As far as trying out different distros, why not use on of the virtualization systems.

I used to have Fedora as a dual boot on my XP system, but have dropped that completely and now have several virtual Linux systems which I can run under Windows. You can install VMWare player and download ready-made appliances (read: systems in this case) or use Sun's VirtualBox and install from iso files on the Windows hd without having to burn discs. (You can do this with VMWare player too, but you need some utilities to set up the iso virtual drive - VMWare Workstation can do that directly, but you only get 30 days free, then it's about $200 to buy. The free VMWare Server program can also do that directly).

I've run the trial of VMWare Workstation for a month and used VirtualBox too (I gave up on Windows VirtualPC - too much trouble to install Linux on it). Both were really easy to use (I may well buy Workstation even!). I was able to install (literally) dozens of distros to see what they were like, with virtually (pehaps not the right word in the circumstances!) no effort apart from downloading the iso files. You can check them out and if you trash them while trying to sort out how to do something there's no harm done apart from reloading the machine. The virtual machines are slower than the real thing of course, but let you try things in a safe environment, and since my main use is software testing it's speed is not usually a problem. (I finally setteled on Kubuntu distro, though Open Suse 11 was a close second - the virtual machine was just a bit too slow on my hardware - 1333 Athlon - with KDE4).

Even if you have a live Linux box it might be worth keeping a virtual copy about to do experimentation with - you can edit files and settings to your hearts content without worrying you'll end up with a reinstall.

Mick