I'm relatively new to linux, and brand new to this forum myself. I would recommend you install a virtual machine (like VMware or Virtualbox) on your Windows PC, download and install several distro ISOs, and see what you like best. The benefits to this approach are numerous: time savings, ease, try as many distros as you want, etc.
If you want information on distros to try, check out http://distrowatch.com/ where they track the most popular distros, with extensive information resources available.
For everyday computing, I have come to love linux mint. I find it even easier to use than ubuntu, but very customizable and expandable.