Computer Operating System.

Been having a lot of trouble with Windows Vista on my wife's laptop. Been thinking about changing to a free download operating system from the internet.Can anyone give me the names of some and recommendations?

Windows 7 is much better than vista. You could download Ubuntu Linux for free, but would need to know how to manage it.

Windows Vista is JUNK!!!!! Windows 7 is not much better. Windows 8 is fair but still not good.

I still run XP Professional on all my computer stuff. I have to pay extra to have the computer guru to do that but my computers WORK!!!!

I agree I work every day with Win7 on 75 computers and have university "kids" giving them their worst. No issues and rock solid. It is enterprise level software. Win7 pro on an individual computer is also very good with no blue screen of death. I have been around win8 but I will let it have some teething time before endorsement. Those adopters seem happy, even those that use the Win7 like desk top rather than the finger poken slider available (not me) Jim

Been using Ubuntu 12.04 LTS ( long term support) going on a year. I burned onto a CD the operating system direct from Ubuntru site.
If you have enough hard drive space I would have a dual boot system. You select which OS you want on startup. if I can get it to work it can't be too hard.
I use firefox for a browser but I think google chrome works too. I have been using XP Pro for years but as I understand it MSFT will stop supporting XP next April so I am planning ahead.
What I hate is everytime MSFT comes out with new and improved OS you need a new computer to push it.Good luck!

"Free" would almost certainly be Linux.
Ubuntu would be the popular choice.
Before you choose, make sure there are drivers available to
make your hardware work. (unless you can write you own)
I'm not a fan of Vista.
Windows 7 is what Vista should have been.
Fast, stable and as trouble free as Windows gets.
I'm using Windows 8. Again, fast and stable, but a big learning curve.
No start button, no menus, sliding graphics like a smart phone.
XP is the best thing MS had out there in a long time.
But then, they may not make drivers for your laptop unless it's that old.
The other problem with XP has already been mentioned.
Support ends next year. If MS doesn't patch it, it is open to
"zero day" hacker attacks forever more.
Don't think "they won't come after me", they're not after you.
They're after your computer and its internet connection.
It can be used "anonymously" as part of a bot network to launder
money, proliferate kiddie pictures, whatever they want when they get in.
The "anonymous" part gets tracked to your computer/home.
Not trying to be a fear monger, that's just what they do.
I still have a machine here running Windows 98.
I just don't connect it to the internet!

Vista and Win 7 are light years ahead of XP, and anyone that thinks XP is 'better' needs to stick with their area of expertize which ISN'T Computer Operating Systems.

I started programming back in the old mainframe days LONG before PCs were 'invented'.

I've also been using PCs since the days of DOS 2.0, so I'm not exactly uninformed when it comes to OSs.

Vista is a fine OS, PROVIDED you have the hardware to run it. It got it's bad reputation due to poor driver availability in it's early days, and from venders putting it on hardware that just didn't have enough power to run it.

Once the drivers matured and the SP1 service pack came out Vista became an excellent OS, but the damage to it's reputation had already been done.

I have Vista an a system with a 6 core processor, and a ton of memory (16 gig) and it's absolutely trouble free.

Win 7 was basically a Vista update, and it is the best OS that MS has made to date.

Win 8 is fine for tablets with touch screens, but for the standard desk top, Win 7 is still the best.

This post is made from a computer with Ubuntu. The OS is free, updates are free and it has been virus free since I started using it YEARS ago. It is on a computer that is about 10 years old and boots faster than my other computer that is Windows 7 (that I actually hate to use and has been hit by a hard virus).
The initial setup can be slightly tricky, especially if you have an oddball printer, but it has a lot of free features that makes some other OS systems jealous.

(quoted from post at 20:34:00 08/30/13) Been having a lot of trouble with Windows Vista on my wife's laptop. Been thinking about changing to a free download operating system from the internet.

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indows 7 replaced Vista in 2009. That means your laptop is at least 4 years old and may be having a hardware problem or something has corrupted the OS on the hard drive. Have you tried any diagnostics on it, especially the hard drive? Or, have you tried reinstalling Vista?

The most popular Linux distribution, according to Distrowatch, is Linux Mint . It's based on Ubuntu with extra software included. I recommend you try the "Live" DVD to see if it's your laptop is compatible. When you boot to a "Live" capable DVD you will get a menu selection asking whether you want to install or boot to the OS just using the DVD. "Live" will be have a little slower response but you can see if it will run on your laptop.

Apple purchased the rights to use BSD (Berlkey Software Development) for their OS X. If you're interested in going that way try "FreeBSD" (#15 on Distrowatch).

Linux, BSD, and Solaris (also free and # 90 on Distrowatch) are all Unix based OSs.

ALL OSs are susceptible to Malware/Trojan/Virus attacks. You still must be careful of where you visit and what you allow to be installed. You can get Antivirus software for Linux and OS X.

If you choose to download a Linux distro you will get an "ISO". For example Mint 15 Kde 64-bit is a 1.29 GB file. You cannot just copy the file to a DVD. You have to make an "image". Then you can set the laptop BIOS to boot to DVD and away you go.

Of the "free" operating systems, almost all are variants of Linux. The major exception is BSD, another UNIX variant with a different lineage. There are a few others, such as BeOS, which have a niche following, but in reality the only good option is one of the major Linux distributions.

So what is Linux? Strictly speaking, Linux is an operating system kernel, the lowest level of an operating system. The Linux kernel was developed in the early nineties by a Finnish student named Linus Torvalds. He was able to develop his kernel because of earlier work done by Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation, which had developed various compilers and other tools (known collectively as "GNU") as stepping stones to develop a complete UNIX-like operating system. In a chicken-and-egg situation, GNU had most of the operating system components but no kernel. When Linus released his kernel, it immediately became popular. Although there were a lot of other UNIX variants under development, Linux quickly became the leading candidate to replace UNIX. Several companies started up (such as Red Hat) with the goal of making money off Linux, resulting in an enormous amount of development to build a viable commercial-grade OS from the hobbyist system.

Today, there are hundreds of Linux distributions, with a handful of them getting most of the attention. Although they all use the same kernel, they differ in how they are built, how they are loaded, how they are updated and which applications they offer. Most significantly there are multiple desktop environments available (unlike Windows, which gives you no choice). The most popular distributions are probably Ubuntu, Linux Mint (a Ubuntu variant), Fedora and SuSE. DistroWatch also lists Debian and Mageia in the top six, but their numbers are based on page hits, not installs, so I'm dubious of those numbers.

If you want to get your feet wet in Linux without actually wiping out Windows, I suggest you download a "live CD" version. All the popular distros offer a live CD that you can boot up without installing. A particularly good live CD distribution is Knoppix. Live CD distros will run a little slow, but you'll get a good idea of what the interface will look like.

Your choice of desktop environment will affect your experience a great deal. The most popular desktops are KDE and GNOME. Note that the latest version of GNOME (3.0) is similar in many ways to Windows 8. For that reason, I suggest you use either KDE, MATE or Cinnamon. (The latter two are based on GNOME but have a traditional Windows 95-like interface.) Most distributions will allow you to pick among different desktops, although you may have to download a few packages.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes.
DistroWatch

I've had Win 7 Pro for 6 months with no problems. There's a lot of functions on Win 7 Pro that I like better than Win XP that I replaced.

I am using Linux Mint 14 with KDE and I love it. But my first attempt at loading Linux was on a machine that used NVidia chipset and video and I soon discovered that NVidia and Linux have a history of mutual distrust and aversion. So I got a laptop that has all Intel chips and video (Dell Latitude) and Linux Mint just soars!!
There is a learning curve to Linux but there are many forums that offer great advice.
Good luck and please report back on your experiences.

Doug, I helped a friend load Mint 15 on a new machine with an Nvidia card and didn't have any real problems. But you are correct that historically NVidia video cards have been an issue and many distributions don't include their drivers. I always use AMD (formerly ATI) video cards for this reason.

I have good luck using Puppy Linux on older computers.

My son installed Professional XP on my Desktop for me from the very first. I have had very few problems with it. If I do run into a question I call him He slways has the answer Punch HELP on the keyboard amd READ it will have he answer. Gitrib

I have Vista and so does my wife, and we both blame Vista anytime anything goes wrong. We don't do gaming or major art/photo film editing. Just internet hook-up and a little word processing, and accounting --Quick Books. So what is the minimum system in your opinion that will run Vista fairly well...without freezing?

Maybe our problem is the hardware of our basic Compac laptops?

I'm going to give you one other recommendation.
Buy an older (5-ish years old, or so) computer on a garage sale for cheap, wipe the hard drive clean, and do a fresh install of the OS that you decide to use. (Once again, I'm biased because I use Ubunto. My daughter is going for a computer engineering degree, so she may recommend something else) Play with this computer, learn with it and then decide if it is right for you.
If you decide to stay with Windoze, you really have lost nothing except what the computer cost you.

I've been thru all of MS's attempts and finally got a Mac - just what I needed But......that's just me - (I realize that this is a lot like bringing a Chevy to a Ford convention so go ahead, HAVE AT ME!) :twisted:

(quoted from post at 12:28:10 08/31/13)
I've been thru all of MS's attempts and finally got a Mac - just what I needed But......that's just me - (I realize that this is a lot like bringing a Chevy to a Ford convention so go ahead, HAVE AT ME!) :twisted:

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Nothing wrong with a MAC. Yet another Unix variant.
Solid and stable, but FAR from the OP "free" thought!

I have switched to all MAC's, they are great, but you gotta pay the price.

(quoted from post at 10:39:08 08/31/13) I have switched to all MAC's, they are great, but you gotta pay the price.

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So far, I've bought eMacs off of eBay that have worked well (haven't been stung ....... yet). If the websites would stop increasing the 'system requirements' us consumers would benefit BUT then all of the companies in the computer industry from the top down to the bottom would lose $$$$$ ....... oh well, that's the way she goes, grin and bear it Maybe that's why I like OLD tractors, guns, and such :?: