows programs on Linux without using an emulator, but you can'r really expect that anyway. Afterall, it is not windows :p.

[Dr Unne]

I can play NWN and Ragnarok Online in Linux, and every other game I care about (Baldur's Gate, old games like that). I don't find myself needing Windows for anything, but it depends on what you use your computer for, and what your priorities are.

[Samuraid]

Or you can run both...

[Mirage]

I can play NWN and Ragnarok Online in Linux, and every other game I care about (Baldur's Gate, old games like that). I don't find myself needing Windows for anything, but it depends on what you use your computer for, and what your priorities are.

But you need to use an emulator :p. And from what I've heard, it can be a bit tricky to get games working under WINE and such. Also, you do get a performance drop, as it takes some cpu power to do the emulating.

And yeah, like Samuraid said, you can have both operating systems installed, and get a choice between them when you boot your machine.

[Yamaneko]

I think Unne uses Cedega which is suited more for emulating games than apps.

[Dr Unne]

NWN runs natively in Linux. RO runs faster in Cedega in Linux than it does in Windows; don't ask me why. (WINE = Wine Is Not an Emulator, by the way. I don't use an emulator.) BG for example runs perfectly in Cedega except that networking doesn't work. If you really care about games you'll need Windows though, not all games work well in Linux. But dual-booting is annoying, to me.