Does anti-virus work while working on a virtual machine?

Does anti-virus work while working on a virtual machine?

I am running Ubuntu 9.1 on a Sun Virtual box and I use this virtual machine to browse the net. My host OS is Windows XP. I am running my anti-virus, anti-spyware application on the host OS only. Does this provide me security while I browse using virtual machine also? or I have to do something else? Also, does using a virtual machine (esp with Ubuntu) provide me any extra security as I believe there are less viruses written for this OS compared to XP.

Asked by: Guest | Views: 184

Total answers/comments: 2

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Guest [Entry]

"The short answer: the AV on the host machine, doesn't protect the guest machine (VM).

As for Ubuntu security vs XP security: yes, it is true that there are less viruses written for linux, and there are less known exploits and attacks against linux. This doesn't mean linux is completely safe, but it is way safer than XP."

Guest [Entry]

I would just leave AV software on your host machine and not worry too much about the AV situation on your Ubuntu box. If all you're using it for is to browse the Internet, then simply take a snapshot of your VM and on the off-chance it gets infected simply restore the VM.