Virtual PC - Ultimate Firewall/Protection?

[mrudling]

I was playing with MS Virtual PC this weekend and thought of an idea.

As we are all often under attack from viruses and such, while on the net and when plugging in those dam usb drives, why dont we all run a second copy of our os with virtual pc, and use the second os as your first level of defense. If any viruses do get in and mess it up, no data should be lost from your main os installation?

Even better, once the virtual pc image is all installed with all the apps running like you want them to, just make a copy of the single file and when something breaks, just replace the image with the backed up one!

So, if my main os was not connected to the internet, and i scanned all files via the virtual pc os, would i still need to run anti virus on the main os, and would i have to pay for a second license, for my second os? Guess i could always run Ubuntu on it for free.

(I think i said os to many times....)

Peny for the thoughts of our members....

 

[nihilist]

The VPC will slow down your main rig.

You're better off investing in a 2nd hand PC, installing IP Cop on it, with a plugin like CopFilter, you can filter ally our web traffic, firewall yourself off fromt he nasty world.

And with IPCop and the Update Accelerator plugin, you can cache all your Microsoft Windows updates, so if you do reinstall, you won't have to worry about extra bandwidth usage from M$.

Then perhaps pay for NOD32, very fast (I mean, really fast) and protect your main PC with that.

 

[mrudling]

Im with you on that, the problem is that even with the best anti virus software, you can still end up with some addware/spyware messing with your os, not even ipcop will stop that.

Also a great tool when testing new software, if it messes up the system, revert back to the backup!

 

[The_Unbeliever]

Both present valid arguments. And both are valid.

 

[nihilist]

Sure, I use VMWare Server all the time for testing stuff out, but using it as a main O/S would be a bit silly, you'll still have that risk of infection.. how would you get your work done online? Via a proxy? Still going to get a virus somehow.

The sheer hassle of having to keep switching in and out of the VM to do stuff like play games, or watch that video clip/dvd/movie because it won't run in the VM, then you have to juggle your data around... not for me

I think your best bet is to have a good firewall, run a good AV, use Firefox - I haven't had a virus attack in literally years.

What you could do is build your PC to your hearts will, then ghost it and burn the ghost image to a DVD.

-my 2c

Im with you on that, the problem is that even with the best anti virus software, you can still end up with some addware/spyware messing with your os, not even ipcop will stop that.

Also a great tool when testing new software, if it messes up the system, revert back to the backup!

 

[mrudling]

Looks like its going to come down to your pref, MS Virtual PC is seamless when going between "machines" and preforms very well.

For internet access, it appears to me, that each virtual machine has its own ip address and is not "proxied" via the host os, I think it would be prety safe if on gateway and dns settings are specified on the host os.

Running firefox, behind firewall and anti virus working and upto date. I very hardly ever get viruses, simply by being internet "savvy" but, if im away and letting a mate or the mrs use the net, and they simply cant resist a "click here for ....." banner crap that installs some damm software that is virtaly impossible to remove (firewall or anti virus cant protect from something you "choose" to install), then i will be happy im running a virtual os,

I think...

 

[nihilist]

Well I suppose, if you don't mind a limited (multimedia wise) environment and you don't mind the reduced latency, sure, a VPC might help.

 

[mrudling]

A perfect enviroment for internet! LOL

Video and sound are supported 100%, Preformance, for internet use, well i cant spot the difference.

Certainly wouldnt want to try play a game in a virtual machine...

 

[iDenTiTy]

If the client machine has access to the internet, then it won't matter...

Since client machines make use of the host machines devices etc. including the file created to be the machine itself, what's to say it won't get infected anyway?

 

[Random717]

If the client pc has no write access to the host pc then you should be fine. An option is to run ubuntu in the vpc, and browse the net with that..

 

[iDenTiTy]

If the client pc has no write access to the host pc then you should be fine. An option is to run ubuntu in the vpc, and browse the net with that..

Lol.

That WOULD be the best option...

 

[qinglung]

Maybe play around with Sandboxie. You can install programs into a "sandbox", which doesn't affect the actual system, once finished you delete the sandbox and your system it not affected. Same goes for internet browsing, anything in the sandbox stays in the sandbox, so if you pick up nasties it won't hurt your system. Probably not 100% safe, but at least it's another layer of protection.