LinuxQuestions.org

Hello everyone.

I'm a 56 year old Englishman and have been using computers for over twenty years. I've never liked Microsoft Windows and have been thinking about switching to Linux for about seven years. My Windows XP Home operating system has collapsed completely and I'm trying to re-install it, after several fruitless attempts to repair it. However, the process has now been running for about twelve hours and is still only 73% complete. I've had to sacrifice a lot of irreplaceable work (thousands of files) because of an unstable O/S and I've finally had enough.

Although I would describe myself as computer literate I am just a home PC user and not in any way up to programming or bug fixing or anything complicated. I'm here to find advice and help on the right distro for me and downloading and installing it. I have what I would describe as a home user's approach to PCs, ie they are tools that I want to take out of the box, plug in and use without too much trouble. I appreciate that it won't be that simple to put Linux on my machine but simplicity of use is a key consideration for me.

Linux seems to have reached the stage at which people like me can use it and I'd like to. I look forward to learning how to free myself from the tyranny of Microsoft.