I've had my geek back to triple the memory, secure the wireless connection against intruders and piggy backers etc and generally iron out a lot of bugs. I have a disc ready to go for Linux (Ubunto) but he suggested that I wait until the changes he has made have settled in before trying it ~ he also suggested a second (external) hard drive for the Linux "Just in case"
I tried ubanto but have returned to Mandriva - in the end I purchased Mandriva 2008 as there was a lot missing from the '1' disc and I had to download all the time... Ubanto was the same actuallt - it did a net install but then needed lots of extra stuff from the tintermong to get it working...
I have a 'clean' Windows PC now talking happily to the linux box which is file sharing and about to host my music server (slimserver)...
I too have piles of hard drives sitting around with various configurations on them...
Bottom line is the linux uses far, far less resources (memory, CPU) than Window$...
However... I must confess that I did buy a PC with Vi$ta on it and quite like it... 
I'm using a Vista PC at work on our network and have not had any problems, I really like it which seems to put BM and me in a minority. I have just ordered a Vista laptop for home and as Mrs TG is the main laptop user I expect some fun and games. 
I do quite like it but then I have a PC with the power of a Cray supercomputer under my desk just to run it...
The reason for the linux interest is that I don't want to replace all the other hardware in the business just to run Vi$ta...
The box I have has Vi$ta Home Basic - to upgrade to the all-singing-all-dancing version is another £200!
