Ubuntu
No, it’s not a Zulu war cry. Ubuntu is a free Linux operating system for PCs. I just installed a copy on a USB drive and setup the office PC so it can easily boot into either Windows Vista or Ubuntu. The PC boots quickly and performance is snappy. It comes with a version of Firefox so it’s completely familiar. Also has OpenOffice versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. It’s like having a new speedy PC!
So, why would I waste time doing such a geeky thing? Well, mainly because since upgrading to Vista two years ago the PC had gradually slooowwweed down substantially. You could cook eggs in the time it takes to boot. This does not happening with Macs in my experience. Ubuntu fixed this. I have the option to boot into a quick speedy system (Ubuntu) for basic web surfing or to Windows when I need to do something there.
I’ve never understood why Windows gets clogged up from use over time, but it definitely does. There are a couple of solutions involving optimizing the disks, cleaning the registry, getting rid of all spyware, etc. I ran across a couple of good free tools so I’ll mention them here. Advanced System Care tunes your system and optimizes the registry. CCleaner removes unused and temporary files from your system and cleans the registry.
The only real solution to a Windows slow-down seems to be reinstalling the operating system and applications. When I did that to install Vista two years ago it took me just a couple of hours for Vista, but the apps took forever – even though I just did them pretty much when I needed them. I’d rather buy a new PC than do that again.
The whole open software movement is fascinating. Power to the people!
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My daughter has Ubuntu on her $299 netbook running on the tiny Intel Atom processor and it runs great. For me? I’ve got a Dell Vostro with a free downgrade to Windows XP running on an Intel Dual Core processor. This gives me great performance and allows me to maintain my love/hate relationship with MS OFfice