What happened to the Messenger Plus! forums on msghelp.net?
Shoutbox » MsgHelp Archive » Skype & Technology » Tech Talk » Viruses and Virtual PC

Pages: (2): « First [ 1 ] 2 » Last »
Viruses and Virtual PC
Author: Message:
alegator
Senior Member
****


Posts: 569
Reputation: 4
Joined: Nov 2004
O.P. Huh?  Viruses and Virtual PC
Say I have a virtual OS running in my host WinXP Pro PC, and that I run an infected file in the virtual OS, will my host PC be also infected or just the virtual OS?
07-02-2008 03:47 AM
Profile E-Mail PM Find Quote Report
Lou
Veteran Member
*****

Avatar

Posts: 2475
Reputation: 43
– / Male / Flag
Joined: Aug 2004
RE: Viruses and Virtual PC
What would the point of a virtual pc be if changes made to it affected the host pc?
[Image: msghelp.net.png]
The future holds bright things in it\\\'s path, but only time will tell what they are and where they come from.
Messenger Stuff Forums
07-02-2008 04:06 AM
Profile PM Web Find Quote Report
Th3rmal
Veteran Member
*****

Peek-a-boo! I see you!!

Posts: 1226
Reputation: 26
32 / Male / Flag
Joined: Aug 2005
RE: Viruses and Virtual PC
No. Thats the beauty of virtual machines. Wreck it, and you can just start a new one, all without affecting the host PC
You have the intellect comparable to that of a rock. Be proud.
07-02-2008 04:10 AM
Profile E-Mail PM Web Find Quote Report
andrewdodd13
Senior Member
****

Avatar
Oh so retro

Posts: 870
Reputation: 16
34 / Male / Flag
Joined: Jan 2005
RE: Viruses and Virtual PC
No. Well.. it's very unlikely. There have been some cases in the past where you can use things like buffer overflows in the VM to affect the services you install (VMWare calls them VMWare Tools, I cant mind what MS calls them) which communicate between the VM and the host.

But as I say, unlikely.
[Image: AndrewsStyle.png]
07-02-2008 05:43 AM
Profile E-Mail PM Web Find Quote Report
segosa
Community's Choice
*****


Posts: 1407
Reputation: 92
Joined: Feb 2003
RE: RE: Viruses and Virtual PC
quote:
Originally posted by andrewdodd13
No. Well.. it's very unlikely. There have been some cases in the past where you can use things like buffer overflows in the VM to affect the services you install (VMWare calls them VMWare Tools, I cant mind what MS calls them) which communicate between the VM and the host.

But as I say, unlikely.

Virus writers have better things to do than ensure that their viruses exploit common VM vulnerabilities just so they can have a few extra infected PCs.
The previous sentence is false. The following sentence is true.
07-02-2008 07:06 AM
Profile PM Find Quote Report
Mike
Elite Member
*****

Avatar
Meet the Spam Family!

Posts: 2795
Reputation: 48
32 / Male / Flag
Joined: Mar 2003
Status: Online
RE: Viruses and Virtual PC
Actually, a virus could look through your shared files and replace any exe it found with an infected one, so next time you run that exe your real computer also gets infected.

But I don't know any virus that does this :P
YouTube closed-captions ripper (also allows you to download videos!)
07-02-2008 07:18 AM
Profile E-Mail PM Web Find Quote Report
alegator
Senior Member
****


Posts: 569
Reputation: 4
Joined: Nov 2004
O.P. RE: RE: Viruses and Virtual PC
quote:
Originally posted by andrewdodd13
No. Well.. it's very unlikely. There have been some cases in the past where you can use things like buffer overflows in the VM to affect the services you install (VMWare calls them VMWare Tools, I cant mind what MS calls them) which communicate between the VM and the host.

But as I say, unlikely.

I'm currently using VMWare. So, is it safer NOT to install the VMWare Tools? (I already did :(, is there a way to unninstall them?)
07-02-2008 09:05 AM
Profile E-Mail PM Find Quote Report
Menthix
forum admin
*******

Avatar

Posts: 5537
Reputation: 102
40 / Male / Flag
Joined: Mar 2002
RE: Viruses and Virtual PC
Leave VMWare tools installed. The tools highly improve the performance, and a virus affecting it is highly unlikely. There's a big difference between buffer overflows being reported and actual viruses in the wild abusing this. As far as i know there are no viruses targetting VMWare, and i assume the buffer overflows Andrew talks about are already fixed by now.

No need to worry :).
Finish the problem
Menthix.net | Contact Me
07-02-2008 09:11 AM
Profile E-Mail PM Web Find Quote Report
andrewdodd13
Senior Member
****

Avatar
Oh so retro

Posts: 870
Reputation: 16
34 / Male / Flag
Joined: Jan 2005
RE: Viruses and Virtual PC
MenthiX is correct, as far as I can tell.

I would imagine though that it's not 100% perfect in extreme-data-sensitive situations - I know that at work we use VMWare to train people to use Business Objects sometimes, and our information is very secretive so the VM is isolated as much as possible.

But if you were to deliberately run something like Win32.* virus inside a VM, it will be fine.
[Image: AndrewsStyle.png]
07-02-2008 05:39 PM
Profile E-Mail PM Web Find Quote Report
alegator
Senior Member
****


Posts: 569
Reputation: 4
Joined: Nov 2004
O.P. RE: Viruses and Virtual PC
Well, from all the replies I must conclude then that VMWare is as safe as an AV Quarantine when it comes to isolating viruses from the host.
07-02-2008 06:44 PM
Profile E-Mail PM Find Quote Report
Pages: (2): « First [ 1 ] 2 » Last »
« Next Oldest Return to Top Next Newest »


Threaded Mode | Linear Mode
View a Printable Version
Send this Thread to a Friend
Subscribe | Add to Favorites
Rate This Thread:

Forum Jump:

Forum Rules:
You cannot post new threads
You cannot post replies
You cannot post attachments
You can edit your posts
HTML is Off
myCode is On
Smilies are On
[img] Code is On