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Thanks, I will give it a try. The instructions on the CD folder sez "The default installation will erase all existing software and data from your compter. If this is not what you want, follow the instructions carefully during installattion. I assume I will get an option to dual boot before the actual install. I know absolutely zero about linux and even less about Ubuntu.

ed

First, back up all your data very well. Then defragment your drive in Windows, and see how much free space you have to work with, you want to leave a fair amount for windows. When you restart your computer with the disk in and start the installer, there should be a "resize" existing option I think. That should work, but it could also ...not.... The best way to do it is to make three new partitions for your new install, 1GB swap or so(Grogan's right, that is more than enough), 8GB or so for the / to be pretty much safe, and the rest for /home , as much as possible because that's where you save files. If you haven't been messing with the livecd in any computer, just boot with that to get a look at what it looks like before you install it, when you get your cd drive going.