Hi,

I'm planning to download linux on a Windows Vista computer, then transfer the downloaded files to another old computer and install it on the old computer.

If I simply download linux on my Vista, will it affect my operating system or computer in any way? In short, does linux install itself once I download it? If so, is there any way to prevent that?

And what are some good websites to download linux from?

I'd go to http://www.ubuntu.com/ and click the download button, it will download, and give you the instructions on how to burn to a CD, to install linux on the system you have to boot your computer with the CD in, and then press the install button (Ubuntu runs "live" - which means you can run it directly from the cd, slower - without installing a thing) - once you press the install button, and go through your process, it will wipe whatever's there (unless you partition the drive to tell it not to) - but there's no way for it to install itself without burning to CD, booting from that CD and THEN finally pressing the install button.