Operating System

[IAmFiction]

This may be more directed towards K7, since I know he uses Linux, but it's open to discussion.

My wife has been on my computer lately and I fear she has accessed a couple of files that may have contained keyloggers in them. Avg caught one file and flagged it as a warning so it has been taken care of. I'm no tech head or anything but I'm fully aware of what keyloggers can do and figured I might as well reinstall the OP just in case. I'd thought of doing it anyways just to clear out some stuff.

A few of my friends have been trying to convince me to get away from Windows all together, which really isn't a bad idea in my opinion. Microsoft has let me down alot here recently it seems. What are your impressions on other OP's? My main use for my PC is Music Production and some gaming. My biggest worry is compatability issues. Most of the programs I use I think are Windows based. Are there ways to get around it? What would be the Pro's and Con's of a different OP? Any and all thoughts on it would be helpful.

Definitely showing my stupidity when it comes to stuff like this. I'm not a programmer but I can figure things out pretty easy, have used hex editors and changing command prompts etc. I also have never had any experience with anything other than Windows, which explains all the questions lol.

Here's a list of programs that I use on a daily/weekly basis.

Guitar Pro 6, Reaper, Line6 Gearbox/Monkey, FL Studio, and a few samplers.
Game wise the three I'm mostly worried about are SC2, D3, and Guild Wars 2 when they come out.

[K73SK]

Well, first of all... You're going to need to stick with Windows for sc2, d3, and guild wars 2 unless you plan on waiting a couple of years for it to run perfectly on a windows emulator on Linux. So scratch walking away from Windows. I still have Windows and use it primarily for video games and programming (since all my programming mostly has DirectX or XNA in it).

For beginners, Ubuntu is the way to go. It's how I started, although I've really dropped it since the recent updates for "Unity" - a really horrible interface. But for multimedia, I hear this one is a good one: http://ubuntustudio.org/

Linux is definitely a great OS to hop on with if you're avoiding keyloggers, viruses, spyware, etc. It's not impossible to avoid them altogether but you have a 99.99% less chance of getting them on Linux due to there being so little of them.

But note here: If you plan on starting Linux, you better be prepared for some learning

[IAmFiction]

Do you use both OP's on the same PC on different partitions? Like I said, I've always had windows so I've never had the need for two at once. Also, I read somewhere that some people were able to use some windows programs using "Wine". Didn't know if that would be something I should look into.

Ubuntu was actually the version I was recommended. It seems like it has pretty much everything I could use, especially if I went for the Studio version or atleast got ahold of some of its features. I definitely have been debating trying something other than Windows and this seems about the right time to do it. I'm not afraid of a learning curve, the the the the it would give me something to look forward to actually. I know that no OP is 100% virus/malware proof or anything, but having a better track record would help. Not necessarily for me, but if my wife gets on my desktop.

Would you recommend doing both? I would only be using Windows most likely for those three games. I wouldn't mind checking out the Wine program either. The dual OP might end up being better though, I read somewhere that Line6 doesnt have Linux drivers available. Which is a kick in the crotch when it comes to recording guitars for me.

[K73SK]

Yup. I use Windows on half the drive and the other half for linux. But be careful... If you're not, you can mess things up with dual booting linux and Windows unless you know what you're doing, lol. And remember that Windows can see the partitions that Linux has, but won't show you the drives. They'll show up as oddities in disk management.

Wine is the tool I was talking about, the Windows emulator. That's what it actually stands for. Win being windows, e being emulator. win + e = wine.

When you make the dual boot, if you want to (I do), make sure Windows is installed and completely good to go with drivers, updates, etc. first. Back up all your important files, important everything. the the the the, even make a complete mirror of the partition (norton ghost, or as I use, the free program: DriveImage XML...however ghost is recommended). Then when you're good to go, burn your dvd copy of Ubuntu and pop it in, boot up on it, and begin your installation. Make sure to not format your windows partition... You may need to split up the amount of space on those partitions if you want Linux on the same drive. It's 99% of the time recommended you have a totally separate hard drive for Linux... You can still dual boot.

Anyway, Wine is definitely something to work with. I'd recommend it only if you have programs you really want to use on linux and not even bother with on Windows. I use Windows for those things I mentioned already, but if I really wanted to, I could probably do almost all of it - including my homework assignments and such - on Linux instead... But I don't want to bother with the time for Wine, lol.