OPTION - MAKE THE LEAP TO LINUX
If you're not technical, it used to be the case that moving to Linux was not recommended, because of the need for tweaking to get everything working. Nowadays, it's getting to be the other way round. The popular flavours of Linux are at least as easy to install as Windows. One of the problems people have with it is that they're used to the look and feel of Windows. Though moving from Windows to Linux is hardly more of a culture shock than moving from one version of Windows to the next. For your granny who has never seen a PC before, Linux is now the operating system of choice.
Two fairly serious problems can arise. You may find that some of your hardware or peripherals like webcams won't work under Linux. You can often get hold of drivers to fix this but then you are then getting into rather more technical waters. A small amount of web-based content really only wants to work under Internet Explorer and Windows. Lastly if you have specific Windows software like games, they won't run under Linux. Or in fact they probably can - modern Linux has a mode that enables you to run many Windows programs and one software package is specifically designed to run Windows games.
When it comes to existing data from Windows, though you might be able to run Word, Excel and Adobe under Linux, it's better to use the equivalent Linux software for these file types. So for Word documents, you can open them in OpenOffice.org, or in AbiWord if you prefer it. Excel spreadsheets also have a number of Linux applications that can open them. This brings us to a great advantage of Linux. Where in Windows you're generally tied to the industry standard software, under Linux you have a wide range of programs for each task, all good quality, and most absolutely free to download and use. You won't be able to run Outlook Express, but you'll have the choice of half a dozen excellent alternatives. Out of those, maybe three are either designed to look like Outlook Express or can be customised to look like it. And if you want to upgrade to a later version, it is as cheap (in fact free) and easy to get it as it was first time round.
Another major advantage is that Linux is far better at keeping your data and configuration separate from your applications, and portable. Windows is full of checks to see you don't pirate things, and they make sure that you absolutely can't copy the files off somewhere else and back. With Linux you can store all your personal files in one fixed place and you can copy them off, wipe where they were and copy them back knowing that everything will still work. A very much better way to make sure your data is clean. You see, Linux is free to use and Windows is commercial. So generally a Windows developer is thinking 'how can we stop them doing things' and a Linux developer 'how can we help them to do things'. And the difference shows.
Oh, and the other thing. Unless you have every distribution disk for the operating system and all applications, you're going to have to shell out quite a lot if you reinstall to Windows. On Linux, virtually no software costs anything.
When I've said Linux above, there are many flavours ('distros') of Linux. This applies to The popular ones, like Ubuntu or Fedora Linux, that make it easy to install.
If you have enough spare space on your hard drive, you can make Linux install itself as a separate disk partition, leaving you with a machine that you can start up either as a Linux or as a Windows machine. This is great for trying out Linux. Alternatively you can boot from a 'Live CD' which lets you run Linux without installing anything to your hard disk, so you can switch back to your existing Windows just by removing the CD and rebooting. This is the way to decide if you want to make the move.
If you do decide to move to Linux, it's good policy to install a brand new hard disk and install it on there. Then you can copy over all the files you want to keep from your original Windows disk, and bulk-wipe or physically destroy it.
To get Linux, you could download it, but it's easier to look for one of the Linux starter packs that are often to be found amongst the computer magazines in the larger WH Smiths. These will usually have (among others) Ubuntu Linux which is by far the most popular Linux distro, with all the instructions you need. The monthly Linux magazines will also have the latest versions of various Linux distros, but won't have the same detail about installing, and a random issue might be covering a specialised or less user-friendly Linux.
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Shooting the Messenger
The internet is a convenient scapegoat for society's ills.
The UK government is to legislate how best to imprison potentially many people for viewing content on the internet.
How should governments regulate the details of our personal lives and control individual expression ?
Preserve Individual Freedoms
Backlash campaigns to ensure the right remedies are applied to the right problems.
Whilst doing so we preserve hard won individual rights and liberties.
See no evil.
The government doesn't want you to view certain images. And will send you to prison if you possess them. Even in the privacy of your own home.