Which virtualization app ?

I have an old laptop I want to use for testing apps etc and want to install something like deep freeze or shadow defender. What is best for a beginner.

 

I personally find Shadow Defender much easier to use. I think the interface is nicer and easier to understand. Just my opinion, though .

 

Hi, well if you mean, easy to use ? ShadowDefender

Unfortunately, SD & others like it, don't allow Apps that require a reboot to survive it Not all do of course Maybe someone knows of something that will

What you might consider is imaging software, which will allow such testing etc, as you can re-image afterwards back to where you were before

 

Is SD still being developed and supported.? i read the forum had been abandoned

 

Yes it is being developed again, the new forum is at http://shadowdefenderforum.com/

And as others have said ShadowDefender is very easy to use, plus it is a lifetime license.

 

David,

Shadow Defender is the King of 'Light Virtualization' apps imho - and while it is not free you do get a lifetime license for about the same price you would pay for a 1-year 'rental' of Deep Freeze! Btw, Toolwiz Time Freeze is a darn good free LV.

As far as using any of them to install and test other apps, the LVs will work fine so long as the app you are installing doesn't require a reboot in order to complete its installation (as CloneRanger suggested). That's because SD, TTF and the others clear-out their virtualized container on a reboot and you are back to where you were before enabling the LV in the first place (i.e., the app you installed for testing will be gone)!

If you want the ability to test apps that require a reboot to complete their installation I suggest a 'Full Virtualization' approach (i.e., VMware Player). But if your old laptop doesn't have sufficient resources to support VMware (esp. the disk space for the virtual machines) you might consider Toolwiz Time Machine wherein you would be able install an app requiring a reboot, then test it in the current snapshot and if/when you wanted to abandon it you would simply restore your prior snapshot. Be advised that as I write this TTM is still in beta, but the final version should be released shortly.

TS

 

Shadow Defender is great product for new as well as old systems. It works well with MBR as well as GPT partitioning system. It is stable now and in process of development (Tony may be forced to hide his identity due to some legal/other reasons).
Moreover, SD has option of RAM cache. If you install more RAM in your old laptop, you can allocate that extra RAM for virtualization cache and it will keep your system flying with green color.

 

Personally I've tried.......
Power Shadow / that was a few years ago
Deep Freeze
Returnil
+ Shadow Defender

I've stuck with SD for about four years now and it runs in Shadowmode 99.9% of the time, flawlessly, (v1.1.0.325) thats with Xp sp3 32-bit.