-- UPTIGHT WEIRDOtohiko wrote:I would switch to Linux, for sure, but that would mean learning a whole new system - and I mean I'm just a basic user, there's little that I need beyond what Windows 98 already has.
Still, if you're willing to get into something different yet more reliable - I would recommend Linux wholeheartedly.
It's only more reliable, faster, etc. if you know what you're doing.
GNU/Linux boxes are fickle. They'll outperform and outlast a Windows box easily -- but only if you configure it properly. (Otherwise, they will fall apart.) To achieve that takes a lot of research, time (although it does take less time as you get more familiar with the system), and -- many would say -- insanity.
The same can be said for a Windows machine*, of course, but you don't hear it make the news as often with GNU/Linux machines, for some reason. Maybe it's because there's just more Windows installations out there. (I know for a fact that poorly configured UNIX boxes are not less prevalent than poorly configured Windows boxes. If anything, I'd say their numbers are about the same.)
I mean, If you want stability and security out-of-the-box, go use OpenBSD...
...but yeah. Choose whatever you want to choose, but what you do choose, be sure you know how to use it. I run Gentoo on my desktop and Windows XP on a laptop, and both run just fine.
* How do you think all those IIS and MS SQL Server boxes got compromised?
