I have downloaded the Ubuntu 14.04 ISO image and burned a CD but when I try to use the CD my computer does not seem to know that it is there. I very much want to get away from anything microsoft so any help would be greatly appreciated. I know that for most of you this is most likely a no-brainier so please forgive my ignorance. I drive a class 8 truck for a living and polish knives and swords on the side both of which are very time consuming not leaving me much time to learn the information needed to accomplish the computer tasks I need to do. So in advance, Thank For The Help.

Do you understand that you have to boot from the DVD? Maybe it would help if you describe exactly what you have tried. Also, it looks like you have windows XP? You should also list your RAM and processor speed to see if the regular ubuntu is even going to work for your pc.

You may need to adjust the BIOS settings on your computer. Give a shout if you need help with that. You need to fix the Boot Priority to look for a DVD/CD that's bootable (such as your installation disk) and use it before booting up in the normal fashion using your hard disk. I hope that's clear. I don't really know what a class 8 truck is. Is it very big? (just curious).
jdk

Your post indicates you "burned a CD" of Ubuntu 14.04 which is a download size of 970MB and the maximum for a CD is 700MB. If that isn't a typo, then it won't work. If you actually used a DVD, then you should have had an option with the software you used to burn it to "burn as an image" rather than just copy as copying won't work either.

And answers to the above posted questions would be useful.