Alternatives to Windows

HO87

The minimum requirements for Windows ME was really quite low (as low as Pentium 150 and 32Mb RAM, for example) and the original XP Home only needed 64Mb (233MHz processor). From that point of view it would be useful to know what the OP has in their machine to avoid overwhelming them with generalised suggestions.

However, Puppy will happily run on some very low spec machines (by current standards) as will PC Linux OS and SliTaz. Without wishing to bruise others opinions (Linux flavours - of which there are many - are often jealously guarded by their users) as a virgin user the OP will probably find Puppy or PCLOS a better first experience than SliTaz. I would also suggest Damn Small Linux was worth looking at as it has a very low minimum spec requirement.

However, in making the switch from Windows, I'd suggest they may find the more familiar layout of PCLOS slightly easier to get on with out-of-the-box provided their machine is up to it.

@OP - all of the above OS's can be downloaded free and burned to CD. If you then adjust your machine to boot from the CD/DVD drive (rather than the hard drive) using one or other of these downloaded discs you can run the software "live" from the disc without installing it. In other words you can try before you install.

scotsblood

Take a look at Linux Mint, now in its 10th ubuntu based version or the Debian edition that is a rolling release.
Having now converted four of the six pc's in the house, the two kids laptops are running 10, my laptop on which I'm writing this and my netbook run LMDE.
Once you move away from windoze and start to see the benefits both in terms of the software available (try Libre Office its just better and opensource!) and the increased hardware performance (netbook on XP 2hrs15mins on LMDE regularly 4 hrs!!) you will quickly accept the differences!
Go on take the plunge, try mint from a usb drive to check it out without installing.
The main difference with the Linux community is that it is self help, visit the forums and blogs for help rather than resorting to helplines and boosting companies profits to sort out their own software bugs!:)

Chimpofdoom

+1 for Mint!

S_H_B

If you're interested in Ubuntu, may I recommend Lubuntu - runs like a dream on my very underpowered netbook and runs well on an old P3 500 I had knocking about.

gonzo127

as everyone has said, the best option is to try them and see how you feel, but a lot does depend on your hardware, bare in mind Ubuntu although very good might still be to heavy for your system as ideally you need 512mb RAM to run it properly, all the ones below would be better if you have less than 512 ram

puppy
Lubuntu (this is ubuntu just with a different 'front end')
Linux Mint LXDE
peppermint

there are probably others however i have not tried them so cant say how good they are, but anyways as to installing them they are all very easy, just check out the websites for all for exact instructions but generally download burn of the ISO as a image file onto a CD/DVD and then boot from your disk drive not hard drive and it will run you through the options

almillar

You need to find out the specs of the computer, not just the OS. I'll guess it won't make for a pleasant experience trying to stream video or use Flash stuff!

myhooose

Another vote for puppy here.