- BEST VIRTUAL MACHINE SOFTWARE 2015 INSTALL
- BEST VIRTUAL MACHINE SOFTWARE 2015 FULL
- BEST VIRTUAL MACHINE SOFTWARE 2015 PC
- BEST VIRTUAL MACHINE SOFTWARE 2015 WINDOWS 8
BEST VIRTUAL MACHINE SOFTWARE 2015 INSTALL
If you have an extra license for Windows, you can go ahead and install a copy into your VM, and if you don’t have access to the install media anymore, you can legally download Windows 7, 8, and 8.1, or you could join the Windows Insider program and use Windows 10 as your testbed for free until the final version is released. RELATED: Where to Download Windows 10, 8.1, and 7 ISOs Legally There’s just one small problem… Windows isn’t free. Now that you’ve selected your virtual machine software, and you know what you need to properly virtualize without allowing a possible infection to spread, it’s time to go about installing an operating system inside of your virtual machine. Acquiring an Operating System for Your Virtual Machine You probably want to avoid running actual malware in a virtual machine unless you completely shut down the VM network connection, but for testing freeware that might have spyware or adware included, a virtual machine will be a very safe solution. If the freeware contains some type of spyware, you don’t want it to be able to get access to your accounts. The same goes for Google or any other accounts.
BEST VIRTUAL MACHINE SOFTWARE 2015 WINDOWS 8
BEST VIRTUAL MACHINE SOFTWARE 2015 PC
It’s not free, but it’s a lot faster than Virtualbox, integrates really well into OS X, and it even supports Aero transparency in Windows. We’d stick with Virtualbox.Įditor’s Note:If you’re running OS X and want to test out some Windows software, we’d recommend getting a copy of Parallels, which is our favorite virtual machine solution. There are other solutions, but VMware Player don’t support snapshots, Hyper-V supports a similar feature called “checkpoints” but has a really clunky interface, and while VMware Workstation has snapshots and is easy to use, it’s fairly expensive for what we’re trying to accomplish. It’s free, open-source, runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux, the interface is easy to use, and it supports snapshots. If you’re running Windows, Virtualbox is probably your best bet. Just install it into a virtual machine instead. Some of them will only bundle the crapware if you are using Internet Explorer - so you think you’re recommending a clean source to your family because you’re using Chrome, only to help them get infected because they are still on IE. Even open-source software isn’t safe from the awful - SourceForge now bundles some pretty terrible crapware with a lot of their downloads, and that’s just the “safe” sources.īut you can still get all of your freeware testing fun without worrying about malware problems.
BEST VIRTUAL MACHINE SOFTWARE 2015 FULL
That’s why we almost never recommend software downloads unless they are from a really reputable place like SysInternals (Microsoft), Ninite, or NirSoft.Įvery other download site is either wrapping crapware-filled freeware with their own crapware, or they are just distributing installers full of crapware. It’s been a long time since the days when you could just test out lots of freeware on your computer without worry - these days almost all freeware is bundled with spyware, crapware, adware, or the ninth circle of hell, which includes things like the awful Ask Toolbar or the terrible Trovi browser hijacker malware.
RELATED: Why We Hate Recommending Software Downloads To Our Readers You avoid installing nonsense on your PC to begin with by testing everything in a virtual machine first. We’ve long railed against registry cleaners and system tuners as useless products that waste your money, but how do you go about cleaning up after uninstalling shady freeware? Answer: You don’t.