open and save read and write protected files in emacs (sudo in emacs)

Often times i have emacs open, and would like to open and edit protected files. since i didn't launch emacs as a root user via sudo, i won't be able to do anything but close emacs and relaunch or use sudo vi on the file. googled it, this post shows how one can use tramp to open and edit those files with an existing emacs process.