Vanquishing the viruses, virtually

If you’re a net rider and just can’t  out-surf those viruses despite the anti-virus software  and firewalls you’ve installed, there’s good news for you — virtualisation

A new breed of software uses virtualisation technology to allow you to surf the internet without worrying about jeopardising your machine. In a sense, you can run a virtual computer on top of your existing computer profile.

For example, if you have a machine with a Linux operating system or an Apple Macintosh, a virtualisation software may mimic certain aspects of a Windows environment allowing you to run Windows-based programmes on your computer’s existing operating system.

A virtual computer is created on top of your machine and anything you do on your computer is done inside this virtual environment, which is severed from your real computer environment. So even if you pick up viruses, only the virtual computer will get infected, not  your real machine.

Once you restart or shut down your machine, the virtual environment and all that it has picked up during your session is reset. On restarting, the virtual environment is created anew.

Shut and reset: One of the most popular downloads is the $20 Returnil Virtual System, available for a 15-day trial from www.returnil.com. It creates a virtual operating system over your Windows system. It also creates a virtual partition of your computer memory, where it stores all the stuff you pick up off the net. The partition is reset and all its contents lost once you reboot.

The problem lies in keeping important downloads from being jettisoned with the rest. The solution, which is to turn off the virtual system and download the required file, is tedious.

 Another software, Virtual Sandbox, allows you to demarcate a folder in which you can put important files when you reset. Virtual Sandbox 1.0 (less user-friendly) is available for free at www.fortresgrand.com.