Are you on the Juice?

Altris, now owned by Symantec, has developed application virtualization called the Software Virtualization Solution (SVS). Did I mention, its free for personal use, how cool is that. I am going to give a brief overview of the software, but you should visit the Altris Juice site to get in on this action. The Juice web site provides articles, tools, and tips to help you maximize the benefits of Software Virtualization Solution.

I think of Application Virtualization as VMWare for applications, why virtualize the whole operating system when virtualizing the application will do. With SVS the following things are possible:

- If an application becomes corrupted, reset it to its original installed state, with ability to save user data.
- Allow multiple versions of the same application to be installed, or the ability to install applications without causing conflicts.
- Prevent applications from corrupting the operating system, such as preventing the installation of older versions of DLLs.

SVS supports Window OS's from 2000 thru Vista. However some applications do not work well, such as drivers, virus checkers, file encryption products, OS patches, computer management agents, and applications that have dedicated drivers.

SVS works using filters that intercept all file and registry calls and can redirect them to a folder. Basically a user creates a Virtual Software Package (VSP) for the application they want to install. SVS then builds a virtual environment for the application that mimics the Windows Registry and File system. For example, if you have an application that overwrites a DLL file with an older version, this could cause issues with other installed software. Using SVS, the application would instead be redirected to write the older DLL to a folder associated with that application. When the application is executed and calls for the DLL , the SVS filter redirects the request to the folder associated with that application. In essence the application cannot modify the operating system, however to the end user there is no difference between a virtual application and a non-virtual application.

Once the VSP is installed it can be activated, deactivated, and reset to the original configuration (like a VMWare Snapshot). Once activated all the files and settings for the application will appear to end user just like the application is actually installed. Once deactivated all the files and settings disappear from the user's view. When building a VSP, everything that is captured is contained in a “layer.” The layer represents all the files and registry settings that make up the virtualized application. Multiple layers can be used to create a layer for user data and a layer for the application itself, this allows you to reset the application without losing the user data contained in the application.

You can also create Virtual Software Archive (VSA) files which allow you to install the application on any computer by just importing the file into SVS. There are sample VSA files that you can download off Juice, try it out (Reminds me of Virtual Appliances in VMWare). These would be helpful in an enterprise environment, the administrator can deploy these VSA files to all the users and have the ability to easily reset them once the user screws up the application.

So what is all this good for - how about securing your computer against untrusted software. Browsing around the Internet one night you find some tool guaranteed to do what you have always wished for, how can this be true especially since the tool is located on the trojans -r-us site. But you just gotta try it, so you use SVS to virtualize the application. That way if you find out it is a malicious program all you have to do is deactivate the program and it cannot corrupt your operating system, awesome! Another thought is if they offer an API into SVS this could be used to perform security testing of an application akin to strace.