the difference among wmware, shadow user, deep freeze, etc.

[daniu]

excuse my ignorance, but why to use shadow user, deep freeze, etc and not (for free)
vmware player?

[Mrkvonic]

Hello,
Why not use both?
VMware Player for testing software conveniently, for secure browsing uf you like. ShadowUser for preventing permanent changes to your system. While using VMware, you can and may install things on your PC. When using ShadowUser you may decide if to keep changes.
The main difference is in the level of virtualization. VMware runs on your system and hosts a guest OS. ShadowUser runs in front of your system, as a sandbox.
Use them both.
Mrk

[daniu]

Excuse again, but if I delete the virtual disk created by vmware player, I have not installed anything on real hd, or is it not so? Sorry for my not understanding.

[Mrkvonic]

Hello,
Correct.
Virtual disks (.vmdk) are only files. They can be rather big files - 10-100Gb or anything, but still only files. Delete them, and poof they're gone.
VMware Player is software that needs to be installed. But gues OSes you run it are just files - like any document you open in a word processor or so.
Mrk