When it comes to operating systems, why limit yourself? If you're curious about the world beyond Windows, it's time to branch out of your one-OS existence and install a second operating system. You won't even need to buy a new PC to do it; instead, you should dual-boot your existing PC or notebook. Provided you have a big enough hard drive--say, 6GB or larger, which most of us have--you can easily partition your hard drive, then install a new operating system on the partition you create. So if you have a hankering to try out Linux or even a different version of Windows, read on.
 
 
Follow these five steps...
 

Step 1

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Back up your PC. You should always back up your data before you perform any major surgery on your PC. Partitioning your hard drive, or splitting it up into two or more smaller, virtual drives, demands this step because glitches in the partitioning process could accidentally erase your hard disk. So make sure you invest in an inexpensive backup utility, a hardware backup solution such as a Zip drive, or full-fledged backup software such as Roxio GoBack. Also, make sure you have an emergency boot disk (called an emergency repair disk in Windows 2000 and Windows XP), in case something goes horribly wrong. To make a boot disk in Windows 98 or Me, just slip a blank floppy into your PC. Click the Start button in the bottom left corner of the desktop. Choose Settings > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs, then go to the Startup Disk tab in the window that opens. Click the Create Disk button and follow the onscreen directions. In Windows 2000 or Windows XP, click Start, then choose Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Backup. In the window that appears, select Emergency Repair Disk. Follow the directions from there.

 
 

Step 2

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Clean out your hard drive. When you partition your hard drive, you split it up into smaller virtual drives, meaning you'll have less elbowroom for your existing applications and OS. So, to make sure you don't run out of space, clean out your hard drive for the new operating system. Throw away files you don't need (don't forget to empty the Recycle Bin), empty your browser's cache, and uninstall any applications you no longer use. You may also want to run a utility such as ScanDisk to look for any problems on your drive, and you should defragment your drive to make sure it's running at peak efficiency.

 
 

Step 3

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Partition your hard drive. In a dual-boot system, each OS needs either its own hard drive or its own disk partition. If you have a large enough hard drive--say, 6GB or more--and don't want to shell out the cash for a second one, simply partition your existing drive into smaller sections. Windows 95, 98, and Me include a utility called FDisk (you'll find it in the C:\Windows\Command folder as Fdisk.exe) that lets you partition your drive, and Windows 2000 and XP let you do so using the Computer Management tools under the Administrative Tools control panel. However, these utilities create partitions by erasing your drive--which makes for a long process--so we don't recommend that you use them. Instead, you should invest in drive-management software such as PartitionMagic or System Commander. These apps partition your hard drive without harming data and applications and make it easy to switch between operating systems.

 
 

Step 4

Choose a file system. As your partitioning application does its work, the software will ask you to choose a file system--the structure that determines how your OS manages and keeps track of files on a drive--and specify the size of the partition you are creating. The correct choices depend on the size of your hard disk, which operating systems you want to install, and whether you wish to share applications and data between your two OSs. If you decide you want to swap data or applications on your dual-boot system (as you can between Windows 98 and Windows 2000), you must pick compatible file systems for both partitions. In the case of the above example, you should choose a FAT32 file system. To dual-boot between Windows and Linux, one partition should be Linux Ext2. Check your partition software's documentation for specific instructions about your dual-boot configuration of choice, or see the chart below.

	File System				Compatible OS
	FAT				The lowest common denominator in the DOS/Windows world. Accessible by DOS, Windows 3.x/95/98/NT/2000, and OS/2. There are also ways to get Linux systems to access FAT drives.
	FAT32				An upgrade of FAT; uses drive space more efficiently. Accessible by Windows 95 OSR2/98/2000. There are also ways to get Linux systems to access FAT32 drives.
	NTFS				Used by Windows NT and Windows 2000. Windows 2000 introduces a new version, NTFS 5, which can be recognized by Windows NT only if you have installed NT Service Pack 4.
	HPFS				Used by OS/2, and recognized by Windows NT 3.51.
	Linux Ext2				Accessible only by Linux.

 
 

Step 5

Install your operating systems. If you used partitioning software and are starting from a single-boot Windows 95/98 computer, you can simply install Windows NT or 2000, OS/2, or Linux on your new partition. Both System Commander and PartitionMagic (with its included drive-management software, BootMagic) walk you through installing your new OS into the new, empty partition, which is labeled just like a regular drive, such as E: or F:. If you're not already running a Windows operating system and you want to dual-boot Windows 2000 or XP and a previous version of Windows, always install the older operating system first to minimize problems. Windows 95 or 98 must live in the first partition of your hard drive, so it's easy to remember to install that OS first. To boot with Linux or another Unix system and Windows, use disk-management software such as BootMagic to install the new OS.