Returnil Virtual System (RVS) is a sandbox

Sandbox (computer security)

In computer security, a sandbox is a security mechanism for separating running programs. It is often used to execute untested code, or untrusted programs from unverified third-parties, suppliers, untrusted users and untrusted websites....

 application for Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

. Its goal is to prevent malware

Malware

Malware, short for malicious software, consists of programming that is designed to disrupt or deny operation, gather information that leads to loss of privacy or exploitation, or gain unauthorized access to system resources, or that otherwise exhibits abusive behavior...

 and potentially unwanted programs from permanently infecting or modifying a system.

How it works

A "session" spans from when the user activates either "System Protection" or "Session Lock" to when the user deactivates those features.

During a session, RVS virtualizes the system partition and all files, folders, partitions, and partitions/disks specified under "File Protection" by storing all writes in a cache

Cache

In computer engineering, a cache is a component that transparently stores data so that future requests for that data can be served faster. The data that is stored within a cache might be values that have been computed earlier or duplicates of original values that are stored elsewhere...

. The cache itself can be stored on the hard drive or partially in RAM

Ram

-Animals:*Ram, an uncastrated male sheep*Ram cichlid, a species of freshwater fish endemic to Colombia and Venezuela-Military:*Battering ram*Ramming, a military tactic in which one vehicle runs into another...

. Windows and all other programs function normally.

The user has the option of committing the changes stored in the cache to the system partition. A user can selectively commit changes in the paid-for version.

RVS offers to create a virtual partition which serves as a place to store data when under virtualization protection.

Furthermore, the RVS 2010 version includes antivirus technology with Quick, Full and real-time scanning capability. The antivirus engine is powered by F-prot.

Drawbacks

The listed limitations apply only to the current stable release, 3.0:

• Malware can still cause stability issues, until the system is restored to its original state. Malware, specifically data miners
  Data mining
  Data mining , a relatively young and interdisciplinary field of computer science is the process of discovering new patterns from large data sets involving methods at the intersection of artificial intelligence, machine learning, statistics and database systems...
  
  , can also steal confidential information under RVS protection.

• RVS only protects the system partition, making infection of other partitions, such as the one created by RVS, possible.

• The master boot record is locked from changes. This can conflict with certain programs.

• RVS is not yet compatible with dynamic partitioning.

Editions

The paid "RVS 2010 Home Lux" includes the basic sandboxing ability of the free "RVS 2010 Home Free", along with the ability to commit certain file or folder changes, or even an entire virtual session to the real system partition rather than discarding changes.

RVS 2010 is available in many languages, for example: English, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Czech, German or Spanish.

System requirements

The current stable release of RVS is currently available for both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

.

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