Hi, may I recommend you try out several distro's and run them as live CD's first! My older Lenovo W7 now runs the latest Linux Mint Mate edition and I'm extremely impressed - and very happy there are options outside of Windows & Mac. Live CD's are also an added layer of security for online banking as an example, not just to use as an operating system. You can go to a site like distowatch.com and see the popular and freshest new flavors. You simply down load the ISO file onto DVD presumably, or CD for distros of smaller sizes like Puppy Linux as an eample of another small, fast, and very neat operating system.So once you down load the ISO file you'll need the right software that burns ISO images. Burn and then you can pop it in the CD/DVD of the computer you intend on using this for, reboot the computer, hit F12 a few times, toggle the up and down arrows to select the CD/DVD drive and your new operating system loads, never touching your internal hard drive at any time. When you decide on the one you want, each distro will have an install icon. Once you start this process you can either wipe away windows and anything on your computers hard drive forever and install your new operating system, or you can install it along side Windows if you choose. The best part about open source is really to me a prime example of community involvement for better good. Hope it works out for you.