An example of simple information protection on VMWare
By the nature of my activities in different projects of my own, I have to deal with both win / web programming and design, 3d animation, and administration of my servers. And also use WebMoney, surf, download keys from dangerous sites, install and test various dubious software, etc. Very often I connect all sorts of new devices to my computer.
If all this is done in one installation of Windows, sooner or later it will become dull and will have to be reinstalled all over again. You can also inadvertently pick up some kind of trojan or virus (although in my case it is unlikely).
Against the background of general paranoia for IT security, I found an excellent solution for myself — using different virtual machines for each specific range of tasks.
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As I have done:
1. I installed XP on VMWare, rolled up SP3, installed Far and Office - this is the necessary minimum for almost every task
2. For the first machine I made linked-clones (the new machine refers to the first, as the base) for surfing (and testing sites in different browsers in the “minimum” configuration, “with standard plug-ins” ...) and for testing new programs. After each shutdown of the machine, they return to their original state - so even if any dishonesty gets into the system, it will just as quickly disappear. In addition, the speed of the machines is always about the same.
3. Also, on the basis of the base machine, made a Design-version where Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, DW, Apache, PHP, etc. are installed. I use this machine as a base for virtual machines created for specific projects that require design abilities. Thus, my projects are distributed across different virtual machines and their settings do not overlap. All sites are located at 127.0.0.1, all have the same database settings. Similarly, for programming - each project on its clone machine. Everywhere there is MSVC, Delphi, Eclipse, Python, PHP, the necessary server with basic settings. Machines with projects are not turned off, but go to sleep-mode - thus, you can easily remember where you finished.
4. For e-money, I created a clone on a small flash drive, on which there is nothing besides this. It does not take much and does not work without a foundation. There is a snapshot for quick start. After turning off the machine, the state returns to the past (no history, trojans, etc.). Lies in the wallet :)
5. And on the main machine installed antivirus, firewall, office, mail and Winamp. And also 3DMax (all the same, the render is a rather stressful procedure). Everything.
This model has its badies:
1. Increased consumption of disk space - VMWare does not delete files on the disk, but marks them as deleted on its virtual disk. If it were not for the linked-clones, one could clean the machines, but then each clone weighed at least 3-4 GB. It is treated by replacing the screw with a huge one.
2. The inability to run more than 2 machines - not enough RAM. To work with Photoshop, you need at least half a gig per machine. And if at the same time some other software is launched - gig. Therefore, only 1 machine is actually running.
3. Updates have to roll on each machine separately.
4. It takes time to start the virtual machine (memory allocation, loading Windows if not in the slipmode)
Among the advantages, I would like to highlight the absence of a binding to certain physical media and the ability to quickly copy virtual machines to other computers without the need to install software (except VMWare). Recently I reinstalled Windows "with all software" in an hour. Or for example, it was necessary to stir up the network rendering in the laboratory. Instead of installing 3DMax, Vray, setting up and copying all the files on each computer, they simply cloned an already configured machine from the network drive and go ahead.
And of course the main thing is safety. Which of you keeps the keys to the bank client or webmoney in the folder C: \ E-Money \
PS: Another very significant plus is the ability to collect an archive of projects in the state in which you finished them. I took a DVD, copied it to a disk, opened it — I don’t need to install anything.
If all this is done in one installation of Windows, sooner or later it will become dull and will have to be reinstalled all over again. You can also inadvertently pick up some kind of trojan or virus (although in my case it is unlikely).
Against the background of general paranoia for IT security, I found an excellent solution for myself — using different virtual machines for each specific range of tasks.
')
As I have done:
1. I installed XP on VMWare, rolled up SP3, installed Far and Office - this is the necessary minimum for almost every task
2. For the first machine I made linked-clones (the new machine refers to the first, as the base) for surfing (and testing sites in different browsers in the “minimum” configuration, “with standard plug-ins” ...) and for testing new programs. After each shutdown of the machine, they return to their original state - so even if any dishonesty gets into the system, it will just as quickly disappear. In addition, the speed of the machines is always about the same.
3. Also, on the basis of the base machine, made a Design-version where Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, DW, Apache, PHP, etc. are installed. I use this machine as a base for virtual machines created for specific projects that require design abilities. Thus, my projects are distributed across different virtual machines and their settings do not overlap. All sites are located at 127.0.0.1, all have the same database settings. Similarly, for programming - each project on its clone machine. Everywhere there is MSVC, Delphi, Eclipse, Python, PHP, the necessary server with basic settings. Machines with projects are not turned off, but go to sleep-mode - thus, you can easily remember where you finished.
4. For e-money, I created a clone on a small flash drive, on which there is nothing besides this. It does not take much and does not work without a foundation. There is a snapshot for quick start. After turning off the machine, the state returns to the past (no history, trojans, etc.). Lies in the wallet :)
5. And on the main machine installed antivirus, firewall, office, mail and Winamp. And also 3DMax (all the same, the render is a rather stressful procedure). Everything.
This model has its badies:
1. Increased consumption of disk space - VMWare does not delete files on the disk, but marks them as deleted on its virtual disk. If it were not for the linked-clones, one could clean the machines, but then each clone weighed at least 3-4 GB. It is treated by replacing the screw with a huge one.
2. The inability to run more than 2 machines - not enough RAM. To work with Photoshop, you need at least half a gig per machine. And if at the same time some other software is launched - gig. Therefore, only 1 machine is actually running.
3. Updates have to roll on each machine separately.
4. It takes time to start the virtual machine (memory allocation, loading Windows if not in the slipmode)
Among the advantages, I would like to highlight the absence of a binding to certain physical media and the ability to quickly copy virtual machines to other computers without the need to install software (except VMWare). Recently I reinstalled Windows "with all software" in an hour. Or for example, it was necessary to stir up the network rendering in the laboratory. Instead of installing 3DMax, Vray, setting up and copying all the files on each computer, they simply cloned an already configured machine from the network drive and go ahead.
And of course the main thing is safety. Which of you keeps the keys to the bank client or webmoney in the folder C: \ E-Money \
PS: Another very significant plus is the ability to collect an archive of projects in the state in which you finished them. I took a DVD, copied it to a disk, opened it — I don’t need to install anything.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/26751/
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