i would love to use linux but my wifi stick doesnt have the drivers for linux
I bet there are drivers around. Sometimes you have to search to find out what hardware you have and not what it is labeled with.
On my reserve laptop the wifi use intel drivers in windows but it was produced by broadcom so i had to get broadcom drivers to get it working in linux.
About linux security... I have an old laptop with ubuntu. It is formated corectly with a partisjon for each user level and cryptated. I have lost the password and it is impossible to get in. No live cd can start and it is no way to get to the disks. Even a mini linux on a usb stick cant read the disks.
Do you need to recover the files, or do you just want the laptop working again?
You should be able to just use a program like dd to clear out the disk, and then you will be able to install an operating system again.
Everything important was backed up on an external disk so my data was safe. I have not checked if gparted can read the partisions yet but i think it should. I do have a bit of fun trying to get acces to the disks.
I have tried to secure a disk in windows but every live cd was able to read it. Dont get why linux is so much better at this.