windows and linux together? or just windows? part 2

I've been a very desorganized and lazy laptop user and didnt renew my mcafee
antivirus nor its firewall that came installed in my laptop and now my lap is
full of rubbish , not to mention that i stupidly avoided downloading the SP2.
So again am gonna do the radical solution of reinstall everything from
scratch but this time am trying to follow some of the recomendations you give
in this forum (like using AVG as antivirus and probable the trend micro
firewall).

Because of this start over i'd like to ask you few more questions so i can
decide better if installing both linux and windows (reducing the linux
partition) or just have XP:

2. is there a version of linux recommended for beginners like me? am not a
comp science guy but i try my best to do research (at least now that am
taking some time off from university) and learn about it.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: antivirus software
    ... Your entire second paragraph assumes no firewall. ... Since updates what is wanted and not currently installed, ... Then they disconnect from the network, disable AV before installing ... > a firewall or an antivirus application, ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin)
  • Re: Its all about my Antivirus
    ... The story goes by installing SP2 of ... When I havent yet installed my antivirus the windows and my ... In all probability Panda Internet Security includes a firewall. ... I would probably disable the Windows Firewall ...
    (microsoft.public.security)
  • Preventing kids mucking up PC!
    ... stop them downloading or installing anything runnable. ... stop them being able to end antivirus & firewall. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin)
  • Re: Windows XP Service Pack 2
    ... Jupitor Jones wrote-The recognition of the firewall and antivirus will ... Many of these issues are related to the introduction of the Windows Firewall ... I'm interpreting the above to mean IF the Sp2 FIREWALL feature is NOT ... I did a lot of looking around for input before installing this upgrade and ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.perform_maintain)
  • Re: password protection
    ... and cable] and should really consider Windows 2000 / XP. ... sure you're also running antivirus and firewall, ... Internet] to bypass this security. ...
    (microsoft.public.security)