Here are three ways to try out Linux Easy:






1: Live CD/DVD/USB


This is the best way to try out Linux. You download an .iso file (a full copy of a CD), and you burn it onto a CD with an iso burning program like: Infrarecorder or ImgBurn (Or nero). Then you reboot your PC. Most likely it will already boot from the CD, but if it does not set it in the BIOS. (Press the setup key at boot (F2, F8, DEL etc.) and search for something like: Boot Settings, or Boot Device Priority. Then put your CD/DVD drive at the top. Now save & exit. Then your PC will boot from CD.)

If you do not want to burn CD's, and you have a USB stick from 1GB or above, then there is a special way to do it. Download UnetBootIn and start it. On Vista & 7 you have to give UAC rights, and under linux you have to give your (root) password.
Select which distribution you want, there are a lot in the list. Then select which drive you want it (Your USB drive, likely E:, F: or /dev/sdc1, /dev/sdb1). Then OK, and you're ready to go. If you already have downloaded the ISO, you can also select it to be written to your USB drive. This is handy if your distro is not in the list, or you do testing like here.
For the BIOS settings, do the same as above, but instead of the CD drive, select your USB drive. (Tip: Most PC's have a seperate Boot selection menu. On Dells it is F12, on my ASUS it is F8. That is easier that setting your BIOS.)

WUBI/mint4win


The hard days of manually partitioning your hard drive are over. No more burning and booting live CD's. Just download WUBI. Windows Ubuntu Installer - the new way to install Linux. This is the most fool proof way to install linux. You can also remove it via Add/Remove Software (or whatever it is called in windows). If you have an Ubuntu live CD then WUBI will be on it already. You just have to insert the CD while in windows, and then a popup will come. Select Install Inside Windows. If you just download the installer it will download the iso manually. But do note that the preformance is not as good as when you are on a "real" linux install. Tip: Remember the password you enter at the first screen. You will need it to login later.

VirtualBox


You can run Linux inside windows, in its own closed environment. You create a second PC inside yours. This also works for many other OSes, like freedos, solaris, reactOS and (of course) windows. You need to have an Emulator. The best free (for personal use) at this moment is VirtualBox. Download and install it. Create a new Virtual Machine. For Ubuntu, or any modern Linux OS, I recommend at least 1GB RAM for the virtual machine. So make sure you have enough in your PC. If you do not, then look at a lighter version of linux, like SliTaz, Tiny Core or DSL. I myself use virtualbox a lot. I have a dual boot with 7, but I almost never use it because I have to wait on everything, or do more click work which can be done much faster by a script or see my PC getting slower trough Antivirus/Antispyware. So If I have to photoshop I just boot into my PS VM.
The best part about Virtualbox are the Snapshots. This is an exact copy of the VM at the moment you make the "Snap". I have a snapshot of a clean WinXP, and I do all the testing on it, or the stuff for which you have your antivirus. And if I'm done, I just revert back to the snapshot Clean, and away is all the mess.

This were 3 easy ways to try out Linux, so now you cannot say "Trying Linux Is Difficult" anymore .