I'm lost

[haole12]

So I just built my first mid level pc. I did not have an os so, and i was dying to turn it on and get on the web, play games, and the whole 9 yards. I finally grabbed a 30 day trial or cracked version of vista my friend gave me years ago. It was a little scratched, but I put it in anyway. Well it froze during the final installation stage. I let it set for 2 hours before shutting the pc off. I've only turned it on once and it said error and to put the os back in the drive and repair. I didn't do that, shut it off, and haven't messed with it since. I plan to just buy windows 7, and be more patient. My question is can I install windows 7 over the mess of vista I've made? Or do I have to get rid of whatever vista is on my hard drive? And if I have to do that... How? I know if I wasnt an idiot I wouldn't posting this. So please don't remind me of what I did and how stupid it was. Thanks.

 

[Saga Lout]

Hello and welcome to Tom's Hardware Forums.

Yoou can undo what you've done and try the machine out at the same time by using a Linux operating system to run as a Live CD. Then, when you find out how good it is, faster than Windows and free of charge, you coul dinstall it over the failed Vista setup and use it for life, if necessary.

There are hundreds to choose from but my personal choice for simplicity and a pleasant, usable GUI is PCLinuxOS and you can download it from http://www.pclinuxos.com. I use ImgBurn to create the bootable ISO image needed to make it fire up your computer and that's also free from http://www.imgburn.com. It's so much easier than Nero.

If you decide to install PCLOS, it will give you choice of overwriting the Vista system and using the whole disk, or resizing to keep it. Choose the latter if you want to put Windows 7 in at a later date.
Good luck and please post back to say how you got on.

 

[nhasian]

Ubuntu and Fedora are operating systems based on the Linux kernel. There are many operating systems that use the Linux kernel (sometimes these are called "Linux distros"). I recommend either Fedora 17 or Ubuntu 12.04.

How to install Ubuntu 12.04

How to install Fedora 17

 

[haole12]

I was really looking at using Linux. I'm not a fan of windows. I was told Linux isn't user friendly and you have to use coding to get around it. If it is easy and I know it's faster I will definitely use it. I think I'll just get pclinuxos. Thanks for the help!

 

[Saga Lout]

Can code - won't code. That could be my Linux motto. GUIs are every bit as user friendly as any Windows OS to date and once you're in and working, you'll be hard-pressed to notice which system you're running. An OS is only the means to an end, whatever the end is. Linux will provide every office related facility you need, browsers galore and loads of other stuff.

Enjoy.

 

[haole12]

Thanks so much. I got Ubuntu and it is amazing.. So fast it blew my mind! Never windows again.

 

[haole12]

Best answer selected by Haole12.