I installed linux mint 18 but when the pc boots up i only see a menu for linux options or memory tests,i do not see an option to choose between windows and linux.
i am wondering if i inadvertantly deleted the windows operating system because when i ran the instalation disc that was burnt automatically through nero i remember lots of questions to do with partitions and i know i said yes to all of them . could i have deleted the windows vista from my pc without realising it.

dont panic i am NOT putting anyone at risk as this post has been sent from a windows 10 pc WITH anti virus.

i dont have anti virus on the linux pc because i cant get any working, comdo downloaded and said dependancy is not satisfied and stopped installing , sophos installed but just showed a page of script , all other freebies i tried generate an error saying error loading archive.
can anyone recommend a free av that works.

If I remember rightly, the partitioning page of the Mint installer has the options (1) use the whole disk, (2) install in free space, and (3) do something else. It looks like you chose (1).

If you want Windows on that computer, re-installing it will over-write the Linux boot-loader so it's probably easiest to install Windows on the whole disk, shrink the partition from within Windows, and re-install Mint in the empty space.

As for viruses, Linux doesn't have them. There is a program called clam to find and remove them, though, just in case you download a file containing a Windows virus with Linux and then transfer it to Windows. If you don't think that's likely to happen, you don't need anti-virus.

Incidentally, don't download odd programs of the internet unless absolutely necessary: get software from the Mint repository and that way ot will work properly and get updated when needed.

I'd reckon that if you said "Yes" to all the partitioning questions you've lost Windows. If I remember correctly one of the first partitioning ones asked is As for Anti virus, Linux is not susceptible to Windows viruses, though there may be a few proof of concept Linux ones out there. I started playing with Linux in 2000 and haven't used a virus checker since.

Play Bonny!

thanks to all for help i think i must have destroyed windows , i got a windows 7 pc with free 10 on it so i can use that as a guinea pig to try new software before i try it on my custom built games rig. as for linux anti virus i have just read mint sarah dont like some av i am going to try clamav.

http://tinyurl.com/easylinuxtips for some tips.
https://www.linuxmint.com/documentation.php for the User Guide.
http://help.ubuntu.com/ for the Documentation that LM doesn't have.