I found this site a while back - basically it will ask you a bunch of questions on your usage of your PC, and will came out with a list of recommended distros, and a list of reasons why YOU could like or not like it.
There are some similar sites to this one, but since I’m not familiar with them, I won’t post them. They are simply DuckDuckGo-able though.
I recommend Kubuntu for people coming from Windows because a lot of the keyboard shortcuts are the same besides, the default behavior is more or less like Windows. And since it’s based on Ubuntu, they’re more likely to find answers to any issues that they run in because of it’s popularity. After a while they can choose to move to a distro of their choice once they are comfortable.
This is why I recommend Mint with Cinnamon DE. Same reasons. It’s always interesting to see someone come to a different conclusion with the same reasoning. 🙂
I’ve stopped giving a choice because invariably newcomers I turn onto Linux pick the distro with the default wallpaper they like the best. Even within “don’t worry about distros, pick a DE” that’s still meaningless advice to someone who has only seen Windows. If you want me to install Linux for you, you’re getting Linux Mint Cinnamon Edition. Because it’s what I use, and it’s what I can help you with the easiest. I can find my way around KDE or xfce but I already know my way around Cinnamon.
Plus one for Linux Mint Cinnamon. Easily the best beginner distro, IMO. If you’re technical enough to advance past Mint w/Cinnamon, you’re probably technical enough to not need a service like the linked website.
It’s still nice to see tools like this coming out, though, as a show of support for newcomers to the ecosystem.