I have been using Linux for years - originally because I could not justify the price of upgrading from Windows XP.
Unfortunately Linux is easy to clone and there are dozens of different varieties. For the most part the differences are just in the screen appearance and the bundle of programs that are included.
I think Ubuntu provides the best overall support. You can try it from a DVD or USB stick without disturbing your Windows PC.
I am now using the TahrPup version of Puppy Linux which is a minimal version of Ubuntu 14.04. You can run it completely from a USB stick for testing or permanently. All the regular Ubuntu software that I have tried works perfectly with it. It does not require huge hardware resources so works perfectly well on older PCs as well as new ones. It may require a little more user knowledge than Ubuntu but the Puppy Linux download is about 200MB compared with 10 times that for Ubuntu. Less is more!
...R