Brightening up an older car

 There are few things that make an older car in otherwise good condition look tired than hazy headlights.

For the past 30 years or so, virtually all cars have come with clear plastic headlight lenses. They give manufacturers greater latitude in designing vehicles' front ends, but over time, the sun and road grit conspire to make those lenses look dull, yellowed, and hazy. In the worst cases, they are almost opaque, diffusing forward illumination to make the lights considerably less effective.

One might think the simplest solution is just to replace the headlights, but this is an expensive proposition that can cost in the hundreds of dollars, and there is really no need for this, as the existing lenses can be polished and restored without a lot of effort. You can have this professionally done, but it is also a good driveway project that can be done in an hour or two, and for less than the cost of a tank of gas. 

A quick Internet search will bring up any number of home remedies, including toothpaste, to clear your headlights, but the one thing they all have in common is they don't last. You have to repeat the process every few months, and some store bought kits have similar shortcomings. 

I have tried kits from several different manufacturers on various cars, and the best of the lot seems to be one called Cerakote, which involves a three-step process that returns the headlights to like-new condition with no power tools required.

The kit purports to come with everything needed to do the job, but there are a few things needed that aren't in the box. Since it involves abrasives and caustic chemicals, it is advisable to mask off the painted areas around the headlights, just to be on the safe side, even though the instructions make no mention of this. Also needed is a container of water, such as a bucket or spray bottle, which the instructions do mention with regard to washing the headlights before beginning the process and for wet sanding them in step two. You will also need a roll of paper towels.

So, the three steps are actually four, if you include washing loose dirt off of the headlights and then masking off around them before beginning the process. We'll call that the prep step or step zero. 

The first step using items from the kit is to remove the deteriorated sealant coating from the headlights with the included wipes, labeled with a large numeral one on each packet. Because the chemicals on the wipes are caustic, you should wear one of the two pairs of nitrile gloves included in the kit, which provides a total of eight wipes, four for each headlight. The instructions suggest wiping in a circular pattern and changing wipes frequently as they take on a nicotine-stained hue. This discoloration will be minimal by the fourth wipe. 

After this first step is complete, wipe off the remaining solvent with a paper towel and discard the first set of gloves. The headlights will look clearer as you perform this first step, but they will become hazy again as they dry. 

The second step is wet sanding with the provided sanding discs and applicator. Start with the 2,000-grit disc then follow up with the 3,000-grit one. The kit includes two of each, one for each headlight. Sand gently in straight, horizontal lines across the headlight lenses and use plenty of water on both the sanding discs and the headlight surface; otherwise, you will likely scratch the lenses. The instructions suggest sanding for three to five minutes with each disc. 

After the sanding step is complete, rinse the headlight lenses off with water and wipe them off with a paper towel to remove any remaining grit, then dry them thoroughly. Use towels, a blower, or just let them dry naturally. The important thing is to make sure they are completely dry before moving to the final step of applying the ceramic clear coat.

This last step is where the magic happens. The ceramic clear coat finally gives the headlights a like-new finish and protects them from hazing over again. Put on the second set of gloves and be prepared to be bowled over by a strong ammonia odor when you open the packet to extract the wipe. There is one wipe for each headlight. The instructions suggest applying one coat of sealant in overlapping horizontal strokes, making sure to cover the entire headlight surface. This is by far the quickest step, but you will need to wait a minimum of one hour before driving the vehicle and don't touch the headlights while the sealant is curing. 

Once this entire process is done, you will have spent about two hours taking your headlights from hazy to amazing. They will not only look like they did when the car was new, but you will be able to see much better at night. And Cerakote guarantees these results for as long as you own the vehicle.  Of course the best part is the satisfaction of having done this yourself. 

Star Trek's Kelvin Timeline Is At A Dead End--And Good Riddance

I found myself greeting with a sigh of relief the recent announcement that, following Paramount's merger with Skydance, the not-so-anticipated fourth installment of J. J. Abrams' Star Trek films set in the so-called Kelvin timeline would not be happening. After the third installment, Star Trek: Beyond in 2016, I really felt like that branch of the franchise had run out of gas, and I wasn't at all eager for a next voyage. It was also obvious that Paramount shared the sentiment eight years ago, when the third film was dumped into theaters with almost no promotion. 

Looking back, Star Trek (2009) was an enjoyable romp that brought a new perspective to the beloved characters that had been with us more than four decades. And a surprise cameo by Leonard Nimoy was an added bonus. To be sure, the casting of Chris Pine as Capt. Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock was brilliant, because their acting styles mirror their predecessors. Pine, like William Shatner, always plays the same character, regardless of the role he is cast in, and in which he is cast, essentially some version of himself. This worked in the case of Capt. Kirk, because Pine naturally projects something not unlike Shatner's swagger. Conversely, Quinto takes a deeper dive into his characters, immersing himself into them, much the way Nimoy did. 

Things took a decidedly darker turn in Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013), which attempted to re-imagine Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) as a non-stop action thriller and a total waste of talent for Benedict Cumberbatch as Khan. In the end, relentless action provided all-too-thin cover for an even thinner story, shot through with blatant ripoffs of the classic 1982 film. This was truly the Kelvin timeline's lowest ebb.

While bringing in a new director, Justin Lin, to helm Star Trek: Beyond (2016) was a good move, it was too little too late. The damage had already been done with its predecessor. To his credit, Lin did try to slow the pace down a bit in an attempt to make the film somewhat more character driven, but the moments intended to evoke an emotional connection with the characters felt contrived and ultimately fell flat. The best of these was when Quinto's Spock received a box of personal effects belonging to Leonard Nimoy's Spock, including a photo of the original cast from one of their latter films. This acknowledgement of the passing both of Nimoy and his version of Spock made me feel a nostalgic connection not for the current cast playing those characters, but for their predecesors, who had last appeared together, save for assorted cameos, in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) a quarter-century earlier and several of whom had already passed away by that time. 

So, now that the Kelvin timeline officially closed, what's next for Star Trek's feature film franchise? There's no substantive information on that at this time, probably because the powers that be at Paramount/Skydance hasn't yet figured out what they want to do with it. It appears there will not be overlap between the streaming TV shows on Paramount+ and any future feature film projects. This is fortunate, given the travesty that was Star Trek: Section 31 (2025). The less said about that one the better. It may well preclude the return of Scott Bakula's Jonathan Archer character from Star Trek: Enterprise, which he had been campaigning to reprise in an origin story for the United Federation of Planets. 

My hope is that whomever is in charge of the feature film arm of the franchise will take some time to seriously consider what makes Star Trek unique and leverage those strengths into something special, instead of repeating the mistakes Abrams made by trying to make Star Trek into an amalgam of the other franchises with which he had been involved, namely Star Wars and Mission: Impossible. While Star Trek is one of Paramount's biggest cash cows, history has shown its richest yield comes when it is nurtured and respected. Squeezing it for all it's worth will only result in a law of diminishing returns. 

 

 

Streaming Into the Future

 Earlier this year, I came to the realization that, after a decade of streaming, I simply wasn't watching cable TV anymore; instead, I was streaming about 98 percent of my TV viewing from providers like Prime Video, Paramount+, FilmRise, Kanopy, and Tubi. I was still watching programming from the History Channel and PBS, but primarily streaming it, rather than watching it on cable. I prefer streaming because it allows me to watch TV on my schedule.

After receiving notice of yet another rate hike, this one blamed on the increasing cost of sports programming from channels like ESPN, which I have zero interest and never watch, I decided it was time to turn in my cable box. 

It seems I was a bit ahead of the curve in cutting the cable, as two months later, my Internet and cable provider announced it was dropping its TV service. I guess enough subscribers had cut the cable that they decided to do the job for everyone else. Deleting cable TV service made no real difference in my viewing. Of course, it did require one additional streaming subscription.

In order to continue accessing the History Channel's streaming app, I needed a TV provider, which I found in the form of Philo, a streamer that offers programming from a handful of cable channels, including History, for a fraction of the cost of other similar services like Sling. Named for one of the inventors of television, Philo Farnsworth, Philo does not include any sports programming, which helps keep the cost affordable for those of us who don't care about or watch sports.  

I have been quite content with this streaming-only arrangement for the past six months or so, and was initially irritated when I received an email from Philo, announcing a $10 price increase, effective next month (November 2025), but then I read the rest of the email. 

Unlike most TV price hike notices I've received, this one actually promised to give me something of value for my money. While I couldn't opt out of paying the extra $10, I was getting ad-supported versions of HBO Max and Discovery Plus. For that price, I'm basically getting both streamers for the price of HBO Max alone.

While it's nice to have access to HBO Max, I'm also excited to have Discovery Plus, which includes not only the programming library of the Discovery Channel, but also other related channels, including TLC, HGTV, Food Network, and others. Best of all, that list inlcudes one of my favorites, MotorTrend. I now have a full slate of cable viewing at my disposal, without having cable. All in all, I feel like Philo gave me my money's worth, but at the same time, I hope they will not make a habit of these forced upgrades.

 

Do keyboards and tablets belong together?

 I have never been one to try to use a tablet as a quasi-laptop. For me, laptops are meant for creating content, while tablets primarily meant for consuming it. I have traditionally used my tablets primarily for reading books on the Kindle app, reading emails (but not writing them) and perusing the occasional Web page, usually linked to the aforementioned emails. One of the reasons I do not create much, if any, content on a tablet is because I hate typing with virtual, on-screen keyboards. One time, several years ago, I found a keyboard case at a thrift store that fit an old iPad I had, and while it worked just fine, I found I almost never used it, so it wasn’t worth the extra bulk. I eventually put the iPad back in its keyboardless case and set the keyboard case aside.

Since that time, I have settled on the Amazon Fire tablets as a tablet model that meets my modest needs without breaking the proverbial bank. I have now owned four of them and have never paid more than $70 for one. While the lack of a keyboard has been enough to dissuade me from doing more with my tablets than I do, that may have changed. I recently went down the rabbit hole of eBay and ordered a Logitech K480 multi-device bluetooth keyboard.

I have long been a fan of Logitech wireless keyboards and mice, especially those that use the Unifying receiver technology, allowing multiple devices to share a single USB wireless receiver. But for tablets and smart phones, Bluetooth is a better, if not the only, option. Having found Logitech products to be well-built and dependable, I decided it was the safest option for a bluetooth keyboard, especially when they can be had for considerably less than the cost of a generic keyboard case.

The K480 is considerably chunkier than keyboards incorporated into tablet cases, which may be less satisfactory for some users’ needs, but I find it works well for mine. Powered by two AAA batteries, there is little down time for charging. Just slap in a new set and you’re good to go. If you prefer a greener option, rechargeable AAA’s work just fine in it as well. According to the packaging, a set of AAA batteries will last approximately ten months in the device.

The K480 can pair with up to three different devices, so it can be the go-to keyboard for your phone, tablet and laptop at the turn of the three-position radial switch on the left side of the keyboard. Pairing is also easy. Just place the radial switch into the desired position, then press and hold either the PC or iOS paring button on the right side for five seconds, and the keyboard is discoverable by your device. Follow the device’s pairing prompts and you can be up and working in just a minute or two.

It will pair with Android, Windows, and ChromeOS devices, as well as Amazon Fire tablets, and most Apple devices. Pairing the keyboard with a laptop running Linux Mint was more complicated, but was ultimately successful after several attempts. I believe the issue was more with Mint than with the keyboard,

Similar in size to a compact laptop keyboard without a number pad, the K480 is comfortable to use and has a tactile response. The key caps are slightly convex instead of concave, which takes a bit of getting used to. One thoughtful feature is a rubberized groove above the keys, wide enough to hold most tablets in landscape orientation, somewhat simulating a laptop’s configuration. or both a tablet and a phone in portrait orientation, enabling one to switch between them at a turn of the selector switch.

At this point, I am favorably impressed with the keyboard, although its durability and longevity remain to be seen. I feel like a protective case is a good idea for taking it on the go, and I definitely plan to look into that.

I still don’t see myself using a tablet as a laptop substitute; in fact, I don’t have the necessary apps installed to do so, but it will be handy for those times when I might need more than a tablet, but less than a laptop.

Pros: Comfortable design with a groove to accommodate a tablet or smart phone. Easily switches between up to three devices at the flip of a switch. Runs on AAA batteries.

Cons: Bulkier and less portable than a keyboard case.

Bottom Line: A physical keyboard can be just the thing to expand the functionality of a tablet. The Logitech K480 is a solid choice if compact portability isn't a big concern.  

Meet the new tablet--same as the old tablet

 My Amazon Fire tablet is almost five years old, a proper antique by electronics standards, especially for cheap electronics, and although it continues to give good service, it has begun to show its age. It occasionally freezes up, requiring a restart to recover, and of course, the battery isn't holding a charge like it once did. Reading for about 45 minutes, as is my bedtime habit, can consume around a third of a full charge.

For these reasons, I've had it in the back of my mind recently to look for a replacement. The good part was that since my old one still works, I could bide my time to find the best possible deal. Sometimes, such deals come unexpectedly, as was the case when I recently replaced my old tablet, without necessarily upgrading it; that is, I replaced it with a newer version of the same model when I discovered all Fire tablets were on sale for half off as an early Prime Day deal. 

A flagship Amazon Fire Max 11 had initially caught my eye, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that most of its flagship features, which would attempt to mimic the functionality of a laptop, albeit severely hampered by Amazon's locked-down operating system, was effectively overkill for my modest needs. This is especially true, since the accessories that maximize the Max 11's functionality, a keyboard case and stylus, add significantly to the cost without adding to any of the functions I use.

Fortunately, before I pulled the trigger on the Max 11, I noticed that the updated version of the Fire 10HD, which is a newer version of the model I have been using for the past few years, was also on sale for half off. That price was half the sale price of the Max 11 and much more appropriate for my modest needs, as I only ever use a tablet to read books on the Kindle app, read emails, but not write them, and view the occasional Web page.

 Because of these very modest requirements, I am able to live with Amazon tablets' locked down operating system, but If I wanted to use it for any sort of productivity tasks, I would need to be looking at an iPad. 

Amazon outdid itself with overnight delivery. I ordered it in the middle of the afternoon, and it arrived before dawn the next morning. That said, I was a bit peeved with the delivery driver, who chose not to carry it the last few yards to the front door, but instead to leave it at the end of the driveway, where it would have been all-too-easy pickings for a would be porch pirate since they wouldn't have to go all the way to the porch. This is especially concerning since I have recently had problems with outbound checks being stolen out of my mailbox. Fortunately, I got to the package before anyone else.

Unboxing the new tablet gave me a great sense of deja vu, in that it was so similar to the one I've been using, although there are some differences. The first one I noticed was the power and volume buttons were reversed so that the power button was on the left instead of the right, when the tablet is held in a vertical (portrait) orientation. On closer examination, I recognized the reason for that change. The front-facing camera was relocated to what would be the middle of the left side in portrait orientation, but would be top center in horizontal (landscape) orientation. This, coupled by the orientation of the opening splash, is a strong indicator that Amazon is pushing landscape as the default orientation for the tablet. Positioned in this way, the power button is at the top of the right side, which is a much more logical spot, at least for right-handed users. The relocation of the camera also resulted in the tablet being about a quarter inch shorter and maybe an eighth of an inch wider in portrait orientation.

Beyond these minor physical differences and somewhat upgraded specifications, it is basically the same as the tablet I already have. So what did I get for my money? The main thing is better battery life, by virtue of being newer, but also a little more RAM and a faster processor for better performance. 

Given the way I use a tablet, I have decided to keep this new one in a fairly stock configuration, at least for the time being, to see how that affects performance. I'm also on the fence regarding whether to add a micro SD card to increase storage capacity, as I have done with the three previous Fire tablets I have owned.  

Adding micro SD cards have produced mixed results. It made absolutely no difference on my first 7-inch fire tablet, which could only address the card as external storage. The Fire HD8 and Fire HD10 can address the card as internal storage, effectively making it a permanent part of the tablet. A malfunctioning card on the HD8 effectively bricked the tablet until I replaced it, but the second card eventually malfunctioned as well with the same result. The micro SD card has been much more satisfactory in the HD10. Last night, I found a brand new 128GB microSD card in a camera bag, and was on the verge of installing it in the new Fire tablet, but I ultimately decided to give it an extended test run without added storage capacity.

While this new tablet is largely an exercise in sameness, compared with the previous one, it does stand out in one particular area--performance. So far, this new tablet shows no sign of bogging down. Screens load almost instantly. There is almost no noticeable delay when moving between apps, or even going from page to page in the Kindle app.  

The one thing a tablet is better for than a laptop is reading a book  on the Kindle app. I can and have read on a laptop from the Amazon Website, but the experience is not as good, and finding the book I want is a nightmare. While I'm still a laptop guy for most productivity tasks--give me a physical keyboard and an external pointing device (I prefer trackballs) any day of the week--this new Fire HD10 13th generation tablet is a welcome addition to my tech stable. 

ADDENDUM--As often happens, the acquisition of a new piece of technology sparks a second look at an older one, in this case an Amazon Fire HD8 tablet I had pretty much stopped using shortly after acquiring my previous HD10, which had replaced it almost five years ago. Just for fun, I charged it up and turned it on to find it was trying to work--not very well, but better than it was when I put it aside. 

This encouraged me to keep going, and after fiddling with it for a little while, including doing a factory reset, it's now working like it should. I was pleased enough with its revival that I ordered a new case for it, as the old one is in pretty rough shape, thanks to broken plastics at the corners and one of my cats using it as a scratching pad. At this point, I am seriously considering a factory reset for my older HD10 tablet as well.

Now that I have three functioning Fire tablets. I have to decide how best to use them. I don't really need that many, but I can certainly carry one with me while one the other(s) are charging. 

 

 

Ready to Trek!

Now that we're less than a month away from new episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds after a two-year hiatus, I find that anticipation is being tempered with the news that the end of the show is on the horizon. With season three set to premiere July 17 and season four in production, word has come down that season five will be the show's last, and it will consist of only six episodes, instead of ten, to give the series a total of 46 episodes. As a result, I am simultaneously anticipating SNW's return while dreading its eventual demise.

While I understand the reasons behind the delay, rooted in the double-whammy disruption of the writers' and actors' strikes that occurred just after season two was released in 2023, it still feels like a long time to wait. But then, we've had to wait longer between other installments. There was a four-year gap between the time the original Star Trek aired its last episode on NBC in the spring of 1969 and the animated Star Trek premiered on the same network in the fall of 1973, and there was a similar gap between the end of the animated series in the spring of 1975 and the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture in late 1979. The subsequent feature films came out at roughly two-year intervals, up until the proverbial floodgates opened in the mid-'80s. 

Star Trek: The Next Generation was announced in September 1986, a couple of months ahead of the cinematic release of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and premiered on the small screen a year later. From the fall of 1987 until the spring of 2005, audiences were treated to the video equivalent of a 17-year all-you-can-eat buffet of Star Trek with overlapping TV series (TNG, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise) and feature films, beginning with Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and concluding with Star Trek: Nemesis. 

Audiences entered another four-year dry spell without new any Star Trek between the cancellation of Enterprise and the release of J. J. Abrams' Star Trek feature film in the summer of 2009. Again, the wait was on with a three-year gap before Star Trek: Into Darkness (2012) and four years until Star Trek Beyond (2016). No new feature films have been released to date, save for an ill-conceived Section 31 streaming movie in early 2025. 

But audiences had to wait less than a year following Star Trek Beyond before the CBS All Access streaming service (now known as Paramount+) brought yet another wave of Star Trek, beginning with Discovery in 2017, and quickly followed by the overlapping releases of Picard, Lower Decks, Prodigy, and Strange New Worlds, the latter of which was a spinoff from Discovery's second season. 

While not all Star Trek content has been to everyone's taste--I personally have difficulty sitting through an episode of Lower Decks and I don't care if the rumored fourth and final installment of the J. J. Abrams Trek films ever gets made--the dry spell between Strange New Worlds' second and third seasons has been anything but truly dry.  The flow may have slowed to more of a trickle, but looking ahead, I trust that the remaining 26 episodes of Strange New Worlds maintains the same high standards of the 20 episodes we have already seen, and that the upcoming Discovery spinoff, Starfleet Academy, will measure up to the best of its predecessors as it Star Trek boldly goes into its next 60 years.

 

The End of 10

In just over four months, on October 14 to be exact, support for Windows 10 is coming to an end. For the past few years, Microsoft has been pushing Windows users to upgrade to Windows 11 in preparation for this finality, and if your computer doesn't make the cut, then to buy a new one. But let's face facts. Computers ain't cheap, and just tossing your old one ain't good for the environment. But what if there were a better way? Actually, there is. It's called desktop Linux.

A campaign is now under way, called End of 10 to help users give their older, but still viable, hardware new life by replacing Windows 10 or older with the desktop Linux distribution of their choice.  End of 10 is focused on connecting users with the resources they need to make the transition to Linux. It does not push users toward any specific Linux distribution (distro), because Linux is always about choice. According to the End of 10 Web site, any computer purchased new since 2010 should be able to run just about any Linux distro and stay up to date for years to come. 

Below are six great reasons, in no particular order, for upgrading an existing computer to Linux instead of replacing it with one that runs Windows 11:

• New life for older hardware--Each new iteration of Windows or Mac OS comes with new, more stringent hardware requirements that not all existing computers can meet. Replacing the existing operating system with a Linux distribution can help keep existing computers running productively for longer, effectively negating manufacturer-imposed expiry dates. 
• Greater privacy--Most operating systems have spyware and adware included at no extra charge, and usually without the ability to opt out. These allow hardware and software manufacturers like Microsoft, Apple, Google, and others to keep tabs on users, monitor their computing activities, in order to better target ads, and essentially commoditize their keystrokes and mouse clicks. With Linux, users are in charge, controlling exactly what is shared.
• More choices--With Windows, Mac OS or ChromeOS, your options for customization are largely limited to what the manufacturer offers you. The  look and feel of the OS are largely locked in before you ever open the box. The exact opposite is true with Linux, which offers a dizzying array of distros and interface options. For many users a huge part of the appeal of Linux is the ability to configure it exactly how you'd like it. After all, it is your computer. 
• No subscriptions required--Commercial software from the likes of Adobe, Microsoft, and others, are increasingly moving toward subscription models that require users to keep paying in order to use the software. Linux distributions and application software are free and open source, meaning whatever you download and install is yours. You don't have to keep paying for it to use it; in fact, you most likely won't have to pay for it at all. You have free use of it in perpetuity, for as long as your hardware can run it.
• It does what you need it to do--The vast majority of computer users only really need a couple of applications: a Web browser, email client, and office productivity suite. All of this is available for Linux, and in many cases is bundled with the operating system. In many cases, titles like Chrome, Firefox, and Thunderbird may be familiar to users, while LibreOffice may be less so, even though it is also available free for Windows and Mac OS. Installing LibreOffice on your existing computer is a great way to become accustomed to it before switching to Linux.
• It's better for the environment--Being forced into frequent hardware upgrades is, quite frankly, a waste of resources. It's much better for the environment to keep your existing computer running and out of the landfill for as long as possible, and with Linux, it can stay up to date for much longer, and will potentially run better with the lighter system requirements of most Linux distributions. And as a bonus. It's also better for you wallet.

In keeping with the End of 10 ethos, I have intentionally kept this discussion distro agnostic. I strongly believe one should choose what's right for them, and thus I am not recommending any particular distro, beyond stating that I have settled in on Linux Mint, which meets my needs quite well, while acknowledging that your mileage may vary. I have discussed this at length in earlier entries, so I do not feel the need to repeat it here. 

That said, I do understand that having such a vast variety can be confusing, and maybe even a bit intimidating for many.  The article "Which Linux Distro Should You Choose: A Complete Guide to Help You Decide" From Linux Start may be helpful, even though I feel it is a bit Ubuntu-centric and gives Linux Mint short shrift. 

As you begin shopping for the perfect desktop Linux distro, it will be helpful to take your top few candidates (at least two) for a test drive. You can do this by downloading and copying them to a bootable USB drive (We'll get into how to make a USB drive bootable below). You can then boot your computer from the USB drive to explore that Linux distro without affecting anything on your computer's internal drive. Use the steps below to get started:

1. Get your computer ready--Before you boot into Linux, you will need to make a couple of changes to your computer's BIOS settings. First, you will need to turn Secure Boot off. This setting on Windows 10 and newer computers prevents it from booting into other operating systems. Second, you will need to change the Boot Order so that USB comes first. You will not need to change these back.
2.  Get your USB drive ready--One of the easiest ways to create a bootable USB drive is with the Rufus formatting utility. Just plug in the USB drive, launch Rufus, and follow the prompts. You can even let Rufus handle the BIOS changes above and download the desired Linux distro, if you want it to. 
3. Restart your computer--Once you have the .iso file for your desired distro copied the USB drive, you're ready to start exploring Linux with a simple restart. At this point, you're running Linux from the USB drive, so things might be a little slower than normal (use a USB 3.0 drive and port for best results) but you're not affecting anything on any other drive. 
4. Install Linux--Once you're satisfied that you've found the right Linux distro for your needs, you're ready to install it on your computer, using the installer application on the desktop. The installation process is usually pretty straightforward. Just follow the prompts and make a few choices along the way. The first choice you will need to make is whether to do a clean install, which will erase your internal drive and install Linux as the only operating system, or set up a dual-boot system, which will create a separate disk partition for Linux and then you will choose your desired operating system at startup. Either way, please make sure you back up any files you want to keep before installing Linux. 

It is important to note that different distros have different levels of complexity in setup and configuration after they are installed. One of the reasons I like Linux Mint is it requires minimal post-installation setup, and it can be done without entering commands in the Terminal. That said, it does not install WiFi drivers by default. You will need to run the first round of system updates with your computer connected to your network via an Ethernet cable to get WiFi working. Once you've done that, it should find your WiFi network automatically, needing only a WPA password to log in. If you have networked printers, it will automatically find and configure them. In all, the process is very quick and painless, which is a huge plus in my book.  

It is my sincere hope that this article and the embedded links will help make the option of transitioning your existing computer to Linux a little less intimidating, whether you make the jump now or when support for Windows 10 ends on 14 October. You have four months to explore and try out the available options, and there's no time like the present to get started.