1. Installing to a new partition with a dual-boot arrangement.

2. Installing cleanly on a wiped hard disk.

3. Installing in a virtual machine in conjunction with a virtualization utility.

Dual-booting with XP

I vastly prefer to install Vista beta software to a second partition running in Microsoft's dual-boot configuration with Windows XP. This arrangement gives you more control over the Vista partition. For example, if -- as happened to me recently -- Vista Beta 2's Product Activation module spews several greasy gaskets and leaks about three quarts of hot motor oil on the floor and decides you're no longer activated, you don't have to resort to some sort of boot disc to wipe the drive. Just boot back into Windows XP and use a decent disk utility to blow away the Vista partition and start over.