Ok, so im tired of viruses on my computer, and yeah, I thinking of switching to Ubuntu, I think Im going to leave my XP still bootable beacuse my dad uses my computer to print stuff using our wifi. So my plan here is to have double booting,Xp and Vista, but my question is: Will hackers be able to go through my computer if I still have a virus on my xp even if im runing ubuntu? And another question is: can I link my Ubuntu computer to my dads laptop using our wifi so he can print stuff like we do with my xp?, he has vista on his laptop. I think thats it :) thankyou reading this, I hope I get some replies :O

Viruses for windows cannot run under Linux. So if you install Ubuntu or another Linux, you are also able to check your Windows partitions for viruses from within your Linux system. To share printers for Windows PCs take a look at this link: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/NetworkPrintingFromWinXP

Yes they could.(lemme rephrase that) Any OS that isn't setup to be secure can allow hackers and any number of problems. The virus's as above can't be run normally within the linux OS.The reason you have virus's is because you are not using best practices. Modern Linux/BSD/Solaris distro's tend to be rather secure. The holes tend to be the applications that are running, followed by how one set's up the system. You would be much better off starting with live CD's. As long as you don't mount drives your system is almost totally secure. (almost ) Ubuntu is a good live cd to start with. Second would be a virtual machine such as virtual pc or virtualbox. They run linux within windows/vista and tend to be more secure. Lastly, I'd get with your father. Ask him to consider this situation. Get an older or very cheap computer to use on the internet. Use your good computer just at home for games or personal finance or homework. Set the cheap computer up with linux only. If you do try to dual boot be sure you ask your Dad also. Make a backup first! "Best Practices", Event viewer, host file, perfmon, antivirus, anti-spyware, Live CD's, backups, are in my top 10

"The reason you have virus's is because you are not using best practices" Exactly right. I don't know what you're doing when you're online but if you're picking up viruses, you're probably not going to the "nicest" sites. Also, your PC probably isn't adequately protected. At the very least, you need a good anti-virus program, spyware/malware remover & a firewall. "If my answers frighten you then you should cease asking scary questions" - Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) in Pulp Fiction

But the viruses, that may exist on a windows system are not able to run in a linux environment, except using Wine to run windows applications.

So if I download a virus from limewire without knowing and I use Wine, can my computer get F-ed up?

You are kind of missing my point. Linux may or may not help you. A virus downloaded in linux could be passed to a windows machine. Any file that may have a virus is still a problem. I agree that the virus on xp is not that much of a problem but if you do the same with linux you will be in the same boat again. You should correct your xp to begin with. You should learn about and apply as many best practices as you can to help avoid issues like this. Simply running as a limited user is a big start. Antivirus even the free ones like clamwin are a great place to start. Anti spyware and firewalls are needed. Avoiding downloading files that not only may be illegal but contain virus's helps. "Best Practices", Event viewer, host file, perfmon, antivirus, anti-spyware, Live CD's, backups, are in my top 10