Question...vmware 6.5

I just picked up a copy of vmware 6.5. Or, I think I did.

The guy who runs our local computer repair shop passed away a few weeks ago, 44 yrs old, massive heart attack.

His wife is clearing out the shop and is selling off everything - hardware, software, etc at ridiculously low prices. I picked up a box of CD's he had created for $5, and some other things.

The very first CD I looked at has vmware 6.5 and the license. It's over 450mb size. On checking, I discovered that this should run on Vista.

First - is it legal to use? I'm assuming it's on at least one computer that the man had.

Second - On a Vista HP laptop 1.8 intel dual core and 2G RAM, does my laptop have enough horsepower to run it? My plan is to run XP Home, maybe fool with some malware, or just have a place to check out new software.

My old desktop, XP Pro with only 512RAM is, I know, out of the question.

 

Just to add, I installed vmware via the CD. It registered and I've been using it. I put in XP Home, the SP2 pack, MSIE 8 and have a couple of security program .exe's sitting in a folder. I've also got Sandboxie 3.50 free on board.

Been reading the help file mostly, and don't plan to try downloading anything nasty until I'm comfortable that I've got vmware set up right. I allotted 512RAM, which was recommended and XP is running just as fast as on my old desktop. I reckon the 2G RAM on my laptop is adequate, since I don't multitask. The host, Vista HP, also shows no slowdown with vmware and XP HP running.

I also like that vmware's full screen fills my monitor. If not for the toolbar at the top and it being XP, I wouldn't know it was running in VM. The virtualbox I tried earlier couldn't do that, no matter what resolution I used.

Great program, based on a couple of days of use. Lots to learn and digest, but I'm working on it.