Preventing windows from screwing linux up

[Cormac McGuinness <cormac@physics.bu.edu>]

Hi
I'm hoping someone can help me with my frustrating problem...
I have a laptop, and something installed under windows 98 has now
(twice) overwritten the initial part of my Linux filesystem
which exists in an extended partition.
How can I prevent this (other than by deinstalling windows! - my wife
needs to use our laptop occasionally)
Is there a free (GPL'd) or cheap piece of windows 98 software that cen 
prevent disk writes to any partition other than /dev/hda1  ?
I havent managed to identify what piece of software is the culprit
yet...

Yours
Cormac