JS> From what I gather, starting a thread and doing the work there
 JS> is the safest way to go.

Safest?  I don't think it is any safer,  and perhaps more error prone.

 JS> What is an _optlink?  Is this required for beginthread?

That's _Optlink (case is important).  It is a calling convention, which
tells the compiler how to set up the stack and pass arguments to a
function.  The function you pass to _beginthread must by _Optlink (and, 
therefore, can't be a C++ member function).

 JS> Would I be better off waiting until I cover OOP basics before trying
 JS> to launch a seperate thread to do textbook excercises?

Yes!

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