Microsoft Boycott Starter

In light of current events I feel it is more important than ever to remove microsoft from your life.
Starting with the big one. Removing the OS.
The task will be very easy if you have a second hard drive on your device you can simply install to that without having to mess with partitions.
Most linux distros can be operated live from CD or flash without having to install or touch your system in any way.
Follows a short overview with my difficulty rating for people who are new to the system.


Linux Mint
Easy
Ubuntu but without the BS and horrible interface.
Mint is compatible with most programs that you would want to run and has been designed to work out of the box as much as possible.

Manjaro
Easy
While based on the notoriously complex Arch, Manjaro has taken simplicity even further than Mint with a wider set of libraries installed by default
and the ability to access the Arch user repository through a graphical software manager. Having said that if there's a deb or RPM that isn't in the repository and
yuou don't know how to compile packages, you're out of luck.

Zorin OS
Easy.
Has a good suite of software installed by default and also the option to have a very windows like or Mac like interface. Has a payment option
for an ultimate edition for technical support and premium business and media apps.

Trisquel
Intermediate
Another OS based off ubuntu, this distro complies with the free software foundations rules to qualify as entirely free. The absence of certain packages and drivers
plus higher reliance on the command line interface makes this OS a little trickier to use.

Security

Parrot
Intermediate
Fairly solid OS based off Debian with built in anonymiser button and usage analyser display. Also has a massive suit of security and penetration testing tools.
The installer still has technical issues and is very clunky so recommended to run live.

Kodachi
Easy
Powerful defensive OS.Has OS unique browser with enhanced security. Connects to a VPN by default at startup. Also has a large suite of secure instant messangers and other apps all accessible from a control panel at the bottom of a desktop.

Qubes.
Difficulty Hard.
This is the snowden endorsed operating system.
Runs all processes in isolated virtual machines and different security domains.
This has higher hardware requirements than most systems and may be difficult to configure.

Puppy Linux
Difficulty Intermediate.
Puppy comes in various flavors and distros. Ranging from classic puppy to various ubuntu derivatives and experimental OSes.
The unique file system and package manager does interfere with it's compatibility with mainstream linux software so installing
unsupported programs and even installing the OS itself which is biased towards live use means getting technical.
It is one of the most adaptable and universal operating systems I have seen. Able to run on both very old and very new systems when other distros don't want
to know. Can be used as a rescue system while performing other general tasks.

Communication
Thankfully we have moved past the days of empathy and pigeon.
Avoid the spyware known as Skype.
Zoom has exploded in popularity but has numerous privacy and security issues that make me think it should be avoided.

Telegram is pretty neat. Unfortunately requires the use of phone numbers for registration.

Jami
Encrypted instant messaging and video calling software. All communications are E2EE using TLS 1.3

Brosix
A comparitively little known app that is closed source but allows for text voice and video chat and desktop sharing

Riot.im
Riot.im is the client for the Matrix network. The Matrix is an open-source standard for secure, decentralized, real-time communication.

excellent suggestion, slightly ahead there, have 1 PC with linux mint on & still getting use to.