Windows is the de facto desktop OS for most people, so the way it does things is the norm.However, the Windows way is not always the best, or the easiest.You can update all your apps at once It applies OS updates at the same time On Windows, your apps are responsible for updating themselves.
Either that, or you have to manually grab the updated installer from the internet to do so.The only exception is the software you installed directly from the Microsoft Store.On the Linux side of things, the operating system takes care of all software updates for you, including your installed apps.
Linux distributions come with a special command-line app called a "package manager." This package manager connects to a central repository of software or "packages." The developers of the distribution maintain these massive repositories of packages, vet them for safety, and add updated releases as they see fit.Related These 5 simple Linux tools make Windows 11 look outdated And why I'll never go back to Windows.Posts 21 By Faisal Rasool Some Linux distributions follow a "rolling release" design, meaning the latest version of an app becomes available in the repo as soon as its developer pushes it.
In contrast, there's the "fixed release" model, meaning the maintainers only ever add the updated version of an app to the repos once they've vetted it thoroughly enough for safety and stability.In both cases, the package manager app is responsible for connecting to those central repositories and updating the apps.A command like this will update all installed apps to their latest available versions on a Debian-based (like Ubuntu) distribution.
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade This will get you the latest versions of the packages which the Debian team has deemed safe and stable enough.On a rolling-release distribution like Arch Linux, you could run sudo pacman -Syu This command will fetch the absolute latest versions of all your apps that developers have released, at once.So, if you choose a distribution like Arch Linux, your operating system and apps will always be up-to-date with the latest features.
These commands also update your operating system alongside the apps.It's why you'll never see a forced update with a "Please wait, Linux is updating" message.Bulk remove apps at once No need for a third-party app On Windows, apps are responsible for uninstalling themselves too.
It's the developer's job to write the uninstaller program and ship it with the app.However, if that uninstaller doesn't do a good job of removing the app from your system, it'll leave behind ghost processes, junk files, orphaned registry entries etc.It's also why you can only uninstall apps one at a time on a Windows computer.
However, Linux handles app removal itself.The same package manager tool can be used to remove apps.sudo apt purge firefox Running the command will instantly remove the Firefox browser.
If you want to delete multiple apps at once, just add their names to the list like this.sudo apt purge firefox thunderbird gimp vlc To do this on Windows, you'll need to install a third-party app like BCU to bulk remove apps and purge the junk files they leave behind.A broken Linux system is much easier to recover No need to reinstall the OS On Windows, if you get a blue screen of death or some major glitch like that, you're taken to a recovery screen with a few buttons that let you do things like run a startup repair sequence, trigger a system restore point, or reset the PC.
That's pretty much it.Unless you have a system restore point in place, most of the time, you'll have to reinstall the whole operating system.And until you do, you won't be able to get to your files using this recovery window.
Technically, you can open a command prompt window to work with your files on the command-line, but there's no easy-to-use graphical file manager available.But if your Linux machine breaks, it's much easier to recover things.Most Linux distributions come with what's called a "live Linux environment." Basically, you can boot into a regular Linux operating system off a USB stick and access all your files just like you would on a normal computer.
You can also use this temporary operating system to gain root access to the broken Linux system and fix it.Since you have complete access to the broken OS, you can fix exactly what broke it and recover the whole system without reinstalling it.You can even change a forgotten password.
Backups that make sense Saves perfect snapshots of your system The system restore point feature only backs up and restores important system files and settings, but it does not back up the rest of your computer.On Linux, Timeshift is a standard tool which can create full system snapshots, down to the position of icons on the desktop and the wallpaper.If you can't fix a problem or don't like the changes a program made, you can just "timeshift" to a previous snapshot with this tool.
As someone who's terrible at keeping backups, Timeshift has fixed a lot of my backup habits.Running a home server Windows doesn't even come close Linux powers most of the web servers in the world, and for very good reason.For one, Linux operating systems can run completely headless, meaning you can control them completely from the text-based console without a graphical system on top.
This means all the computing power goes to running your services, not rendering the operating system visuals.You can SSH into it from anywhere, so there's no need to even connect a monitor to the machine.As we saw above, upgrading a Linux system just takes a single command that can run in the background.
There's no need to shut down the computer to apply the updates.Even if you're using Linux on a personal desktop, it's great for running things like Docker containers.Windows can't run Docker natively.
Raspberry Pi 5 Brand Raspberry Pi Storage 8GB CPU Cortex A7 Memory 8GB $130 at Spark Fun $199 at Amazon $175 at CanaKit Expand Collapse There are some things Windows does really well, but not these five People usually think that Windows is the easier operating system between the two, and it's true for a lot of things.But not always.In fact, Microsoft has even tried to replicate the Linux package management system for installing and removing software on Windows, with some success.
It is even trying to bring the GNU software to Windows.
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