Recomended Virtual Machine

Hey Folks One of my tutors has pointed out to me that, if I absolutley insist on clicking on links to see if they are malware infected, or want to delete stuff from the registry to see what happens, that I should use a VM. I know what a VM does but thats where myt knowledge ends. Does anyone have a preferd VM to use when investigating viruses / reg fixes etc, and is there an idiots guide out there somewhere for using them? Any thoughts most welcome

Microsoft Virtual PC has worked for me, though I don't have a preference, except to avoid clicking on unsolicited or questionable links, downloads, or attachments. Instead of using VM software on a production machine - that is, a computer you use for work, school, financial, or personal business, and a computer that should NOT be used for experimenting with malware, I recommend you put together a junk, expendable machine, make an image of the clean, stable, platform, then test all you want with that PC. I would also put the test machine behind a second router, on its own network.

Well my old junk machine is currently acting as a headless ftp server for all my sisters photos, and knowing how often she backs up her stuff Im not sure that I want to go sticking viruses on there! Its food for thought though. We have old bits of pc lying about the lab that I could probably assembe into something capable of browsing the web. Thanks for the extra option Digerati