I think it just really goes to show you can’t hide anything on a computer physically.

What do you mean? It’s certainly possible when using encryption software such as bitlocker. It’s just not always enabled by default.In fact it’s saved my ass from total data loss a couple of times.

If you can make sure nobody has physical access to your pc than there’s a case to be made that you don’t need it, and if you can’t and are afraid that someone has both knowledge of this fact and the intention to (ab)use it, you use bitlocker.

It might be nicely organized but coming from windows the abbreviations can be downright confusing. For example:

• /bin; recycle bin?
• /etc; other files (etcetera)?
• /home; okay, this is where I can find my own files
• /media; music and pictures? USB drives and CD’s?
• /mnt; no idea but also USBs apparently?
• /root; wait system admin has his own files?
• /sbin; super recycle bin?
• /usr; wait, also where I can find my own files?

Sure, this might be hyperbole and Windows has its own problems, the two different program files folders coming to mind first. But when you come from an OS where system folders are words instead of abbreviations Linux can be really confusing, especially if you are not that tech-savy.