Yep, pretty straightforward stuff if you are reasonably computer literate. The basics are that there are two big players you can download for free, VMWare Server and Microsoft Virtual PC (there are others however these are the two leading products). Among "virtualists" it's generally agreed that VMWare produces the superior product while Microsoft takes them hands-down on ease of setup and management while still providing a competitive result.
I just checked and it looks like the Virtual PC website is now all about pushing Virtual PC Beta for Windows 7 already, I haven't checked this out yet so can't give any advice. I still use VPC2007 which runs fine on XP, guess I'd better hang on to the installation package since I couldn't find a download for it!
Maybe I'll have time today to check out the new version at work.
XII