Do my windows files will still be readible? and do I will could still work on them?

The short answer : yes.

Yes - all files will still be readable
Yes - all (except some exotic stuff) graphical formats can be accessed
Yes - you can even fully access a plain windows drive (fat or ntfs)

From easy to use to (somewhat) harder

- Macpup - barely needs a PC (P2/128Mb/20Gb is plenty) and runs "out of the box" - very nice
- Ubuntu - thinks with you, lotsa eyecandy
- Xubuntu - a bit lighter on the needs, very pretty
- Debian - stable as a rock
- Fedora - nice, pretty, needs to be reinstalled every two years, stuff can be broken
- Arch - fully customisable lego-brick approach, steep learning curve

Or, choose one, if you know what you want, but cannot put a name to it...

Luck, and welcome to Linux!

Thor

If it were me, I would not touch my Windows box. I would get an entirely separate computer (don't you have one or two still in your closet?) and build Linux on that.

Or consider a virtual machine (and a nice fast external disk drive). Yeah, Windows can support VMs too.

I have never used "dual booting."

1 members found this post helpful.

Okay, so, this is by far the BEST advice (I forgot to mention this)! Thanks sundialvcs for adding this to the thread. Linux is a very frugal and gratefull system. And, if I could set up a Linux on this computer, well, anything is possible!

But, if at all possible, set up your Linux on a separate system...and transfer the files with a USB stick. Or, if you really like a good challenge: set up an FTP server on one box (Linux, of course) and Linux on the new box. Check out the files (like a library) and work with them, check them back in at the end of the session.
By the way, you may find that - over time - the files stay on the Linux box, as you'll use that more and more...

You can try Linux before you install as most distros come on a live CD or DVD from which you can boot and run the software. An important thing is to get a user-interface that you like. I'd try both the KDE and Xfce versions Mint, one of the easiest to install and set up. If you haven't used it before, don't get Gnome. Most distros are using Gnome 2 but will shortly be switching to the rahter different Gnome 3: you wouldn't want to get used to the old one only to have to get unused to it a year later.

I would also recommend getting a Live CD or DVD version of Linux and testing the distro of your choice. You will have the ability to run the entire distro without having to install it. That's what I did when I first started with Linux and it really helped me narrow down my options to what I definitely like. It's also fun at the same time allowing you to learn and see how Linux works. Installing on an entirely separate machine is good as well if you have one available, and you wont have to worry about messing up your Windows install by accident.