I have a good friend who's moved away, but he still encourages me to try new things. He says Linux is the "cat's meow". I have a laptop that I think has picked up a virus, it does not let me boot fully. If I could remember my Microsoft password, I might be able to remedy it, but instead, I think I'll take this opportunity to wipe the drive and install Linux since I trust my friend's opinion. I'm open to any and all recommendations. Thanks.

This link should help you get started. Welcome to LQ.

Good luck!

It can be overwhelming at first, but remember that it was for many of us. You will learn which parts are important to you and which aren't, and it won't always be the ones you think of at first. Either way, it gets less overwhelming.

There are a lot of rules, too. A lot of them are negotiable as you learn alternatives. Choice isn't freedom-- Freedom is a similar concept, it can do a lot more than choice.

Greetings filluis. It's exciting to be starting the GNU/Linux journey.

Welcome to LQ and the world of GNU/Linux!

heh I'd suggest Slackware if you want to put in some time to learn about "pure" Linux, if you do try Slackware you should defiantly read the Slack book. My other suggestion that are easier to just use with less effort would be Debian or Mint, personally I prefer Debian over Mint... Don't know why? I just don't like Mint, but people say it's better than Ubuntu.
Welcome to LinuxQestions, hope you find a Distro you will like.

Don't use Slackware! I'm very fond of Slackware but I'd never recommend it to a newbie. Mint is a good choice because it's newbie-friendly but also very good with different kinds of hardware. Debian has the advantage of being absolutely mainstream with no particular specialisations. It doesn't hold your hand as much as Ubuntu and Mint do, but that has its advantages.

Go over to Distrowatch to learn more about the more popular Linux distributions.

The voice of reason, great post Hazel, truly well said! It's shame when Slackware fanboys are only thinking about their favourite distro, as opposed to just giving good advice relevant to the OP's skill level...

But wait for it, now we may well hear the "oh, but they are never going to learn anything if they don't jump stright into the deep end first" BS argument

There is actually some merit to that argument when applied to Ubuntu and Mint; I think they do hold your hand too much and that can prevent you from learning how Linux really works. But the answer to that is to use something more mainstream like Debian. Advising them to use Slackware is like saying that if your bath is too hot, you should bathe in ice water instead.

While I do see your point there Hazel, and I'm not saying it isn't valid, to my way thinking; distro's like Ubuntu and Linux Mint are more like "starting points", in that, the newbie can ease their way into learning the differences between Linux and Windows without getting their hands too dirty. Then when they feel more confident, they can move onto something a little harder (like Debian, openSUSE, etc). Then maybe something more hands on like Slackware, or if their really keen maybe Arch Linux, LFS or some such.

While I don't remember exactly how long I used it for, from memory, my first distro was Ubuntu, but from memory I didn't use it for very long before moving on to openSUSE that I used for many years. Which isn't considered a "newbie distro" per se, from what I've read.

I also remember using Ubuntu for a while because I bought a computer that came with an Ubuntu installation disk. Dapper Drake it was, so that was a long time ago. In those days, a huge fuss was being made about Ubuntu: "at last, Linux for human beings!" I remember not liking it much. I felt that it came with too many...I'm not sure what word I want here. I had the feeling of being coralled by the community. So I moved to Debian which I liked much better. I would certainly have no problem in recommending that for a newbie.

Oh we are not all like that, I only sugested Slackware because I've always liked it in fact I started on Linux using it, I'm no Master of Linux or Programmer I just look up stuff that is beyond my knowing and if needed and can't figure it out myself then I look for help. That's why I also suggested Debian or Mint, people don't need to learn alot about Linux if they only want a OS to just do stuff.

LOL ice water

And this is exactly the problem I was talking about; rather than looking at the OP's skill level (or lack of), you take it as an opportunity to recommend to someone who is very likely completely new to Linux, to use one of the most hands on distro's out, just because YOU like it, when it would very likely be well beyond their skill level - this is exactly my point. I wouldn't recommend CentOS to a new user just because that's what I use myself, because it's not going to be easy for someone who's completely new to get it the way they want it. Because unlike Ubuntu or Linux Mint, CentOS doesn't assume you want things like VLC, or even a graphical environment of some description installed by default, and more precisely, it's not going to be easy for someone that doesn't have experience with the command-line to add the required software repo's, install things later on that aren't installed by default. Which was the point I was making: it would be far easier for them to install something like Ubuntu or Linux Mint and learn things like the command-line at their own pace, rather than having a whole bunch of concepts being thrown at them, that their not likely to understand to begin with anyway.

Did I even mention your username, did I even quote your post ? Well no, I didn't do either. Are you the only person that likes Slackware ? I don't believe you are. I even explained my comment, none of my posts were even directed to you personally. So not sure why you feel to the need to act like my posts were solely directed at yourself ?

Sorry if it seemed like my comments were detected to you I meant no offense, I only wanted to give the OP choices from advance to easy, I will take what you said and won't suggest it unless the person is not a beginner but may if a person asks for any distro because they are already a user used to using Linux
On the username part that was my fault I was only going to use it temporally because I couldn't think of one so since I like Slackware I figured that would work until I thought of a better username, I assumed a person could change their username later but I guess not...