[Sirfishalot]

I'm in the process of installing VPC on my Mac. Now will I be succeptable to the PC virus woes that we as priveledge OSXers dont typically have to worry about?

[OptimusG4]

Originally posted by Sirfishalot:
I'm in the process of installing VPC on my Mac. Now will I be succeptable to the PC virus woes that we as priveledge OSXers dont typically have to worry about?

Nope.

[Art Vandelay]

But the Windows OS running inside of VPC is just as vulnerable as the real thing.

[Love Calm Quiet]

Your Mac with VPC can now enjoy VIRTUAL Viruses - and enjoy the havoc they wreak upon your Windows installation.
But then I'm sure you won't be storing any of actual value within the Windows portion of your system.

[macsfromnowon]

In fact the Windows portion of your system should then be able to be turned into a spamming "zombie" machine if infected by the right viruses, I suspect... and suck up info from any Windows based address book, etc.

...Windows virus infection might be something to check if you ever see your overall Mac performance deteriorating.

[sandsl]

Unless of course you have your mac drives (read/write) shared to the virtual machine, in which case a virus on the virtual machine could delete some of your mac files if it so wanted to.

[djohnson]

This is why it is better to just spend to dough on parts for building a windows machine.......

[Mr. Blur]

Originally posted by djohnson:
This is why it is better to just spend to dough on parts for building a windows machine.......

and again.....i don't want to carry a pc around with me in addition to my powerbook....and some others may not have the extra space for another computer.

[Cadaver]

Originally posted by sandsl:
Unless of course you have your mac drives (read/write) shared to the virtual machine, in which case a virus on the virtual machine could delete some of your mac files if it so wanted to.

Yes. This is very important to remember. Unless absolutely necessary, I suggest never leaving your VPC application in a state where Windows has access to your Mac's files ("shared folders" in VPC lingo). A Windows virus could wipe out your Mac stuff, too, if it has access to these shared folders.

[tsuki]

Originally posted by Cadaver:
Yes. This is very important to remember. Unless absolutely necessary, I suggest never leaving your VPC application in a state where Windows has access to your Mac's files ("shared folders" in VPC lingo). A Windows virus could wipe out your Mac stuff, too, if it has access to these shared folders.

I have to use VPc to run my pc only stamps.com program & in order to get my addresses over "there" I have to have one shared folder that I can open. What do I need to do to?Is there a setting I should change before I quit? I usually Save All & Quit when I'm through in VPC...I never use it for any other program.

[sandsl]

Originally posted by tsuki:
I have to use VPc to run my pc only stamps.com program & in order to get my addresses over "there" I have to have one shared folder that I can open. What do I need to do to?Is there a setting I should change before I quit? I usually Save All & Quit when I'm through in VPC...I never use it for any other program.

Well, you could try using VPCs drag-and-drop (from mac desktop/folder to windows desktop/folder) functionality as a replacement to using shared folders/drives - this would be safer from a virus protection perspective.

You could also consider installing windows virus protection software on VPC. There are no settings you should change before you quit which would make it any safer - VPC only runs when the application is open and unpaused.

Finally, the risk of a windows virus wiping your mac drive is relatively small if you follow normal safety proceedures for working on windows systems such as, don't open e-mail attachments etc.

[Love Calm Quiet]

Sandsl 's point makes clear one of the best overall strategies when employing VPC - don't use Windows email apps (don't know why you would). Then there's not even the risk of anyone (you or guest, etc) accidentally clicking on the next-generation emailed virus.

[C.J. Moof]

I'd also advise making a periodic archive of the Windows virtual drive. This way, if you do manage to pick up a Widows virus, it's really easy to roll back to the previous state.

[Sven G]

... BTW, if you would want to install a Windows antivirus program within Virtual PC, a good free one is AVG, which also gets updated with new definitions rather frequently. Probably, a PC antivirus would considerably slow down the emulated Windows environment, however - not sure...

P.S.: See also here for an "official" explanation.