License : Free
Requirements : Windows XP/2003 Server/Vista
Limitations : No limitations
Size : 2.12 MB
The Returnil Virtual System Personal Edition provides an altogether different and highly complimentary level of defense. It is designed to protect your computer from all types of software, downloads, websites or anything else that might harbor viruses, spyware and other malicious programs. Returnil virtualization technology clones a computers System Partition and boots the PC into this system rather than native Windows, allowing you run your applications in a completely isolated environment. Hence the session and all activity, malicious or otherwise, will happen in the virtual environment, not in the real PC environment. If the PC is attacked or gets infected, all you need to do is to simply reboot the PC to erase all changes. After reboot, the system will be restored to its original state, as if nothing ever happened. All of this without sacrificing computer performance or usability while helping to reduce technical support intervention and the need for routine maintenance.
Editor's review of Returnil Virtual System Personal Edition
The premise behind this free utility that complements your PC's security system is interesting, but we ran into some glitches while working during its protection sessions.
Our introduction to the Returnil Virtual System Personal Edition was a very slow installation, which is understandable, because the software creates a new partition on the systems hard drive. It's essentially a mirror of the system that acts as an isolated work environment that protects your actual system by preventing downloads and such from accessing it. Instead, anything created in this pocket of your drive--this virtual partition--is erased when you reboot.
The utility adds an icon to the system tray and a small Returnil bar, always on top, near the top of the monitor screen. Clicking the bar lets you configure the utility's settings and open or close the virtual partition. However, doing so isn't as simple as running a basic DOS shell, because turning Returnil's protection on or off requires the system to reboot. This is a minor speed bump if you're working with potentially destructive software or visiting Web sites that may attempt to load malware, but it certainly slows productivity.
We also encountered two problems. First, while booting up, Windows Explorer would shut down and relaunch, slowing the entire launch cycle. Second, when our Internet browser displayed a pop-up alert, any open tabs other than the active tab would spontaneously close. There weren't any settings to correct this frustrating behavior. While we liked the concept of this utility, there are some bugs that need to get worked out before we can recommend it.
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