Wow. That's either some serious selective memory or some amazing good luck. You mean to say you never installed a program in Win while other programs were running (despite the pop-up installation box telling you to close everything) and experienced the glorious chaos that typically ensues? I did that all the time. Now in SuSE I run Yast2's online update ~ or install other software while runing mozilla, openoffice, and two or three other things at once. I've never had linux freeze up, choke, and turn blue, like Win used to do for me several times a day. If you had such amazing success with Win, I recommend you return to it.
No offence meant Brian. I'm going to stick with Linux thanks. My point was that as a beginner, in my experience, Windows is easier to install programs - thats all. And as I have always closed all other apps down and, as you say, with luck, I have NEVER had a problem installing a program under windows. I've had plenty of Blue screens and freezes in my time but never at an install, nor has Windows refused to install. I have other reasons for swapping to Linux. All the best Dave