At Sat, 13 Feb 2010 15:10:18 +0530, Karthik Balaguru wrote: > Hi, > The internet connection is in Linux (Host OS). I have been planning > for ubuntu (Host OS) and Windows Vista(Guest OS). > I am just eager to know if i have Windows as a guest OS on Host > OS(Linux), is it less possible for Windows to get infected by virus as > Host OS is only connected to internet ?
The short answer is no, it's not less possible, in most situations. The word "virus" as it is commonly used actually refers to at least 3 types of malware: true viruses, trojan horses and worms. Using the NAT network option of virtualbox will *only* protect against worms - and then only if you don't have any NAT or suitably-strict firewall between your computer and the Internet already (which would be protecting you already). Most home and corporate networks these days have either NAT or a firewall or both, so it probably won't make any difference. Using other network options in VirtualBox either won't protect against worms, or won't allow you to connect to the Internet directly from the guest. I recommend not using the Internet as far as possible in Windows, if you can avoid it. This still won't protect you against, e.g. viruses present in files manually copied from host to guest. But at least it will protect you from certain types of malware on web pages (those which use security flaws in Internet Explorer or whatever to auto-install themselves). If this is not clear enough, please reply and I will be happy to explain further. Regards, -- Robin Green _______________________________________________ vbox-users mailing list vbox-users@virtualbox.org http://vbox.innotek.de/mailman/listinfo/vbox-users
