The present invention is directed to a system for authoring and accessing computer-based materials, a high-level method of using the system, and method of saving the state and data from an authoring host onto a storage host. The system and methods employ virtual machines to save the state and data of the authoring host onto a storage host, which can then be accessed by any number of access hosts. Virtual machines are utilized to (1) save snapshots of the state of the processor and devices within the authoring host, and (2) save the data from the authoring host with differencing drives. The present invention solves a large set of problems related to inconsistencies that exist in the combinations of (a) operating systems, (b) hardware, and (c) software on computers.