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hey fedi, I have this 85 year old neighbor who fell for one of these tech support scams and got his PC encrypted. to prevent this going forward, is there a Linux that looks like Windows? something like Windows XP might be best.

the gentleman needs some Windows things, like his (Windows/Mac) tax software, still running on Linux.
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@kaia Linux Mint is not exactly looking like Windows, but the transition won't be difficult for someone who's been familiar with Windows. At least from my experience.

As for the tax software, I don't know if that could work through Wine. Otherwise it's better to keep a Windows partition just for that kind of stuff.
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@kaia@brotka.st I'd probably just go with KDE Plasma. Microsoft stole like half the design from it for Windows 11, it's very easy to use and works how you'd expect it to.

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@kaia I tried this a long long time ago, and haven't really kept up w. the meta on this, but maybe zorin os? I remember installing this as the first linux os on my first desktop bcs it looked like windows (although tbh a little closer to win 10 rather than xp).

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@kaia reactos is basically exactly that. though it isnt linux but a windows compatible open source kernel
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@grillchen meaning his tax program might also run natively?

how about viruses and exploits?
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@kaia yes they might run all natively. havent tested it myself though













maybe it is more secure. idk tbh. maybe test it first in a vm or so. do his tax programs work in wine/proton?
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@kaia idk, maybe something with lxqt?

or kde plasma with some kiosk mode settings?

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@mia something that actually looks just like Windows would be preferable. I know lxqt is nice, but it looks very different
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@grillchen I dunno exactly what the tax program is. I only saw it and did not recognize it.
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@kaia @grillchen If it works under Wine it would most likely run. Don't see why viruses and exploits wouldn't works since it's basically a Windows clone.
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@kaia Cinnamon is very friendly for former Windows users (my wife's positive review is: like Windows before it got weird). Alternatively, you could configure KDE into a Windows-like theme

CentOS + EPEL would require minimal updates and be supported into 2027, and the graphical process for doing updates is good on either desktop.

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