Originally Posted by
nkedel
With a VM application like Virtual PC (or VM Workstation or VirtualBox) how do you keep her from getting into the main PC when she has to log into it to get to her VM?
She's not a mischievous child -- she just doesn't know a lot about computers.
I've set it up this way: I use Fences, which lets me organize icons into groups inside translucent boxes with labels at the top. One of the boxes has my wife's name and there's just one icon in it, labeled "start." When she clicks on that, the virtual machine starts and opens into full screen with a different background than main desktop. As long as she sees the Grand Canyon instead of the Ocean Sunset, she knows she's good to go.
Also, I'd guess she doesn't play any games (etc), as the 3D performance tends to be abysmal on VMs, but as long as she doesn't need it, it's an irrelevance. (* there are some exceptions, where you can pass the GPU entirely to the VM, but they are currently a bear to get set up.)
Neither of us play games. She watches videos on websites, but my system is fast enough to do that.
The alternatives would be a hypervisor where there's no outer OS to log into (or a very thin one she can't get into trouble with) like ESX/Xen/Hyper-V. The free edition of Hyper-V is likely your best choice there (eta: and by "best" I mean easiest to get set up if you're familiar with Windows.)
I'm not familiar either with the term, "hypervisor" or the software that you've mentioned, so I had to look it up. The machine that runs the virtual PC is the one I use for video editing, audio mixing and photo editing. I need all the power of my machine available to me to do this. I can't imagine what benefit I'd get from a hypervisor that would force me to work in a virtual PC.
As an alternative, what about a second cheapie USFF desktop with a KVM switch? Something like an Intel NUC or Mac Mini is even smaller than a laptop, and would share the same screen.
First off, I don't allow Macs in my house. I don't like their OS philosophy of "we know better how you need to work than you do," I don't like a proprietary (or quasi-proprietary) hardware and software system, and I don't like paying triple the cost for software and hardware. Next, there is no room in our small apartment for a work space with another PC, regardless of what it is. I have a perfectly serviceable dual-core HP laptop that was replaced by my new quad-core Uber Laptoppen. I've got a USB-based docking station for it that works perfectly well with an extra 1920 x 1080 monitor I've got sitting around. I have extra keyboards and mice galore. In other words, I could set my wife up with a perfectly competent work station for what she needs to do. The only problem is there is no place to put it. There isn't even a space for another mid-tower and a KVM switch (and I have those, too).
Also, given her propensity towards picking up malware, any chance of getting her onto Linux or the MacOS? Neither's inherently that much more secure than Windows, but both are the targets of less malware at this point.
Linux? It will never happen. I have a couple of Linux boxes -- one is a laptop that I'll use to setup FreePBX* (an Asterix variant) on, and the other I used to use as a server and to hack DirecTV boxes (for pulling off recordings, not for stealing DirecTV). To paraphrase Bones McCoy from Star Trek, "Damnit, Jim, I'm a lawyer, not an IT guy!"
I can barely manage in Linux. Mrs. PTravel will just blink at me, walk away and then sit down at my Windows 7 machine. As for MacOS -- no way, on principle.
With Virtual PC, she can pick up all the malware she wants. If her PC-in-a-PC gets too messed up, I'll just copy over the backup of virtual PC and she's good to go again . . . 'til the next time.
Lastly, if still on Windows, any chance of keeping her on a non-administrative account?
It doesn't matter whether she's on an adminstrative account or not. If she picks up the wrong malware, it can still lunch my system. I've spent a grand total of about 2 weeks re-installing and re-configuring my system, just to get back to a functional machine that lets me do about half of what I had been doing. I still have about 100 VSTs to install, about half-a-dozen major music packages that I use occasionally, and a bunch of other stuff. As I said, I see no down side to a virtual PC, whereas other approaches either involve more risk than I'm willing to accept, more space than I have to spare, or more money than I have to spend without offering much of a significant advantage.
* If anyone has any experience using FreePBX as a front-end for a Cisco SPA 8800, I could sure use some advice. I've got the SPA 8800 working with a POTS phone and a VOIP provider that has really, really cheap rates to China (1.2 cents/minute), but I'd ultimately like to run 3 VOIP lines and 3 POTS line through the Cisco, with FreePBX providing dedicated mailboxes, intelligent forwarding, and voice message attachments to email with both VOIP and POTS phones. I know it can do this but, as I said, "Damnit, Jim, I'm a lawyer, not a digital communications engineer."