interferance in conversion?

[AnnihilatorTokyo]

When I'm converting an avi or asf to mpeg, can I get loss of quality if I use the computer at the same time?
Should I just start the conversion and leave the PC alone, or is it safe to use it anyway?
I have a 1.7GHz with 512MB RAM and a fast disc, and it doesn't seem like I'm using 100% of the CPU. Note, I haven't checked, since I don't want to touch the PC during conversion.

If that's a problem, why? Processor needs lots of CPU time?
The disc causes problems since the head needs to search all over the disc when accessing data, and slowes down the read/write for the application?

Will a newly defraged disc make the conversion better/faster?

Many questions, hope you don't mind.

Thanks....

[aldus4]

Using your PC whilst encoding will not change the quality of the end result at all. It is pretty safe to use, unless you use something that crashes or freezes your PC, then naturally everything was in vain!
If your hard drive is defragmented it will improve the performance a little - but I doubt that much.