The last time we met, we talked briefly about operating systems and what they do, and we also skimmed over some different OSs readily available to us.
Like everything else, one might want to out these OSs or trial software on his or her own PC. That is the best way to evaluate them properly.
The ultimate setup will be a spare PC that has no data on it and we wouldn't mind formatting over and over again. The problem is, how many of us can afford this? Some extra cash will be better spent on a PC we use every day by upgrading its RAM, maybe, or a new bigger and faster hard disk. A very bad way of trying out new/trial software is by installing them on our one and only PC.
Let me point out a very important fact that some people might overlook in this situation. We have to be very careful when installing software to try out. You might have downloaded this software from the internet, or maybe, the software was given to you by friends. Apart from the fact that it might contain a virus, lots (or most) of software that you install do, either all, or some of the following: (1) edit your windows registry (2) copy some of their files to your system directories (3) overwrite system files with their own version of system files. These are all very dangerous processes that can render our computer inoperable.
Now, some of these applications are well behaved and if we decide to uninstall them, they will put everything back the way they found it before we installed them. The truth of the matter is that a lot of these applications do not do this or cannot do it due to the manner they install themselves or due to something that happens after their installation - like the deletion of some key un-installation files by some other program, probably a program that is supposed to clean your drive from unnecessary junk files. No matter how you look at it, it happens and cannot be avoided!
So to always be on the safe side, do not install programs on your computer that you know are irrelevant to what you want or need or simply to experiment with a new software version, unless you like the process of backing up your hard disk and re-installing your OS and applications from scratch.
When it comes to OSs, you cannot just install a different OS on a PC, alongside the one that you currently use very easily. There are ways of achieving this by making your computer multi-boot or dual-boot. This will require you to create multiple partitions on your hard disk or use a different hard disk mounted in your PC. This is not something that you might want to try if you are not very familiar with this process. This is where an application I personally use very often comes to our rescue. There are a lot of these applications around and there are good ones that come absolutely free.
Introducing...Virtual Machines! According to Wikipedia, Virtual machines were originally defined by Popek and Goldberg as "an efficient, isolated duplicate of real machines". Current use includes virtual machines which have no direct correspondence to any real hardware.
Basically, this means that with the help of an application that you run through Windows, you will create a virtual PC or PCs within your own physical PC. Another exciting thing about this is the fact that we can create as many virtual PCs (in our own PC) as the space on our hard disk allows. Also, we can run multiple virtual computers all at the same time - simultaneously - in real-time as long as we have enough RAM and our processor can handle them.
In other words, we can play, try out and experiment with different applications / programs to our heart's content with the peace of mind that if we make a mistake or a program decides to delete important system files or delete the registry, it will not affect our normal installed OS.
It will only do this in its own virtual environment.
Just imagine, we can create a virtual local network between multiple virtual PCs on one single PC using one monitor, keyboard and mouse. The possibilities are endless! The best thing about this is that we will not be touching our main OS and installation!
Please join me next time and we will start going over the steps of installing Sun Microsystems version of their VirtualBox on a PC running Windows XP.
Until then, safe and happy computing.
Mr Marshall, a certified computer programmer and technician, is giving regular tips in i-Tech on how to make the best and safest use of computers. He can be contacted at noelmarshall.itech@gmail.com.