We here at ICS like to try out lots of new software and hardware.  The problem is that when we constantly install and remove programs and drivers, our test system gets really buggy and slow.  The fact is, we have had to reformat and reinstall everything several times to keep things running smoothly.  That was until we discovered the Virtual PC.

To get started, just click here to go to Microsoft’s website and download the completely FREE Microsoft Virtual PC 2007.  This program can help you set up completely independent operating systems, that run inside a window of your regular operating system.

 For instance, you can run a separate copy of Windows XP, within you current install of XP.  You can use that Virtual PC to test out software before you install it on your main copy.  You can use this temporary installation as many times as you want, and then just delete it, and create a new one.  Each Virtual PC installation has it’s own boot routine, memory, hard drive space and operating system.  It shares the hardware resources from the host machine such as network, optical drives and input devices.

You can also use Virtual PC to run older versions of Windows.  This is our personal favourite.  As you may know, Windows Vista is not always great at working with older hardware and software.  Just install Virtual PC, and you can install a fully functioning copy of XP as well, to run all those older applications.  If your computer is powerful enough, you can run your virtual operating system along with all your other applications.