Memory usage for VM and host, virus

[courtney01]

I'm using 32 bit windows in both virtual box and on the host computer. I currently have 4gb of ram installed into my computer, and I know that 32 bit windows has a 4gb ram cap. If I install 4 more gb of ram into my physical computer, can I allocate 4 gb to my vm, with the remainder 4gb going to my host, so that they're effectively acting like 2 separate physical computers? Or is the 4gb cap imposed on the entire scope of my computer, including the vm, making the extra 4gb still useless?

My second question is, if my vm gets infected with virus/malware/etc, is it theoretically impossible for my host to get affected too?

 

[Dangman]

Or is the 4gb cap imposed on the entire scope of my computer, including the vm, making the extra 4gb still useless?

AFAIK yes.

My second question is, if my vm gets infected with virus/malware/etc, is it theoretically impossible for my host to get affected too?

It's possible to get infected depending on how you setup the VM (whether it has access to the host's PC's actual data/drives, whether you're sharing the two, etc)