Windows XP Mode Questions

[RP McIntosh]

If you are not browsing online when having the XP Mode running or want to browse a little safer you can go to an immediary site first It's the Windows for all site someone set up with a working IE you use there to leave no tracking cookies or be exposed to data miners and other bugs since that isolates you entirely. SilveOS.com - Silverlight operating system

I've been using when checking out any new sites with question marks before running into any nasties! That works like an extra layer of protection there.

The active shield portion should be able to be started up manually once the desktop is fully loaded if you find that is causing any concerns. You may even want to raise the allotted memory up to 2gb since you have adequate system memory to run multiple VMs at present to see if you are running into a lack of resources type problem rather any software conflicts.

The Brothersoft reference was simply one version of The Daily Journal found among other similar programs and may only be similar by name alone. Run a search on Bing and you'll find numerous links for those!

I'll look into the site you mention.

The Live Update isn't set to run automatically. But it sort of ends up that way, if it is the first virtual application I start. That is, (unless I'm mistaken in my thinking--always a possibility for me), the very first XP Mode application I start is sort of running on startup, since presumably, when I click the Live Update under the XP Mode applications, it must first start the Virtual Machine and XP Mode, and then, once they are up and running, the order to run Live Update is waiting. My intent was to not have to open XP Mode itself but once a month, to do the Windows Update--the rest of the time, I would simply run the XP Mode applications to make my Daily Journal entries, update the antivirus definitions, and copy my backup file to my backup drive.

 

[Night Hawk]

Once you have all of the XP updates on the only thing that should be seen is any updates for the XP Mode itself or the VPC at this point. SP3 is already included in the XP Mode.

The site is the Windows4all site someone set up some time back for those who have never run any version of Windows before since schools often use another OS on branded hardwares. You can download onto the VHD however even using the site's version of IE there while that does add a small layer inbetween you and any possible bad sites you happen into.

For backing files up and having no worries of bringing any bugs onto the main host OS and your regular drives another option besides even a second HD would be using the SkyDrive seen in the Windows Live Hotmail. With that you upload directly into folders you create online not on any internal drive.

You can then download any file into a folder set up for receiving on a separate drive if you have more then one and run separate scans to insure nothing coming from the XP Mode is bugged. But that requires creating a Windows Live id and download + install of the Live Hotmail setup to get that going.

Having other VMs without the direct access to internal drives seen there as with the integrated components in the XP Mode the Gladinet CloudDesktop program creates a folder on the vhd as well as your main drive to act like a go between since all you do is drag files into the folder for automatic uploads to your SkyDrive folders online.

Just an added thought while it does add a new step in the process to consider rather then going to the SkyDrive section online and browsing to the same folders you create there for storage.

 

[RP McIntosh]

Once you have all of the XP updates on the only thing that should be seen is any updates for the XP Mode itself or the VPC at this point. SP3 is already included in the XP Mode.

The site is the Windows4all site someone set up some time back for those who have never run any version of Windows before since schools often use another OS on branded hardwares. You can download onto the VHD however even using the site's version of IE there while that does add a small layer inbetween you and any possible bad sites you happen into.

For backing files up and having no worries of bringing any bugs onto the main host OS and your regular drives another option besides even a second HD would be using the SkyDrive seen in the Windows Live Hotmail. With that you upload directly into folders you create online not on any internal drive.

You can then download any file into a folder set up for receiving on a separate drive if you have more then one and run separate scans to insure nothing coming from the XP Mode is bugged. But that requires creating a Windows Live id and download + install of the Live Hotmail setup to get that going.

Having other VMs without the direct access to internal drives seen there as with the integrated components in the XP Mode the Gladinet CloudDesktop program creates a folder on the vhd as well as your main drive to act like a go between since all you do is drag files into the folder for automatic uploads to your SkyDrive folders online.

Just an added thought while it does add a new step in the process to consider rather then going to the SkyDrive section online and browsing to the same folders you create there for storage.

Thanks for all the information. It will take me a while to digest it all. But I appreciate the info.

 

[Night Hawk]

I can't pinpoint if it is or isn't Norton or The DJ program there. This is something you have to find out on your own there like I found some programs simply would go on but not run in the virtual environment as they would on a normal Windows install.

Bringing the ram available upto 2gb or just a little higher will suffice and leave some extra onhand to avoid any out of resources problem once you add a few more things on at some point. Here I was running 3 or 4 vhs at the same time having Virtual Box running at the same time as the XP Mode to see where those limits were going to be seen.

You'll get it worked out however. You may end up having to go with a smaller av program like the MS Security Essentials on the XP Mode and leave Norton strictly for your main host installation there. You would stll have a degree of protection inplace with that. The other ideas are workarounds when having doubts about possible risks in order to isolate things a bit further.

 

[RP McIntosh]

I can't pinpoint if it is or isn't Norton or The DJ program there. This is something you have to find out on your own there like I found some programs simply would go on but not run in the virtual environment as they would on a normal Windows install.

Bringing the ram available upto 2gb or just a little higher will suffice and leave some extra onhand to avoid any out of resources problem once you add a few more things on at some point. Here I was running 3 or 4 vhs at the same time having Virtual Box running at the same time as the XP Mode to see where those limits were going to be seen.

You'll get it worked out however. You may end up having to go with a smaller av program like the MS Security Essentials on the XP Mode and leave Norton strictly for your main host installation there. You would stll have a degree of protection inplace with that. The other ideas are workarounds when having doubts about possible risks in order to isolate things a bit further.

Thanks for the input. Having spent the last two weeks in the hospital, and still not getting around real well, I find I need to prioritize my computer activities. This one, at the moment, fits into the "minor annoyance" category, so as time and my physical endurance permit, I'll work on it. I do appreciate all of your insight, and your generosity in sharing your experience.

 

[Night Hawk]

You'll get there! With something this new while most here had previously run the RC version of the XP Mode last year if their hardwares supported it

With some programs written for XP I've run into dll library errors on some occasions showing not everything is going to work out well there anyways. You simply have to go with what does.

 

[RP McIntosh]

You'll get there! With something this new while most here had previously run the RC version of the XP Mode last year if their hardwares supported it

With some programs written for XP I've run into dll library errors on some occasions showing not everything is going to work out well there anyways. You simply have to go with what does.

Well, for the moment, it's merely an annoyance (and it hasn't put in an appearance in the last 3 days). As time permits, I'll do some experimenting, and let everyone know if I come across anything interesting.

 

[Night Hawk]

That's actually all you can do! For anything you install and run and then see some problem you have retrace all your steps and then make some adjustments to see if any problem is solved.

 

[nixie21]

I do get that message about logging off. I hit continue, but the application does not launch. The whole virtual machine opens with a box on the top saying starting virtual application (which never starts!!!) any clues???