http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/windows-installer (never actually tried this but sounds easy) http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/download if you have 4gig of ram or over get 64bit burn it onto a cd or usb stick, put media in and boot your pc, it should run without installing, so you can try it out (everything may not work though) and see what you think of it before you install it.
As long as you do the partitioning, your stuff will be fine. I'd google 'partitioning during Ubuntu 11.04 install' first though, and try to back up as much of it as you can.
Cheers lads, how much space will i need on the disc/usb? Will they need to be dvd-r rather than cd-r? The fact your both suggesting the same thing works for me!
DVD-r. Disc is better than USB imo, I've tried USB and it didn't really work. A normal DVD will have about 10gb, which will fit the OS on fine. Also, with Ubuntu, you don't need antivirus software, it's all included in the system
hmm DVD is 4.7gig DVD DL is 8 gig ish, CD is 700meg ish so if the CD is 700meg then the usb just needs to be the same. Here's another reason Linux tends to deflect spyware: By default, most Linux distributions wisely set you up as a lower-privilege user, with a type of account that generally can't allow malicious code to take over the system. Were you to somehow permit a Linux virus or worm to run on your computer, the fact that you are not logged in on the all-powerful root account prevents the malware from attacking the system's (and other users') files. but getting a linux virus or worm in the first place is very very very very rare to say the least.
