The first thing to get right is the HDD partitions if you wanted to dual boot Windows and Linux. Personally I like less hassle and just dedicate a PC to Linux as a standalone system and just have it installed as the only OS. However I have done a fair few dual boot setups. The easiest way is to install Windows first and only setup a partition on the HDD large enough for Windows. leave the rest of the HDD unpartitioned. Once that is all installed and working then boot the PC from the Linux disc. Start installing and it will ask you some questions about detecting another OS and if you wish to dual boot. Now using the Linux installer partition the rest of the space on the HDD using the Ext partition formatting it uses. It will also normally install Grub, which is the boot loader and will load and ask you to pick which OS to load.

Then it should run through installing Linux and is normally quite automated much like Windows installers these days. Once installed you might have some hardware such as Wireless that might not be working. With Networking and Wireless i have found this can be the most troublesome to get working if it hasn't installed out of the box by itself. The most success I've had is a Linux utility that allows you to install and use the Windows drivers for the device in Linux. Worked well for Linksys PCMCIA wireless adapters on a laptop, and for a PCI wireless card in a PC. Failing that see if you can install a wireless card that uses a Prism chipset as these are the most compatible.

Hope that helps.

Any more questions please ask.