Dual booting Ubuntu and Windows 7: why is it so difficult?

[mahesh]

Hay everyone, new Linux user here!

So I've finally decided to dive into Linux and start off my journey with a dual boot setup on one of my desktop computers. Unfortunately, I'm off to a rather rocky start.

My goal is to get my 5-year old desktop to dual boot Windows 7 and Linux side by side. Originally I was set on Mint Cinnamon for an easier transition from the Windows world. Ubuntu was my runner up choice, and has become the number one choice as a consequence of my experiences with the Mint forums.

The stumbling block is this: after installing any Linux distribution, my computer absolutely refuses to give me the option to boot into it, recognizing only Windows as a valid OS. The boot menu never shows any OS besides Windows, and the BIOS menu never shows any Linux OS as an option. The desktop in question is an Acer Extensa that came shipped with Windows 7 Pro. I've tried all of the following, and keep in mind I only ever had one instance of Linux installed on my hard drive at a time:

* Made sure Linux was booting in UEFI mode, just like my Windows side is.
* Checked that the Linux distro and my Windows are both 64 bit.
* Installed Linux on my hard drive after manually partitioning plentiful free space, and setting up mount points for root and swap.
* Allowed Linux installer to make its own decisions for installing side by side with Windows.
* Installing Linux Mint on an external USB drive that I bought just for this purpose.
* Downloaded that Linux Boot Repair utility and employed it on both Mint and Ubuntu installations.
* Changed the BIOS settings in every way that seemed like it had even a remote chance of accomplishing something.
* Used bcdedit from the Windows side to try to make it boot the Mint OS (following someone's advice. This bricked my computer, and I had to reinstall Windows from the recovery partition to fix it).

I've spent a number of hours searching online for solutions, but everything I've encountered either didn't work, has impossible instructions (e.g. select menu options that don't exist in my BIOS), or contains lots of confusing shell commands that edit the boot partition (don't want to brick my system again!)

Has anyone else ever had this much trouble getting a simple dual boot setup? I really want to learn Linux and get away from being dependent on Windows. But I've hit a huge brick wall and cannot continue without help from someone with expertise, and perhaps a little patience.  If anyone wants to throw me a life vest, it would be much appreciated!