Funny. Linux is working on every machine I push it on. I guess you may have some obscure/unsupported hardware.
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Hi, Storm. I don't think there is anything unusual about it, apart from it being about a decade old. I'll get the specs later on and post them, but I think it should probably be in the Mint forum - I don't want to misuse this Zorin forum.
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You are always welcome. But a look of your specs would be interesting. Perhaps it's a specific combo of certain hardware that triggering the issue.
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I saw w11 everything is connected with apps and google store. I will not using that. Would go to gentoo if i have only two choice. I know emerge taking over 2 hours. It is nice experience with very diffrent linux distributions.
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Motherboard: Asus PRIME X370-PRO
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 1800X
Graphics: NVIDIA GP106 (GeForce GTX1060 3GB)
RAM: 32G installed
As you can see, it's pretty mundane apart from the Ryzen 7 1800X, which works fine but is not supported by W11.
Now, I think I might have fixed Mint. For a long time my monitors have been "the wrong way round" - by that I mean in Windows and Linux I have to swap monitor 1 and monitor 2 in the display settings. This was necessary because the oldest monitor didn't support HDMI, just DVI. In Windows it causes absolutely no problems.
Today I've found a more modern monitor which supports an HDMI input, and was able to connect them the right way round, so that monitor 1 is on the left and is the primary monitor, and nothing needs fiddling with in Display Settings.
I then vaped and reinstalled Mint (third time lucky?) and so far it has been totally reliable. No crashes and "fallback mode" messages, no black screens.
If the problems really were due to my monitors being physically the wrong way round (and thus needed reversing in Display Settings), then it reflects very badly on the testing regime for the relevant drivers. Failing to adequately exercise the scenario where the monitors are reversed in Display Settings is a pretty serious shortcoming, and the VV&T team should get their pay docked.
Anyway, so far so good (fingers crossed). Although this is a Zorin board, I wanted to post the fix for completeness.
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The same would likely be as true on Zorin OS as on Mint.
And although this is the Zorin Forum and we may not be able to help with some Mint issues, some users are on Fedora, others are on Pop_OS...
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Surely well-paid engineers can make an operating system compatible with the vast amount of hardware in the world. 
Windows didn't push me. I always dual boot. I encountered a lot of situations where only Windows can help.
My experience with Linux is fairly less than other people here.
Started my journey with CentOS in a training lab during 2014 or so. Then I learned that Ubuntu is more beginner friendly and started using it. Later I started distro hopping cuz I didn't like Unity interface. I tried numerous distros. Zorin is the one that I liked for it's apperance and snappy performance.
Sorry I am talking 
.
Coming to the question again, I use every other operating system based on my requirements. Because that is also freedom.
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A few things I usually do with Windows on an old computer:
- Turn off graphics
- Switch to high performance power settings
- Dedicate a USB to RAM ReadyBoost
- Update, update, update - manually, not waiting for automatic updates
- DISM/SFC, in that order, or reverse if items not fixed.
Oh yes, and
- Open Task Manager to disable all the non-essential apps that add themselves to system startup.
No fancy graphics, raw power, ReadyBoost and lots of system checks is as close to WinLite as I can get without hackery.
ZorinLite here much faster for me than Win10, even with those settings.
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I've recently installed Debian 12 on a decade-old Chromebook, and over time I've installed a number of other distributions on it: Linux Lite, Endeavour OS, MX Linux and even Mint.
They all had some issues with audio or trackpad but that's expected given it's a Chromebook. Other than that I only had an issue with Fedora and Pop_OS! on an even older computer, which currently runs on Linux Mint Debian Edition.
So I guess your mileage but I've been mostly successful installing different flavors of Linux on different hardware.
But kudos to you for trying, not everyone shows the same willingness as you did to get this far.
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I am agree with you. This forum is Zorin.
Thinking what will be here mess all people asking from many distributions.
Besides all good linux distributions have they forums example ubuntu,fedora,mint,gentoo,slackware and etc.
I hope also in new version Zorin we can focus on technician problems and some relax. The good idea also will be clearing something what not working and take a vote people, what channel could be closed or deleted to not hurt some people.
Also this thread is in "Chat about Zorin" section, not a Help section.
If people have issues asking for help, they should use "Installing..", "Hardware Support" or "General Help". That way when a 
Solution is found it can be marked as such.
Same, windows updates and background services drove me crazy. The worst part is the feeling I don't have control over my own laptop.
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I'm back. Mint was too crashy, but I still want to give Linux another chance, so Zorin it is.
I must say, compared with Mint, Zorin is lovely to look at and "feels" more friendly.
I'm going to persevere longer this time, which may mean one or two more requests for help. 
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I love Mint.
However, my primary complaint is that it tends to bog down and slow over time with use. Zorin OS does not do that with the Cinnamon Deskop.
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The final push for me was Windows 7 EOL. I messed with Mint for a few weeks, a few other too (but only for days, sometimes hours), then settled with Zorin.
The hardest thing for my old brain to get to grips with is the way Linux handles disk drives. I'm sure it's efficient, and logical, but decades of using other operating systems leaves a sort of 'brain memory', the same way keyboards give you 'muscle memory'. I've used the flexibility of Linux to give me a way of accessing drives that would give a Linux purist a fit, but it works for me and my old Xeon workstation with multiple drives. And I still use my old Windows 7 installation in a VM when I need to...
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This is the right mindset and the way to approach new things. Every one has different preferences and when moving to something different we all drag our old habits, but it is important to remind ourselves that there's always some effort that needs to be made to "re-learn" things.
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I haven't ditched Win completely - I have Zorin dual-booted with Win11 on my ZenBook. There are some things I still use Win for; some device apps only work within a Win system sadly, Wine won't run them. And not any Office apps, vehicle coding devices and such.. I've been looking for 'the one' since early 2004 haha Until Zorin, I was on and off with Ubuntu MATE and Linux Mint / MATE. I do believe we could get a little more updated app support for Zorin though; I cannot connect to OpenVPN due to app version - little behind. And I don't wanna go messing around with sources and such, they're already available lol BUT, I use my Zorin install over Win just about every single time. Even did my cyber sec boot camp with Zorin only! I did get Halo Infinite to run recently through Steam and enabling some settings to force play.
Feel you on performance - both laptops (one only Lunar Lobster MATE) are around 700MB - 1GB RAM use at idle. Both with Win sit around 2.5GB - 3.2GB at idle. When one of my laptops only has 4GB RAM, it matters haha
You can absolutely find alternatives for stuff in Linux though. I haven't gotten a chance to really get into using it but, Shotcut is a new one for me - I was using Kdenlive for a long time. Also Ardour is pretty good vs others. I tried getting my brother to use a DAW I setup, all Linux - won't touch it.. smh.
If anything, just dual-boot - you'll have both worlds, just need a reboot to get from one to the other. VM's aren't really a suggestion I give out. Not only do they rob your current session from performance, but it's only emulating. If a full-out install is out of the question, dual-boot. You could always make a live USB and make it persistent; that way whatever you do / change stays with reboots. I did that for about a year until I made the move. But, during the LiveCD days, and would need a separate partitioned out space for persistence.. old stuff. Give it a shot - use Rufus for the live USB, you can set the persistence size. A 3.0 device would be good, better speed.. Give it a shot; see what happens!
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I was under the impression that the only USB burner that worked with persistence on Zorin16 (Ubuntu 20.04) was Ventoy. My past attempts at creating a USB with working persistence with other software failed.
If you can confirm changes to settings and software are retained over a boot with Rufus with persistence, then that would be news.
I'll have to give it a try - not aware of any issues with Zorin at the moment; also haven't tried anything in the last 10yrs with persistence lol last removable device I had with Linux was a full install and over eSATA..
I'll rip a copy and see what happens. My guess is live session reset when shutdown / reboot. But, we'll see...