Normally, I unplug the Ethernet cable from my Windows computers after I complete the installation and boot them up for the first time. This time I simply disabled the network device for the VM to which I installed Windows XP Professional (without SP2), but it still connected to the Internet and I got an adware pop-up. Anyone else experience this, too? Oh well. I've blown away that VM and am starting over with a clean VM. This time I'll unplug the cat5 before the first boot... James
The last time it was tested, unprotected win boxen get found and owned 1-5 minutes after appearing on the net. Obviously, you don't have a router. Spend $50 or so and get a linksys or something to go between your mac and the net, you'll be glad you did. Then, after you load your windows VM, load avg anti-virus, windows defender, and make sure the windows firewall is on. Shut it down and make a copy of that virtual machines drive image. If you get junk in the near future, you can just copy the image back. I do all my internet stuff on the mac side and just save windows downloads to a fileshare that I can see on the windows side. it's safer.
Short of actually using 3rd-party antivirus software, the best bet is to install WinXP with SP2 already slipstreamed. This lasts long enough for you to download recent patches via Windows Update once the initial installation is complete. So... slipstream your WinXP CD.
thank yous and clarification Thank you for your excellent suggestions. I guess I left some information out of my original post. The game plan was to install Windows XP and disconnect/disable the Internet connection during the first boot so it would give me a chance to install SP2, which I had downloaded and burned to CD earlier, before connecting/enabling the Internet connection again. I had done this successfully previously by unplugging the Ethernet/cat5 cable connecting me to the internet. However, I wanted to maintain an Internet connection on the host system while the vulnerable guest OS was isolated from the network/Internet. This would allow me to continue to use the network/Internet while I patched and protected the guest OS. In this case, applying SP2 to Windows XP Pro. So, this time I wanted to test if disabling the network device in the VM during the first boot would have the same effect as unplugging the Ethernet/cat5 cable. It didn't. Not only was the network device not disabled, my Windows installation established a connection to the Internet before I could install SP2 -- even though I had disabled the network device in the VM's settings. Needless to say, I wasn't pleased to see an adware window pop up. So, the real question is: Is there something wrong with the network device settings that needs to be fixed in a future release? It seems like there is something wrong with the settings to me. When the network device is disabled in the VM settings, the guest OS in the said VM should no longer have access to the network (in particular, the Internet). It should be like the networking cable had been disconnected. That was not the case here. Does something need to be fixed? James
