Linux

Here are my recommendations from last time I saw this question asked: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/comment/17912220

Mint, cinnamon.

Whatever beginner friendly distro you choose, I suggest you use it as if you were a grandma, especially if you have experience in troubleshooting Windows. It's natural to try to find the solution to a problem by doing a Google search, but first of all Linux changes quickly, so solutions that are older than 2 years may be outdated, over 5 years they likely are, and they may apply to different distros than yours, so be careful. Always check your DE's settings app first, those have gotten really good in the last few years.
Don't be afraid to ask in chatrooms if your distro has any, the myth of the rude Linux community is just that, a myth.

Seems like Mint is the consensus and I don't disagree. Just some things to consider when choosing:

1. Desktop Environment/Window Manager (DE/WM) this is the software responsible for displaying your desktop and managing the opening and closing of graphical windows. Window managers are very bare-bones and might offer an experience significantly different than Windows. (See tiling WMs). Desktop environments do the same and more, and are often bundled with launchers and useful default programs like terminals and editors.

2. Package manager. Package managers are responsible for managing your installed software. There are a variety of options, and distros typically will choose one as their default. Pacman for Arch, Aptitude for Debian, RPM for RedHat, and others. These are mostly interchangeable for the end user, but each has slightly different commands and frontends. So just be aware there will be a bit of an extra learning curve moving from a distro that uses one to a distro that uses another.

3. Release cycle. Different distros offer different styles of releasing updates. Ubuntu and Debian periodically release updates in a cycle with major and minor releases. Some releases are marked for long term support and others marked as short term. Upgrading releases has been hit or miss for me, so I prefer rolling release distros. These distros don't distinguish major releases and simply upgrade in place. Each has it's own advantages, just be mindful of how often you will have to upgrade.

The thing about Linux is the back and front are separated, and you can customize the ux like crazy. So as you try stuff, pay more attention to package manager, how easy things are in terminal, compatibility, etc.

Try some shit.

I recommend Zorin. It helps you to find the best way to install the apps you need. It also includes a WINE integration that greatly simplifies the process of using Windows apps on Linux. It's built on Ubuntu, meaning it's stable, has wide hardware compatibility, will run pretty much anything that works on Linux, and all the Ubuntu commands will work on it. It looks a lot nicer than Mint (Cinnamon). And supports lots of super useful trackpad gestures for laptops. It includes a version of Brave out of the box, stripped of all their BS.

Pick any of the more popular ones at random; it really doesn't matter that much.

Ubuntu

Gentoo

If you're not looking to do much you might be better off with one of the immutable variants (silver blue, aurora, bazzite). The upside is things are not supposed to break too much. The downside is if it breaks almost any existing instructions on the internet prior to maybe 2022 will fuck the system up more. Tbh Linux changes so fast that's true for most variants, but you can reach back to maybe 2018 before you start to hit system-breaking legacy instructions.

Mint isn't a good choice, but if you want a generally straightforward system that looks like Mac (gnome) or windows (KDE) then fedora is a good choice.

None of these options will be as secure by default as a Mac or windows machine -- you will have to do a lot of learning and be generally technically inclined to get there. The immutable OSs will give you a small leg up there, just because you're running less random shit from the internet as admin/root, but the Linux community hates Intel and Microsoft so much it's taken a lonnnngggg time to adopt standard security techniques, mostly resting on their laurels from decades past. Will you get viruses? Probably not. But just because nobody broke in doesn't mean leaving your door unlocked is secure.

So I use zorin and I feel its the best for typical windows users and anyone who just wants to install and get to immediately using thier pc. So basically its the lazy distro. Lot of software out of box including wine with play on linux so right after installation you could run or install windows programs if you wanted to (I would check out linux alternatives first). That being said my personal opinion if someone wants to run games is to dual boot a gaming distro or install a gaming distro and use it as your main one. Further I don't recommend dual booting windows. If someone wants to keep windows around my sugestion, if they have it, is to install linux on your last older laptop. Anyone who had a machine that did not outright die and upgraded in the last ten years will be pleasantly surprised how well linux runs on older hardware compared to windows on newer. Once you have weaned yourself 100% off windows and realize how useless it is then install on the current laptop. Given if you don't still have your older one then by all mean dual boot. I initially did that but have reversed the setup and now have linux on my better laptop as I was so annoyed with windows wasting the good one.