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Thanks again for the advice.

I checked the WINE compatibility database site you provided the link for and found that the Windows game I want to continue running is listed in the "Gold" section, so it should run well, with slight configuration changes. The CAD software I use has less than 10 tests on WINE and the results vary from Platinum to Garbage, with all of the tests being pretty old, using old versions of the CAD software, as well as using old versions of WINE. I'll just have to test it out myself, to see if it works or not. The CAD software I could run via Windows10 running in a VM, but the game probably would slow down too noticeably in a VM, unless I am mistaken about how much a VM running on Linux degrades the performance of a program, when compared to running Windows natively on the same hardware.

I'm still postponing the date when I'll try to choose which Linux to use (probably Mint), and do a final "backup" of my current system, before I attempt a clean install. I don't even want to think of how many hours (days) it will take me to reformat, partition, and install Linux and WINE, then install my antivirus software & Firefox and set up all my bookmarks and enter all my passwords. Then even more time to install my software and games. At least with Linux, I will feel safer than I currently do with Windows10. I am thinking that I'll download everything from scratch after the install is complete, just in case I have any infected files that aren't currently being detected by my antivirus software. That adds a huge amount of time to the task, because I have a slow ISP, but if I am going to go through all of this trouble to switch to Linux, and re-install Windows10 on another drive or partition to use occasionally in a multi-boot system, I should do it right, so I can be certain that I am not carrying any infected files from my existing installation to the new one.

I also looked at some Hackintosh sites today, to see how compatible my hardware is, and I could probably set up a triple or quadruple boot system, and include MacOSX as well. The NVidia m650GT 2gb discrete video card in my laptop is not supported for use as a "Hackintosh", but most people running the model laptop I have as a Hackintosh report it runs well using the Intel HD graphics built into the 3rd generation i7 CPU(I think the graphics part is called Intel HD4000).

I seriously doubt that I will bother taking all the time and trouble to install more than 2 OSes, unless I count AmigaOS3.x under emulation of WinUAE, or EUAE, as the 3rd OS. I'll probably set up a dual boot Windows10 & MacOSX system, or install Linux & WINE, and call it good.