Hi, new to the site, on sunday of this week I was on my PC looking at the internet, has I changed to another site everything went off and a blue screen appeared, the only item on the desktop was the recycle bin, clicked onto start >programs> it was empty, have tried various things but nothing.
One program running was my Advanced System care, so I got the open and did a full scan, the only thing that I managed to do was get the internet up and running, I subscribe to Windows Advisor and in one of there news letters it mentioned Linux, being that I can’t retreve my vista - I thought why not try Linux, but unless I am missing something I can’t see were I get it, is it best to get the CD or just download it.
I am ok with PCs but not an expert.
Hi Johnwolf and welcome
I am fairly new here as well and found that putting Linux on was very simple. I had a few glitches on the way which were very simple things that the guys on here helped me out with and pointed me in the right direction. You can either burn the IOS image to a cd using the right program or through a USB. There are threads on here already explaining how to do this or if you search around for a Distro that you think is good then it will explain on there what to do.
If your not sure which Distro then just ask on here - I went for Peppermint as its lightweight and my computer is old and couldnt handle the Win 7 that someone put on it.
There are ways of using Linux to fix things by installing it on a usb stick and dual booting but thats way beyond me.
Which Linux distribution to suggest … hmmm … IMHO if your hardware is reasonably quick (newish) I’d suggest Ubuntu which can be downloaded from here:
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/download
If your hardware is older (low spec), I’d agree with wil1234, maybe PeppermintOS (Two) would be a better bet:
http://peppermintos.com/
Ubuntu because you’ll find help easier to find … Peppermint for speed on older hardware.
If you have access to a Windows PC you’ll want to download the (ISO) disk image from either site, then use something like ImgBurn (free Windows app) to burn the image to a CD or DVD.
You can get ImgBurn from here:
http://download.imgburn.com/SetupImgBurn_2.5.2.0.exe
Tutorial for burning an ISO image to CD/DVD with ImgBurn here:
http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/G/Burning+ISO+Images+with+ImgBurn
Hint - On the second picture, where it says
Write Speed: MAX
Change it to
Write Speed: X4
If your PC can boot from a USB stick it is also possible to put Linux on a USB stick … if you want to know how, or have any other questions, just ask 
Hi Dennis99, and welcome to the forum
Heh … I’ve never come across that “Linux Distribution Chooser” before
It doesn’t include very many distro’s in its choices though … just 12 of the mainstream distro’s … PeppermintOS is not included, neither are the lighter versions of Ubuntu (Xubuntu and Lubuntu), or Puppy, or hundreds of others … so it’s somewhat limited in its scope :o
It suggested I try Mandriva … with Mandriva facing bankruptcy in a couple of days, I’m not convinced that is a great recommendation:
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/247442/mandriva_linux_maker_could_face_bankruptcy_in_10_days.html
and
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/opensource/mandriva-in-danger-of-closing-its-doors/3335
The damn thing also suggested I try OpenSUSE (amongst others) … OpenSUSE is a pet hate of mine … so I think “personally” I’ll give it a miss, but it’s certainly a bit of fun 
Hi johnwolf, and welcome to the forum.
If your really wanting to look through all the distros or “flavours” of Linux, then distrowatch is the place to look.
I would suggest Ubuntu, or one of it’s lightweight counterparts if your on a laptop or older hardware.
Peppermint seems to be a popular choice as well between people on Laptops or people looking for an OS that won’t eat up a lot of system resources.
Feel free to ask any questions.