Beginning with Zorin

[zenzen]

Hi there,

Have you installed Zorin OS in addition to Windows, so that you can choose which OS to use at boot?

@JeanGaby

But to open applications from the dock, I sometimes have to click on them three or even four times before the application opens.

@JeanGaby

I can't find the applications I put on the dock in the list of applications elsewhere on my computer.

On both these points, can you give some examples of programs where you've experienced this? Are they programs that you've installed separately, or the ones that came by default?

@JeanGaby

On the internet, when I try to go to my bank's website, I can't display the page; the site doesn't respond, even though it responds perfectly on my phone or another computer.

Here it'd be good to know the internet web browser that you're using, and whether you have any extensions installed.

It's important to understand that a lot of websites tend to block unknown User Agents by default, or artificially apply restrictions for less known browsers. A User Agent is a "tag" that identifies your browsing session, and contains information about the browser as well as the operating system. The fact that you're using Linux alone will make you stand out more.

Try using other browsers, preferably based on the Chromium engine such as Brave or Google Chrome. Or, if you prefer to use Firefox, there's an extension that you can use Chameleon to change your User Agent.

@JeanGaby

When it comes to startup, the computer takes a good 20 seconds to turn on, which I find really long, given the specifications of the computer I have. By comparison, I bought the same computer for my wife, running Windows (and it is Windows!), and it boots in less than 10 seconds.

This is not unusual, either. Recent versions of Windows have something called "Fast boot" that works by avoiding shutting down completely.

In my experience, Zorin OS does take a little longer than other Linux distributions. But, at the same time, I've noticed a drastic difference with Windows in terms of actual usage i.e., when Zorin OS is running I can start using it right away without any lag. For reference:

How fast does your Computer Boot up with Zorin?

I have not measured the time exactly but W10 takes for ever to load for me compared to Zorin 15.3 Ultimate. I wouldn't say Zorin boots up particularly fast either so it must be a hardware thing, but a very much noticeable difference. I will come back to update this if I remember to take the measurement but I'm really talking about 10~20 minutes until it becomes usable and responsive, where as Zorin is maybe half that. It's surprising because the specs are not terrible: i5 and 12GB RAM, although…