Must switch to Ubuntu in a hurry.

[kurt18947]

I am nowhere near as knowledgeable or experienced as other posters here but if this is true:

I also installed SUSE Linux on an old PC, but partitioning the disk was a nightmare, and I'd prefer not to have to go through that again. However I do have a business to run that lives and dies on the old MS Office files. I'm perfectly willing to build new DBs and spreadsheets in Open Office, but I need to be able to open and read the old ones.

I would make sure those files are backed up multiple times and that those backups are readable. Everything else can be repaired or replaced. I would probably wipe the existing Windows install and reinstall. That fixes the immediate problem. Now either dual boot or run a VM. You can run parallel systems and have time to become familiar with replacement apps, port spreadsheets & databases etc.

I would also consider, after reinstalling Windows and apps and everything is working, create an image of that install. Clonezilla gets good reviews. I just installed Windows 7. It took close to 4 hours with drivers, updates apps, etc. etc. etc. Restoring an image takes about 30 minutes from DVDs.

[Mopar1973Man]

The only thing I could suggest is to clean up your computer burning all your information out on DVD's or external hard drive. Then do a split partition Windows and Ubuntu. Then allow yourself to continue working with Windows for you time critical stuff but when you got slack time go hunting for Linux apps to do the work your doing now.

That's how I made my transition from Windows to Ubuntu. I found myself using Windows less and less and find more and more programs and apps on Linux that did what I wanted. So this what all the other guys are talking about.

[Mark Phelps]

The hard drive is almost full, and every time I try deleting old programs it claims to be installing something. I suspect a Trojan.

If you have access to a Windows PC, then download and burn the ISO files for either Kaspersky Rescue CD or AVG antivirus. Both are available for free. Once you have those, boot from those CDs and run antivirus scans of your PC.

The irony is that both of those use Linux to boot and run. But that way, they don't get infected as easily as running Windows.

Also, I didn't notice what version of Windows you were running, but if it's Win7, when your PC is up and working again, in the Start area, enter "disk cleanup" and when that starts, run it. That will list stuff you can delete to recover some hard drive space. Also, if you have System Restore enabled, look for the option of removing old Restore Points. Those will also free up some hard drive space.