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[kenoloor]

Okay, so I'm running a virtual Windows 7 machine with VMWare Fusion on my Mac. It's an isolated virtual machine, so it's separate from the Mac software. However, because it is a Windows software, does this mean that my entire machine (the physical Mac) is now susceptible to the same viruses that the Windows (virtual) machine is? If not, do I really need to worry about anti-virus software for the Windows portion since the whole thing is essentially running on the Mac basis? I'd really rather not lost all of my shit.

Edit: Re-reading that, I'm realizing that it made much more sense in my head than it does in print. Apologies. Hopefully someone can still decipher what I'm getting at...

[ethanf93]

Your Windows VM is susceptible to Windows security problems; your Mac OS is susceptible to Mac security problems.

If the Windows VM is capable of accessing files outside of its virtual disk (so on your Mac's HDD), a virus infecting the VM could access those files on your HDD.

If you can directly run a Windows EXE from Finder or whatever, then I suppose in a sense yes, you are vulnerable to that executable containing malicious code.

(Just to clarify, if neither of these two conditions are met, then your Mac - not the Windows VM - is not in any way susceptible to Windows security issues)

[TheMatrix]

The entire point of a virtual machine is to keep the two systems separate. Therefore, unless the [FONT="Courier New"]C:[/CODE] drive is just directly linked to your MacOS directory, then yes, you can get viruses that affect both.* Otherwise, if VMware did a good job of their software, then there should be no problem. You should still install a security suite on the Windoze system unless you want to restore the VM to its original image each time there is a security breach.

* I know that the virtual drive is actually just a file on your host machine, but it makes it harder for the virus to do harm unless you use shared directories.

[kenoloor]

Excellent. Thanks!

[Thunduhbuhlt]

As stated above, it is susceptible to viruses and stuff. I recommended Avast for the windows portion of the machine. It's free and works incredibly well in my opinion.