@Shane
BTW, just one last thing, what you said in your post about the spyware etc, that's why I don't recommend using Ubuntu, I only recommend it for seeing how easy it is to install and remove stuff now - then get rid of it and use Debian instead, which is just as simple to use as far as I'm concerned, just the naming is slightly different.

My personal recommendation is Debian, and to learn by purchasing a Raspberry Pi and installing Raspbian on it (which is Debian for the Raspberry Pi).  They even released a new version of the Pi since I last mentioned it (Pi 2 Model B), the thing is a tiny quad core now, way faster than the original, still the same price of about £30, you can't get better than that for getting a brand new, silent, dedicated computer for playing around with Linux on.