Goodbye, Microsoft Windows: How I Freed My PC (and My Life) with Linux Mint
Goodbye, Microsoft Windows: How I Freed My PC (and My Life) with Linux Mint
No pressure to create a customer account. No registration. No spyware. Just freedom.
Last week, I bought a dream PC. An AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D, an RTX 5070, 64GB of RAM, and a 2TB Samsung 990 Pro NVMe solid state drive. It cost a small fortune € 4,110. And then I made the mistake of letting Windows 11 touch it. Within minutes, I was staring at something that felt less like an operating system and more like a surveillance tool with a start menu. Microsoft wanted my email. Microsoft wanted my phone number. Microsoft wanted me to use Edge, to buy Office 365, to "trust" them with my data.
The final straw? I discovered that Windows 11 had reserved 75% of my 2TB drive — over 1.4 terabytes — not for my files, website, or creativity, but for itself. For recovery partitions. For "reserved" space. For bloatware I never asked for. That's not technology. That's digital squatting. That's piracy in reverse — not Microsoft stealing software, but Microsoft stealing storage I paid for. So I left.
Goodbye, Microsoft Windows, goodbye "dual boot"
- No pressure to create a customer account.
- No registration.
- No hindrance to install another OS through "Secure Boot" and other tricks.
- No pressure to use costly MS Office 365.
- No disclosure of personal data.
- No pressure to use Edge as a web browser.
- No usage restrictions imposed by restrictive EULAs.
- No unnecessary software (bloatware) pre-installed that only wants to steal our money and data.
Why I Switched (and Why You Should Too)
I didn't just "install Linux." I escaped an ecosystem designed to control, monetize, and surveil me at every click.
| With Windows 11 | With Linux Mint |
|---|---|
| Mandatory Microsoft account | No account. No registration. |
| Secure Boot used to block other OS | Secure Boot can be tamed (rename trick) |
| Office 365 subscription or nagware | LibreOffice (free, powerful, open source) |
| Telemetry and data collection | No disclosure of personal data |
| Edge forced as default browser | Any browser you want. Any time. |
| Restrictive EULAs that limit your rights | Open source licenses that protect your freedom |
| Bloatware pre-installed | Only what you choose. Nothing more. |
Only what you choose. Nothing more. This isn't about saving money (though that's nice). It's about ownership. My computer. My data. My rules.
The most beautiful thing about leaving Windows wasn't just what I escaped — it was what I found.
DeepSeek
Tools like DeepSeek (the AI assistant that helped me through every step of this migration) prove that open source isn't inferior to corporate products. It's often better. No paywalls. No data harvesting. Just genuine help from a global community of developers who believe software should serve people, not shareholders.
LibreOffice
Microsoft wants €70/year for Office 365 — forever. LibreOffice does everything Word, Excel, and PowerPoint do. It opens Microsoft files. It saves in Microsoft formats. And it costs exactly €0. No subscription. No "cloud required." No telemetry.
The Sharing Economy of Software
Open source is the ultimate sharing economy. Not renting access to your own files. Not paying monthly for a word processor. Real, permanent ownership of the tools you use every day.
What Happened When I Finally Deleted Windows
I opened GParted (a free partition tool) and saw the truth. Then DeepSeek advised me on how to proceed.
| Partition | Filesystem | Label/Use | Size (approx) | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
nvme0n1p1 | vfat (FAT32) | EFI System (boot) | ~250MB | ✅ KEEP |
nvme0n1p2 | (empty) | Unknown small partition | (very small) | ⚠️ We'll check |
nvme0n1p3 | ntfs | Windows (C:) | ~1TB | ❌ DELETE |
nvme0n1p4 | ntfs | Windows Recovery | ~500MB-1GB | ❌ DELETE |
nvme0n1p5 | ext4 | Some Linux data partition | ~400GB | ❓ Needs checking |
nvme0n1p6 | ext4 | Your Linux Mint ( / ) | ~400GB | ✅ KEEP |
Final Deletion Plan (Safe & Clean)
| Partition | What it is | Action |
|---|---|---|
nvme0n1p1 | EFI boot partition (FAT32) | ✅ KEEP (essential) |
nvme0n1p2 | Empty tiny partition | ❌ DELETE |
nvme0n1p3 | Windows C: drive (NTFS, ~1TB) | ❌ DELETE |
nvme0n1p4 | Windows Recovery (NTFS) | ❌ DELETE |
nvme0n1p5 | Old/partial Linux install (ext4) | ❌ DELETE |
nvme0n1p6 | Your current Linux Mint (ext4, mounted at /) | ✅ KEEP |
After deletion, my Linux partition expanded to take the entire 1.8TB drive. All that space Microsoft had claimed as its own? Now mine. Every byte. Windows didn't need that space. It just took it. That's not optimization. That's greed.
| After deletion | Result |
|---|---|
| Windows completely removed | ✅ |
| Old Linux partition removed | ✅ |
| EFI partition kept | ✅ |
| Your Mint expands to ~1.8TB | ✅ |
| Clean single-boot system | ✅ |
This isn't just about an operating system. It's about digital sovereignty.
When you use Windows, you're not the customer. You're the product. Microsoft monetizes your attention, your data, your habits, and your dependency.
When you use Linux, you're just a user. No corporate overlord. No "ecosystem" lock-in. No artificial obsolescence. Linux runs on everything from supercomputers to old laptops to Android phones (which is Linux, too). It's not the "alternative" anymore. Linux is the operating system of today. It's just that most people don't know they have a choice.
Why Switching Is Worth It
• Freedom from bloatware — no Candy Crush or TikTok pre-installed
• Freedom from subscriptions — LibreOffice, GIMP, Inkscape, Darktable. All free. All professional.
• Freedom from hardware waste — Linux resurrects old PCs that Windows abandons
• Freedom to choose — dozens of distributions (Mint, Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian), hundreds of desktop environments
• Freedom from surveillance — your computer is yours again
My Final Setup
| Component | What I Have |
|---|---|
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D (16 cores) |
| GPU | ASUS RTX 5070 12GB GDDR7 |
| RAM | 64GB DDR5 |
| Storage | Samsung 990 Pro 2TB NVMe (full 1.8TB available) |
| Motherboard | ASUS TUF GAMING B850-PLUS WIFI |
| OS | Linux Mint 22 (single boot) |
This machine is an absolute beast. And now it's my beast. Not Microsoft's. Not anyone else's.
What I Gained (Besides 1.4 Terabytes)
| Area | Windows 11 | Linux Mint |
|---|---|---|
| Disk usage | ~1.5 TB (hidden partitions) | ~30 GB |
| Privacy | Telemetry you can't fully disable | Zero data collection |
| Updates | Forced, unpredictable, slow | When you want, for as long as you want |
| Old hardware support | "Your PC is incompatible" | Runs beautifully |
| Android integration | Clunky (or requires extra software) | Native, effortless |
| Cost | Hidden + subscriptions | Free. Forever. |
• Independence from US corporations
• Available free of charge
• Wide selection of distributions and desktops
• Updates whenever and for as long as you want
• Runs even on older or less powerful hardware
• Helps avoid hardware waste
• Effortless data exchange with Android devices without additional software
Linux is the operating system of today. Where the terminal is user-friendly, the source code is open, and your computer is truly yours.