Windows 7 XP Mode - Virus Protection?

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rgratto2

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Does this really seem necessary? Windows security center squawks because it doesnt detect AV. I disabled security center from notifying me... Hmm

UPDATE
From a reply further down in the thread (put up here because people often neglect follow up posts):
Myself said:
I run NOD4 as well. I guess I'll drop it on that VM. I have some other VMs as well that I had already put Avast on.

I guess the conclusion to draw here is that the XP VM isnt really any different than any past VMs. From what I've seen, the big difference is that Windows Virtual PC is different from Virtual PC 2007 because it integrates much closer to the host OS, and provides certain "Integration Features". XP Mode seems to just be a free XP Vm that has these Integration Features enabled by default.
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Are you asking if AV is necessary, or if your system tells you there is no AV installed is necessary?

I would say that both are a very welcome feature in my book, and Windows has been doing that since XPSP2...
 
Demon10000 said:
Are you asking if AV is necessary, or if your system tells you there is no AV installed is necessary?

I would say that both are a very welcome feature in my book, and Windows has been doing that since XPSP2...
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Hmm, I think you may be misinterpreting my line of questioning. I'm referring to the XP Mode inside Windows 7, the Virtual Machine add on for Windows 7.

Is it necessary to have virus protection for the vm inside an os that has virus protection? I would think that that would be a big negative for XP Mode.
 
Yes it is still necessary to have protection of the VM if you are using it for any web browsing or downloaded softawre. A VM is a separate system within the system and does not share the host AV. There are plenty of free options you can install in it.
 
That is a good question. I have no answer and will be following this thread.
I guess, in general, you are asking if a guest OS needs to have an anti virus if the host already has an anti virus.

I suspect that you do need an anti virus on the guest.
If you download a file, your antivirus cannot detect it until the file is completely downloaded.
Now, if you download a file in your guest OS, your host OS has no way of seeing the file. If that file contains a virus, your host anti virus cannot do anything about it.
 
Host OS and VM OS are totally separate. You decide whether you need anti-virus on either machine.

It's a full on install of XP so thats why it asks.
 
Yes.

Anti-virus software is highly recommended to run on Windows XP virtual machines within Windows 7 since it is a separate O/S instance.

I can tell you right now from experience, Avast!, Kapersky, & NOD run just fine under Windows 7 or VM XP.
 
Well I guess what throws me is the fact that VMs are nice because they are supposed to be sandboxed. If the guest OS gets hosed, you can just drop it and it won't affect the host. The thing is though, with the XP Mode and I guess the next version of Virtual PC, the VMs can integrate with the host to some extent. Guest programs can get published to the host. I wonder how this affects the sandboxing?
 
rgratto2 said:
Well I guess what throws me is the fact that VMs are nice because they are supposed to be sandboxed. If the guest OS gets hosed, you can just drop it and it won't affect the host. The thing is though, with the XP Mode and I guess the next version of Virtual PC, the VMs can integrate with the host to some extent. Guest programs can get published to the host. I wonder how this affects the sandboxing?
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You need an AV/Firewall because the VM typically has full access to your local hard drive(s). Of course, you would think that your local AV/Firewall would stop anything that came though, but because the VM is inside your network, it will have higher privileges than an off-network resource would, potentially opening yourself up to attack.
 
A good virtual machine is generally well sandboxed so you shouldn't have to worry about a virus escaping from Virtual XP into the host.

Virtual XP will still need to have it's own virus protection even though it's running in Win7. V-XP will still be susceptible to viruses that affect XP sp3. If V-XP does become infected though, you can easily delete that instance without it affecting the host.
 
MrF said:
What is that statement based on?
Do you have an explanation or a link?
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Once you remove an instance of a virtual machine all files including viruses are gone. It's akin to formatting a drive. There's a built in assumption that V-XP works similar to other virtual machines I've used, as I haven't used it yet myself.
 
You can just use the same virus protection you currently are. I'm running nod 4 on both instances (win7 and VM-xp) and it doesn't complain at all.
 
bonsai said:
Once you remove an instance of a virtual machine all files including viruses are gone. It's akin to formatting a drive. There's a built in assumption that V-XP works similar to other virtual machines I've used, as I haven't used it yet myself.
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That's like saying "You don't need an antivirus on your computer, if it gets infected, just format it and reinstall it".

VM or a direct install...peeling off needed data, formatting, reinstalling..restoring data and settings..it's the same thing...sucks up your time.
 
DarkStryke said:
You can just use the same virus protection you currently are. I'm running nod 4 on both instances (win7 and VM-xp) and it doesn't complain at all.
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I run NOD4 as well. I guess I'll drop it on that VM. I have some other VMs as well that I had already put Avast on.

I guess the conclusion to draw here is that the XP VM isnt really any different than any past VMs. From what I've seen, the big difference is that Windows Virtual PC is different from Virtual PC 2007 because it integrates much closer to the host OS, and provides certain "Integration Features". XP Mode seems to just be a free XP Vm that has these Integration Features enabled by default.
 
bonsai said:
If V-XP does become infected though, you can easily delete that instance without it affecting the host.
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Let me ask this again clarifying my question.
Why do you state "without it affecting the host"?

The guest has access to the files on the host.
If the guest is infected, it can infect files on the host.
At that point, you will have to rely on the host anti virus to detect such files. But, in that case, if the only remedy is to delete such file, you have lost a file.

So, my question is:
What is that statement (the highlighted part) based on? Do you have a link to substantiate that claim?
 
MrF said:
Let me ask this again clarifying my question.
Why do you state "without it affecting the host"?

The guest has access to the files on the host.
If the guest is infected, it can infect files on the host.
At that point, you will have to rely on the host anti virus to detect such files. But, in that case, if the only remedy is to delete such file, you have lost a file.

So, my question is:
What is that statement (the highlighted part) based on? Do you have a link to substantiate that claim?
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Well, I think that you're a little off here.
***Disclaimer - I am purely speaking Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 or a VM in windows virtual pc that does NOT have integration features enabledd here.***
The guest only has access to the host if you specifically set up the shared folders to the host. Therefore, it should theoretically be sandboxed and should not be allowed to affect the host. However, as someone alluded to - the guest will be on your network, so it is possible that it could access files/machines across your network and monkey with things. Thats a matter of network security though.
 
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rgratto2 said:
I guess the conclusion to draw here is that the XP VM isnt really any different than any past VMs.
Click to expand...

I thought Virtual PC 2007 did not provide access to the USB ports.
XP VM does, which is nice.
So, there may be some differences.
 
rgratto2 said:
Well, I think that you're a little off here.
***Disclaimer - I am purely speaking Microsoft/Windows Virtual PC here.***
The guest only has access to the host if you specifically set up the shared folders to the host.
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I'm not sure why you say that.
I just tried it (again). By default, XP mode has access to all files on the host.
I just deleted a file on my Windows 7 desktop from Windows XP mode.
 
MrF said:
I'm not sure why you say that.
I just tried it (again). By default, XP mode has access to all files on the host.
I just deleted a file on my Windows 7 desktop from Windows XP mode.
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My mistake, I amended my first post. XP mode has the integration features enabled automatically. If those are disabled, the VM should be sandboxed still. I meant to address that scenario.
 
rgratto2 said:
My mistake, I amended my first post. XP mode has the integration features enabled automatically. If those are disabled, the VM should be sandboxed still. I meant to address that scenario.
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I think it has to default to sharing file access. The idea is to make it as seamless to the end user as possible, and having to maintain two different sets of files (host and VM) is cumbersome, if not impossible, depending upon the type of application, especially in a business environment. Granted, I haven't used it yet either, so this is just an assumption on my part.
 
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