Just pop in the unbuntu CD and use WUBI to install. In my dell lappy I had
to change a couple of files afterwards, otherwise it will just hang at
bootup. A little bit of googling will do.
You can also use the proper way to dualboot with linux and windows
partitions. It's perfectly fine to keep the recover partition intact but I
personally never use the recovering service so can't comment on the
procedure once you remove Vista. It may be as easy as doubleclicking
something in XP. I'm just not sur