Nickman, first you should be commended for your interest in Free/Libre
software and the willingness to place that interest on the table so to speak
by actually using a distro that is committed to those freedoms. 8)
As already mentioned, virtualization is a great option, although some people
feel more comfortable dual booting in the beginning. Personally, the only
way I use Windows (for one tax program that does not have a GNU version yet),
is through virtual manager/kvm (virt-manager). I was a long time user of
virtualbox, but when they started adding non free things to it, I began to
explore other options.
Regarding GNU/Linux Mint, their security policy regarding updates is quite
lacking, so I would not recommend it unless via LiveCD or virtual machine.
thats my two cents.
