Does A Virtual Machine Need Antivirus? Detail About It

Do you use a virtual machine? If yes, then you may have often thought about whether you should use antivirus for your virtual machine or not. The answer is complicated, but you don’t need to worry. Today we will talk about keeping your virtual machine safe from harmful viruses.

You need to know that your host computer’s antivirus cannot get access inside your virtual machine. It works independently. Your virtual machine borrows a specific portion of the host computer’s RAM, ROM, and CPU to pretend like a real computer.

An operating system in another operating system is cool. We will inform you briefly about a virtual machine through this article. But first, let’s get into the main question.

Should You Use Antivirus On Your Virtual Machine?

It depends. You can surely use an antivirus to protect your virtual operating system. Your using purpose can define whether you need an antivirus or not. People use virtual machines for different purposes. Let’s consider you are a normal user and using it just for experiencing different operating systems.

You usually do the regular tasks to learn and explore another operating system. All your work is limited inside this guest machine. If you can maintain a proper borderline between the host and the guest, you do not need to use antivirus for your virtual machine.

Hopefully, you have understood what I just meant. In this case, you should not allow any give and take between your real and virtual machines. You have to avoid the shared file or folder option. When you have full control over any type of sharing, you can use the virtual machine without any protection.

Now let’s assume you are a professional. You do all sorts of testing work on your virtual machine. Most of the time professionals test their software and other important tools there. A virtual machine is also a favorite place for hackers to test viruses. If you are in this category, you should think about the protection of your device. 

One unexpected leakage can infect your whole device indeed. In this case, you can use a shield of antivirus to ensure your security. Now you are aware of the criteria for using antivirus on your virtual machine. So you can choose the best for your computer.

More about using antivirus in a virtual machine:

Different people have different opinions about using antivirus on a virtual machine. You will find both of the answers yes and no. We will clear all your confusion and decode the correct answer for you.

Can viruses leak and spread from your virtual machine?

Unfortunately, yes. You may not share any files with your main PC. If you have viruses on your virtual assistant, the viruses can still spread. We know you are getting curious. You have closed all the routes and never shared any file with the host PC, so how can the virus spread?

We know these two systems are fully isolated. It is nearly impossible for a virus to leak from the VM and infect the host device. The cause is one of its usages is to test this kind of harmful program. But this nearly impossible event became possible in some cases.

In the last few years, some cases came to light about virtual machines allowing malware to read host data. It got the attention of the users. That made us aware of this issue. So some malware can definitely make a way for infecting your secure data.

Using the same networking route can be the bridge for outsiders. Do you already have viruses in your VM? It would be a clever idea to turn off all kinds of network access for your virtual machine.

Is using a virtual machine safe?

Virtual machines have been used for a long time. Still, developers build and test programs inside VM. If you want to use it, do it in a safe way. However virtual machines are safe. That’s why it gained the trust of so many people. In case you want to test a virus, you will face no issues.

Once you install a virus in your virtual machine, it can not detect the emulator. The VM is an actual computer for the virus. So it is a rare case of viruses breakout from the virtual machine.

Does A Virtual Machine Slow Down Your Computer?

Slowing down depends on your computer’s specs. When you installed the virtual machine, you must have assigned a dedicated amount of storage and processor for running it. If your computer is high-end, then you will face no trouble. You can use more than one virtual machine.

In the case of a low-end PC, you have to limit the processes. Otherwise, it will slow down your computer. You will feel it while doing your regular tasks. So you have to provide 20% to 30% of your actual spaces for running a virtual machine. You can add some more percentages if you want.

Well if you do heavy tasks in it, we think you should keep it under 50%. That will help to reduce pressure from the host computer. Running a whole operating system with an isolated part of your single computer is a heavy task. You must need at least 4GB of RAM to run a virtual machine smoothly.

Summary

Your PC is a part of your daily life. Every time you should choose the best option to keep it healthy. In my opinion, your priority should be securing your host computer. If your virtual machine becomes a threat to your main PC, you can easily wipe it. That’s not a tough decision, right?

You can install your desired operating system anytime through the Virtual Box or the VMware. If that’s not enough, you can use three different operating systems at a time depending on your computer’s capability. My recommendation is never to link or share files with your host PC. If you do that, you do not need an antivirus for your virtual machine.