Protection Against Malware/Virus/Keylogger

Could i install a virtual machine on my chromebook? I assume you mean install a virtual machine on my current laptop?


My main laptop is the dell xps 15 9550 and it has windows 10 pro.


i5-6300hq processor
32gb ram
1tb m.2 samsung evo ssd


I assume it doesn't use much space or memory right? I did recall i heard you need lot of ram for virtual machine. But wouldn't that mean it would use half the ram i have so whenever im on my main account for windows... then i only have access to half the ram? How much space does it take? I do have over 700gb of space on my hard drive though.


When I turn on my laptop, I have to put in my bitlocker pin. Then after that, I have to type in my windows 10 password in order to have access to my computer. But i do know that windows 10 password is useless.


So you are saying if i install a virtual machine on my dell xps laptop... basically if i want to web browse any site for example that might have malware/viruses... then there is 0% way i could get malware/keylogger/virus if im using a virtual machine? Thus its a different computer and of course profile from my main machine even though it uses the same ssd?


So basically i could web browse freely on the virtual machine without any concern? I recalled watching a video of someone on youtube a while back who intentionally downloaded program that had malware or possible malware but i think he did it on virtual machine.


The thing though is what about if you are not careful when using your main computer and click on a link or site though? Like imagine you didn't meant to click it etc. For example im sure you all see how on youtube... many videos have users posting links in the comment page which im sure if you click on it... its virus/malware right? So if someone clicks on that while on a windows computer, are they basically screwed?

 

Well certain sites I visit... I do this on my chromebook. Thus i don't visit it on my dell xps windows 10 computer anymore. I use to do that. But yea... when you say load unknown software... can that happen if you click on link and it automatically downloads some software and opens itself? Or even if you download it... as long as you don't open the file you are safe? I always heard of never download and open an exe. file if you are not sure about it. But what if you download it but don't open it and just delete it? Are you still safe or not?


I do have a profile with my name on windows. So are I administrator or not? Im not sure if its that kind of account or not but i do have my name on it. Lot of the programs i download myself... it does have that message of User Active Control with a message whenever I open different programs i downloaded myself on the computer. Is that what you mean?


How do i know if i have the updated browser? I use chrome but I don't think i ever manually updated chrome myself. Doesn't it do it self though? But you say windows 10 updates does that... so for me... whenever i see a windows 10 update computer logo on bottom right of my computer, i typically do the update within a day or so.


Am I using my admin/owner? Im not sure if i am. I do know many or almost all programs/icons i click on my desktop... i get message of User Account Control... Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device? And i click yes everytime to open it etc. So is that good or not good? Im not sure what you mean with the lock admin/owner account with password protection here. I can't assume you mean that windows 10 password right?


Thanks.

 

@Drew1, if you set a admin/owner password software can't install automatically. This is why I tell users to make a password protected admin/owner account and make a limited user account to prevent un-authorized installs. This is your first line of Defense that people always and always forget to do and this is how they Virus/Malware infections. Chrome issues would be something you have to direct to Chrome support for that unfortunately since this site can't access Chrome support. If your not sure which account your using then aka by your using the Admin/owner account by default - to password protect it you had to do this from the first time it was setup and if you didn't do this or late then your using the Admin/Owner account which more or less permits any install with/without your permission. And if your not still sure then I recommend you get a book of the O/S your using and read on how to set a password protected account. As to the Browser install that is harder to tell other then Plugin Addon install that is different and is controlled through the Browser. And at that point it's up to the User to verify the Plugin is valid or not. But if there is a Admin/Owner password protected and your not using it for daily activity then when a software tries to install it will come up with the Admin/owner login/pswd to install. At this point then you will know if this was something the User is installing or malware is trying to install-that's how you know at that point. But as anything you should get a book or go online and read up on how to set Admin/Owner password protected account on Windows 10 and creating a limited User account that can be deleted and recreated if problems happen. This will be the first line of defense if one fails to do this and keep using Admin/Owner account then expected malware/virus infections to reach you.