I
often use VirtualBox
virtual machines to solve the few cases
where I still need a Microsoft Windows only application. This
solution works well but is far from ideal from the security point of
view. The only Windows version I still own is the not more
unsupported Windows XP, so my virtual machines are an easy target to
the many viruses and malware around the 'net. As general precaution I
keep my virtual machines off the network by disabling their virtual
network card but, in some cases, the application used might
explicitly require a network connection and other infection ways
exist other than the 'net. Generally speaking it would be wise to
periodically check all Windows virtual machines disks for viruses.
I'm
not positive about installing an anti-virus software on a virtual
machine mostly because I fear the loss of the not already brilliant
machine performances so I went looking for a alternative solution.
Trinity
Rescue Disk
Trinity
Rescue Disk is a small (very small indeed) footprint live Linux
distribution specialized in broken computer recovery. Among the many
useful tools it offers scanning all computer drives for viruses using
five of the most common anti-virus programs. In order boot and work
with Trinity Rescue Disk the virtual machine must have assigned at
least 1GB of RAM. If you are experimenting with very low specs
machines you'll have to temporarily change the machine memory
settings.
