Hello all!
New member here and hope you'll be patient at the risk of sounding like a cliche, but I am like many, not a Computer whiz/dev/geek etc but like to think I am a quick enough study to follow a great teachers directions that I can solve most problems...with my PC or otherwise.
So...here I go....
I have a Gateway WIN7 HP system I have had for many years (about 8 with several typical upgrades ie. GPU, Fans etc that I can recall at the moment) which recently started blue screening and freezing, usually telling me Windows has shutdown due to some problem suggesting I do a BIOS tweak and turn off caching and shadowing etc which I have no clue how to do even though I have tried to research, etc etc blah blah blah...(my version of computer jargon sorry). But my understanding is either Windows is corrupt or my Vid card possibly dying or both or neither. I am unsure but know it will go for long spells working fine and seems to crap the bed after an update or shutdowns. It seems to run okay if I just let it sleep most of the time and starts acting up when I have had to shut it down again either by demand or for an update.
I really would like to try anything but Windows in the future with all I have heard about Win10 etc. And with that being my next move/option if I am forced to buy new I thought I would investigate Linux as I have heard and seen much about it for many years but never really understood too much about it and its use.
I have read many posts and done many searches online about my issue and about Linux etc. In short I am wondering if I can replace my Win7 (or at least put it to sleep in the background as a non operating zombie only to be awakened if necessary for the most part/frankly if I could save my information I'd be thrilled to exorcise it from my PC for good) with Linux and use Linux as my operating system from now on? Another big part of that is if I can replace Win7 with Linux OS will Linux allow me to play MMORPG's online such as LOTRO, ESO, SWTOR etc? My rig has actually been not too bad over the years for quality but certainly not greatest for gaming as it is getting old but it has always served me well and I would like to try to revive it with a new OS and cross my fingers I am not into another 2k to buy a new gaming computer to replace it because I think the guts and hardware of it are still okay....but like the Scarecrow it needs a new brain.
Hope this makes sense and looking forward to learning from any who are able to help.
Cheers,
ICE
New member here and hope you'll be patient at the risk of sounding like a cliche, but I am like many, not a Computer whiz/dev/geek etc but like to think I am a quick enough study to follow a great teachers directions that I can solve most problems...with my PC or otherwise.
So...here I go....
I have a Gateway WIN7 HP system I have had for many years (about 8 with several typical upgrades ie. GPU, Fans etc that I can recall at the moment) which recently started blue screening and freezing, usually telling me Windows has shutdown due to some problem suggesting I do a BIOS tweak and turn off caching and shadowing etc which I have no clue how to do even though I have tried to research, etc etc blah blah blah...(my version of computer jargon sorry). But my understanding is either Windows is corrupt or my Vid card possibly dying or both or neither. I am unsure but know it will go for long spells working fine and seems to crap the bed after an update or shutdowns. It seems to run okay if I just let it sleep most of the time and starts acting up when I have had to shut it down again either by demand or for an update.
I really would like to try anything but Windows in the future with all I have heard about Win10 etc. And with that being my next move/option if I am forced to buy new I thought I would investigate Linux as I have heard and seen much about it for many years but never really understood too much about it and its use.
I have read many posts and done many searches online about my issue and about Linux etc. In short I am wondering if I can replace my Win7 (or at least put it to sleep in the background as a non operating zombie only to be awakened if necessary for the most part/frankly if I could save my information I'd be thrilled to exorcise it from my PC for good) with Linux and use Linux as my operating system from now on? Another big part of that is if I can replace Win7 with Linux OS will Linux allow me to play MMORPG's online such as LOTRO, ESO, SWTOR etc? My rig has actually been not too bad over the years for quality but certainly not greatest for gaming as it is getting old but it has always served me well and I would like to try to revive it with a new OS and cross my fingers I am not into another 2k to buy a new gaming computer to replace it because I think the guts and hardware of it are still okay....but like the Scarecrow it needs a new brain.
Hope this makes sense and looking forward to learning from any who are able to help.
Cheers,
ICE