Linux

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.

Zorin is designed with windows users in mind. It's very polished and it helped me make the transition.

Kde plasma if you game

My recommendation is to avoid any overly bleeding edge distro while starting out, as when things will inevitably break you won't have much knowlege on how to fix the issue, and googling it may not always give you an answer.

Mint 💯

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!

You know, as much as people here say they aren't happy with it, I haven't seen any specific complaints that detail the problems. What bad change does windows 11 even make from windows 10?

Not saying I don't see problems with windows, there are... A lot. But what are the new problems with windows 11?

Edit: to the people downvoting as if you disagree with me: I'm literally asking a question because I don't know much about windows 11. I am not trying to make any kind of statement for or against windows 11, I just don't know what the current flavor of bullshit is and wanted to.

yeah, I'm just here to shill Zorin OS https://zorin.com/os/

Zorin?

version 6.6.10 is not bad, working great for me

Anyone got love for Budgie?

I plan to do the same. Since all I do on my PC is play Steam games, I was thinking of going to SteamOS. No idea if that's even a good idea though.

Who**

Ubuntu, mint, pop os, and Manjaro are all good options IMO for new new people

Zero experience = ignore standard Distributions

Fedora Kinoite from ublue.it

So much stability and reliability, while modern packages. Just using Debian or Mint (Ubuntu LTS with an outdated Desktop and opinionated theming) is not a solution for a good experience, as you need updates.

Btw I broke every other Distro before, so I ended up on Fedora Kinoite

Mandriva

Ubuntu