Hi guys,
I wanna ask is there any software through which i can run my Windows programs on Ubuntu 8.10. I have dual-boot system. I tried using "Wine" but its good only for light applications. For heavy applications it first all takes long to load and on top of that the graphics are totally distorted. VirtualBox i believe only runs Windows from a cd and cant run a already installed version,rite?
Please clarify my doubt
Thanks in advance..

You could use Win4lin and VMware.
However they are not free.
Another option is to install windows in a virtual machine.(you need the install cd or the iso for this)

your suggestions are ehmm.. talking in circles...

You first propose win4lin, and vmware, then you say: ANOTHER option, is install windows in a virtual machine.. well what do you think vmware and win4lin is all about?, providing a virtual machine, inwich you can install an os.
so, it's basically exactly the same.

btw. vmware server is free, as in cost

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To the OP: i guess you're out of luck here, because indeed as you mentioned correctly, virtual box can only run a newly installed OS (inside it's own virtual setup) it cannot boot a preinstalled OS outside it's own environment. None of them can really.

XEN/KVM both can sort of do this, but it's tedious to setup, and windows is barely/not supported as guest OS, because of the patched kernel needed by XEN or KVM on the guest os (hypervisor patch), and windows doesn't have that. (and is closed source, no access to it's kernel to write a patch, microsoft needs to provide it, but is unwilling)
furthermore, it's very hardware dependend (the processor needs virtual support (intel's vt technology e.g.), and it's not an official standard yet (i read on the intel site, it's still alpha)

so, it's either wine, or seeking alternatives, or booting for the particular programs back to windows, OR using a virtual machine solution (and install windows inside it)

good luck

No to "from a cd" and yes to "cant run a already installed version" which leaves the normal route of doing a fresh install of Windows in a VirtualBox virtual machine.

Edit:

You could try imaging the existing Windows into a VirtualBox virtual machine's virtual hard disk and see what happens. Old versions of Windows used to hiccup a bit when imaged onto completely different hardware but usually sorted themselves out in the end, sometimes after several restarts. VirtualBox virtual hardware is purposely chosen as common so should be an easy target for that. But later Windows licenses are tied to hardware "signatures" so that's likely to be a problem. If you have some time to spare and are OK with disk imaging (boot disk imaging software from .iso or real CD/DVD in the virtual machine) then ...