New to non-microsoft

[mikeg9974]

Hello and good evening.
So, after a lifetime of using microsoft (not super proficient like), I took the plunge and installed debian onto my older hp desktop. I am so confused by it; I don't have any idea how to do anything with it. Plus, I thought I was setting it up for to also run windows xp, but it boots straight into debian with no option to run xp. I followed the how-to at http://www.howtoforge.com/debian_windows_installer and it mostly went like it should, but again, I can't do anything on debian and I can't get into xp. Is there some kind of tutorial I could use? Is linux stuff only for the super tech-savvy, or will I be able to get it?
Any help in this will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[falko]

First, I'd recommend Linux Mint for a desktop system, especially for a newbie.
www.linuxmint.com

And regarding your dual-boot question, this link might be of interest: http://www.howtoforge.com/dualbootin...-linux-mint-12

[sjau]

Hmmmm, I recommend for newbies Ubuntu... it just has a very large, very friendly userbase and also great local communities.

[falko]

... and a very unfriendly Unity desktop...

[sjau]

I don't like Unity much myself... I prefer good ol' KDE

But Unity in 12.04 seems to make progress...

Also, you can still switch to gnome if you want at login.