Once your PC is set to try to boot first from the alternative drive, insert your DVD or USB stick and reboot. Then, select "Start Linux Mint" from the first menu.

But if you want to browse the internet, stream, or use most productivity software or office suites, you’ll find a capable ...

If your PC can boot from a USB drive, you should get a program that will let you run and install Linux from a USB drive. My particular favorite for this job is Yumi for Windows.

Once you've downloaded Ubuntu to your computer, you'll need to create a live USB stick. This is what your computer will use to install and run Ubuntu the first time around.

Here's how to create your own disaster-recovery boot drive with Linux, and how to force Windows to shut down installing updates.

Having a full, lightweight operating system on your thumb drive could be very handy. Aside from all of that, it's an easy way for a Linux beginner to try out a low-risk Linux installation.

Burning a Live CD or USB Stick There are a few different methods for installing Linux on your computer, but generally, the most popular way is by downloading and burning a live CD (which has its ...

SteamOS doesn't have a full PC release yet, so it won't work on every system. If you can't get it running with your hardware, your best bet is to install a different Linux distribution until ...

Creating a Linux Install USB Our Linux distro is typically downloaded as an ISO image (ISO originally being used to reference CD / DVD sized images) of a live Linux OS that we can test on our machine.