Microsoft Windows is an Operating System, not a computer program or application. It is the environment your PC users to navigate around in and access your programs, files, drives and applications.

Most PC’s use some version of the Windows operating system such as Windows 7, 8, 8.1 or the new Windows 10.

But every day more and more people are starting to use Apple Mac computers. Some people use them for the particular programs they can not get on Windows, others for the way they look.

I use mine because I like the speed at which it runs and the application on my Mac always work. I have never had a Blue Screen like on my Windows computer and I have never had to restart it in the middle of doing something.

Saying that Windows has a much bigger marketshare and therefore a lot more programs and applications are designed for a Windows computer.

Why would I want to run Windows on my Apple Mac computer?

So you have just bought a stylish shiny new Mac computer and hooked it up to your network and printer and are happily using the internet.

Everything is going well when suddenly your boss, teacher or you decide you need to use a particular program which is designed for Windows. Apple Mac computers do not use Windows, they use an Operating System called OSX and the current build is called El Capitan.

This is where virtualisation comes in. Virtualisation gives you the ability to run your Windows OS inside on your Mac’s OSX and the best and free way to do that is using a program called Virtual Box.

Understanding Virtual Box

Virtual Box is a free program, no an operating system, which can run either on your Mac or Windows Computer.

Once it is installed on your Mac it will prompt you through a series of questions to set up your virtual guest operating system on your Mac computer. You will still need your Windows Media disks to run through the process of setting up your guest operating system.

Once you have installed Windows within your Virtual Box, you simply need to click on your Virtual Box icon on your desktop and within the program you will see your Windows computer in which you can install all your Windows programs to run as if Windows was the main operating system on your Mac.

Installing Windows within Virtual Box will not remove your Mac operating system but uses the same hard drive so you must make sure you have enough space on your computer.

You also do not have to run just Windows within the virtual box. You can also run different flavours of Linux or even another OSX installation. The more Virtual Operating Systems you use at the same time will also demand more resources form your computer. The more memory and processing power you have will enable you to do more with Virtual Box.

Virtual Box can be downloaded here.