Time to reinstall, please recommend distro and partitioning scheme.

[Aristarchus]

I would install whatever distro you feel is most comfortable for you.
Personally I find OS installation boring process so I do one installation per hardware e.g. I got my current laptop three years ago. Booted it up directly Linux installation disk, deleted MS Windows and installed Linux (see picture). Distro does not matter really.

 

[Trynna3]

Not sure what 'bork it' means exactly. I messed up my LMDE a couple weeks ago. Luckily I made a clone further couple weeks before that, so thanks to Rescuezilla I had it restored in under 10 minutes. I am going to do this before each major interference, just in case. LMDE is sufficient for me so far, I just need a stable system that works for my simple needs. Even installed a VM and Windows into it, but made a fresh clone just before installing VM as I did minor settings change since the previous one. After I am happy with the settings and everything, I'll make another clone, replacing the previous ones. Or I might keep the VM free one, too. It obviously comes with some demand for storage.

 

[Trynna3]

Many windoze updates seem to damage linux installs.

Yep, heard stories about it and so I never put Linux and Windoze at the same level of installation (like dual booting from the same hard drive). Each will have their own hard drive or Windoze from a virtual machine only (my new learning curve). The hierarchy is: Myself, Linux, Windoze. I have it also installed on a gen2 usb, just in case.

 

[Brickwizard]

Not sure what 'bork it' means exactly.

The problem talking to people across the world, we all speak a slightly different form of English.
Bork, Brick,Bulk, and a plethora of others all mean to make totally inoperable or unrepairable