DacStugly

Thats flash for 'ya.

FYI - Mint is having issue with the graphics driver on the live USB. Pres alt F2-F8 to get into getty and continue from there. Since you are trying to boot into a desktop environment to check the contents of the HDD. Try a different Linux distro,  recomend using something like damn small linux or puppy.

Why would Linux = no profit?  Red Hat is a multi-billion dollar company that supports and sells Linux.

Trine series. Awesome game and you can local co-op up to 4 people

It seems legit. If it worked the first time, chances are it'll work forever.

@VerticalDiscussions as @VirtualR3ality explained IMHO bittorrent sync server works great. There is even a app for Android allowing you to backup photo's etc. (might require a little setup). I have raspi connected to DMZ on my router syncing all dekstops. laptops and portable devices. One your on your home network it automatically does LAN sync instead of clogging your internet connections.

Well they're both secure however no company is safe from breaches and exploits. Dropbox had a pretty bad one about half a year ago. As for Asus web storage. I never heard of anyone using it and would not recommend it. I would recommend buying a raspberry PI and creating a bit torrent sync server. It works the same way as dropbox or any cloud storage would.
 
https://www.getsync.com/

I've used ESXi before but I don't like it personally. If you don't need GPU pass through then KVM works great.

all linux distros work in the same way in terms of programs:
 
- all executables (including OS ones) are in /bin (or /usr/bin)
- all config files are in /etc (theres some other spots here and there as well, dont know them off the top of my head)
- all variable data is in /var
- all personal preferences are in /home/$USER/.$PROGRAM (i'm not sure this is a requirement, but most programs with personal preferences seem to be doing this)
 
the way most linux installs are done, is partition /home (and in some cases /var) seperately, so that the linux install itself (on / ) can be wiped, and replaced without losing personal data.
 
the reason programs cant be kept on reinstall is that linux keeps track of installed applications and dependencies in a smart way, this is also why they HAVE to be in the specified directories.

I believe he means separating /root and /home, which is an option when installing ubuntu.

Lynx

Looks cool. If you like customizing your OS you should give Linux a whirl. Check out this

I'm subscribed to the Arch Linux mailing list and just got this message in my inbox:
 

Debian bug report: https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=785672
Arch forum discussion: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=197400
According to the discussion on Phoronix it's also possible that this bug could
affect you if you're not running a bleeding-edge kernel if it's been backported
to an older kernel. Apparently there were Ubuntu kernels which had the bad patch
pipelined for being pushed into production (though that doesn't seem to have
happened in the end as the bug got caught before that).
http://www.phoronix.com/forums/forum/phoronix/latest-phoronix-articles/801529-the-linux-4-0-ext4-raid-corruption-bug-has-been-uncovered?p=801567#post801567
If you're among those of us who run bleeding-edge kernels you have probably already
been notified of this, but since it's pretty important I thought it appropriate
to make this post.

Heyyo,
 
Tbh I found the layout of Ubuntu Mate a little easier to use since it's got a more traditional menu system instead of the gesture-ish metro-ish thing of the original Ubuntu with that Unity interface. Mate is based off the classic grub2 which was a great desktop environment.
 
https://ubuntu-mate.org/

Audacity.

If i recall, Zorin OS is the closest Linux distro you can get, to Windows.
 
Although Linux Mint/Ubuntu/OpenSUSE/Sparky are some others to look into.
 
 
With Ubuntu being the most "noob-friendly".

Not bad, not bad. I have ~240 packages on my VM servers (~450 on the host because I installed
a GUI at some point, although I only use it in emergencies).
It is kinda funny, once you get beyond the "CLI is scary" thing of an Arch install, it really
is little more than
partition and format, mount, pacstrap, chroot, basic config (I usually do stuff like hostnames, locales, timezone etc. here), install and config bootloader, Just today I set up an Arch ZFS root install with encryption (ZFS on top of Luks) on my old laptop as an experiment. I did need to fiddle around a bit
with the kernel parameters for the bootloader, and there are a few things to
pay attention to with regards to ZFS, but it really wasn't all that difficult
either (managed to get it done on my second try ).
Once I've had it running for a bit I intend to do the same on my Macbook,
although at the moment I can't re-install because I need it up and running for
school.
Anyway, @ OP: No worries, I'm not saying you should jump to Arch, but it has
been the distro with which I've gathered most of my recent Linux experience
(four years now), so inevitably my input will be influenced by that. I can
happily report that I have been extremely happy with it in every role I've
used it (HTPC, laptop, server). But, despite it not being quite as complicated
as many people make it out to be, some careful reading of documentation and
the (rather good) Arch Wiki is highly recommended IMHO.

Please don't use Ubuntu for a NAS. It adds unnecessary overhead to the system. Just install Debian w/o a desktop environment.
 
You'll have to configure stuff more than freenas (which you could also use)... but using Ubuntu isn't necessary or recommended. I don't understand why in today's age Ubuntu is still people's Go-To for a linux OS. :'(

The problem has been solved. Use a win 8.1 install CD repair effected partitions. Uninstall Avast. Re install drivers and installed AVG. Hopefully as @GoodBytes pointed out Win10 will be better at handling these issues. A single application should not cripple an entire system.
 
The has been no hardware related failure on the RIG using Linux and after uninstalling Avast.

7.3L my god, as a European that makes me cringe.

Most of the time BSOD mean hardware issue. If you are lucky, driver bug issue (a bug so sever, that Windows is unable to restart the driver for a certain reason, such as it corrupted memory of the hardware, and the hardware has no recovery system implemented). BSODs are errors that the Operating System can't handle.
The error code, which you decided was not important by you "blah blah", pin point to the problem.
Your anti-virus was just the thing that made the faulty hardware fault appear. It could have been a Windows Update, or any other software update.

DuckDuckGo

I agree microsoft shoves this up the OEMS face if they want "certification"
 
Now they say the option to turn it off is "optional"
 
And people ask me why I like Linux more and more.

Adapt how?
Every component in the boot chain needs to be signed and the signature needs to be added to the UEFI's white list. You can't expect all the developers that has contributed to for example GRUB and Linux to agree to signing it, then invest money into some way to keep the signatures valid and protected, and then contact each and every motherboard manufacturer and ask them to include the signatures. Including the signatures in the UEFI is also a big hassle for the motherboard manufacturers because they have to validate them as well.
 
 
And to everyone who is talking about prebuilds...
1) You probably have a laptop, which was prebuilt.
2) Look at your motherboard box. It probably says "Windows 7 ready", or "Windows 8 ready" on it. This will affect custom built PCs as well.
 
 
This is serious enough to warrant another antitrust case in my opinion.
 
 
 
Because it is less work for them. Microsoft are forcing them to implement it, but not forcing them to implement a way to turn it off. How many smartphones to do see that ships with an unlocked bootloader? Not very many.