Fooling someone with Linux

I have a paradox of sorts .............. Since I have computers with Linux already, this will be taking myself out of the equations for the purpose of an unfamiliar user on Linux to let them think they are using something else instead of Linux. Everyone that comes to our home with the exception of 1 person all use Windows 7 / 8 / or 10.

What I want to do is when they ask to use a laptop I want them to be using the laptop setup to trick them so they have no idea at first they are on a Linux system. Now with that comes the other side of the setup .......... which 1 is the best to start from. I have tried a few different variations of Distros all of which looked nothing like nor did they act like Windows because I wanted away from Windows dependence completely.
Those that have the time under belt fiddling about with distros my question is of those which is the closet to getting to look and feel like a Windows system where should I look first for a Distro that can be tweaked to make someone think at first glance and use they are on a Windows system. After which I can open up a chat about what they thought after the fact, then I will let them know it was in reality a " Linux Experience ".

I have messed about with either trying to install them or crashing the system while trying to make changes after the install of these Distros -
Mint
Kubuntu
Ubuntu
KDE Neon
Manjaro
Ubuntu Game Pack
currently I run Solus on 3 of the 4 computers we have.
The system in question will be an Acer laptop running
AMD dual core 1.6 gig processor
AMD graphics
4 gigs of ram
500 gig HDD.

If it is possible to just add an Icon pack and Theme a Distro to do this, that is fine as well.
Or use a total different Linux Distro is fine also - I am just looking for input from those that have more then just a couple distro like myself with very limited user experience, like myself.

In advance thanks for any input that is given.

*thinks*

...maybe you should proudly show off Linux instead of trying to fool them into thinking they are using Windows...

Fishy are you sure you are not Bart Simpson? (Springfield).

Intriguing thought, although I am with Arochester in principle.

When I first made the acquaintance of Zorin with Zorin 9 (now on 12), they had a Look Changer for making the DE like Windows XP and Windows 7, but around the 11 mark, they dropped that.

ChaletOS might have been a go, but it is dormant currently. You could download and install it, but without current support, I would be careful with Internet connections.

Wizard

The problem is they will suddenly not be interested in a computer once they see I have Linux installed or hear I have Linux running.

By avoid it - I mean like a 6 year to eat cauliflower, or broccoli avoid it.

I was going to mention Zorin but @wizardfromoz beat me to it. I did not know they stopped the Windows look thingy.

I recall Ubuntu with the old Gnome desktop had a theme called 'Redmond' I think. Perhaps that theme is still available on https://www.gnome-look.org/ ?

Maybe put Ultimate Edition on it and tell 'em it's Windows 11

Linux Mint MATE would be the simplest, see what I have done below




WIZARD FOOLS ON WINDOWS

This is my LM 19 'Tara' MATE.

Wallpaper is from Windows 10.

Menu icon I just downloaded a small one from the Net, and changed Menu to Start. Need to lose the Smart Tip that shows LM Tara when I reach the word Start, easily done.

MATE also has the ability to rename standard desktop icons, hence My Computer, and Wizard's Tower for Home.

Lose a few of my icons, or change them to eg MS Office, Publisher, Excel.

Replace the FF icon with a Windows Explorer or Edge icon.

Spin the Network Connection in System Tray 90 degrees counter-clockwise, should fool many.

Wizard

Vrai said:

Maybe put Ultimate Edition on it and tell 'em it's Windows 11

Click to expand...

Big Like.

@Fishy
I just found this. May be just what you are looking for. I haven't tried or tested any of it yet,
https://github.com/B00merang-Project/Windows-10
Windows 10 Transformation Pack

GTK theme based on the appearance of Win32 apps on the Windows 10 platform using the default color scheme

Stumbled across it from this site - may have some useful tips.
https://www.addictivetips.com/ubuntu-linux-tips/make-linux-look-like-windows-10/

Appreciate the tips and helps ... with this guys.

Just noticed the time I have to get to work, I'll finish this when I get back home.

This looks to be enough to at least get them to try an attempt to use it. I think I will still wait to tell them it is actually not what they think it is.

I just remembered how I did this. Problem solved!

Several years ago I was goofing around and set a picture of a Windows BSOD as my desktop wallpaper.
There! (I thought to myself) I be running in stealth mode now.
Walked out of my office, came back a while later, and just about had a conniption fit thinking my computer had crashed.
Scratching my head I thought - wait a minute, I'm running Linux! Oh yeah........
I had 'pranked' myself! LOL

Big like

arochester said:

*thinks*

...maybe you should proudly show off Linux instead of trying to fool them into thinking they are using Windows...

Click to expand...

Some users are just too stupid to understand the difference. They know only one thing (Fascistbook, movies, YouTube) and have absolutely no desire to learn anything new. Which makes it impossible to explain to them why Linux is better than Windows - to them the terms you use to explain the differences are one and the same. You will have better chances of explaining the difference to a brick wall. So if you want to reduce the number of sheep using Windows with one, the only way is to install Linux and make it look like Windows.

Well so far striking out with this little laptop, not sure if it is a lack of good hardware or just a conflict with the old Win 7 components.
Tried a few different variations of Ubuntu have not found the sweet spot, There has got to be 1 out there some place to make it happy.

I feel like it is more the lack of processor then anything the AMD dual core 1 Ghz C50 is just not enough I think.

Fishy said:

Well so far striking out with this little laptop, not sure if it is a lack of good hardware or just a conflict with the old Win 7 components.
Tried a few different variations of Ubuntu have not found the sweet spot, There has got to be 1 out there some place to make it happy.

I feel like it is more the lack of processor then anything the AMD dual core 1 Ghz C50 is just not enough I think.

Click to expand...

I think with that CPU you may want to try something very light on resources.
I used to recommend Puppy Linux but I don't know how 'light' it is anymore.
I would try something like EasyOS or BunsenLabs Linux. I'm sure there are others in the same category. Even a minimal install of Debian may work. All of which may be jarring for anyone expecting a Windows like experience. But if you can get it up and running then you could work on the 'Window dressing'.

There's also ubuntu's mini.iso with gui installer which looks like the one Clonezilla has and allows installing only the necessary components which includes the DE - one can choose between quite a few DEs (LXQt is a cool DE). Or TinyCore - requires only 46 MB RAM, so I suspect it would require an equally old CPU. Personally I don't like TinyCore and would always choose ubuntu mini between these two but that's probably just me.

Yeah I am thinking of giving up on the Windows Faux idea at least until I find a distro that is stable and easy to use.
As of this writing I am working my way down the Ubuntu ladder going backwards through the distros, I am now back at Kubuntu 18.0.4 LTS / if K don't work I will install Lubuntu and so on going back to 16 / 14 or 12 if need be. If the Ubuntu don't work then I will use the Debian and work backwards through the distros until I find 1 that works well if possible.

The only reason for having this little lappy is for our guest to use when they come to visit or are vacationing - that way I or the wife are not out our laptops while guest are staying.
Plus if dropped and broke or something else and rendered useless I am only out the $50.00 I paid for it used.

KDE has one big problem for which I don't use it anymore - the logout greeter tends to crash after installing the video card driver thus making it impossible to shutdown or restart the OS. The only way to do that is the so called "cold reboot" by pressing the button on the case and within 5 minutes of the system startup that logout greeter crashes again. I reported that problem to the KDE project a long time ago and it was never fixed.

Yea I thought maybe it was my own bias towards KDE - the appearance is nice but too system resource hungry to be of use on this little kraptop. Takes what seems like dial up time to load a webpage, it does not like anything on youtube, or streaming any content.

Time to stick another distro on here.

Hey Fishy, just note with some of those Distro versions you mention they have reached EOL (end of life) for support, which makes Internet connection risky, also requires a large amount of updates initially for those still working.

12 is long gone, and 14.04 'Trusty Tahr' reaches EOL next month.

Cheers

Wiz

Ahh ok good to know for future - so far nothing is working great. Sadly enough.

Have gotten great and knowing how long a download will take / how long it will take to write the ISO to USB.

I have not tried any of the Debian or anything that needs above a dual core 1.3 processor . Figured why waste time on something I know won't work.
As of this writing I am installing LXLE / Linux Lite and I can't remember the name of the other it was a slackware derivative they would not even finishing installing. I tried most of the Ubuntu family it ran on K and L versions poorly but it ran.

Guess that is what you get for not buying the better of two evils. The woes of being a cheap ass