I have an Asus Vivobook S533 computer running Windows 10 alongside Zorin OS Pro 16.3. Previously I had to connect my router using a DSL because of speed issues and would like to continue doing that. Any way to do that with Zorin now? If not, is there a way to hide my network from my 120 neighbors in my bldg? Thanks!
You can use WiFi without transmitting the SSID, so that it's a "hidden wireless network".
You'll have to manually set up the connection on your computer (enter in the SSID and passphrase) because it won't show up in the list of available networks. And you'll have to set it so your computer attempts to connect to the network even "when it's not transmitting" (because there's no way for the computer to know if it's transmitting or not... the SSID isn't transmitted).
That doesn't do much to stop a determined hacker, who can use a promiscuous-mode network card to capture packets to determine the SSID, but we'll assume your neighbors aren't hackers.
Ethernet instead of WiFi? Or hide the SSID?
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I'd rather go ethernet for the speed if that's what you're asking. And are you asking me?
"Hidden" SSID's aren't truly hidden.. Your biggest two would be a strong password, very complex - and disabling WPS encryption. WPS can be cracked all day within minutes. You could very well also setup MAC filtering, only allowing devices you filter through for WiFi; that with static IP's would be lengthy to setup but, likely no one would get in.. For passwords, I suggest a phrase; long, not common.
Strong passwords and WPS disabled (very important to stress this) networks aren't easily hackable. I offer free pen-testing for my friends and family; so they can see how easy or difficult it is to 'get in', and mostly from my Pixel 3a NetHunter phone. You can try this as well with a few free tools, some time, and patience. But, likely to just be a headache.
The most usual way someone will try to get into your network will be a 'deauth' attack - where the threat actor sends a 'boot' packet to a specific station, or device - while they're capturing packet data as the device that was just booted from the network, connects back. Now they have a packet that contains the encryption to your WiFi network, or the password. From there, they run something like John The Ripper, which uses a wordlist, or very large text file with common passwords, and also runs kind of like a brute force would, trying different algorithms until it matches. Then they enter the password and boom - on your network, game on from there...
What type of router are you using?? I run a Linksys EA6350 with OpenWRT flashed - tons of additional stuff to install and use, ad blockers (WILL mess with streaming TV and commercials!), better firewall, packet flooding protection - the works.. Compared to the stock setup - and I even have VLAN configs!! 
As long as you have a good, strong password, no wonky WPS stuff, firewall enabled, pretty much all the security features you could use or max out - you should be okay.. Also, checking logs and just keeping abreast of your network will help 
I run an rsync server on my RPi3b+ for the router; that way if anything happens to the router, I have the logs on a separate device to look through.
I can check the router info but really it's only for the speed issue, not for security issues as much. I have a VPN and will probably keep it just for my phone if nothing else. My bldg.'s speed isn't the best since we have only two internet providers to choose from; Spectrum, who I quit because they were messing with the connections too much and emails, so I went with At&t which is through the phone line. So I'll just keep the wifi I guess.
I'm finding it hard to look up things like when it says software you download will go to it's appropriate place. So that can start a 2 hour search to find out what that means. I know I'm a novice but ........I think I'll have to delve into the archives. I hate to have to keep coming into the support pages for every little thing. I wish there was some type of a simple manual about Zorin OS Pro 16.3 and how to navigate through it. Simple things.
It's for a previous version, but most of it should still pertain.
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When you download something, default is for it to go to your home ~/Downloads folder.
There is no "download" on the Software Store. Anything done there is an Install.
Installs will generally go to root /usr/share directory, and placed within a folder that is the name of that software. Browsers that you install like to be different and go to /opt under the browser software name.
Some installs may be installed in the Home Folder equivalent of /usr/share: ~/.local/share under that software's name.
If you need or even want to come to the Zorin OS Forum for every little thing, you can do that. I sure did when I first moved to Zorin OS from Windows.
The worst that can happen is waiting on a reply...
@swarfendor437 created an unofficial Zorin OS 15 Manual.
You may find it still useful.
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Is what I was going off of - and in that case, I would just use Ethernet, yes. Bare in-mind that WiFi 5GHz is capable of 100Mbps+ Ethernet on Roku TV's, just recently found out, is only 90Mbps.... lame.
@Mr_Magoo beat me! haha +1 
I'm not sure I follow too well here - do you mean the Software Center?
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Great! I will use it for sure! Thanks!
I saw I was successfully signed in with both windows still installed alongside my Zorin using my ethernet so maybe I was confused. Probably was confused. I'm at the finish line with completely wiping windows out of my life and my impatience is showing.
Being a novice it will help when I get my language more in line with the Zorin/Linux language and call a partition a volume or a download an install when I search. Therein lies my problem when I try to search for solutions in the search bar.
Onward and upward!
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Oh don't worry - I still have Windows as well haha only for a few things like Techstream (Toyota garage software) that won't work with Linux.. I do have a scanning program that I can scan / clear codes with Linux though.
I would suggest getting comfy with the terminal - lots of things can be done much faster through terminal vs GUI. Try out some updates! Use: sudo apt update and sudo apt upgrade to update / upgrade packages. Sometimes the updates replace the older ones, and sometimes you'll have some residual files left over - which you can run sudo apt autoremove to remove unused dependencies and packages. Do have to watch autoremove, it can remove things you don't want it to.. I would also suggest grabbing some small .deb packs and installing with dpkg in terminal, too: sudo dpkg -i package.deb. Also try out some terminal text editors like vim or nano - I prefer nano myself, pretty easy to use. Nano / vim are pretty important when modify some files - a text editor can break these files rendering them useless. Good example with that is my Raspberry Pi - if I edit the config.txt file with a text editor, mostly with Win, after I save the file, it breaks the formatting and junks up the whole file - making it useless.. Man pages! Man pages, or 'manual pages', holds information about a command. To see the switches and how to use, enter man [command] and will spit out all the information about the command being used, switches, format, syntax, all about it and how to use.
Above all - don't be afraid to ask! 
You asked for it.......I've downloaded everything of importance (file wise) I want onto a thumbdrive and I want to wipe windows out.
- Do the files I have on my thumbdrive have to be in a particular format...I would expect not since they could easily be converted by a developer's software gotten from the software choices.
- When I installed Zorin it showed 2 partitions; windows was half and zorin was half, well windows took up slightly more space but most evenly divided. I've tried to find info in docs section about wiping out windows and leaving Zorin but my wording just doesn't bring anything up.
I've seen info from 2021 but with newer versions out I wondered if anything has changed. The part I'm referring to is when they talk about setting up a partition for your personal files........So, do I just go through my update & security, recovery, etc. and uefi firmware settings (I forgot the name of the area this series of keystrokes gets you to) to get to the area where it says to uninstall windows? Is there anything else I need to do beforehand?
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Depends on the files - MS Office files will work as normal. Applications can also be installed with Wine, you'll need to enable the Windows Application support in the Software Center first, little setup.
As far as the partition format on the USB drive - you can choose what you want, FAT32 is okay but limited on file sizes larger than ~5GB. I have NTFS on my backup drive and another larger size USB drive - both are used in Windows and my Zorin install. If it's something you're only going to be using with Zorin, maybe transfer all your stuff and use ext4 - though won't be readable within Windows machines without software.
Yep! The installer is really good about sizing up the partitions I manually set my size in Windows drive manager, then installed. It's either or, really.
Not exactly - I'll post a guide on how to but, you'll need to make another bootable drive with GPartedLive - or - use the Zorin installer, it has Gparted as well. After you've backed everything up - boot into the live disk, open Gparted, delete the Windows partition, resize your Zorin partition to fill the empty void of what used to be Windows, then update your Grub - reboot; in a nutshell.. And you're in luck! This guide has all the steps - even using Zorin. If, for any reason, anything goes awry - if you have all your stuff backed up, you can simply just do a reinstall without fiddling with partitions, and choosing to use the full disk for Zorin. This could be good practice though, I most always take 'the hard way' when I can - keeps my "skills" up, heh..
And Wine - in the Software Center, you can install Windows app support:
There's a few apps I can't get working for various specific Windows reasons but, for the most part, you can install Windows applications in Zorin. I don't have any Win apps in my system now so, I could probably just do without it. But, if there's something you'd like to run in Linux you had with Windows and can't get a good alternative - try Wine! Something I found just now on Wine and Zorin16 - might be of help!
A couple of posts you might find helpful:
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I'm sorry for my delay in responding. I was trying to get some things done before taking the final windows wipe out step such as installing Window App Support or Wine on my old computer so I can access my files on my thumb drive but it's been a bad ride! I've read so many posts.
The software catalog does not show my installed apps. It shows a blank page. When I click the hamburger and go into "other software" it has checkmarks next to https:// packages that include stable, patches, apps, drivers and premium focal Main (source code). The one marked drivers says restricted. I don't know if this means anything. Just a stab in the dark.
This HP Pavilion 17 f230nr is running extremely slow although it's empty of any content.
Equally, on my newer computer the downloads for Wine I tried just stuck at 0% and never went anywhere. I'm dealing with that later.
So I'd like to get things working on my older computer so I have a backup for my newer one.
Any suggestions about the info not being there under "apps installed" in the catalog?
I am on this all day today.
Have you ran updates since? I.e., sudo apt update then sudo apt upgrade? After I installed I got blank pages in my Software Center - had to do some updates to get going.
Run some updates / upgrades through terminal. For any errors, pay attention to the last lines, it should tell you what to do to fix any issues - like sudo apt install -f for broken installed packages, and sudo apt update --fix-missing for missing apt sources.
Yes I did that.
I've been researching and I installed Synaptic Packages Manager to use that instead.
Then I went back thinking the Wine hadn't installed but it did install, my computer is just that slow it would seem. I haven't tried to use it yet.
Meanwhile I researched some more and ran system checks on the startup times and found this info when I asked it to analyze the critical chain.
(well I tried to include it but got an error message saying I could only include names of 10 people or something like that so I couldn't) The run user and multi user and graphical target were the most time.
So before I expect any more speed from my HP and try to open Wine, can you tell what I might do to speed the start up from 3-4 minutes (I also read up about how fast boot isn't in play now so I know it will take a longer time). Thanks!
What was the result of the apt update and upgrade? Were there any errors when you updated?
And it appears you're having two different issues on two different machines.. Is the Asus Vivobook S533 in your first post still affected?
Is another issue - I would create another thread with that machine and issues; just to keep things neat. I see this thread is marked as Solved.
Check this thread out for common issues related to Software Center - blank installed screen is one of the listed issues.
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I will start a new thread for the HP. Thanks!
I ran the sudo apt update and it said 4 were upgradable and it listed libcue2, vim-common, vim-tiny, and xxd. It lists the versions each is upgradable to. Should I upgrade then. That might have been my problem then.
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