Create Virtual Machines Easily--And for Free--With VirtualBox 4
Today's Best Tech Deals
Picked by PCWorld's Editors
Top Deals On Great Products
Picked by Techconnect's Editors
Frustrated with the sluggish performance of VMware Player and VMware Workstation on my Windows 7 machine, I recently turned to Oracle's free VirtualBox 4 virtual machine software and haven't looked back. After a few months with it, I find it considerably faster, if not quite as convenient.
Oracle continues to fix bugs in a timely fashion. The first version of VirtualBox 4 I tried in January 2011 would leave my USB Webcam running for no reason, and the main dialog where you launch and maintain your virtual machines would always cover the entire screen, no matter how many times I resized it. Both these bugs have been fixed.
Support for USB devices also seems improved in VirtualBox 4, though it's still not as broad as VMware's. The other thing I miss from VMware is the ability to drag files directly from and to a VM window. With VirtualBox, you must access files on the host machine via shared folders. It's not difficult once you're used to it, but it's not as convenient.
I'm now running Windows 7, Windows XP, and Ubuntu in VirtualBox VMs--and while I miss a few of VMware's features, the speed of VirtualBox is far more important to me. It also leaves a much lighter fingerprint on the host system. If you've experienced the same performance degradation with VMware under Windows 7, it's definitely worth a look. To heck with that--It's worth a look anyway.
Coupon Codes
-
Doordash Promo Code
Save 50% on Baskin Robbins with this DoorDash coupon code
-
H&R Block Coupons
H&R Block Coupon: Extra $25 off in-office tax prep ( New Customers )
-
Dell Coupon code
Use this Dell coupon to get 35% off Latitude 9510 Business Laptop
-
Eastbay Promo Code
15% off your order of $75+ with Eastbay promo code
-
AT&T Wireless Promo Codes
$700 off iPhone 12 Pro Max - AT&T Wireless offer
-
Rosetta Stone Promo Code
$83 off 12-months - Rosetta Stone discount