Its OK, I didn't find your comment rude, I just felt like I didn't understand. Mint is very easy and does tend to just work. It's a good choice, the only drawback really being that its kernel and some of its packages are not always the latest. But most people won't notice or care about that. I use Mint among other distros on some of my machines.

Thanks, I appreciate you taking my comment in good faith. Wouldn't the kernal/packages not being the latest be a potential security vulnerability? Are there other distros you would recommend to someone not particularly technically inclined? What about firewalls or other security measures? Can I install straight from a USB or is there some prepatory work to be done, besides partitioning? Can Linux handle partitioning for me? By the by, I've also been reading about Windows deleting the Linux partition. Is that preventable? Is there some sort of tutorial for dummies? I may have certain LDs that mess with understanding certain things so it would potentially need to be "for a dummy's dummy." I know that's a lot of questions, and I don't really expect you to answer them all, hence the request for a decent dummy's tutorial. And all those questions are really why I've not yet done it. I really don't want to be without my laptop for a week trying to figure out my mistakes while doing everything else, because after work, my brain wants recuperation. Dealing with people who have their own physical and mental health issues can be rewarding, but extremely tiresome.