Photo: Linux Mint
By the federal government’s Digital Analytics Program (DAP) count in October 2020, 3.2 percent of computer users still are on Windows 7 — even though Microsoft no longer supports it for free. If you have an older system but are worried that it won’t support Windows 10 — or if you simply don’t want to deal with Windows anymore — I have a suggestion: Switch to desktop Linux.
Desktop Linux can run on your Windows 7 (and older) laptops and desktops. Machines that would bend and break under the load of Windows 10 will run like a charm. And today’s desktop Linux distributions are as easy to use as Windows or macOS.
And if you’re worried about being able to run Windows applications — don’t. For instance, you can run the free Office Online, which comes with limited versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint on Linux. Teams now runs on Linux. Skype has long been available on Linux. And Microsoft’s exporting its new Edge web browser to Linux. The full Office 365 suite will be coming to Linux soon — it’s only a matter of when.
For all your other desktop software needs, there’s usually a free, open-source program that can do just as good a job. Gimp, for example, instead of Photoshop. Or Thunderbird for email instead of Outlook. For a full-fledged office suite, I highly recommend LibreOffice.
You can run many native Windows programs on Linux using Wine. This can be hard to set up, but its commercial brother, CodeWeaver’s Crossover Linux, makes it easy to set up many proprietary programs, including games.
If that doesn’t work for your office’s Windows-only programs, you can always keep running Windows 7, with a lot less danger, on a virtual machine (VM) on Linux. For this job, I recommend Oracle’s great free VirtualBox VM program.
There are hundreds of Linux desktop distributions (known as distros) out there. The best-known include such distros as Debian, openSUSE, and Ubuntu. But for our purposes, I’m going to tell you how to install Linux Mint.
*Mint’s default Cinnamon interface looks and works a lot like Windows 7.*
Besides being my personal desktop Linux favorite, it works well for Windows users. That’s because Mint’s default Cinnamon interface looks and works a lot like Windows 7’s Aero interface. Sure, there’s a learning curve, but I found it easier to pick up than Windows 10’s desktop.
Another advantage, which Mint shares with other Linux distros, is it runs on low-power hardware. You can run Mint on any of your Windows 7 PCs. All Linux Mint needs to run is an x86 processor, 1GB of RAM (you’ll be happier with 2GB or 4GB), 15GB of disk space, a graphics card that works at 1024 x 768 resolution, and a CD/DVD drive or USB port. That’s it. Heck, you can run Mint on pretty much any Windows XP PC, if you have one around.
Mint, like the other Linux desktops, is totally free. It won’t cost you a penny.
But what if you don’t like it? That’s not a worry either. You can try Mint, and if it’s not your cup of tea, you just reboot back to Windows, and you’re done. No harm, no foul.
So let’s get started. First, I’ll show you how to try Mint out, then how to install it on your machine.
Download Mint
First, download the Mint ISO file. This is an image of the Mint operating system which you can use to run or install the operating system. It’s about 1.8 GB, so it may take a while to download.