switching OSes

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I have a dual boot system with WIN 98 and WIN XP. Is there a simple way to go back and forth from one OS to the other – short of restarting the computer?

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NO

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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Depends on what you want to do, really. You can get what is known as a virtual machine to run Windows 98 inside of XP, just as you would, say, an email program. VMWare is probably the most popular of these programs. Connectix VirtualPC is another.

Keep in mind that you do not have a true OS this way – autoplay on CDs can cause problems, and it will put a serious dent in your system resources. I certainly wouldn’t try to play a game in a virtual machine containing Windows 98 on top of Windows XP. Nor would I want to do something like Photoshop.

If there are specific reasons that you are keeping Windows 98, other than uncertainty, you’re much better off with a dual-boot. I found that on my desktop PC I really didn’t need 98, and it was just consuming space. I use it elsewhere but not on my personal workhorse PC. Consider switching to one or the other.

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