WHAT virtualization can do for you?

For me after peer to peer file transfer, virtualization is the second most innovative and useful concept. Virtualization can be useful to you in various way .

Let's discover one by one..

1.  Antivirus:: Yes you heard it right. You can use a virtual machine as an antivirus if you have installed any linux distro as a guest. Here is  how can you can use virtual Linux OS as an antivirus.

     1.1 NetSurf:: This is a major reason for bringing various viruses/worms into your system by downloading various files and software. When you surf internet in a virtual environment you don't have to worry about these issues. As all risks are covered by   virtual OS.

     1.2 PenDrive/Flash Drive ::   This is most common way of spreading malicious programs . There is a work around for this problem. Configure your virtual machine to take control of flash drive as soon as it connect to your host PC. After inserting your flash drive you can view all its file in your Linux virtual machine . Then you will be able to view viruses with your naked eyes.{These are .exe other than your files}

If any wrong happens you will have nothing to fear about. Just delete that virtual machine. Make sure your you keep a copy of that virtual drive before any wrong happens{Just needed one time}. If you want this virtual OS to be more secure/stable then install linux in it to browse the net while surfing the unsafe contents [u know what i mean].Linux mint or Sabayon is recommended as they have all codecs preinstalled to browse or play the contents like flash ...

2. Choice of freedom:: by the virtualization software you can install almost any kind of OS. even you could install Mac OSx on a virtualization software(Supported by virtual box and vmware workstation earlier. Now this support has been withdrawn because of various issues created by apple..  )

3. Creating various server:: if you have enough  hardware then you can install desired numbers of  servers by installing them  as guest OS. This can be anything like linux server in windows or windows server in linux. e.g. Having a web Server and a mail server in a Single hardware.

4. Learning networking:: diffrent virtual os behave as seperate os so you can create your own configuration like  static or dhcp configuration. Or other services like  ftp, http , telnet etc..  

5. Hacking:: a successfull hacker has to try various versions of target os or application or combo of both. In this case nothing beats virtualization. As you don't have to purchase new hardware for different os.

6. Testing of web app or native app:: regression testing of both can be performed on virtual machines. Take an example of a web application.  You developed this application on a linux server and tested it locally then we can easily test it against IE on windows or safari in mac.

This is how you can see virtualization from my perspective comment below to open my eyes more broadly.

Recommendations::

Virtualization Softwares: 

                                        1. Virtual Box {Download}

                                        2. Vmware WorkStation {Download}

Virtual Guests:

                                        1. Sabayon {Downlaod}

                                        2. Linux Mint {Downlaod}