Live PCs can be added easily to the application. The labs section on the MokaFive website lists dozens of potential Live PCs ranging from various MS-DOS versions, Linux distributions to gaming systems and applications. One of the most popular Live PCs is the Fearless browser which is a hardened browsing suite that provides anonymization and security.

The core benefit of running the MokaFive Player is that it is dead easy to use. All it takes is to either start one of the Live PCs that ship with the product or download an additional Live PC from the website. It does not take more than a few clicks to work with a virtual PC system.

The system virtualization software adds a few new features to VMWare Player including:

• Seamless updates of virtual machines. In MokaFive LivePC Engine, users are subscribed to a LivePC so they automatically receive all updates. Updates are sent through an RSS feed that the LivePC subscribes to.
• Streaming and caching of virtual machine images. MokaFive LivePC Engine will stream virtual machine images over the network so you don’t need to download the entire image before starting. It will also cache the image locally so you can work disconnected.
• Integrated backup. When using MokaFive LivePC Engine on a portable device, it will keep a backup so if you lose your portable device, you won’t lose your data.
• Hardware-accelerated 3D graphics support. MokaFive LivePC Engine includes support for DirectX 8 and 9 3D programs. The host graphics adapter is exposed to the guest operating system as a mokzzile 3D accelerator so DirectX applications can run at nearly full speed. Many games exhibit strange behavior such as slow timing in Call of Duty 4.
• Zero install (needs administrative rights) when running from a USB drive. When plugging into a host that does not have MokaFive installed, MokaFive LivePC Engine will dynamically install itself, and then uninstall itself after unplugging.

MokaFive Player is an excellent easy to use system virtualizations solution.

Related posts

• Software Virtualization With SafeSpace (10)
• ZoneAlarm Forcefield Free (15)
• VirtualBox a Vmware alternative (9)
• Use Returnil to create a Virtual System in Memory (2)
• Ulteo Virtual Desktop (10)

Returnil Premium is a program that can emulate the operating system in a sandbox – a virtual environment – so that changes have no effect on the system itself but only to the sandboxed copy of it. It does not require lots of computer knowledge to run, the only thing that’s out of the ordinary is the (optional) creation of a virtual partition that will be used to store data when the sandbox is active. Here are the steps on how to use the security software:

• Installation: You get some options here most notable to run the system on the hard drive or computer memory. There is also the optional setting to create a virtual partition on the computer system to store data. An alternative would be to use online storage space.
• Running Returnil: You can start Returnil after a restart. Once Returnil is started it will redirected access to the virtual system so that the actual computer system will not be harmed. You can then use whatever application you like. Keep in mind that any changes that have been made to the computer system will be undone after a restart as they have only been made in the virtual system and not the actual one. Here is an example:

  If you bookmark a page while Returnil is running it will show up in the bookmark manager. It will however be gone after a restart of the system.

• Stopping Returnil: The only way to stop Returnil is to reboot the computer system.
• Saving Data: Two ways to save data. The first is to use the virtual partition to store the data on as it will not be erased after a reboot on that partition. The second is by utilizing online storage space. You can sync bookmarks online, save files there, edit Word documents and basically do most things online.

How does Returnil work?

It is obvious that Returnil cannot mirror dozens of Gigabytes of data in the sandboxed environment. There is actually no need to clone the whole system. All that needs to be done is to keep track of the changes to the system and act as a proxy between the computer system and the virtual system.

What are the differences between the free and the premium version of Returnil?

The premium version of Returnil adds quite a few features that make it interesting. The user can choose to cache data in the computer memory or on the hard drive, save sessions to continue working with them at a later point, relocate system folders, to browse and move files between the real hard drive and the virtual drive, shell integration and free customer support.

Returnil Premium adds much needed features to the virtualization software that are missing in the free version. The main benefit of both versions is the simplicity of usage. You only need to press one button to turn the protection on once it has been configured the way you want.

Remember, you can request your Returnil Premium key by following the link on top. Would be still nice to tell us what you think of it.

Related posts

• Software Virtualization With SafeSpace (10)
• Free Returnil Virtual System Premium Edition (0)
• Xenocode Web Browser Sandbox (0)
• Ulteo Virtual Desktop (10)
• System Virtualization With MokaFive (6)

One small example. Downloading an infected file with your web browser or email client will have no negative impact on the core system. The virus will be executed in the virtual space and once that is purged, either manually or by logging off, it vanishes as if it never was executed in first place.

The software virtualization tool SafeSpace comes with a default set of applications that are always run in the sandbox and provides easy means to add additional applications. Besides that several directories, and their subdirectories, are automatically protected as well. This includes the Windows and Program Files directory among others.

SafeSpace protects the files and registry settings of the operating system by virtualizing any changes made by applications running inside SafeSpace. This means that applications can read the real data of Windows and any programs which are installed. But when applications attempt to make any changes to the real data, a virtual copy is created inside SafeSpace and the changes are made to the virtual data instead to prevent any changes from affecting the real data

SafeSpace provides a very clean and easy to use interface that is divided into a Privacy and Application tab basically. The application tab contains those applications that will run in the virtual environment while the Privacy tab contains folders and their status in the environment. Four statuses are available.

• Virtual: Files can be read normally but write processes are virtualized which ensures that the files remain unchanged
• Private: Applications running in the virtual environment can’t access those folders and files stored within.
• Read Only: Files can be read but no write process is allowed.
• Full Control: Gives virtual applications full control over the files in that folder.

When a software gets launched that is listed in the application list of SafeSpace it is specifically marked with a red border. This is a visual sign for the user that the application is running in a virtual environment.

Any file that gets downloaded from a virtual application will also be run in the virtual environment when it is executed even if it is saved in the “real” part of the hard drive.

The software virtualization application comes with another handy feature, a tool to prevent keyloggers for applications in the virtual environment.

Installation was not a problem at all. Just execute it like any other software and restart the computer at the end. Windows XP users need the Microsoft .net Framework 2.0 if they want to run the software virtualization application.

SafeSpace will have created the sandbox after the restart and applications like Firefox or Internet Explorer will automatically run in it.

Related posts

• ZoneAlarm Forcefield Free (15)
• System Virtualization With MokaFive (6)
• Ghacks Christmas Giveaway: Returnil Premium (54)
• DefenseWall HIPS (31)
• Xenocode Web Browser Sandbox (0)

All except Ulteo, to be precise, which hovered at the edge of my attention with their OpenOfficeOnline-Beta, for example. Now they’re back with a piece of software called “Virtual Desktop“, which can be confusing judging from the name, or at least I expected something different from it. But it turned out to be another solution to run Linux-software seamlessly in a windows environment, just like the recently extremely popular andLinux (In fact, both are based on the same core, coLinux, a portation of a Unix-kernel to windows). But since Ulteo’s Virtual Desktop uses less disk space in comparison to andLinux’ full-featured ubuntu (2,5-4,5 GB), I decided to give it a try.

Installation was quick, and since I already had an Ulteo-Account (which is not required unless you wanna sync your local data to your online desktop), I didn’t encounter anything unusual at all.

Starting the Ulteo Application inside Windows took quite a bit though, which is not to my liking – I guess it’s anywhere near twice the boot time of the kernel and Desktop Environment, and the memory usage was quite corresponding, which was not to my liking at all.

The amount of included application is allright, it features the newest Firefox and Thunderbird (of course), as well as OpenOffice and my all-time-reason-for-Linux, Amarok (which will soon enough be no reason for Linux anymore, since Amarok 2.0 is bound to happen on Windows as well) in version 1.3.9 – which brings me to the question, why they didn’t include the current Fast Forward release 1.4.9.1, and furthermore to the point of installing own applications, which seems impossible for the time being. I couldn’t figure out how to do it in the launcher, and the website speaks nothing of it.

The sight of the Konquerer hovering above the Windows Explorer was quite appealing though, and it helps to weaken the borders between the windows and the unix world even further, which is – at least in my world – a good thing.

Next time I’ll try andLinux though, regardless of the ~5GB installation of a full-fledged (K)Ubuntu.

Related posts

• Choosing an Online Desktop (21)
• ZoneScreen Finally Gets 64-bit Update (7)
• Zen Key An All Purpose Application Manager (3)
• Work in style with the Enigma desktop package (4)
• Windows Desktop Alternative BumpTop (3)

Returnil basically clones the system partition of the computer and boots the computer using the clone instead of the real system partition. The effect is of course that changes made to the clone can be reverted easily by rebooting the PC. Folders can be specified that retain the data that was saved into them, if you would not do that the saved files would be gone after a reboot.

I wrote a review about the free version of Returnil a few months ago. The premium edition of Returnil has some advantages over the free edition. It comes with a Session Saver and File Manager that the free version lacks. It’s also possible to choose the caching method and it does add several other features that are missing in the free version.

What Returnil offers is a way to use a virtual system that does not degrade system performance in any way. It might not be needed by experienced users but it’s definitely a good way of protecting the system if you are an inexperienced user or want maximum security.

Related posts

• True Crypt 6 released (3)
• Steganos Security Suite 2007 for free (18)
• Protect Files in Windows by locking them (6)
• Open Ports 1.0 (2)
• Norton Antibot Free 1 Year License (15)

Like the last time Linux will be embedded inside windows which has some advantages but also some disadvantages. Many people don´t like the idea of installing a second operating system, messing with their partitions and bootconfig and probably having to setup their first OS again because of errors they made. A Linux run in windows does not have this difficulties, its simply load and run like all other windows programs.

Users can get a feel for Linux without having to mess with it. The difference to a Linux live CD is that you have a writable Linux instead of a CD which is not writable at all.

To get things started you need to download a copy of damn small linux
and extract it to your hard drive once its downloaded. Make sure you download the dsl-embedded.zip file which is located in the current folder of every mirror.

Please note that you download an ISO file, you have the option to mount it using daemon tools for instance or use Winrar to do so.

Locate a file called dsl-windows.bat in the main dir and start it. Linux should load up and you are ready to use it.

Related posts

• Why you should switch your parents pc to ubuntu (20)
• Why Every Windows User Needs a Linux Live CD (0)
• VirtualBox a Vmware alternative (9)
• Use spare processing power for science (6)
• Ubuntu 8 makes it even easier to try out Linux (6)

All you need are three ingredients. First, you need the free vmware player, then you need os.zip which is used to install the operating system and finally you need a iso file or a cd / dvd of an operating system.

Installation is simple as well:

Install vmware player and unzip os.zip. Change to the unzipped directory and open os.vmx in a text editor.

Change the following lines:

memsize = “512″
ide1:0.fileName = “c:\image.iso

Edit the memsize line with an amount of ram that you want to provide for vmware and the second operating system. For most Linux distros 256 should be enough, make sure you leave enough for windows. The second line is the location of your .iso file. change it accordingly. If you have it on a cd or dvd edit the following three lines

ide1:0.present = “TRUE
ide1:0.fileName = “c:\image.iso
ide1:0.deviceType = “cdrom-image

into

ide1:0.present = “TRUE
ide1:0.fileName = “auto detect
ide1:0.deviceType = “cdrom-raw

Start Vmplayer and open the os.vmx, as soon as you see the starting screen press ESC to enter the list of bootable devices. Select Cd-Rom and hit enter. The Os should load just fine and you are ready to go.

The vmware site offers some prebuild virtual machines.

Related posts

• Zombie City Tactics (0)
• Why you should switch your parents pc to ubuntu (20)
• Who is connected to your pc right now ? (6)
• Use your Wiimote in Windows (0)
• USB 3.0: What You Need To Know About SuperSpeed USB (6)