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Any thoughts from current Win 7 beta users? Do you have a separate control panel for the XP compatibility mode? I presume the XP mode seamlessly integrates with the rest of the desktop, rather than appearing as a separate VM?

XP Mode requires its own virus checker, in theory... The AV software for Windows 7 cannot access the memory space of the XP virtual machine, so it is possible for XP Mode to pick up a virus, and because it shares the disk space with Windows 7, it could infect files in Windows 7. If you don't have file access checking enabled (which degrades performance), it could infect Windows 7 as well - if the machine is exposed to the internet or an application in the XP environment access the internet.

The "simple" solution is to buy a separate AV licence for the XP Mode environment.

Whereas normal VMs don't get direct access to the hard disk or they have a share they can use, which can be set to be checked by the host AV software, XP mode allows full access to the whole HD, which means that the malware risks are higher...

I would think, apart from the odd corporate application, there will be little need for XP Mode anyway. It isn't available for Home users, just Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise. It is also not designed for games - like most VMs, 3D acceleration is next to hopeless.