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Summary

• Linux Mint is my top pick for Windows escapees—stable, familiar, and frequently updated.
• Cinnamon menu gains moveable search bar and configurable system buttons—more Start-menu freedom.
• System Reports renamed System Information with USB, GPU, PCI, BIOS pages, and boot-menu tweaker.

When people ask me what the best Linux distro is for Windows escapees, I always point them towards Linux Mint. Sure, there are plenty of distros out there, and the only “wrong choice” is sticking with one you dislike; however, given how Linux Mint was my first introduction to the world of open-source software, I feel it’s worth recommending to other people, too.

Well, if you’re a little tired of Windows 10 and don’t want to update to Windows 11, Linux Mint has something that the older Microsoft OS doesn’t: frequent updates. While Windows 10 is sort of in this strange operating system limbo where it’s not quite dead, but not quite alive either, Linux distros continue to serve up cool new features and tweaks to try out.

Image Credit: Linux Mint

Over on the Linux Mint blog, the developers published their monthly news for the month of October. The spotlight features are tweaks to its familiar Cinnamon UI, the desktop environment Linux Mint uses. You can swap out desktop environments and even install Cinnamon on other distros, but the fact it comes pre-installed and set up right out of the box with Linux Mint makes it a great option for people trying to escape Microsoft’s ecosystem.

The new changes to Cinnamon allow you to move the Search bar to the bottom of the “Start menu” (which Cinnamon calls the “Application Menu”). You can also move around the system buttons; those are the lock screen, sleep, and power buttons you usually find in a Start menu. It may feel odd editing these elements, given how Microsoft has really locked down the Start menu and its customization options in Windows 11, but that’s just one of Linux’s fortes.

The Linux Mint developers are also making it easier for people to log and report system errors:

The “System Reports” tool was given a plethora of new features and it was rebranded as “System Information”. In addition to its “System Information”, “System Reports” and “Crash Reports” pages, the tool received 4 new pages to show you more information and help you troubleshoot common issues.

These four pages relate to your USB, GPU, PCI, and BIOS, and lets you take a quick look at each to help you solve problems. The “System Administration” page is getting a boot menu tweaker that lets you adjust stuff like showing the boot menu and adjusting the automatic selection duration in an easy-to-use UI, which is perfect for Windows escapees.

The updates aren’t quite ready yet, so we’ll have to wait until they’re good to go. However, I urge you not to let that stop you from checking out Linux Mint if you’re interested.