Ubuntu! Ubuntu!
www.ubuntu.com
Not only is it great to run off the start, but it starts as a live cd (you don't need to format your system to use it, you can just run the whole thing off the cd until you're comfortable with it). You can always install to the HDD when you're ready to do that, or never, if that's your choice.
The ease of getting programs in Ubuntu is incredible. Basically, they've got a package manager, where you just search for some type of program, and they pull up a list of programs that fit the need. If they don't have one for you there, then you can look on the web for some programs to get off of "apt-get". Basically, if you want to install something like say.... wine (wine lets you run windows programs in linux if they're compatible, see winehq.com for more details), then you just open console, type in "sudo apt-get install wine" and BAM! It finds all packages for wine, all dependency packages, and installs them for you automatically. You then only have to type "wine" into the console, and it's installed and runs. There is a bit more complexity to setting up a VERY complex program like that, but you get the jist of the installation process. Very simple.
BTW as far as kernel upgrades, you really shouldn't need to, and if you do, they have easy ways of doing such through apt-get, or they've got a critical system updater much like windows does, where it warns you of critical updates, downloads them for you if you wish, and installs them when you wish. It's advanced by leaps and bounds in the few years that I've been playing with linux.
Good luck! If anyone needs more help or support, I don't know much, but I've been trying to learn it for a while, so I can provide some beginner help.
