I am getting a Gateway PC with vista preloaded, any ideas where the best forums for advice, bug fixes and tweeks are?

It has a 2.6GGHz processor and 2gigRam, brand new for cheap, probably because of vista. Don’t want to waste time trying to find the most comprehensive, easy to understand advice. Using half-baked fixes is frustrating, to say the least. So, any ideas? Anyone in the hive have experience? What do I need and what should I avoid?(been using XP, don’t know diddly about vista. What about dual boots, I’ve heard that using Linux is a good fix?)