Topic: Got my new Laptop - is dual boot really needed?

[ianstone]

SSIA: do i really need to set up dual boot?

I just got my new Fujitsu Lifebook p2120 w/ 384mb ram, 40G, crusoe tm5800 933mhz processor, extra batts, etc...
Running Windoze XP

It seems i can save different power management settings.. i already created a 'taping' setting... I can set other options up too in XP. I get varying opinions from many diff people... some say how win2k is more stable blablabla.... others say XP works just as well it is built on the same NT technology.

I haven't installed it yet, but I'll be running WavLab, with the vx-pocket (v2).

Can anyone help me to optimize this shit for field recording? I read some of the 24bit faq but there's so much info there hard to take it all in. Anyone can simplify this for me?

Side note- this notebook kicks ass.
Thanks in advance for your help.
peace,
ian stone

[dmonterisi]

+t ian...definitely kicks ass...i can't wait to run it next friday @ 24/96 :devilrock:

i'm not sure if i'm gonna do the dual boot thing either...major pain in the arse, as ar as i'm concerned.

[rabhan]

pussies

[Brian Skalinder]

SSIA: do i really need to set up dual boot?

Do you need to?  No.  Should you?  Yes.

While it might be a PITA to set up initially, you're going to save yourself plenty of hassle down the road, IMO.

[ianstone]

pussies

hey, it's not that i'm afraid to do it, i just don't really know that it'd be worth it.
I have 2 desktops at home, which i can use for gaming, etc... i wont really want to use this laptop for anything other than taping. I also have a compaq laptop at work that i take on business trips, i can use that too if i need to.

But the new lifebook i got will just be for taping/burning/resampling, etc...
It has a 40Gig Hard drive, and i will be doing 24/48 not 24/96 so i'll be ok with about 1gig per hour of record time.

What specific benefits will I see by creating the dual boot setup? It seems i'll need to install 2k first, so that will mean un-installing XP (which came pre-installed on the machine). It will mean probably losting utilities/features such as McAfee virus check, etc...

When i'm travelling, it's possible that I will use the lifebook to go on the internet, and it will definitely be used to watch dvd movies WIDESCREEN on planes, etc when travelling. Otherwise, it will be used for recording and that's about it.

so, in my situation, does it make sense to go through all of that hassle?

damon, what soundcard/interface are you using to do 24/96? I picked up a vx pocket a few months ago on sale for $199.
I figured it was a steal so get it while it's hot. So i did.
It limits me to 24/48 which im thinking will be plenty good.
+T!  It's a sweet fuckin' notebook!!! i love how the cd burner just pops out and you can pop that battery in!

now i just gotta figure out if it will drain the main battery first and then the 'modular'...  and if i will be able to switch the main battery while the computer is running...  if you've alredy found the answers to these questions, let me know!

peace,
ian

[ianstone]

SSIA: do i really need to set up dual boot?

Do you need to?  No.  Should you?  Yes.

While it might be a PITA to set up initially, you're going to save yourself plenty of hassle down the road, IMO.

such as?  


everyone keeps saying its better, but nobody is saying why.

and in my situation, having to wipe off XP and start over, does it make sense?

[dmonterisi]

i'm using the RME digiset to do 24/96...i have not been able to find out which battery drains first...i haven't gotten the modular battery yet, so i haven't messed with it.

[Simp-Dawg]

SSIA: do i really need to set up dual boot?

Do you need to?  No.  Should you?  Yes.

While it might be a PITA to set up initially, you're going to save yourself plenty of hassle down the road, IMO.

such as?  


everyone keeps saying its better, but nobody is saying why.

and in my situation, having to wipe off XP and start over, does it make sense?

here's why you should IMHO set it up as dual boot.  one partition, let's say XP, will have all your fancy schmancy crap on it, such as email, dvd software, office apps, anti-virus, etc.  you don't need to tweak anything, just install what you want and use it to your liking.
the other partition, win2k, should be relatively barebones and NOT have all that extraneous crapola on it.  you don't want unnecessary programs and services running while recording...generally speaking.  granted, your laptop is probably fast enough that you could get by without any problems having tons of background services, virus scan, etc running, but I wouldn't chance it.  i like to be certain i'm not taking any precious resources away from my recording software while taping.  you could see problems from this, though i don't know how likely it is.
as far as losing anything on your xp partition, you'll only lose what you've set up since getting the laptop...you'll retain all the original functionality after you set up the dual boot partition and load xp.  use the xp partition for anti-virus etc.  on the win2k partition, only load the os, any necessary drivers, recording software, and some others (i have winamp, flac, mkwact, cdwave, etc) on mine and do all my audio processing in win2k.  also check out the guide to win2k services, and disable the ones you won't need on the win2k partition.  here's a good guide:
http://www.blkviper.com/WIN2K/servicecfg.htm
any other ?s just let me know.

[Cooker]

i had my laptop set up to dual-boot, but then i ended up installing just about everything i needed in the "audio" partition.. then finally said fuckit and deleted the other partition to make more room.

what makes more sense at this point, i think.. is to create a separate drive partition for just audio, and run wavelab in 2000 compatibility mode, and see if you can tape a show without any errors....

i just sold my vxpocket afew months ago but am looking to get a new firewire-based interface soon, just got a gateay with 1394 and plenty of gigs to spare.

[Brian Skalinder]

everyone keeps saying its better, but nobody is saying why.

and in my situation, having to wipe off XP and start over, does it make sense?

You're right, Ian, we have not been very specific.  Here's my take, up to you to decide whether it makes sense...

Dual-booting ensures system stability for field audio recording.

Dual-boot or not, you'll have to optimize your laptop for recording.  Once optimized, you want to preserve the optimized environment and minimize/prevent changes.  But why minimize/prevent any changes to your known good configuration?

Once you have a known-good configuration, any hardware/software changes may result in:  

[a]  DLL hell
 IRQ sharing conflicts
[c]  activating or installing unnecessary background services
[d]  replacing/updating device drivers
[e]  memory leaks (you'd be surprised (or maybe not) how much crappy software there is out there)

All of these things - and others - have the potential to destabilize your recording environment, causing you to pull a flubbed recording for your favorite concert of the year!

If you:

[1] do not plan on changing your configuration at all because you have other machines for other activities (but I'll bet big bucks you will want to change it at some point)

or

[2] do not mind the potential for hours upon hours upon hours of future troubleshooting (which may be avoided easily by spending an extra hour or so setting up the dual-boot)

Then no, there's no compelling reason to dual-boot.  IME, though, if I can prevent future hassle with minimal work now, it's almost always worth the extra effort.

[ianstone]

ok so it seems all i need to do, is go buy a copy of Win2k, and uninstall the XP from my computer, and format the hard drive.

then install 2k, and then install xp.

then i can setup 2k for the recording.
what do you mean by optimize it? aside from power management settings, what needs to be optimized?

please excuse my un-educated self.



anyone live in LA wanna come over and help me do this? i'll make it worth your while....

ian

[rabhan]

get norton ghost also, once you get both platforms where you want them, ghost them with norton ghost so that if you ever have any problems, you can do a "laptop restore" just like a system restore but better in less than 20mins.

[Brian Skalinder]

then i can setup 2k for the recording.
what do you mean by optimize it? aside from power management settings, what needs to be optimized?

Check out the link Simp-Dawg posted earlier.  Following the guidelines for "Gaming System" is probably a good place to start.

anyone live in LA wanna come over and help me do this? i'll make it worth your while....

If I did, I would...

[DaryanLenz]

Ian...you shoul;d have told me you wanted a demo of windows 2000...hmm, wonder if your package is still downstairs.  PM me if you need a copy thrown in the bag...it is a "demo" of course!

Daryan

[Wes]

D,
Any chance I could get one of those "demo" disks too?  my lappy came with a 98 disk and I'll having a real hard time tracking down a 2k disk.

[Simp-Dawg]

first...you don't necessarily need to "buy" 2k...pm me
further info...off the top of my head...when setting everything up, do it in this order.
1a. flash bios to latest level...yours is probably fine since it's a new machine but for older laptops, it's a good idea.  make sure if there is a setting for turning off the laptop by shutting the screen, it is disabled.

1. format drive (fat32 is fine, i use it, you can go ntfs if you want, the jury is still out on that i think) into 3 partitions.  i would go 6gb xp, 4gb 2k, and remaining for audio storage
 - i let xp sit on the 1st partition since my recovery disks seemed to want to put it there.  doesn't matter which one you put it on though, as long as you set it up to allow you to choose one when booting

2. load OS's

3. don't even bother with xp yet.  you can do whatever you want with that later.  just make sure it works  in win2k, install service packs, necessary updates (none of that IE6.0 or outlook express crap, just stuff that seems necessary like system fixes etc) from windows updates.  

4. install all necessary drivers for your computer, chances are the standard win2k drivers may not work with your fujitsu's cd-rw and special video drivers, etc...you'll have to do a little research on whether these are available on the fujitsu website for download, or if the xp drivers will work for win2k...they might.  you probably won't need that wireless card though, and i would also disable the onboard audio, unnecessary devices, etc.  make sure the system still works ok after this!!!  reboot a few times and make sure you've uninstalled everything properly so they don't keep asking to be reinstalled at every boot up.

5. disable the services as detailed in the website above.  if you are going to be connecting this laptop to a network, you can create two hardware profiles, one for networked and one for recording, before doing this.  then you can specify which services necessary for networking should be enabled or disabled in each profile.  disable everything possible for the recording profile.

6. reboot again!  set your power management options to always on...never have anything turn off except maybe your screen, disable hibernation.  

7. download tweakui so you can really manipulate all the little settings in windows.  disable all kinds of fancy graphical nonsense like fading menus, animated icons, etc.  this is a really helpful tool and quite self explanatory.  turn off what you won't need.

8. install audio hardware and software, and test thoroughly.  recording, playback, w/ the screen closed, with it open, close the screen in the middle.  you don't want any actions like this causing glitches in recording or turns off the laptop.

9. test it running in your case, see if it overheats.  i had this problem running mine, i doubt you will with the small form factor of the lifebook and the relatively cool running transmeta processor, but better to be safe than really sorry you lost the show.

hopefully that helps...if i think of anything else i'll add to this.  anyone else feel free to chime in and correct me or add to this.  brian, do i hear the archives begging for this??

[dmonterisi]

wes, i'll take care of 2k tonight or tomorrow am for you.

[DaryanLenz]

PM the addresses kid's, and I will copy them and send those "demo" discs to you by the morning.

Daryan

[rabhan]

24bitfaq says ntfs is bad......

i would use a larger partition for xp, mine uses 6g out of 10.

[ianstone]

first...you don't necessarily need to "buy" 2k...pm me
further info...off the top of my head...when setting everything up, do it in this order.
1a. flash bios to latest level...yours is probably fine since it's a new machine but for older laptops, it's a good idea.  make sure if there is a setting for turning off the laptop by shutting the screen, it is disabled.

1. format drive (fat32 is fine, i use it, you can go ntfs if you want, the jury is still out on that i think) into 3 partitions.  i would go 6gb xp, 4gb 2k, and remaining for audio storage
 - i let xp sit on the 1st partition since my recovery disks seemed to want to put it there.  doesn't matter which one you put it on though, as long as you set it up to allow you to choose one when booting

2. load OS's

3. don't even bother with xp yet.  you can do whatever you want with that later.  just make sure it works  in win2k, install service packs, necessary updates (none of that IE6.0 or outlook express crap, just stuff that seems necessary like system fixes etc) from windows updates.  

4. install all necessary drivers for your computer, chances are the standard win2k drivers may not work with your fujitsu's cd-rw and special video drivers, etc...you'll have to do a little research on whether these are available on the fujitsu website for download, or if the xp drivers will work for win2k...they might.  you probably won't need that wireless card though, and i would also disable the onboard audio, unnecessary devices, etc.  make sure the system still works ok after this!!!  reboot a few times and make sure you've uninstalled everything properly so they don't keep asking to be reinstalled at every boot up.

5. disable the services as detailed in the website above.  if you are going to be connecting this laptop to a network, you can create two hardware profiles, one for networked and one for recording, before doing this.  then you can specify which services necessary for networking should be enabled or disabled in each profile.  disable everything possible for the recording profile.

6. reboot again!  set your power management options to always on...never have anything turn off except maybe your screen, disable hibernation.  

7. download tweakui so you can really manipulate all the little settings in windows.  disable all kinds of fancy graphical nonsense like fading menus, animated icons, etc.  this is a really helpful tool and quite self explanatory.  turn off what you won't need.

8. install audio hardware and software, and test thoroughly.  recording, playback, w/ the screen closed, with it open, close the screen in the middle.  you don't want any actions like this causing glitches in recording or turns off the laptop.

9. test it running in your case, see if it overheats.  i had this problem running mine, i doubt you will with the small form factor of the lifebook and the relatively cool running transmeta processor, but better to be safe than really sorry you lost the show.

hopefully that helps...if i think of anything else i'll add to this.  anyone else feel free to chime in and correct me or add to this.  brian, do i hear the archives begging for this??

simpy, if i buy you a plane ticket to LA, will you come set it up for me
sheeeit, my head is swimming! so much info and my processor is too slow! gotta upgrade my ram!

[Simp-Dawg]

yeah man, i require first class seats and 5 star lodging....

[ianstone]

yeah man, i require first class seats and 5 star lodging....

cool... if by first class you mean you like to be in the luggage compartment, cool.  if by 5star you mean my floor, with a fresh bonghit when you wake up, cool!
what's your schedule like? !



no but really, why cant one of you smart computer dudes live in LA.?
This seems easy when reading it but i know there's no way i'll be able to do all of this on my own

[dklein]

Hey Ian, jumping in a little late but it sounds like you've been convinced to dual boot, which I think is a very good idea.  I just set up a machine for the first time and seem to have gotten away without any problems (based on the results of my first outing).

Here's some setup help I found useful in addition to the Black Viper site about services:
24 bit faq http://www.24bitfaq.org/#Q1_1_1_1_6
Opus Audio setup guide www.opusaudioprojects.net/Articles.htm

They don't always agree so you use a little judegment and know that you're basically just stripping down your machine so other things don't disturb your recording.  There's no 1 perfect setup, as long as it works, it's good!  

Just run a few tests at home before you really need it to work.

david

[zhianosatch]

DAMN it, i wish i could help, ian... i was in pasadena on friday and the valley all weekend! munchin' on that sweeeeet gin sushi, 1st sushi i've ever had... the fire rolls are fucking amazing... i WILL be back to that place!
anyway, if i thought i could solve your problem, i'd stop by, but i would probably be of only SOME help, not enough to get everything perfect in 45 minutes...
armen

[ianstone]

armen,

let me know the next time you're gonna be down here. 2 heads are better than one

ian

[zhianosatch]

will do. i'll pick up some fire rolls on the way. SOOOOOOOO good

[ianstone]

which sushi place did you go to?

we have a great one in pasadena...
actually a couple of places.... mmmm suuuuushi

[zhianosatch]

yeah, i said i went to gin sushi (on colorado, i think). delicious!

[kindms]

24bitfaq.org

Only says not to use NTFS because if your system dies it is harder (according to these FAQ) to retrieve data from NTFS partions. Also NTFS partions are not subjet to the 2 GB limit that you have with FAT32. But having said that there are more writes to the HDD using NTFS so there are power issues. You have to remeber when Dan Heend wrote this page it was in like 1999. A lot has changed in the world of technology since then. I have several different win2k machines so extracting data of a failed machine is not an issue and I like not having to worry as much about file sizes as I would with fat32.

I run Sony PCG-GRS700k (p4/1.8/1024) using NTFS and have not had issue with it yet. Have run it in really shitty conditions and has come through with flying colors. I did use the above link to turn off stupid services and have found that It did improve performance primarily on the Mastering side of things.

Everything is a give and take just have to figure out what suits you best. Have to say that the 24Bit/48khz has been a blast. It is nice to be able to run levels conservatively and not have to worry about clipping so much

[crunchy]

Is it still possible to get a 2K "Demo"?

[ianstone]

24bitfaq.org

Only says not to use NTFS because if your system dies it is harder (according to these FAQ) to retrieve data from NTFS partions. Also NTFS partions are not subjet to the 2 GB limit that you have with FAT32. But having said that there are more writes to the HDD using NTFS so there are power issues. You have to remeber when Dan Heend wrote this page it was in like 1999. A lot has changed in the world of technology since then. I have several different win2k machines so extracting data of a failed machine is not an issue and I like not having to worry as much about file sizes as I would with fat32.

I run Sony PCG-GRS700k (p4/1.8/1024) using NTFS and have not had issue with it yet. Have run it in really shitty conditions and has come through with flying colors. I did use the above link to turn off stupid services and have found that It did improve performance primarily on the Mastering side of things.

Everything is a give and take just have to figure out what suits you best. Have to say that the 24Bit/48khz has been a blast. It is nice to be able to run levels conservatively and not have to worry about clipping so much

OK i have NTFS on my drive - i recorded with it last night for the first time. Still waiting on the win2k disk , so i installed wavlab and the most current VX Pocket drivers. Set everything up. Taped the opener and it was fine. Taped the main set (started the laptop about 15 mins before they went on so i could go outside to smoke)...
Main set was like 2hrs, but w/ the extra time on the beginning it had to do an 'auto split' at 2hrs. i guess that's what it was set at.

since i have ntfs I can up that to longer than 2hrs?

For some reason, the auto split didnt work and I didnt get all of the encore.
Battery was not an issue, it had something to do with wavlab. When i hit stop it had an error, wavlab basically crashed and had one of those messages saying 'send or dont send error report' bla bla bla.

This is a brand new PC. What happend has convinced me even more that the dual boot is necessary, or at least to go with win2k

I have wavlab4. does anyone know will I be able to install this on win2k as well?

thanks all for your help, it's really great. keep it coming. the more info the better

oh and crunchy, +T

peace.
ian stone

[dmonterisi]

did you get the set ian or was it deleted when wavelab crashed?

[ianstone]

did you get the set ian or was it deleted when wavelab crashed?

well it's really strange really.
The opener set is fine.  The main set (before it auto split), the first 2hr portion is fine. there's another file (after the auto split)... and it has file size of like 200MB or so... so there's data there. When trying to open with wavlab or soundforge, there's no waveform.
press play, no music.

hmmmm

[Simp-Dawg]

did you get the set ian or was it deleted when wavelab crashed?

well it's really strange really.
The opener set is fine.  The main set (before it auto split), the first 2hr portion is fine. there's another file (after the auto split)... and it has file size of like 200MB or so... so there's data there. When trying to open with wavlab or soundforge, there's no waveform.
press play, no music.

hmmmm

ian i've had this problem several times, and actually lately every time i tape with wavelab after the autosplit it fucks up and shits the bed.  not very happy bout that, but at least it saves the data.
what you can do is open the file in soundforge as raw data (select files of type raw) and it will open all the wav data.  then you can resave it as the wav file.  you may get a few samples at the beginning that are null or have some spikes, but you can easily just cut those off and splice back together with the pre-split wav file and you won't hear any sonic imperfections.


anyone know why wavelab does this???  should i (we) increase/decrease buffers?

[ianstone]

did you get the set ian or was it deleted when wavelab crashed?

well it's really strange really.
The opener set is fine.  The main set (before it auto split), the first 2hr portion is fine. there's another file (after the auto split)... and it has file size of like 200MB or so... so there's data there. When trying to open with wavlab or soundforge, there's no waveform.
press play, no music.

hmmmm

ian i've had this problem several times, and actually lately every time i tape with wavelab after the autosplit it fucks up and shits the bed.  not very happy bout that, but at least it saves the data.
what you can do is open the file in soundforge as raw data (select files of type raw) and it will open all the wav data.  then you can resave it as the wav file.  you may get a few samples at the beginning that are null or have some spikes, but you can easily just cut those off and splice back together with the pre-split wav file and you won't hear any sonic imperfections.


anyone know why wavelab does this???  should i (we) increase/decrease buffers?

++++++++++++T  i gotta check this when i get home

hey, if i am using NTFS drive partition, can I record longer than 2hrs? is that not a HD limitation but rather a limitation of wavlab?

are you also running wavlab 4? maybe it needs an updated version or something? i mean if it's still saving the data, cool, but i still hate having error messages and shit going on like that.

are you having that same problem in XP or are you in Win2k?


so you're pretty sure that I have the data, just gotta do it as raw. that'll be sweet

ian

[dmonterisi]

while the ntfs file system allows for files over 2 gigs, wavelab still does not, so you have to split.  i'd probably split based on file size rather than time, but if it works, then go with it.

[ianstone]

while the ntfs file system allows for files over 2 gigs, wavelab still does not, so you have to split.  i'd probably split based on file size rather than time, but if it works, then go with it.

hmm i'll have to check that setting. maybe since i have it set for 2hrs is the reason that i'm having that problem with the splits?
good theory. i'll run with it and do a test tonight at home.

simpy, are you using the auto split setting set at 2hr or at 1999MB as was previously suggested?

ian

[dmonterisi]

you'd get a message saying that it can't handle files over 2 gigabytes so if you did not then it's probably not the problem.

[nic]

sorry for the slightly off-topic, but Soundforge does NOT have the 2GB file limit.  if you set a timed record you can only record for 2 hours, but if you just hit record and walk off, it will record until you hit stop or until it runs out of hard-drive space.

I'm still not sure why 24bitfaq says not to use NTFS for the filesystem....NTFS is MUCH LESS prone to file corruption and fragmentation!

[Simp-Dawg]

++++++++++++T  i gotta check this when i get home

hey, if i am using NTFS drive partition, can I record longer than 2hrs? is that not a HD limitation but rather a limitation of wavlab?

are you also running wavlab 4? maybe it needs an updated version or something? i mean if it's still saving the data, cool, but i still hate having error messages and shit going on like that.

are you having that same problem in XP or are you in Win2k?


so you're pretty sure that I have the data, just gotta do it as raw. that'll be sweet

ian

to answer your questions...i am using wavelab 4.0g (provided by a member of this site, can't remember who right now).  i have my auto-split set for about 1300MB, as that about equals 74 min.  it's really arbitrary, but smaller files are easier to work with.  i don't think you can get past the 2gb limit in windows without using roundabout methods in software, ie. the auto-split in wavelab, or recording each channel as a separate file like some other programs do.
i may go back to 4.0c, i don't remember having any problems with that version, when i upgraded to 4.0g it seemed to start having that prob, although i was told it was a better version.  

[nic]

"i don't think you can get past the 2gb limit in windows"

it is not a Windows limitation. it is a limitation of the FAT(16/32) filesystem and possibly individual programs such as Wavelab

[dklein]

well it's really strange really.
The opener set is fine.  The main set (before it auto split), the first 2hr portion is fine. there's another file (after the auto split)... and it has file size of like 200MB or so... so there's data there. When trying to open with wavlab or soundforge, there's no waveform.
press play, no music.

hmmmm

You'll be able to recover this file.  Download this - it's a  command line program
http://www.shoptheozarks.com/GGM/audiohck.zip

Unzip it and put it into the root of a drive along with your corrupted file (I say put it in a root because it makes it easier to find).

Open a command prompt (start, run, 'cmd') and go to the location with the files.
Type "audiohack" and follow the prompts - enter the original file name and 2 output names.  You might find it easiest to just rename your original file something simple to ease the command line pain.

This awesome utility is fast and it will correct your wave headers and split the file so it doesn't violate the 2 gig limit.  If it's less than 2 gigs, you can just delete the second file.  Let us know how you do!

david

oh yeah, one quirk of the program is it doesn't keep the dos screen rolling and if you use it more than once it looks confusing.  Just type 'cls' to clear the screen (remember that from the old DOS days?)

[dklein]

Responding to myself again...
One other cool thing I found with these corrupt files is that they all seem to play in Winamp - useful for checking what you've got.  I guess Winamp isn't fussy about chunk counts - it just grabs the bit rate / sampling frequency from the header and happily plays (those get written first thing so they always live thru the crashes).

david

[ianstone]

i was able to recover the data using simpy's method of opening the file as "Raw file" in soundforge. I then saved the file, did my dither/resampling, and pasted it in the proper location, completing the end of the show.

Thanks for the help!    +T again simpy!

[zhianosatch]

hella!

[Simp-Dawg]

you're quite welcome!  i had the same prob myself!

[ianstone]

you're quite welcome!  i had the same prob myself!

now the real question is, how to we prevent that problem from happening in the future?

ian

[Simp-Dawg]

still workin on that one...

[RAQ_Attack]

When I was in networking school I got the best tip ever.  The guy who taught me this actually wrote a bunch of the drivers for Unix for the military in the late 60's and 70's.  Now he does multi-media.

Start from scratch always.  Run windows on its own partition.  If you use 4 gigs for XP & 2k that would be plenty.  Set another partition up and intall all of your programs on that.  The final partition will be for all your files and/or downloads.  

This is for a few reasons.  

Windows should hardly ever need to be defragged.  It works alone!

If a program you install skrews with anything, it will only skrew with other programs.  Windows should be fine.

If you download or get a virus, it might corrupt your files, but windows will be intact as well as your programs.  Personally, my hard drive have 5 partitions.  I download into a smaller one and once I am sure there is no virus, then I move it over.  I also have DOS on a very small partition (C:).  Hackers and Viruses look for C: sometimes.  

Windows rarely crashes for me.  Every once and awhile I have a program crash, but I don't have to reboot.

I hope this helps everyone