I’m trying to understand them a bit better, but it’s just not clicking for me. How is it able to operate like a physical computer and what is the benefit of that? Would you be able to say write an essay for your English class on a VM, save it there, and access it at a later time?
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**Definitions:**
A normal (or physical) PC is a device with the OS (usually Windows, Linux, or MacOS) on it’s Hard Drive and it’s specs are whatever the physical PC contains
A Virtual Machine (VM) is a program that runs a version of the OS with *allocated* specs. An emulator is a good way to look at it. So you can have a *physical* PC with 32GBs of RAM in it and then create a VM on that PC allocating 16GBs of your RAM to it.
I believe most VMs are actually on servers, which is like a PC on steroids.
When you open a VM on a PC/Server you basically make a mini PC inside of the existing PC/Server that you have. VMs are used for things like virus testing, systems testing, nefarious testing, etc. Basically the idea is IF something gets into your system AND it’s a virtual system, you can just delete the VM and everything inside it (including the bad thing).
**Examples:**
It’s basically like having a fake house as the entrance to your real house so when a burglar breaks into the fake house you can just lock everything from the outside and set it on fire. Then when it’s all done burning, build a new fake house.
OR, let’s say you want to mix some chemicals because you read something on the internet. You go to your fake house, mix the chemicals, if it goes wrong, run out of the fake house and then launch it to space. Then build a new fake house.
Then go back to your real house and go on with your life.
Fake house = VM. Real House = PC/Server.
**Your Last Question:**
>Would you be able to say write an essay for your English class on a VM, save it there, and access it at a later time?
Yes, but you’d be using it like a storage device, and while it’s possible to do that, it’d be easier to use your regular PC or a flash drive for that.
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