This is a windows client question, but I didn't know where else
to ask.

If someone asks me to move a website to my
apache server, I create a temporary, made-up virtual
domain definition in apache's configuration, and then
bounce the server.

Then, on a client linux box I use for development,
I can add a line to my local /etc/hosts
file that looks like the following:

12.345.678.901 my-made-up-domain-name.com

Then I can look at the temporary site during development.
Once done I make the name server changes, to give that site
its real and final name.

That allows me to view the site while in development. If my customer
was a MacIntosh user, (s)he could use the same /etc/hosts trick to
view
the development progress, from his/her desktop.

PUNCHLINE QUESTION:
How would you do that on a windows client?