Just in case this can help anyone. I am a first time user running VW 9 on Windows 2000 Pro, and I have not had many stability problems - certainly not the crashing problems mentioned here. I can state with some authority that Windows 2000 is far more stable than Windows 98 or ME, and might be a viable option for some who need a really stable work environment.
As an aside - I run on a laptop and hibernate frequently. This causes problems only if you leave files open while hibernating.
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