There are plenty of other operating systems out there besides Windows. The various flavors of Linux and Be are the most well-known, but there are others, lots of them. Quite a few of them are even free for the download. Find out more at www.freeos.com/, which accurately bills itself as "the resource site for free operating systems." There's an understandably heavy emphasis on all things Linux, but information on other systems abounds. Another good site is The OS Files, at www.theosfiles.com/.

BeOS 5.0 is a full-blown operating system, not a Windows support utility. Fast, lean, elegantly configured, highly multimedia-friendly, responsive, bundled with Opera...why the hell are we still using Windows? In fact, the free Personal Edition will work along with Windows, letting the user alternate between one and the other. If you have the hard disk space, you ought to try this OS out. Free (!) from www.be.com/ or free.be.com/. Maybe one reason why we aren't using it is because support for Be is slipping among software makers. Hmmmm.

BEOSWin 1.03 is a BEOS style shell for Windows 95 or 98, designed to emulate the 'Deskbar' application of BEOS v5.0. If you're a fan of the BEOS display, you might be interested in this. Free from members.aol.com/chchillsch/.

BootIt NG 1.2 is a multiboot utility that lets you have, and operate, multiple operating systems on your machine at once. $30 from www.terabyte.unlimited.com/.

Contiki Operating System and Desktop Environment 1.0 is an Internet-enabled operating system and desktop environment for smallish systems, such as the 8-bit Commodore 64. It's the software needed to access the Internet and browse the Web. Users of constrained systems (read: ancient and no power) have the opportunity to access the Web. Free from dunkels.com/adam/contiki/index.html.

EMCO OS License Modifier 1.0 is useful for tech support folks who need to ensure that all of their client machines have the same registered owner, organization, and product ID info. Free from www.emco.is/oslicense/features.html.

EZ OS Pro automates the installation of Windows operating systems from 98 through XP. The program also provides some nice automated features after installation, including running ScanDisk, Chkdsk, and FDisk (be very careful of this one). $15 from www.ezosinstall.com/.

FreeDOS .082pl1 Kernel 2.0.29 aims to be a complete, free, 100% MS-DOS compatible operating system. So far it does quite a job. Free from freedos.sourceforge.net/.

Ghost Install 1.6.1 makes it easy to create single-file install programs for any Windows OS. Free from www.gInstall.com/.

Mac-In-DOS lets you read and write from Macintosh-formatted disks with a PC, and access Mac disks within a Windows Explorer interface. This utility can copy files in binary or text mode, and shows each file's Mac OS finder information. It can handle 1.44MB floppy disks, as well as SyQuest, Bernoulli, and Iomega Zip and Jaz disks. $100 to keep. The home page, www.netusa.com/, seems to be MIA, so you might do better to download it from PCWorld's download site.

MasterBooter 3.3: Quit giggling, this is a serious program that lets you operate up to 6 different operating systems at once on the same PC. You can partition your hard drive, hide and reveal FAT partitions, and more. $20 from www.masterbooter.com/.

MSTBoot 4.2 is a multiboot utility that lets you have, and operate, up to 12 separate operating systems on your machine at once. Not for the technologically innocent. $14 from www.mstboot.com/.

QNX 4 RTOS. This one is a mind-boggler. It's a fully developed operating system for a PC that fits on a single floppy disk. What's harder to believe is that it actually works very nicely. All you have to do is download it to a floppy, know one of your DNS servers (run WINIPCFG if you don't know),and your dial-up info. You don't even need a hard disk to run this sucker. If you try it, please let me know how it works. Free from www.qnx.com/demodisk/.

SyMon 2.0 is a free utility from symon.da.ru/ that lets you switch between different operating systems on startup quickly and easily. This utility doessn't require any OS to function, so you don't need to keep a version of Windows, Unix, Linux, or whatever as the "default" OS.

System Commander 2000 5.05 is a multibooting utility that walks you through setting up and handling multiple operating systems quickly and with a minimum of technical knowledge. $50 from www.v-com.com/.

VMWare Express 2.03 is a Linux program that lets you run just about any Windows or Linux OS in a single partition. $79 from www.vmware.com/.

WindowBlinds 2.0 is a set of interfaces (skins) for Windows that alters the entire look and feel of your OS. The maker, Stardock, claims to have solved the instability problems that plagued the earlier versions. Download the latest version at www.windowblinds.net/. This idea is popular enough to have sparked Microsoft to incorporate their own version of "skins" into Whistler, the next generation of Windows. Microsoft calls their version "Visual Styles." Stardock optimistically predicts that once Whistler users get a taste of what VS can give them, they'll be eager for even more from WindowBlinds. We'll see.

Windows 98 SE to Windows Me This is a free utility that helps you convert Windows 98 SE to Windows ME free of charge. The authors warn that you should already own legitimate copies of Win 98 SE and Win ME. Find out more from meltingpot.fortunecity.com/botswana/733/softcraft/.

WinRescue ME 1.05 combines four utilities, Crash Fixer, RegPack, File Backup, and Troubleshooter, to rescue and restore misbehaving Millennium systems. $35 from superwin.com/. Note: Other WinRescue programs, for 95, 98, NT, 2K, and XP, are also available.

WinUpdatesList 1.12 is a standalone program that hunts down and recommends updates for your Windows system. Not novice-friendly, but very useful, and free from www.nirsoft.net/.

XPLite 1.5 allows you to strip out unwanted features from Win XP that eat your system resources and slow your machine. Versions also available for Win 2K and 98/ME. $39 ($25 for the 98/ME version) from www.litepc.com/xplite.html.

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