Linux

My general advice to Linux newbies is just to use your computer as a computer. It's important that you get everything you need working, and over time you'll get more comfortable with how things work in a standard workflow. In ~half a year you might want to explore beyond your workflow and try to make optimizations etc, in which case you'll have a much better idea of what is not working and what you want to improve. On a related note I'd also strongly recommend picking a distro and sticking with it for a while, even if someone says your distro sucks. Don't distrohop endlessly when you don't even know what you want. Linux Mint is an excellent distro that will not hold you back even if you are an expert, so don't mind anyone saying Arch is the king or Debian is where it's at.

I can only speak from experience but from my understanding most people's knowledge of Linux is derived solely from wanting to do something and then figuring out how to do it, instead of studying a list of "things you must know to use Linux".

My advice: install it on a second hard drive. You can also install it besides Windows, but that might break after a Windows update.

Linux feels different on bare metal than in a virtual machine. In a VM, it feels sluggish and is more prone to glitches.

Things to do/ my tips:

• use it just like you would use a PC normally (surfing, file management, etc.)
• If you decide to install it on bare metal, try gaming on it. It is almost as viable as Windows for that, and pretty much all (single player) games work on it, often even better!
• Use the package management system. Linux has the best ever! You don't need to install random stuff from the internet, you just go into the software center, search for it and click "install", just like on Android. System- and app-updates are usually at the same place.
• Stay on Mint for a while. You made the right choice, it is one of the best distros out there, especially for beginners! See, what you dislike and what you like, and only then jump to another distro. Otherwise, you will reinstall your OS every week.
• Don't try to force-install everything you're used on Windows. Some stuff, like MS-Office, isn't just available here. You have to look out for alternatives, in that case, OnlyOffice or LibreOffice for example.

Software recommendations

There isn't that much Linux-exclusive software out there. Most of it is open source, so it usually gets also published on Windows. But here are some I like that are:

• KDE Connect is freaking awesome
• Everything from the "Gnome circle" is also elegant and simple. It's a collection of "do one job"-apps that are very polished.
• Lutris: a game management software, that shows you your library and also offers quick-installations for Windows-games through Proton. A must have for every gamer, it replaces your dozens of launchers.

If you already kinda like mint, I suggest moving out of a VM for a proper OS install.

Linux in a VM is just that: A VM. It has the same use case as VMs in general. If you want the Linux experience i think you're better off allowing linux to properly talk to your hardware.

What to try depends entirely on what you normally do with tour PC, be it steam, deluge, or libreoffice. Use your mint installation for whatever you usually do with Windows.

It's really about what you want to do with your computer. Try to do something you would normally do on Windows in Linux. If you're already using an open source program to do it on Windows you will very likely find the same program on Linux.

If you want to play games they will likely not work well in a virtual environment.

Firefox, kitty terminal, vs code... Etc :)

If you look up "how to make a bookmark" for example, you might find the tutorial for the right browser you're using, or you might find one for chrome/firefox/edge, or you might find a tutorial on a real bookmark.

Narrowing your search to the specific program you're using will get you better results. "how to adjust mouse sensitivity in Linux" will not get you good results. Look up "... In Linux mint" or in your chosen desktop environment. You'll get much better results.

firefox with a gnome skin https://github.com/rafaelmardojai/firefox-gnome-theme

Look at the guides on TLDP, it can be interesting like https://tldp.org/LDP/Bash-Beginners-Guide/html/index.html