Why leave Windows?

Most people don't go looking for a new operating system. Something annoys them for long enough that they start reading, or the one thing that was keeping them put stops being true. Each piece below is checked against what happened and when, with the dates and the sources attached.

1. Can I turn Copilot off?

   Not directly

   Microsoft put AI in the keyboard, the text editor and the paint program. Here is what it added, when, and why the off switch depends on which Windows you bought.

2. Is Windows spying on me?

   Partly

   The popular claims about Windows spying are mostly wrong. What's left is worse, because it's documented, it's default, and on Home and Pro there's no off switch.

3. Will Linux run on my old PC?

   Yes

   What Windows 11 demands of your hardware, how that compares to Windows 10 and to Linux, and the security argument Microsoft makes for it.

4. Can I stop Windows updating itself?

   No

   Updates you cannot decline, an account you cannot skip, defaults that did not stick, and the security argument that justifies some of it but not all of it.

5. Will my games still work?

   Mostly

   How Valve spent fourteen years turning a hedge against Windows into a working games platform, what the numbers actually show, and the one wall it still hasn't got over.

None of this is an argument that Linux is perfect, and this site is fairly blunt about where it isn't. If you'd rather skip the case and get on with it, start with how to switch or find out whether your apps run.