Question about VMware?

Fine.

You'll have to see what your system can run with but for running one Windows vm with 512mb ram you'll be fine.

If I remember with my P4 1.25GB ram 2.8GHz I could run Windows XP, W2k and Linux at the same time on dedicated vm hard disks.

 

I agree with this and also...

...this is not good. You should really get yourself some powerful hardware before attempting to mess with VMs.

 

What hardware should i had at least to attempt to run vmware?

 

that's a strategy for meeting your needs, but not the actual needs themselves. why do you want to perform this test? are you hoping to use the results to help you make some sort of decision? if there were already results available, would they help you just as well as your own results would?

 

Well, that would depend on what you intend to do in a VM.
But yeah, Meriadoc is right, for a single XP VM with 512mb RAM it should be OK. Perhaps I'm just accustomed to stronger VM specs...

 

I want to perform these tests because a lot of people i know get infected and ripped off from rouge antiviruses. They dont know which is good or bad. It hurts me to see that. So i want to help. That is why i want to do these tests. Just in case i or someone i know gets infected. I am doing these tests to find the best apps to remove malware. That is the true reason that i do this. I also think its very cool.

 

i see. i think this is something i can work with, but from a different angle than what you were probably expecting.

i see 2 main goals here: helping your friends identify a rogue anti-malware app when they get 'infected' by one, and figuring out what the best way to recover from an infection is.

the first one is actually pretty straight-forward. your friends need to know that if there's a security app on their system telling them things need to be done and they didn't install that app, then it's bad. furthermore, if it says they have to pay for removal then it's most likely bad too. what they need to know is how to recognize the legitimate anti-malware app installed on their system (assuming there is one) and that can be done by showing them what a real alert looks like. most legitimate anti-virus products will alert on the eicar standard anti-virus testfile. you can use it to artificially trigger their real av and show them what an alert is actually supposed to look like and tell them if it doesn't look like that then there's something wrong.

as for recovery, you should know that malware removal by general purpose removal tools is often not exact. it's often better to restore a system from backups or even restore a drive image. such methods can restore a system without knowing anything about what compromised it, but that can be a double-edged sword because, with so much of today's malware designed to steal information like credit card numbers or online banking credentials, it's important to know something about what compromised the system in order to know if something beyond the system needs recovery too. the other drawback of such an agnostic approach is that it requires you to be prepared before the compromise takes place, otherwise you're stuck using removal tools. if you must use a general purpose removal tool like like superanti-spyware or malwarebytes anti-malware then i would suggest not tying yourself down to a particular one because none of them remove everything and you may find that the one you didn't pick is actually better for the particular malware you have on hand. and as for that, both superanti-spyware and malwarebytes anti-malware have excellent reputations so you should feel confident with using either one of them.

 

well even those who do not get infected want good protection and mostly rely on authentic and professional testing

yup indeed it is.... till one doesn't get struck by the bolt of fire

 

you should try it on a spare pc sometime.

 

Why don't you try VirtualBox it is quite a solid product with all the features that vmware could provide; and more importantly it is free. Also you could run a vmware image inside virtualbox with no problem.

Reference:

http://www.virtualbox.org/

Thanks.

 

OK guys. Be honest. Do you think that if i get a spare pc that i should test with VMware workstation?

 

*bump*

 

*bump*

 

I agree with Peter's advice. Things can get away from you very quickly.

 

I have not participated in this discussion because I know very little about the sorts of things being talked about but I have found it interesting so thank you Firebolt059 for the thread.

However your questions have been answered and the clear consensus is that you are pursuing something best left alone.

If you do decide to proceed then I would guess a spare PC would be a good idea, one that is isolated from all others that you use, and one that you are prepared to junk if things go wrong. I would also suggest that if this is the course of action you pursue that you should simply get a good image program and restore the PC to a clean state after each test. Virtualization is not one of your more basic PC technologies. To use it properly will (I expect) take some time to get to understand it well enough that you can use it effectively. Its much simpler (I think) to just restore an image than it is to create a virtual PC within your existing PC so why add the extra layer of complexity if you do not have to.

Think of it this way, you are wanting to play with hazardous materials. Materials that have been tested by many experts in many labs and the results of their testing is freely available if you look for it on-line. Particularly on the Wilders Security Forum (see some of the other boards). Why you think you need to do your own experimentation rather than rely on the results and recommendations of those who are professionals in the filed is beyond me.

No offence intended.

 

Good advice Bgoodman. Thats exactly the method I use for testing things out. I got an old "War Machine" lappy that only gets used for testing. The lappy is imaged and the image is stored on a DVD. When I get done testing I wipe the HD and restore the image.

 

Because maybe those tests are outdated or there was a newer version of the program.

No Offense taken. I understand. What are some "professional" sites where they test the software? where can i actually see the results?

 

Actually, i am not doing virtual testing. i will watch others. But I will build a bootable Anti-Malware disc.

 

*bump*

 

Others people's thought about me building a bootable antimalware disc

 

Since that's a different topic, shouldn't you start a new thread?

 

Why dosnt anyone think i can handle vmware? All i have to do is get a junk pc (which i have one,) install vmware and go to ~ Removed Link to Malware site as per Policy ~ to get the viruses,malware,spyware,rouges,worms,trojans, etc. etc.