dont worry bout them they get a bit cranky when it comes to this lol!
.
Stickys are at the top of the ps2 forum and there loabled Sticky: blah blah.
anyway i would recommend u up dating to xp i have xp no problems.
hmmmm i dont think u should burn with nero any more mate, i think you should use record now max 4.5 the link to that is in the sticky for backing up ps2 games its the best software avaliable for copying ps2 games and so on you wont go bad with that. relation to the patches i dont think you will need them there only really for the non solder mods and old mods so if you do need rip kits or ea patches go to
www.alucard.cc
hope this sorts your problem