What Pat said. Use Ubuntu. Don't run it from a CD. Install it on your hard drive.

It's the most stable Linux platform from what I can tell. I used it for several months after my last PC died and wouldn't run Windows anymore. It ran Ubuntu just fine.

Drivers are an issue. Drivers are ALWAYS an issue with Linux.

But if all you want is a bare bones PC operating system for surfing the web, writing documents and handling email, ... it should work just fine.

Just don't try to get too fancy with it unless you're dedicated to becoming a Linux expert. And even then, drivers are ALWAYS an issue.

But it's free and it works, ... even when Windows may not.