mommonique,

with a dual-boot system, you normally install each OS on a separate hard drive or partition. When the PC starts up, you are given the option of booting into either system - XP or Vista in this case.

As mentioned earlier in the thread, this is a good solution if you're not ready to switch completely to Vista, or if the makers of your software haven't kept up with Microsoft. Or perhaps like many people you resent having to buy all your software again!

The 'Virtual PC' method can be a lot easier, as you have access to both systems without a restart. You can work in both, open files from either in most cases, and keep XP for as long as you like. The main thing to be aware of is that running 2 operating systems at the same time is very demanding of your computer's resources - don't try it on too old a machine, and have plenty of RAM installed.

Good luck,

William