I wanted to switch from 7 to Ubuntu.

Now, the first thing that holds me back is the installation of the driver for my Nvidia 9600M GT.

Ubuntu recommends me 4 drivers from the "Additional Driver" Section. Now, whatever driver I install, there are four things happening RANDOMLY after rebooting:

1. The pc freezes before seeing bootup splash
2. The pc freezes while seeing bootup splash image (ubuntu logo with the 5 dots)
3. The pc gets into login screen and freezes instantly (Thought the unity-bar is transparent now)
4. The pc freezes right after beeing able to login. (While this is happening the unity-bar changes from transparent to ugly-flat-style)

I also tried to install the official Nvidia .run file but after exiting the X-Server, it says the driver is not compatible with the kernel and exits installation.

Can somebody help me? I really wanna get rid of Windows :( But Ubuntu drives me perfectly insane.

Please answer as noobish as possible. I'm an expert Windows user, but Linux is absolutely new to me.

My Specs: Ubuntu 11.10 installed from USB Stick (like 100 times now :/ because I dont know how to remove the driver in recovery mode) 9600M GT 4GB Ram Intel Centrino 2 Dual Core 2.26GHz

Win 7 and Ubuntu running along side.

Thank you in advance, regards.