Already some way better answers than i could give, however I would stonely suggest you take a look at using it. Windows is terrible, especially nowadays, and for the general user ("office", web browsing, etc) its 100% stable, easy to use, and free!
There will be a slight learning curve for new users if your not especially tech savvy, as your question implies you may not be, but if you choose the right distro (version) you'll be fine!
Linux can be super complicated, if you want it to be, but can also be super simple if you dont need it to be.
I cant comment on the dude in the article, cause I can't be arsed to read it but, what you described happened to me. Stayed up for 3 days straight and, according to the doctors, it caused an epileptic fit.
I like that idea, only problem i have is picking who works which days. Like i want days off with my partner but if we are on opposite shifts we wont see each other.
Its the internet, no matter how much people here like to think lemmy is some kind of special utopia its no different to any other site or social media.
It definitely does for a little while at least. Another thing you could do, which i believed fixed it for longer was to replace the posts that held the heat sink and cook down on the CPU with straight up nuts and bolts. That way you could tighten the cooler down more forcing the cpu to make better contact with the pads on the mobo. I did this to a friends xbox and he got another 2 years of service after this.
To Americans, America is the world.