How to run Android apps in Windows with a virtual machine
Android and Windows are two very different operating systems; programs designed for one won't normally work on the other. To get around this, you need to set up an Android virtual machine (VM) on your PC. And as a general rule, setting up a VM can be a challenge.
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Luckily, there's a way around that challenge--Amercan Megatrends' AMIDuOS. Based on technology from VirtualBox--a popular VM program--it gives you a virtual Android machine in a pre-conformed package.
AMI seems to be a bit confused about what to call this program. In Windows, it calls itself DuOS. Sometimes it's called DuOS-M. But the website calls it AMIDuOS. (The similarity to "Amadeus," the name of a play about the Baroque composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, is, I'm told, unintentional.
You can run AMIDuOS, and Android, full-screen or in a window. I recommend the Normal Screen setting (which you'll find in the DuOS Configuration Tool). It fills the entire screen, but leaves room for the basic Windows Exit and Minimize icons. Additional settings allow you to use your Windows libraries in Android, and even root your virtual device (and unroot it).
The two operating systems play well together. You can copy and paste text from one to the other, although this can get confusing; remember that Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V don't work in Android. And you can set AMIDuOS to use your Windows libraries as their Android equivalent.
After a 30-day free trial, you'll have to pay $10 to keep using AMIDuOS. The license is tied to your Google account (needed for Android), not your hardware. As long as you log on as you, you can put it on as many Windows PCs as you want.