Good Advice on Choosing Linux Distros

There are lots of versions (Distributions, "Distros") of linux. Each one has it's own purpose, ranging from ease of use to total control, from long term stability to bleeding edge updates, and nearly every other idea anyone came up with.
There are a few steps you should take:

• Try a bunch of different distros. Download the "live" .iso files and either use a tool like Unetbootin (or better yet: LiLi) to install to a flash drive or use virtual machine software such as Virtualbox. Then you can boot from the flash drive or run the virtual machine and test the distro without changing anything else on your computer.
• Try several different ones to get a feel for what you like. Ubuntu, Fedora, openSUSE, and Mint are all popular. Also pay attention to which desktop environments you like. GNOME and KDE are the two most prevalent, but there are many others, including Xfce, LXDE, Cinnamon, and MATE. Some distros have several desktop environments installed which can be chosen at the login screen, while others have a separate fork for each environment. For example: Ubuntu uses GNOME as default, while Kubuntu uses KDE, Xubuntu uses Xfce, and Lubuntu uses LXDE, while all of those install the same basic system. LXDE is my current favorite DE.
• Once you find one you like, get a dual-boot set up. Part of your hard drive will be Windows, and part will be Linux. You can choose which one to boot when you start your computer. Windows probably won't be able to read your Linux partition, but the Linux system should be able to read your Windows partition, so it is probably best to leave most of your data in Windows until you learn a bit more about Linux. Dual boot systems can work together happily with no issues, but back everything up regularly, because accidents happen.
• Then to really start learning about Linux, just keep using it.

And please don't be scared off by everyone's expertly contradicting advice. And don't be scared off by the terrible capitalization, and the recursive acronyms, and the collective desire to split any project into 5 competing projects.

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