So you’ve downloaded an Linux Mint, or other Ubuntu variants ISO file, put it on some flash-media, you’ve booted to that media and performed a dual-boot or full-disk install. You’ve boot to Linux, now what?

Turn On The Firewall

The first thing you should do is turn on the firewall. This is not really crucial at this point but you should do it now before you forget. If you are using an Ubuntu variant these instructions should apply.

Hit the Super Key (left Windows key) then type firewall. Hit the enter key. This will open the Gufm firewall. Flip the Status switch to on. The default profile should be Home, leave it there. If it is on any other profile you will have difficult accessing the Internet.

Learn the more about Gufw

Get Updates

In the lower right corner you should see a shield icon. It should have a colored dot on it indicating there are updates to be installed. Once open it may ask you to update the Update Manager. Click “Apply the Updates.” After this the Update Manager should restart then list a list of available updates. Click “Install Updates.” Whenever you see that colored dot (sometime other indicators) there are updates to install.

The update manager updates everything, the operating system and all of the programs. This is probably the best feature of Linux.

Other

There are other things you may want to tweak like adding additional software, and changing wallpaper but there is nothing else that is required.