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prayaya v3 review


Introduction

One of the hazards of using Internet cafes and other public Wi-Fi hotspots is that there is a good chance of getting

infected, scanned, or both while you are online. Yes, you can run various protective measures such as a personal firewall,

anti-virus and anti-spyware software. But these mechanisms aren't always perfect solutions.

Alternatives include installing and running a virtual machine that has its own protected workspace, using a U3 thumb drive

that comes with its own software and password protection, and now prayaya v3 , an

intriguing software solution that recently began shipping earlier this spring.

The idea behind prayaya v3 is elegantly simple: install a piece of software on an

external USB drive. When the drive is attached to any Windows computer, it will automatically launch a protected, virtual

session from the drive, complete with its own complement of programs and storage. Once you are inside this session, you don't

have access to the host PC's resources, and so it is a little like the slogan for Las Vegas - any computing that you do

inside the session stays inside the session, and you can't unintentionally harm the host PC . Another advantage is that you

won't leave any trace of your activities on the host PC, because all evidence of your activities is stored on the external

USB drive.




You can install any piece of software to the prayaya v3 drive - you can have your own

browser favorites, an email and IM client, and other tools that you typically travel with. As long as your USB drive is large

enough to store everything, you can take your computing environment with you. This is handy for consultants who don't want to

take their laptops with them or are ultra paranoid that some cookie or temporary file will be left behind on a borrowed PC.

When you set up prayaya v3 , it comes with a mini Windows already installed, so you

don't have to buy another license to run your protected session. This is unlike what happens with the virtual machine

solutions that do require you to install Windows once you have loaded the virtual session.

There are several caveats with using Prayaya. You shouldn't boot your PC with the USB drive attached - wait until the host PC

is running before plugging it in.

All USB v2 models work with Prayaya v3 - I tried several flash drives and external hard disks. There is no exception. This is

a nice advantage, and turns every USB 2.0 drive into a portable virtual computer.

Prayaya v3 is a great idea, and useful under the circumstances I've described. The $29.9 price seems reasonable for what you

get.

Website: http://www.prayaya.com/eng/