What are the benefits of virtualization aside from increasing internet security?

So far I heard that Virtualization can be used to increase your internet security from hackers, trojans, viruses, and etc? What else can virtualization be used for? I heard some of my friends have gaming virtual machines. I don't know why anyone would use a virtual machine for gaming lol.

 

Mainly for software testing and evaluation and testing/experimenting with different system configurations. It's also possible with high end hardware to run multiple machines such as servers in one hardware host. I think developers might use them as well for their projects.

Yeah I don't either

 

St(r)eaming updates, game server access to your IP/PC?

 

Yes, I think that is it's main use (also, in that regard, testing how well anti-malware programs stand-up against malware attacks). However, 'the jury is still out' on the question as to how accurately do VMs replicate real (physical) system results?

TS

 

As the sole purpose of system-wide virtualization is to reset the machine to a known state simply by rebooting, it is useful in any situation where this is a desired outcome. I use light virtualization to keep the system permanently virtualized, except for bringing it out of the virtual mode occasionally to apply updates. For me personally, as adminstrator on a multi-user home machine, this covers the following use cases: -

• perfect cleanup if a malware infection should occur
• testing of software that doesn't require a restart to install
• keeping the system stable with minimal and predictable changes
• guaranteed normal restart after an unexpected system crash or power failure
• restoring the system to a known state after other users have been using the machine

System-wide virtualization doesn't offer anything more than imaging functionally, but restarting the machine is a lot quicker and more convenient than restoring system images on a routine basis.