Assuming grub (not grub2) almost everything needed by grub is in the /boot/grub directory, which I assume is on sda5.

As long as the identities of the partitions don't change, all of the contents of /boot/grub remain valid across changes in the sizes and starting points of the partitions.

Part of grub is executed before the part in /boot/grub. I'm not sure myself what changes in partitions are possible without breaking that part of grub.

There is a simple command that can be used to reinstall that initial stage of grub (and reconnect it to the part in /boot/grub). I always forget where to look up that command, but I usually take the trouble to find it before changing partition sizes and I make sure the bootable CD I'm using supports it. Then I usually discover I don't need it, grub is still correctly connected after resizing partitions.

No, you don't. You just need a bootable USB or CD Linux and you need to use a simple to type (maybe hard to find) command to reconnect the MBR to the correct /boot/grub directory contents.

If you change the identities of the partitions, things are a bit trickier, but the /boot/grub/menu.lst file has pretty simple contents, so it still can be easy to fix. If you deleted the Dell utility partition then the Windows C: drive would change from sda2 to sda1, requiring a tiny change in /boot/grub/menu.lst. Conveniently, your Linux partitions would remain sda5 and sda6 even if you delete any or all of sda1 through sda3. If the identity of the linux partition changes, I think you need to make edits to /boot/grub/menu.lst plus edits to /etc/fstab and I wouldn't bet there aren't some other edits needed that I'm forgetting.

Finished the Mint install a little while ago and started adding/enabling certain features/programs...chrome wouldn't install but firefox is pretty fast anyways. By far I am most impressed with teamviewer's response time. From win 7 lappy to win 7 starter netbook it lags like crazy but from Mint lappy to win 7 starter netbook there is next to no delay... very pleased with that.

Is there a way to disable the very annoying password requests everytime I try to do something? Z/Z

Hi there,

what's this Z/Z you keep repeating over and over again?

[X] Doc CPU

Z/Z is the closest text representation I can make of a symbol I created when I was 15 that is the basis for a form of "encryption" I base on basic human thought progression. Created long before I learned about the early hacker habit of replacing S's with Z's. Z/Z

The annoying password is administrator password, just comfirmation that you have admin priviledges.
Did chrome complain about disk space or did you forget to make executeable?

I don't know much about hacking but I do know this: If someone really wants to screw over my machine they are going to do it regardless of any precautions I put in place short of disconnecting myself from all networks (any data I have that I value in any way is stored on flash drives or online and fortunately I have not cheesed off any hackers in a very long time).

I disabled all the UAC prompts in win 7 because it made the os run less smooth... I'm so impatient I actually enabled one click file execution, you will notice that for a os to have speed it needs to not only be fast but also "appear" to be fast... a verbose boot up is much better than a black screen, for example, because a black screen implies the OS either locked up or "appears" to be doing nothing as opposed to a verbose boot up :) Z/Z

Edit: The error prompt that pops up says that the chrome deb package is either corrupt or the permissions are not enabled but in properties I enabled read and write down the board and checked the box allowing the package to be run as an executable. That leaves corrupt file and unless Linux consistently has problems downloading files in tact I don't think that is the case. Z/Z