After spending hours fixing registry entries on Windows Vista, I am contemplating on switching to Linux for my home PC.

I've used Solaris and Mandrake for work before, but have never tried any Linux at home. Would anyone like to recommend a good version for basic home computing?

I use my home PC mostly for word processing, personal finance, emails, net surfing, playing movies.

HI OrdinarySoul, welcome to LQ.

You can try Ubuntu which is the best as your need - word processing, personal finance, emails, net surfing, playing movies.

Hi and welcome to LQ.

Yes, you could use Ubuntu. Most Linux users, however, try a few distributions before they find their 'best' one so you could also have a look at www.distrowatch.com and you'll see a list of most popular distros that you can try.

Debian Stable.

1 members found this post helpful.

Post your hardware, and what you expect from a OS.

The hardware makes a big differnce, new 'cutting egde' hardware will need a newer linux distro.

Do you expect you OS to run the newest versions of programs, or are you happy with slightly older software?

Pretty much every distro can do that, or be made to do that. Ubuntu is just one of many distros, and I cant see any reason why it would be 'the best' for those uses.

Seems like no problem with spanking new hardware, or an objection to running older software.

I'd recommend you take a look at Linux Mint.

I will suggest you to use OpenSuSE 12.1 with KDE desktop manager http://www.opensuse.org/en/
Keep in mind that in Linux you will need to download and install the necessary codec to play media files like Mp3s,movies, and Flash plugin.
I only know Linux Mint offers these codec at installation time.
All other software you need for home user tasks are available in pretty much all distro.

Good luck to you.

Well, we all can sit here and recommend our favorite distro, but actually that really is to no use of the OP. I would recommend to go to Distrowatch and have a look at the top 10 distros (and #16, to put in my favorite) and just try them. Which distro you use has nothing to do with "being better for home use". Any distro can be used at home and any distro can be used for the tasks you want to do. It is totally up to your personal likings, so just give it a try.

3 members found this post helpful.

Download some live cd's from the distro's in the top 10 on distrowatch
http://distrowatch.com/
Run them on your computer and make your choice.
Another option is to run linux in a virtual machine.

Kind regards

Probably not, but for all we know its an older motherboard/CPU/RAM/HDD (etc.) with a shiney new video card in there...

As for older sopftware, vista is just the OS. You still get updates to newer software. Lets use firefox as an example. I've seen lots of 'how do I update to firefox 10 from 3.X' posts on linxu forums. Some users just wory about security, and when its pointed out that (in many cases, and provided that your distro is still supported) the 3.X version is getting all the security updates provided to newer version, they relax.

Other user insist on getting the newest firefox version, just like they would have with windows. It doesnt matter if they are doing it because they dont trust/understand the backporting of security updates, or they have some issue with a site, or just 'want to be current'. It can still lead to issues and major headaches.

well, according to wikipedia they made an oem version for the united states because it is illigal to use some multimedia codecs.

OrdinarySoul,

You can also take a look at LiveCD list also, which is also very helpful link for trying any distro which you like. Just download anyone you like from there and burn it on a CD or you can make a bootable pendrive and can try according to your need. Then after deciding what you need you can then install that OS on your machine.
Good Luck!

Consider your desktop. If you used to have Solaris and Mandrake, you knew the old Gnome and KDE: you'll see they've changed a lot.

Unity: Ubuntu only. Some people think it looks as if their computer has turned into a smart-phone, others like it. Needs 1GB.

Gnome: Consider Kororaa or Parsix. A bit dumbed-down in the opinion of some. Needs 1GB.

Maté: Currently Mint, others on the way. A fork of Gnome, keeping the old style. Runs in 512MB.

KDE: Try Mepis or OpenSUSE. Big on features and eye-candy: like someone's crossed Windows 7 with OS X. Needs 1GB and modern hardware.

Xfce: SalineOS or Salix are best. Plain and functional. Runs in 512MB or sometimes less.

try ubuntu, mint, debian or mandriva