**Can I run all my favorite programmes from Linux?
No you can't because most programs are written for windows, this is because windows is a commercial OS and only an OS. All the extra's you need to buy or download (like Office, ftp client, irc client, ssh client and so on).
Games are mostly only for Windows or MAC (Linux is almost never supported by the gamesupplier)
BUT this isn't so bad because Linux is NOT a commercial OS and has all the software you need (if you install it).
Example: I have installed Red Hat 8.0 once with just the packages (software) I needed and it was 300 MB, another time I installed this same Red Hat 8.0 but I selected almost ALL additional software and that was 2.6 GB. I think this is a PLUS because you can choose exactly what program you want and what program you don't want AND, all these programs are FREE :d
I have like 5 emailclients, 4 ftp clients, 3 ircclients, an instant message client (for icq, messenger, yahoo, ...), spreadsheetprograms, databaseprograms, serversoftware, and so on and on and on.
**Can I still run all my files such as MP3's and MPEGS?
In order to run MP3's you can use winamp (wich is xmms in linux, most of the times provided with the linux installation cd's or free downloadable on the net). There is only this one problem with MP3's wich requires an update so don't forget this (look in google: mp3 linux xmms or something like that).
In order to run MPEGS download mplayer from mplayer.org (this is not very easy but I really like the program, it never lags (like the new Windows Media Players) and it plays almost all formats no matter what codec.
**How can I better monitor my computer and it's resources?
Linux is one big monitor, u can monitor whatever you want with standard tools and offcourse the internet provides more monitor tools for linux than any other OS.
**And any other day to day examples would be great
Linux is not easy, but it's a whole different approach than most OS'es. If I can give you one tip, hang on, TRY TRY and TRY again, keep searchin on the inet and if u haven't found a solution yet, than you can ask someone else
I think it's the most interesting OS there is and offcourse it's free.