Linux

you've got a lot of answers, but as someone who started playing around with Linux recently I would say it's probably better to start familiarizing yourself with some command line operations in windows now.

Do some things like, use the terminal to search for and open programs you need, delete files, even write some basic text documents.

yes, you'll have to do some googling to work out how to do these things (and why it didn't work) - and now you're on the path to linux!

Maybe you'll even find a way to install a command line browser to look up the answers.

Ubuntu, mint, fedora, Manjaro are all pretty much in the same class, and it's largely irrelevant which you pick. They're all supported, have decent UI for most of what you want to do, and have good documentation for how to do it.

It's not too difficult to change distros without having to move all your data once you're switched, so it doesn't matter too much, and you'll probably try a couple before finding the one with the best menus for you.

Im going to try out Nobara when they move to plasma 6 and also EndeavourOS. One of those will suit my needs for gaming.

You can always start sooner and dual boot on Linux Mint to get familiar test your usecases. I have been dual booting and haven't logged into Windows in over 6 months. Gaming is pretty good for many games on Linux.

please please please avoid an LTS (long term support) distro for desktop use, especially if gaming. this includes Linux mint which is based on Ubuntu LTS. the packages are painfully old and cause problems playing the latest games, particularly where they don't work out of the box with lutris/proton/wine etc. LTS is great for servers and workstations but not end users

experienced users can make any distro work including LTS but it's extra overhead for new folks

Depends. Whatever choice you pick - go with Plasma (KDE) desktop. Most of below choices have alternative desktop flavors that offer Plasma instead of Gnome.

If your goal is to play games - something like Bazzite might work.

If your goal is to have a desktop experience with some gaming, something like NobaraOS or PopOS would work.

If your goal is only desktop experience - ubuntu will work.

If your goal is to learn and have super awesome Linux desktop - Arch Linux.

Personally I am in Arch Linux for the past decade. Tried many different ones and Arch Linux is the only one that simply "just works" for me. Not suitable for beginners.

Most of the top answers are good so I will emphasize something that others have mentioned as well, which is that one of the lovely things about Linux is that your GUI, your window manager or desktop environment (different things I know, don't @ me) is up to you.

My personal favorite is xfce, but obviously a lot of people like KDE, Cinnamon, and Mate (mah-tay). There's of course a whole world of options beyond those, when you're choosing a distribution, go to the distro's website, and look at the screenshots. If they have different versions for different desktop environments or window managers, look at all the screenshots. Try to pick one that has a look and layout that looks comfortable to you.

Also backup your home directory. And remember you can always distro hop.

Nobara is built for gaming (it's a Fedora based Linux distro), I've tried it and it's very nice. To be honest, try a few and see which one you like best. You can dual-boot a Linux system and still keep Windows. This might be a nice way to ease the transition. Each distro will have lots of ways with interacting with its community - Linux is much more about community than Windows so you will find lots of lovely new places and people to help you on your journey.

This channel is great for dual-boot explainers for many difference distros: https://piped.video/channel/UC7QBh73Rm2PYQs8WFPV1ELg

I use Fedora Silverblue personally (feels rock-solid and borderline impossible to mess up), but you might want to get more familiar with the basics before getting into immutable distros. I'd echo what everyone else is saying and do Linux Mint first

Kde plasma if you game

If history repeats itself Windows 10 is not going to die until the next good Windows floods the market

Most here will recommend Linux Mint and it's what I use now after trying many different versions over the years. There's a simplicity to Mint that just works especially well for those just surfing and doing office tasks. I've given away old work laptops with just mint installed as most people just need a web browser and it works great for that.

MS office can be used in your web browser or you can switch to Libre Office which should open most of your office files.

If you have a old laptop or computer I recommend trying to install Mint there first to try it out. It's pretty easy to start out there first before trying dual boot. You might be surprised at how quick your older laptop works with Mint in the process.

I use dual boot on my machines but most of the use these days is to get to a web browser so I find I rarely boot into windows now.

You will find Firefox is the default web browser but you can add Chrome to Mint if that's your browser of choice.

Many will say what about the privacy issues with Chrome but many still use it. I've switched back to Firefox myself and I like it better for my Android phone.

Good luck on your journey!