What's the best way to use a zip disk?

Use it for storage. Programs can be slow if run from it.

So put all your music, documents etc on the disk, and keep the programs on your PC :)

You could use zip disks, but for a few bucks you can buy a flash drive or memory card that's a lot larger than any zip disk, and a lot faster. (I have a few zip drives - on a shelf. Haven't hooked one up in about 3 computers.) The best way to use a zip disk, IMO, is to look at it once a year or so. (I keep the drives because I fix computers, and someone may have software or data on a zip disk and nowhere else.)

You should get a usb hard drive. I have a 250G and a 500G usb passport hard drive. I back up all of my photos, music and important things to them, they were about 90.00 but well worth the money. They also help when I need to transfer stuff from my desktop to laptop. The 500G passport actually has an auto download program on board. I would keep ad-aware and spybot on the c drive though.

Zip disks, or any other kind of disk, are best suited for storage of non-system files. Software programs can be stored on them, but they won't execute from there.

The thing I like about Zips, CD's, flash drives, etc is that they can be taken with you. They are also protection for important documents, photo's, videos, music, etc in case your hard drive crashes.

Use it as a coaster