Looking to dual boot the laptop

I am still checking out the various Linux distributions for making my laptop into a dual boot machine.  I am running Windows 7 (64 bit) and I am wanting a Linux distro that is also 64 bit so it will take advantage of all of my memory.  I had PCLinux on the machine before, but, it is a 32 bit version and was limited to 2 gigs of memory (I have 4).  I want dual boot as I still have software (taxes) that is Windows only.

I have tried a lot of distros and a few of them either won't boot (kernel panic or graphic lookup) and they are automatically out of the running.  I want something that works right out of the box without me having to manually edit config files.  Part of the distros also now support my wireless network card and that is a huge bonus.  The only thing I cannot see on the 'install' options are how do you set up the partition so that the current windows is still there, but, I can carve a portion out for Linux.  If anyone has a good and simple instruction for this it would be appreciated.  I really want Linux back on my machine so I can get back to using my machine rather than borrow my wife's machine for mail and photo editing.  Once that get stable I will then convert my daughter's machine to dual boot so that we all have Linux up and running.

Windows and a royal pain removing a trojan

I had to remove 'System Security' trojan from Jane's friend again.  We are not totally sure how it keeps getting back on after I remove it.  This is a royal pain of a program to remove as it seems to keep getting back on when they visit some site somewhere.  The first two times it was fairly easy to remove, but, this one mutated and rather than a series of numbers for the directory name and/or program name its a random series of characters for the directory and program name.  I found it by using a program that showed me what was starting up and when I saw that strange directory and program I knew it was the problem.

After removing the program and directory I set up two user profiles without admin rights and rebooted the machine.  The machine rebooted without a problem and we didn't have that crapware running on the machine.

You can read more at the wiki site about this program and how to remove it.

A few observations if you run windows:

1. Keep your virus software and trojan scanners up-to-date.
2. Keep you machine fully patched.
3. Don't blindly download and install programs.  Do your homework and check it out before installing.
4. Do not use the 'ADMIN' account.  Create a normal user with no rights to add/change/delete programs.
5. Keep a good set of backups and backup on a regular basis.

I now have an USB stick with a number of tools that helps me look for the crap or just do cleanups and check for program updates.

1. Sypbot Search & destory
2. Malwarebytes anti-malware
3. CCleaner
4. Secunia PSI

There are probably other good ones, but, I like these as they work for me.

New HP laptop - Not very happy with the machine.

I finally saved up enough money last month to buy a new machine.  I wanted a laptop that was fairly powerful, inexpensive and could run Linux.  I finally dedided on the HP Pavilion DV6 as it fit everything I wanted and I couldn't see any problems when I did online searches.

For the first month it was fine.  I had Linux (PCLinuxOS) running on it without a problem.  I then had a problem with the network connection.  I tried 3 different cables at home in different plugs in the router, but, the machine couldn't make a connection.  I brought it in to work and tried there without success.  Knowing that it was not the network itself, but, a hardware problem I took it back to Staples for them to send it to HP for servicing.  It came back a week later with HP saying that they could make a connection and there were no hardware problems with the laptop.  Trying it at Staples we could make a connection and it worked for a few hours at work. The screen then went black and I could not make it work at all.  I tried several different Linux Distros and not one would work.

I took it back to Staples and they confirmed that it wasn't working and it was probably a motherboard issue.  The laptop was sent back to HP for more servicing and after a week it came back.  They had to wipe the hard drive, but, that is not a problem as I had a full backup.  It was running Windows 7 and appears to work without a problem.  I left the machine alone without trying to install Linux for a week to ensure that the machine is working without a problem.

On the weekend I tried to boot the machine to Linux and I got a black screen again.  I booted to Ubuntu, PCLinuxOS, DSL, Sabayon and they all won't display the screen.  Right now I am very unhappy as I wanted this machine to work with Linux and dual boot to Windows for some programs that are windows only and don't have a Linux equivalent.  I suspect the HP service team did a quick-and-dirty fix that was enough to get Windows to boot and not a proper repair.  I have spent almost 1,000 dollars on a  machine that will not work the way it was before I had the hardware problems, but, I suspect HP won't do anything as Windows boots up and they will say it is an O/S problem and not a hardware problem.  If you are thinking of buying a HP laptop for Linux I would recommend you look somewhere else and save your money.

For me to use Linux I have to borrow Jane's machine as it still has my old profile and restore all of the files to that machine.  That is a royal pain as I bought this laptop to be my main work machine and it is now just an over-priced Windows gaming machine and not a work machine.  Why?

1. The current EPSON scanner that I have is not supported by Windows 7.  It is only 2 years old and they don't have any drivers.  This is fully supported in Linux.
2. Security in Windows is a joke.  Every week I see so many security notices that it is not funny.  Linux may not be 100% secure, but, it is a lot more secure right away.
3. I like GIMP in Linux for my photo editing.  
4. Linux makes better use of system resources than Windows.  I was getting Linux up and running in about 120 megs of memory used vs Windows taking over 1 gig and Linux boots faster than Windows.
5. Digikam is a wonderful application and I have thousands of photos, family documents and other files stored here.  It would be a major effort to find the Windows equivalent and move all of the over there.
6. All the other machines at home are Linux and I like to have one O/S to support rather than two.

Update 2010/09/14:

I was reading the Knoppix knowledge base and found that there was an option XMODULE=VESA that could be used if you had problems booting.  I tried the option in Knoppix and the laptop booted to a working KDE4 desktop and I could work in Linux.  I checked my PCLINUXOS CD and it also had that option.  Using that option I could boot up and get to the PCLINUXOS desktop.  I went to the hardware and checked the video option so that the system properly detected my video card.  When I applied the settings the machine did crash and I had to power down and start again.  This time I picked the normal boot (not VESA) and the machine booted up without a problem.  I will try again later with PCLINUXOS and a few other live distros, but, having PCLINUXOS detect the video card for some reason allowed me to boot again in Linux.

I am still not 100% happy, but, at least I think I can get Linux installed and go dual-boot.