http://www.linux.org/dist/index.html - you can go there, and do a search for the distro you want, what will fit your needs. . . however, in the mean time, I think this would be a very good idea for you. . .

go here ---> http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html

download a knoppix image, burn it to a CD, then reboot your computer. At the promp type 'expert' and answer the questions, most likely all of them will be 'no', Congrats, you are now runnig linux. if you want windows back, turn of your computer, take the cdrom out and you are back to your old computer.

Its fast, its up to date, its on par with all the bid distros if not better, its got about a a gig of programs compressed on the CD and it won't touch your hardrive because its running off a CD rom.

If you change anything its loaded into a ram drive, so If you screw something up too badly (not gonna happen) relax, reboot and it never happened. Its a virtual rubber room for the novice linux user like yourself.

Its got your spreadsheets, your office suite, your email and your internet, and it will educate you on linux. In fact, I like it better than I do any other distro. I wish I could just install it straight to my hardrive sometimes. Anyway, do this, and come back to me.

Trust me on this one.
-Justin Kelly

P.S. Heck, it could even be your 100% solution, if you decide you would rather just use that, let me know, I will help you set it up to be a little more permanent. (so that your email won't disapear every time you reboot etc. . . )