I hate the system root in Windows. Its messy, every known spyware application installs something in it, and I can never determine what I can and cannot delete.

Whats the system root look like on Linux? How is it different than windows? And if at all possible, could you post maybe a screenshot of it. I can't find screenshots anywhere.

The system tree you mean? It's pretty much the same on any linux box as far as I know. Linux does have a lot less trouble with viruses and spyware cause it doesn't have for example activex and security gets fixed pretty soon after bugs are discovered. Next to it as a normal user viruses can't hurt you as much as they would on a windows system. spyware can't install that easy or at all in the system cause it doesn't have permissions if you run as a normal user. Surfing the internet as root is the most stupid thing you can do.

A system is as safe as the user who uses it but linux has better permissions.

Well here's my root tree, using Slackware 10.

vince@box:~$ ls /
bin/ #stores programs
dev/ #contains devices (everything in linux is a file, even devices, processes, etc.)
etc/ #mostly setup files for other programs (I think...)
include/ #function libraries
lost+found/ #
opt/ #auxilliary packages
root/ #the root user's home directory (root is all-powerful master of the machine)
src/ #sources
tmp/ #temporary file storage
var/ #
boot/ #
doc/ #
home/ #contains users' home directories (other than root)
lib/ #function libraries
mnt/ #default point for mounting devices -> hard drives, cd-rom, etc.
proc/ #processes (processes are fiels too!)
sbin/ #shared programs
sys/ #sytem stuff
usr/ #

This is a quick explanation (probably erroneous, too...).
Check this page for more, complete, accurate information:
http://www.freeos.com/articles/3102/

Good luck with the transition!!!!

vince