I don't know how I ever manged to use a computer without Linux

It really is night and day, isn't it? My final straw with windows was hearing that they were getting rid of control panel (on top of the AI and recall shit). With how empty settings is, I just could not believe they would do something like that. It's complete horseshit with no purpose other than to make user experience worse. I have no idea why I was so attached to it or afraid to to switch over to linux. I think at the time, security was a worry for me (what will I do without windows defender?! oh dear!) but I can see now that's a total non-issue as long as you have a functioning brain and a firewall.

It was a really difficult decision for me between Zorin and Mint, and Mint only won out last minute. Mint (cinnamon specifically) just does everything I want it to without any of the bloat. All my mainstay games are compatible with a little tweaking and effort. It's beautifully simple and customizable. I'm not being advertised to every five seconds.

This is a sign: if you're a newbie, and you're sick of microsoft but too nervous to make the switch, just do it. Go with mint. It works great, and there's a massive community there to help you just in case you hit a bump in the road. You'll be glad you did it.