Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 – Free and Very NICE

Last night I found myself wanting to test out some software.  I’ve been playing around with various DJ software.  Most of the versions that I’ve downloaded are demos and I really didn’t want to fill up my Vista machine with a bunch of junky software.  The solution for this was to download Microsoft Virtual PC 2007.  It WORKS GREAT!  If you aren’t familiar with virtual machine software it basically lets you load an entirely different operating system on your computer by letting you virtually run the additional OS on top of the main operating system.  In this case I’m running Vista as the main or "host" operating system and have installed a virtual copy of Windows XP on top of that.  The Virtual PC software is free but I had to have an existing license for the copy of XP that I installed.  If you wanted to play around with Linux, you wouldn’t need to worry about the license for the virtual OS.

It was amazing how easy it was to install the Virtual PC software.  While I’m probably considered a more advanced PC user than the average Joe (It’s what I do for a living), I think pretty much anyone with a basic understanding of computers could also install this.

So, now I have a second "virtual" PC that I can use to try out new software.  I may even install another virtual machine that runs Linux.  I’m curious how the latest iteration of Linux is working these days.  The best part about all of this is that it didn’t cost me anything.  I love free software!  It’s nice to have a hobby that allows me to play without costing a ton of money!