Antivirus Software

Hi,
When in Virtual PC XP mode computer reports a risk - no antivirus software installed. I have Norton on the PC - does it need to be installed again on the Virtual PC?

Thanks,

rthomas268 said:

Hi,
When in Virtual PC XP mode computer reports a risk - no antivirus software installed. I have Norton on the PC - does it need to be installed again on the Virtual PC?

Thanks,

Yes, you need to install antivirus software on XP Mode. XP Mode is in an isolated environment.

Yes, get the best, which is free, non-obtrusive, small footprint, winner of many awards from independent security evaluators, namely, get Microsoft Security Essentials.
MSE - Microsoft Security Essentials

I tried putting an old, XP version of Norton Antivirus on my virtual machine (XP Mode). It didn't go well. First, I got an error as it installed. Couldn't update a DLL in the system folder. Live update seemed to run fine. Restarted XP mode and there was no Norton Shield Icon on the taskbar. I started Norton from the start menu and tried a quick scan. Blew up.

I have the newest Norton (2011) on Win 7. I've used the older XP version on my other PC with Dual Booting (XP, Win 7) no problems. Apparently XP Mode isn't as isolated as we think. Thank goodness that system folder was protected. It would have been a disaster if the old Norton had dumped files into Win7.

I had copied the virtual machine image to another folder as a backup before installing Norton. So, restoring the virtual machine image was no biggie.

I don't know if I'll try AVS or not. Has anyone done it and got it working?

Really, XP mode is pretty secure without Antivirus. I never, ever use IE6 in virtual mode. I don't read email in my virtual machine either. All I do is run Word Perfect 9 (part of Correl Office 2000) in XP Mode. Usually the xp mode is only started for maybe a couple hours a week. There's not much time for any virus to get into it. Yes, I could open an infected file. There is always risk in not using antivirus.

I'd like to run AVS. But, after this Norton blowup. I'm not sure.

I have win 7 I installed MSE
I have XP Mode I installed MSE

Zero problems.

OK, I'll give it a try in XP mode then. thanks!