Is enabling it dangerous in and of itself, or is it just a vector for malware as NotATether described?
No, having it enabled is not intrinsically dangerous. The risk comes by allowing any external media such as DVDs or USBs to automatically execute whatever software happens to be on said media. If it's a DVD you burned yourself of some home movies, then no harm done. It it's a USB drive you just received from a friend or colleague, then you actually have no idea what is lurking on it and if their devices were free from malware when using the USB drive previously.
The problem is that I'm an absolute retard when it comes to learning new things in the realm of coding, which Linux does require you to do a little bit of if you want to use it like a boss (just like knowing command line *stuff* in Powershell, which I also haven't grasped fully).
I would +1 to DireWolfM14's suggestion above of Linux Mint. It is as simple to set up as you can get, and has a very "Windows" feel to the GUI, making the transition much easier. There are pretty comprehensive guides available as well:
https://linuxmint-installation-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/