It doesn’t matter what steps you take to protect your computer from malware infection, viruses can all too easily slip through your defences and wreak havoc on your PC. One way to minimise or even eliminate the danger is to run your computer in a virtual environment – your actual files are loaded into virtual memory and then isolated from any changes, which means if a virus does creep on to your system, restarting your PC wipes the infection completely. This approach also allows you to test software in a completely safe environment – again, if problems occur you simply restart to return your PC to its previous, fully working state.

Returnil System Safe 2011 offers this functionality across the whole of Windows, or you can restrict it to certain programs only – for example, when using your web browser or testing an unknown program. There are two core modules: Virtual Environment, which is what protects your computer from any changes and possible virus infections, and Virus Guard, which provides anti-malware protection. These are joined in this paid-for Pro version by a File Manager, enabling you to save files from the virtual environment back to your hard disk, and System Restore and Rollback, which allows you to roll back your system to a clean state or recover individual infected files.

Everything is wrapped up in a user-friendly interface, making the program relatively easy to set up and configure: switch on the virtual environment with a single click (or configure it to start with Windows), and when you restart your PC, any changes made will be removed, leaving you with a stable, sleek system.