The first thing to do is to download an iso from the website of the distribution of your choice, then burn it to CD, DVD or USB using something like unetbootin, all of which can be done in Windows although not using windows I'm not sure how. In a Linux system you just right click the iso and click "Burn to disc", probably something similar under windows. There are countless Linux distributions but Ubuntu is, for good reason, the most popular and the one I recommend to new users.
The first problem you might come across is whether to download the 32 or 64-bit iso. Most processors from the last couple of years, and almost all new ones, are 64-bit, but a 32-bit iso will work on a 64-bit computer, while a 64-bit iso won't work on a 32-bit computer. You might also notice the ubuntu website has the 32-bit tagged as "recommended", but don't take that bit of over-caution too seriously. 64-bit is marginally, but noticeably, superior on 64-bit architecture.
Once you've got a CD burned restart the computer with the CD in the drive. If it's ignored restart again and access the BIOS, which is done by pushing a button when the manufacturer's logo comes up as the computer first powers on. Which button depends on manufacturer, but should be displayed on the boot screen with the logo, but you'll have to be quick to see the button to push and push it at the same attempt.
Once in the BIOS it should be easy enough, on my laptop there is a series of tabs at the top and a list of which keys do what at the side, simply follow instructions to get to somewhere labelled "Boot Order", or something similar. Then move your CD/DVD drive or USB HDD to the top of the list, using the keys indicated. Then exit the BIOS and it should boot from CD.
That last bit it particularly intimidating, but as simple as I've made out.
Once you boot from the CD select Try Ubuntu from the graphical box than comes up. Test all your hardware, specifically not if there are any graphical problems during boot and make sure some of the other problematic pieces of hardware work, such as ethernet cards, wireless cards, headphone sockets. On my computer everything besides the headphones worked out of the box, but this isn't always the case, just normally. If you use the suspend and hibernate functions to may also want to check them. In my experience those functions are the weakest part of the linux kernel, and are quite unreliable under Windows too. However some people never have any problems with them.
Assuming everything's alright (if it's not ask at the ubuntu forums) you can start to install. There should be something to double click on the Desktop, labelled Install Ubuntu.
The install process pretty much does itself, you only really need to be careful with the partitioning process. The installer will offer three options, Erase the entire hard drive, Install alongside other operating systems, and Specify partitions manually (advanced).
This is where things can go wrong. If you have all your stuff backed up and don't want to keep windows, fine. Worst case scenario, just try again. All's well that ends well. Do what you like. The automatic "use entire disc" option tends to set up an excessively large swap partition, but if you don't mind losing half a dozen gigs or so it doesn't matter. But let's assume you want to keep windows, for some unknown reason.
If you're installing Ubuntu 10.04, go for the second option, install alongside. That'll be fine and set up a sufficient but small Linux partition. So let's assume you're installing Ubuntu 10.10 which has an error in the installer which won't allow that to work.
Firstly make sure you've backed up all your information!
Select manual, if you have a free and empty partition, tell the installer to use it as / and to format as "Ext4 journalling filesystem". You might want to resize it first to make room for a small swap partition, 1.5 times the size of your RAM if you intend to use Hibernate or have less than 3 gigs of RAM, otherwise a gig ought to be fine.
Otherwise resize the windows partition, using the GUI and the buttons at the top. Make a new ext4 partition in the empty space created, using all except that which you want to use as swap. Make another small partition to act as swap.
of course it's easier if you already had a spare partition, as some do. Also, it's sometimes the case that you already have three primary partitions, especially as many manufacturers include a Windows restore partition at the start of the hard drive. In that case make sure to specify that you are creating an "extended" rather than primary partition, taking up all your free space, then create "logical" partitions for linux and swap, within the "extended" partition.
After that you simply wait for the installation to complete. Bob's your uncle, Fanny's your aunt, and so forth.
Next time what to do next, how to install DVD-capability, codec support, how to encrypt your home folder, and so on.
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