Hi, I totally agree with mungyun. Install linux and start C programming using gcc you will learn lots more this way. C is tough, but it lets you do many things. From all the C books out ther I found that "Practical C Programming " by Steve Oualline published by O'Reilly is one of the best.
Programming languages all have thier own cult following but IMHO for OO stuff you should go ahead and learn Java instead of C++. Don't get me wrong C++ is still very useful but I reckon Java opens the door to other stuff like applets, jsp, etc.

hope it helps,

J