What did you use before? You might be able to use many of the same things, or find open-source alternatives that work the same.

You can try out most linux distributions without even installing them. Just plug in the usb, boot from it and choose not to install and you can play around with it. You can try multiple linux oses this way before considering an installation. I’d recommend trying Mint, Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Bazzite (if you’re a gamer).

There are some extra steps you’ll need to take in the BIOS, as in my experience modern computers tend to not have usb booting as the first priority at start up, so it just boots straight into windows no matter what.