You’ve heard about this fancy new technology called Virtualization. But what exactly is it? How can it be used? Why would you want to run a computer within a computer? There are many uses that you may not have thought about and virtual machines can be useful even if you are not an IT professional.
First, a quick rundown of the technology:
In very simple terms, virtualization software is a piece of software that emulates a full blown computer. When you run the virtual environment, you can install almost any Operating System you choose. So for instance, if you are running Windows 7, and need to have the ability to run an old program built for Windows XP, you can create a new virtual computer, install Windows XP on it, and then use the old program on the virtual machine.
There are two major players in the virtualization world right now: VMWare and Microsoft. VMWare makes a product called VMWare Workstation, which is extremely robust and great for professional use. It’s also not free. Microsoft makes a competing product called Virtual PC, which is completely free if you own an valid copy of Windows. It isn’t quite as robust as Vmware Workstation, but for most home users, it’s more than enough.
With all that out of the way, why would you want to use a virtual machine? Here are a few scenarios.
Virtual machines are good for learning. You can use it to get the hang of installing Operating Systems, or software, or just messing around with setting and features without having to worry about messing anything up. Virtual machines have a great feature called Snapshots. What snapshots allow you to do is take a sort of picture in time of the computer, so whatever state the computer is in at the time of the snapshot is saved. Later on down the road, if something gets messed up, all you have to do is revert to the snapshot and the computer is right were it was before it got messed up. Very handy if you ask me.
Virtual Machines are great for testing software. If you need the ability to see how software runs on different Operating Systems or how it interacts with different applications, virtualization makes this simple.
You can also use a virtual PC as a type of sandbox machine. For instance, if you (or your children) have a knack for getting your computer infected with viruses or spyware because of the types of websites you visit, you can try browsing from within a virtual PC. That way if it becomes infected, all you have to do is roll the virtual computer back to the last snapshot you made, and you have a clean, uninfected PC, and you don’t have to worry about any of your personal information getting hijacked or stolen. This method of browsing is also good for those with privacy concerns, as long as no personal data is stored within the VM.
Hopefully, this quick guide to VM’s has piqued your interest in virtualization. There are many more uses for VM’s and I highly suggest installing some virtualization software so you can have some fun with the technology.