Virtual PC's

[The Ninja]

Ok I was just wondering 1) what is virtual pc and 2) where can i get one.
I think i know what it is but i want a definate answer so idont look like an idiot infront of you guys.

thanks in advance.

[Amnesiac]

A virtual PC is a program that emulates a different operating system so you can run programs that don't work on your current OS. An example would be Windows Virtual PC (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/).

[The Ninja]

A virtual PC is a program that emulates a different operating system so you can run programs that don't work on your current OS. An example would be Windows Virtual PC (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/).

Thankyou. are there anyothers cause that one is not compatible wtih my version of windows 7. i mainly want it so that i can see if a program i want is malicious. would this protect my computer if something did go wrong while i was running it in the virtual pc.

[JackOfClubs]

Running a program inside a virtual PC would protect your actual computer. But you can't just open it in the Virtual PC. You have to download and install the Virtual PC software, then install Windows 7 inside it, then install the program you want. You will need to have Windows 7 on a disc or downloaded on your computer for it to work.

I use and recommend VirtualBox. I have installed XP (And it ran fine), and many Linux OSs which all ran fine.

[Commander Thor]

Thankyou. are there anyothers cause that one is not compatible wtih my version of windows 7. i mainly want it so that i can see if a program i want is malicious. would this protect my computer if something did go wrong while i was running it in the virtual pc.

I can assure you that Microsoft's Virtual PC is compatible with EVERY /valid/ Windows 7 installation.
Simply download & install the 3 executeables on the site.
The first one is XP Mode, it is pretty much a free copy of Windows XP available to Windows 7 users (Though it does go deeper than that. Pretty much it allows you to run an XP program within the 7 shell, without having to start up the XP virtual machine. But we'll skip over that). The second download is the actual emulation program, and the third is a patch to XP Mode that allows it to be used with almost any hardware (Before you had to have an Intel processor with Virtualization technology).

[DrkZ90]

Windows XP Mode is available only for original versions of Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate

However, Windows Virtual PC (as welll as the previous version, simply called Virtual PC) can be installed on every single version of Windows 7. The third file is a compatibility update in case your CPU doesn't have native hardware virtualization enabled. If after installing just the Windows Virtual PC program it works you don't need the third file.

[AutoPlay]

Microsoft Virtual PC works fine with windows 7