Antivirus necessary with Parallel's?

[Shahrum]

Hello,

I just purchased a license for Parallels and was wondering if it's necessary to install antivirus on an XP image that I'm using? Is it ever possible for a virus, if one comes into the XP image, to affect anything outside of that virtual windows environment?

Thanks!

 

[waremaster]

Hello,

I just purchased a license for Parallels and was wondering if it's necessary to install antivirus on an XP image that I'm using? Is it ever possible for a virus, if one comes into the XP image, to affect anything outside of that virtual windows environment?

Thanks!

If you were to get a virus on the xp install in parallels it would not affect the Mac OS but it will certainly mess up your XP setup so you should have virus protection if you plan to use XP online.

 

[Eidorian]

Does Parallels allow you to make a snapshot of your VM? I'd get a free antivirus and make a snapshot of XP in GOOD working condition. If it infected just revert to your good snapshot. Just make sure you have your other files backed up too.

 

[waremaster]

Does Parallels allow you to make a snapshot of your VM? I'd get a free antivirus and make a snapshot of XP in GOOD working condition. If it infected just revert to your good snapshot. Just make sure you have your other files backed up too.

Well parallels is simply a file on the drive so it's quite easy to back it up. You can simply copy the file to a different drive or just duplicate the file at any time.

 

[Eidorian]

Well parallels is simply a file on the drive so it's quite easy to back it up. You can simply copy the file to a different drive or just duplicate the file at any time.

I'm used to being able to make snapshots of the VM state in VMWare. I haven't used Parallels. I'm waiting for their 3D acceleration work first.

 

[waremaster]

I'm used to being able to make snapshots of the VM state in VMWare. I haven't used Parallels. I'm waiting for their 3D acceleration work first.

Parallels and VMware are so similar it's not even funny. You may find snapshots are an option as well. I couldnt tell you for sure though.

 

[Eidorian]

Parallels and VMware are so similar it's not even funny. You may find snapshots are an option as well. I couldnt tell you for sure though.

I mean, it just makes sense to have VM state snapshots. It allows you to create a workflow and package an OS installation for deployment. I've had to turn one XP installation into 3 different types and package them for different departments. I just took a snapshot of the base state (XP, patches, drivers, security) and worked from there.

 

[Shahrum]

I'm mainly just using XP to access my work's VPN thru Cisco and then use the Citrix web apps which works much better in XP than Mac OSX because of the Internet Explorer dependencies.

The only other concern is with shared folders... I have my ~\Documents folder shared with full write/read on both OS's... if XP does something to put a file into that share then should I be concerned? I'm guessing a virus in XP could wipe that data folder, but wouldn't go any further... perhaps I'll reevaluate the shared folder idea or just put my university's copy of Symantec Corporate on the XP image.

 

[Bill Gates]

I would install AVG antivirus (http://free.grisoft.com). It's free and light on resources, so you won't even know it's there unless a problem arises.

 

[Lollypop]

I'm mainly just using XP to access my work's VPN thru Cisco and then use the Citrix web apps which works much better in XP than Mac OSX because of the Internet Explorer dependencies.

The only other concern is with shared folders... I have my ~\Documents folder shared with full write/read on both OS's... if XP does something to put a file into that share then should I be concerned? I'm guessing a virus in XP could wipe that data folder, but wouldn't go any further... perhaps I'll reevaluate the shared folder idea or just put my university's copy of Symantec Corporate on the XP image.

Mind if I ask what kind of IE dependancies you are refering to... I know its a vendor talking, but Citrix told me during a presentation of their server that the experience is suppose to be completely transparent, no matter what OS is used.

The shared folder might be a vector for a virus to get onto your mac, they wont effect any mac files or applications but from your mac you can spread the virus to other machines. I would install AV software on your windows virtual machine, a windows VM is only vulnerable if you plan on connecting it to a network, clearly you plan on doing just that.

 

[Shahrum]

Mind if I ask what kind of IE dependancies you are refering to... I know its a vendor talking, but Citrix told me during a presentation of their server that the experience is suppose to be completely transparent, no matter what OS is used.

The shared folder might be a vector for a virus to get onto your mac, they wont effect any mac files or applications but from your mac you can spread the virus to other machines. I would install AV software on your windows virtual machine, a windows VM is only vulnerable if you plan on connecting it to a network, clearly you plan on doing just that.

The app I'm trying to access is IE-only and when run thru Citrix, Citrix launches an IE instance and then connects to that web app. Do you mean that if I connected to the VPN thru Cisco on my Mac (w/o parallels) and then pulled the Citrix site up that it would run IE on my Mac? Thanks.