system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How do people create viruses without constantly fucking up their own computer?
gpt
In the early days of hacking, viruses were created on test computers. A machine that has all the basic components of a computer, but doesn't have anything but an OS installed. It's just a dummy. 

Later, we created virtual machines for that. Basically, a whole computer that is separated from the rest of your computer by an invisible wall. This is how most viruses are created nowadays.

However, certain particularly nasty viruses can get through even virtual machines. We're back to using dummy computers that aren't connected to anything else.