XP Mode vs VM

Hey guys, I just got a new laptop with Win7. Previously I've been using WinXP with limited user account. So I've been doing a lot of reading on whether or not to use admin/limited with UAC already

Anyway, my question is regarding virtualization.

On XP, I was using limited user with sandboxie, and worked great, never had any security issues, just not very convenient

I was thinking of just having my base Win7 a very minimal install, and doing everything within VMs. Like a separate VM for questionable software/movies/music/apps, and another VM where I do my legit work.

Then I heard about XP mode, which is basically a VM in itself. Instead of getting VMware or VirtualBox to do what I was planning, can I just use XP mode? I really like the feature of VMs where you can backup a VM, and at any point just wipe it clean and revert to a previous state. Can I do that in XP mode?

Any other advice/guidance is appreciated as well

 

XP Mode is only available in Windows 7 Ultimate/Enterprise and it is FREE. Where as, VMware will require a license and installing XP in it will also require a license.

Best regards,

 

XP mode is available on Win7 Professional as well.

I don't really care about the free/not free issue, but rather about security, practicality and usability. I am under the impression that XP mode is a full VM.

 

I have used in the past about six years ago, but don't remember very much about it.

Best regards,

P.S. When it comes to security, nothing beats VMware and its snapshot technology.

 

I haven't used XP Mode, however based on reading it seems like the point is seamless integration of legacy apps that do not run properly in Windows 7. In other words I believe it's designed to make it easy to exchange information with the Host OS. If you want to isolate the VM I recommend Virtualbox. You can prevent sharing between the guest and the host, and in general the boundary between the two is very clear. You do need a separate license for the guest OS (you have to activate XP). Virtualbox is free and works fine in my experience. There's a bit of a performance hit running software in a VM. Make sure your CPU supports virtualization and that the option is turned ON in the BIOS.

 

i used XP mode extensively in the last year
and to tell it's not that good
you can use VM Player or Virtual Box
virutal box has more option and it's free

BTW if you compared Sandboxie to Full blown Virtual system
i think sandboxie is better because it's faster than booting a virtual system " let's say if you want to play a movie "
less resource consumption etc.....

if you have some suspicious file open it inside sandbox inside VM

 

From what I've been reading, I think you can turn off all of that integration stuff.

Anyway, I'm gonna just stick with sandboxie, its what I know. I'm tired of reading about all the security stuff. I haven't been infected in probably 10 years probably

 

Sounds like SandboxIE is meeting your needs. One thing about using a VM is it makes it easy to test drive software without installing it on your host system. I know that's not what you're looking for at the moment, but just thought I'd mention it.

 

Well I can test software with Sandboxie too, you just install the program directly INTO the sandbox, rather than installing it on your system and merely running it sandboxed.

In fact this is what I already do. Especially when I'm downloading new software that I'm unsure about, I just install it into the sandbox to try it out