"virtual" for protection from viruses?

[AK Twin Turbo]

I remember reading somewhere (of course no idea where or when) about setting up an OS with a "virtual drive" or a separate partition, or something of the matter (really can't remember what it was called), to run programs that you're unsure of, and such that may be embedded with virus so that the virus won't get to the critical OS components (Using XP/Vista). I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction of where to find more info on this subject?

 

[mechBgon]

Welcome to the Forums

Here's an older article on the subject: http://www.spywareinfo.com/articles/vmware/baintro.php Microsoft has released Virtual PC 2007 and you can get a copy from here for free if you want to try it out. Vista & XP compatible.

My 2¢: familiarize yourself with the option of a non-Admin user account. If your version of Windows is a professional-oriented version (XP Professional, Vista Business, Vista Ultimate or Vista Enterprise) then there's also Software Restriction Policy. I have no qualms about going looking for trouble on the Internet with a locked-down Windows system.

If I were going to actually execute malware on purpose, then yeah, I would either be in a virtual machine or on a dummy system that I plan to re-image afterwards.

 

[mechBgon]

Oh, and I should add that if you're expecting to use a virtual machine to spot malware, don't count on it.

1) lots of malware has virtual-machine detection. If it notices that it's in a VM, it will terminate instead of "showing its hand."

2) lots of today's malware is not designed to have visible symptoms either. Don't expect to see a big ol' pic saying IM IN UR VM MOLESTIN UR OPERATING SYSTEMZ or anything.

 

[John]

http://powershadowsecurity.com/default.aspx