Microsoft Security Essentials and Virtual PC

For as long as I have been working on Virtual PC – people have been asking me:

“Do I need to install Antivirus software inside the virtual machine?”

And the answer has always been: “Yes! You need to treat each virtual machine just like it were a separate physical computer and ensure that it is configured as securely as you would configure a physical computer.”

Because of this, I am really glad that we (Microsoft) have released Microsoft Security Essentials.  Microsoft Security Essentials is a free antivirus / anti-malware / anti-spyware program that is available for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.  It is also supported inside of virtual machines – in fact the product system requirements page explicitly states that it is supported under Windows XP Mode.

SecurityEssentials

You can learn more about Microsoft Security Essentials here: https://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/default.aspx

I find this particularly useful – as I am often too lazy to bother installing a proper antivirus solution in my virtual machines, but now I do not have any excuses not to.

Cheers,
Ben