then you are even less likely to have the inadvertent copy to windows partition issues. Most of the viruses that can go beyond partition and infect boot sectors typically need deep penetration via unwitting aid by victim to execute unless the hacker already has root access to your computer.

and for security i would go with something like Fedora  or Centos over Ubuntu.  In theory any linux distro can be made more secure by removing some of the windows like apps that come preinstalled.  Fedora, imho is more secure than Ubuntu.  Ubuntu is designed for windows users who want to use linux and have as close of a windows experience as possible.  I used Linux Mint for years which is a fork of Ubuntu and very user friendly.  i did notice with Mint and Ubuntu, executables designed for windows would sometimes attempt to launch via Wine but i was alays able to stop and  I eventually removed Wine.

Great info, dub. Didn't realize Wine came pre-installed so that would definitely be getting tossed right off the bat if need be. I don't mind it not being like Windows either so I'll check out Fedora and other distros that aren't trying to clone Windows. Really all I need to do is boot into the bugger and get to the intertubes. Everything else I'll just keep doing in Windows as usual.
 
I've been told to really learn things I should go with Slackware, and I will eventually, but that's not really in line with what I need for now and I'm not sure how difficult it would be to navigate to get things running how I need.

Your basic idea of using Linux to more-securely cruise the Interwebs is a good idea, and many people do just that. I appreciate your caution but for the most part I don't think that you will have any of the issues you are imagining. 
 

Beepster

Ruben
 The only danger would be that you would inadvertently copy it to your Windows partition which might allow the infection to run the next time you boot Windows.
 

 
Hi, Ruben. You'll have to excuse my ignorance here but how would that happen? It sounds like I would almost have to manually move that file over.

 
That's pretty much what I was referring to - that you might manually save what you thought was a safe file to your Windows partition and the file turns out to be infected. As I mentioned (and Dub also indicated this) that can't happen if you don't allow Linux to mount your Windows partition.
 

Beepster 
Like say my Windows partition had a nasty virus that actually wanted to attack my Linux partition and steal my passwords or whatever AND I had an AV installed on the Linux partition (which I will) AND I'm using FF for Linux with scriptblockers (which I will)...

 
First of all, Windows OS cannot natively read a Linux partition, so any program (good or bad) running within Windows cannot access (i.e read data from) your Linux partition. I'm sure there are viruses that can access any drive partition but they would have to work at a low-level disk function, as in a virus that could delete your MBR or all of your your partitions. But such a virus would still need run on the host OS, so in your scenario, the virus would need to run on Windows but be able to read from the Linux partition, navigate the Linux file structure, find the encoded password files, and decode them. I'm sure technically that could be done, and there are third-party apps that allow Windows to read from a Linux partition, but that's asking a lot from a virus - it's much easier for all of the script-kiddies to just write viruses that turn your computer into a zombie. And as Dub mentioned, Linux is fundamentally a more secure OS than Windows.
 
No one can give you a guarantee, but as I mentioned above, it's fairly common for Linux users to do what you are wanting to do for the same reasons. And with your cautious/guarded approach to using the Internet I think you will be at less risk, not more.
 

dubdisciple
and for security i would go with something like Fedora  or Centos over Ubuntu.  In theory any linux distro can be made more secure by removing some of the windows like apps that come preinstalled.  Fedora, imho is more secure than Ubuntu.  Ubuntu is designed for windows users who want to use linux and have as close of a windows experience as possible.  I used Linux Mint for years which is a fork of Ubuntu and very user friendly.  i did notice with Mint and Ubuntu, executables designed for windows would sometimes attempt to launch via Wine but i was alays able to stop and  I eventually removed Wine.

I second the recommendation to use a distro other than Ubuntu. Ubuntu has a huge support network and a fairly strong company behind it, but it is quite a bloated distro and seems to be aimed at the lowest common denominator as far as users moving from Windows. And Ubuntu does some things their own way instead of the accepted Linux way.
 
I've been a long time Debian user but last year installed Linux Mint, which has versions based in both Ubuntu and Debian. Linux Mint has an excellent installation package, very easy to follow. I've heard that Fedora's is also very good. Mandriva's is one of the best I've used, although that distro is having some problems keeping its head above water.
 
Whatever distro you decide on, check out it's support options (users' forums, wikis, etc) to be sure that you can get help when you need it.

Awesome. Thanks, Ruben. I figured it should be solid but I'm glad I asked because now understand it all just a little bit better. I really appreciate you guys taking the time to explain. This really be very beneficial to me and save me a lot of hassle and possibly money.
 
Cheers.

Oh fer crap's sake. I was just trying to install one of those light versions on my old laptop and juuuuust when it was at the keyboard set up screen my freaking CD drive burned out on me. Ugh.
 
Edit: And I'm just realizing that without a CD drive this laptop has essentially become next to useless because I think it is far to old to boot from a flash drive. Wow. That really sucks. I've been planning on loading Linux on this thing for months and now it doesn't look like that's gonna happen.
 
Serenity now... serenity now.

http://liliputing.com/2011/07/how-to-install-nearly-any-linux-distro-using-a-usb-flash-drive-and-unetbootin.html
 
may be worth a look.  If you are duel booting, you don't necessarily need to boot from flash drive.

But I need to get it on the machine first though. Unless I can download it directly to the system and launch the installer from within XP but that seems somewhat counter intuitive to the whole "complete isolation" thing.
 
Seriously this thing is OLD... like the Windows sticker on the bottom is Windows 2000... lol.
 
Anyway... I can still use all this info on my newer lappy. Just had already dl'd the distro I was gonna use before posting this and wanted to get it installed.
 
Man... it was SO close.

You can download the distro to the XP computer.  Most installers will repartition your computer for you