I understand I need a separate antivirus program for XP mode. But what if I never use XP mode to access the Internet?
If the virtual XP machine is considered to be a separate machine is it somehow going to be exposed to a network through the Windows 7 OS machine?
XP mode will need to be updated just like any XP OS. You'll need access to the net at least for that. You can disable it after checking for updates but some software "phones home" when you use It and requires net access. Other than that, it's a stand alone machine. However, the XP Mode is capable of sharing files with the host as well as USB drives so I would be cautions in that regard.
I forgot about all the updating. I do have another copy of Norton that I could use for the XP. I thought about using XP mode in order to play a few older games. Currently I get an error message that a certain dll file is missing when I try to run the opening menu for the games. The dll is in one of the Windows folders but I don't see it in the Registry. I thought about trying to register it but I'd rather not mess with the Registry if I don't have to. But that may be worth a try before installing XP to see what happens.
Quote