I got Linux installed, along with almost all my daily applications. Now what do I do?

I don't really know how to do programming etc, and I am just a regular user who does internet browsing and some messenger.

What are the benefits of Linux? My Windows does not crash. I run for months without a reboot/shutdown or anything.

Linux is neat and cool, but really, what can I do with it now? What are the real benefits?

what you want to do?

I don't really know, man. that's why i am asking.

Err... What can you do?
Almost anything you're doing on Windows ... Except you don't have to pay for the OS...
That's basic stuff...

Why did you install Linux if you weren't having problems with Windows? You had a reason. If it was just to see if you could do it, then remove it and move along.

Now you get to have some fun with Linux. Perhaps you would like to have fun GUI effects that put Windows Vista to shame? Or maybe you just want to have an operating system that has you can keep upgrading without having to dish out money? Or just learn how to use Linux well enough to add it to your resume`?

I use Linux on my desktop not because I can't do something under Windows, nor because Windows XP doesn't run well on it. I enjoy being able to do stuff under Linux that I can do in Windows just to prove a point to people - that Linux is just as usable as Windows. I do some gaming under Linux (Neverwinter Nights, StarCraft, WarCraft, Star Trek Armada; most of the games I play under Windows as well), I love having cooler screen savers, I love being able to tweak every aspect of the GUI, love knowing exactly what is running and being able to run my system using less resources then Windows XP, love having the transparency effects that are just as good and even better then Windows Vista (I use the one's that kwin in KDE 3.5 support. I haven't installed Compiz Fusion on my desktop yet, although I'll probably build KDE 4 first). Take your pick of what you want, and the comunnity will gladly help you get there. I would recomend to try to give it some flashy effects just to show off =).

The "real" benefit is that Linux should experience less system lag due to having less resources (like RAM) in use. Also, Linux HD partitions do not need to be periodically defragmented like Window's ones do. So I guess that less system maitenance can be added to the list.

I installed it because it's cool!!!

My system runs far slower than my Windows 2000 server which I dual boot. Mainly i notice that in Firefox. I can run about 10 Firefox in Windows, but only a few on Linux.

It takes far resource, only have 30M left on my 730MB memory while Windows always leaves 300M behind.

What am I doing wrong?

Actually, Linux uses/takes advantage of all the RAM it can find.
It's designed that way. Basically it caches as much stuff as possible to save time later.
It's a different approach to MS.

So then start an make it faster,
open source! you can make things happened.
Do you know how to patch the security of you windows?
I guess you do... wait for an update...
But Linux gives you everything you need to setup your own security.
Starting at the Kernel, filesystem, device parameters like HDD access, cpu stepping, Daemons which sounds pretty cool instead of "services", but means exactly the same. You can use scripts not those stupid cmd files or netsh services in win. Run virtualization XEN, QMEM whatever.
Play old ATARI Games on a real ATARI Filesystem, get CEDEGA and run DirectX games or use wine, Cedega fro CVS tree, or get known with so cool things like apt-get or yum or smart.
Millions of FREEEEEEEEEE software products where your able to rewrite the code to your needs. Become a hacker, secure your system.
in firefox did you ever open this page? [quote]about:config[/qoute]
tune the stuff. I've got World of Warcraft opened, a secure shell to another system for administration, firefox with buffed.de, and nearly 13 tabs opened, and while I am doing this I copy vis scp files to my system from another host. And Burn them via cron job to a Disk.

So WHAT should I do with Linux? Work more stable, work harder, stronger better