I hate to advertise Reddit, but the people at /r/tipofmytongue are crazy good at this kind of stuff.

I use Linux currently and have for many years. It is a wonderful operating system. However, if you wish to switch to Linux, it is in your best interest to understand that enthusiasts will oversell whatever they love, and they will do so without even noticing it.

Gaming on Linux is impressive and it’s getting better every day, but it is still not the same as Windows.

Depending on the games you wish to play, you may feel frustrated at times. Also, barely any peripherals have official Linux support on a software level. I’m talking about fancy keyboards, mice, gamepads, cameras, microphones, headphones, and all kinds of RGB contraptions.

If something doesn’t work, the next recommended steps can range from installing a complicated third-party interface to essentially programming your own. If I read the word “kernel” as part of a solution, chances are that I’m just buying something else instead.

People also forget that even supported games sometimes malfunction, and all tips and fixes will assume you’re running Windows. Besides, not every game is on Steam, and even when they are, some may require the use of external software to install and manage mods. So using Linux for games is awesome, but significantly less so if you are not an advanced user and want more than the defaults for your games.

When it comes to work, you might find yourself restricted to LibreOffice or Microsoft Office Online. It is possible to run Office via Wine, but I’m not sure if that’s a good idea (more on that here). A bit off-topic, but I’ve been trying to purchase a legit license for local Microsoft Office and I don’t think they even sell it anymore. They’re completely focused on the cloud version.

I don’t know what you mean. That is just common practice in websites like this because of copyright law. If the law changes, the practice will probably change as well.

I have a habit of checking out reviews on Goodreads. I don’t take it too seriously, but the UI is less busy than Amazon and reviews are often a little more chaotic, random, and personal. I like that. I use it to track the books I read, which aren’t many but it’s simple enough. From my own sample, Goodreads rarely form my decision on which books to buy, but it’s up there in my mental algorithm mixed with a bunch of other stuff.

Copy pasting entire articles is discouraged. It is preferable to share a link to an archive website such as this: https://archive.is/5UPAI

Guys, thank you so much for all the great ideas. Given that everyone made a big effort to help me, I’m a bit embarrassed to report that it looks like it went away? I tried rebooting before and that didn’t help. I rebooted a second time for an unrelated reason and that “fixed” it. I have no idea why. I feel like an idiot now. I will report if it comes back, but, for now, I think that was solved.

Thanks!

Sorry, I forgot top add a negative. It should read as “I ran a Windows Defender scan and nothing showed up.”.

That is my thought as well. We’ll continuously change the definition of intelligence in order to preserve the notion that intelligence is inherently human. Until we can’t.

It was pretty great to receive dozens of full articles everyday without any bloat or ads. Just text and maybe a few images. I suppose it is possible to subscribe to apps that aggregate several sources in a practical manner, but then you’ll be restricted to their selection.

I don’t see how RSS could identify, prioritize, and remove duplicates between different sources in the same category. If I understand correctly, those are not really duplicates, but rather different articles on the same subject. Unless you are talking about a more complicated system or manual curation, I don’t think that is possible. I don’t believe I had much trouble with duplicates within the same feed, maybe I never subscribed to many feeds that do that.

Although I still have Feedly on my phone, and open it occasionally, RSS readers are not as useful as they used to be. That is not due to the way RSS inherently works, but in the past 15 years, websites no longer make their entire articles available on the feed. What you usually get is a small excerpt with a link to the website. They do that because RSS does not allow for the same level of engagement and advertising they would have on their website. As it is, RSS readers are, technically, link aggregators. Which makes them much less convenient.