Comment from Gabe on 2009-11-03

2009-11-03T14:59:54Z

Hope I'm not shunned for reviving an old thread here, but I read through Leo's rules and it doesn't seem to be frowned upon...

OK, I'm going to confess my IT n00b status in the area of VM's. While I'm an IT professional, I have yet to work with any VM software. I'd like some recommendations on what to use. Are there any open-source (free) solutions with a good history? I run Windows XP exclusively and prefer to avoid Linux (any flavor). Anyone have suggestions?

]]>

A comment on: What do I need to set up using my Windows XP virtual machine software?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from RayguardKnight on 2009-05-12

2009-05-13T01:25:20Z

I've been wondering, if I have files that I suspect have been infected by viruses, or that my virus shield (maybe falsely) reports as infected, would it be safe to run and use those files in a virtual machine environment, leaving the host computer unaffected? From this article it sounds like it.

Carefully, with the caveat that you would then have an infected machine on your local network. Make sure all your machines are behind a firewall with respect to this virtual machine. (Typically that would be a case for a software firewall on every machine.) And make sure that all other machines are up to date.

I would also take care with any software that attempts to share disks between the infected virtual machine and the host machine.

You might also consider disabling the virtual network adapter in the virtual machine.

- Leo
13-May-2009

]]>

A comment on: What do I need to set up using my Windows XP virtual machine software?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comments for What do I need to set up using my Windows XP virtual machine software?

Comment from Gabe on 2009-11-03

Comment from RayguardKnight on 2009-05-12