Most secure method of adding windows for my limited purposes?

Question

I only need windows on this particular computer, a Macbook 13 inch 2.1 Ghz with 2 GB RAM ("111.47 GB hard disk space capacity") to run Internet Explorer in those instances where my Mac browsers (Safari, Firefox, Opera thus far) will not work on some part of a website (for instance, try ordering something on equifax.com - a major site that's not fully mac compatible). I have the latest update of Leopard. I bought the computer in the past three weeks and have run software update regularly.
I did not want to put windows on this computer when I originally bought it. Now it appears from the failure of Mac browsers to work in some situations, I have to put windows on. I'm not even sure I can find XP although I had it on my old HP desktop I'm getting rid of. I might be forced to buy Vista and I don't have probably enough space for it to run well, do I? Do I need to upgrade to 4 gb RAM? Expensive.
Anyway, for security purposes, I want to be very cautious in how I use windows. I found keyloggers and periodically had files show up on my old windows computer in AVG, Ad-Aware, Spybot and other programs that worried me (most recently "Omniquad" kept showing up even after I deleted it and AVG free has no notes on what this means).
Is the least vulnerable way as far as internet viruses to run windows on my Mac to just install it in BootCamp assistant and reboot when I need it? Or theoretically is there any more vulnerability if I use VMware Fusion or Parallels with it? Do I first set it up in Bootcamp assistant (what partition size?) before I worry about choosing Vmware Fusion or Parallels? Or do I need to install one of those before I install windows?
What was it someone was saying in a different thread about needing to edit one's "virtual machine" -- see below:
+"One other tip, I would recommend editing the virtual machine before activation of windows to use emulate the same MAC address for your virtual ethernet card in parallels as for your real network card. This seems to convince WIN XP at lease that it is the same machine whether you boot it through boot camp or through Parallels. Otherwise, activation quickly becomes a pain."+
(Where would my virtual machine be?)
And also, do I need to do some special reconfiguration with my router manufacturer (Linksys) after adding windows through bootcamp and/or Parallels/Vmware in order for the the windows side to connect to the internet as my Mac is doing?
Also: should I get Windows XP Professional or Vista in this situation with the small Macbook and limited needs? I hope XP will still be used years from now.
P.S. I wish it weren't so hard to find out how to do all this. It makes me not want to go through this again with another computer and I actually need another.

Answer 1

VMWare Fusion and Parallels create Virtual Machines. When you are running Windows inside the Mac os
you are running a Windows Virtual Machine. A Virtual Machine accesses the physical machine differently than a Boot Camp installation, since it is going through Fusion or Parallels, which is why set-up is trickier. See this wiki article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_machine
XP Pro was originally aimed at businesses and power users. It can access 2 physical processors (in contrast to two cores on one processor), so it benchmarks faster on my Mac Pro which has 2 dual core processors. It also has some advanced networking features. I use both XP and XP Pro at home and don't notice much difference in day to day use. You did buy the superior version of XP, and since it is aimed at businesses, Microsoft will continue to provide security updates for it long after they stop providing them for XP. So you will get some value from buying it.
Its great that you are checking the AV Comparative site for yourself and not just relying on my opinion. The version of Avira they are using in the tests however is the Premium version, not the free version. If you notice on the AV Comparatives site, there are 2 types of tests, on demand and proactive. One reason I prefer paid versions of anti-virus software is that only they provide proactive protection. On demand protection relies on signature files that the AV company provides your copy of the program - when you update an AV program you are updating the signature files. Signature files allow the program to recognize any known virus. They will not catch something new - this is why when a new virus arrives it spreads so quickly - no one has a signature file for it so their AV program doesn't recognize it as a threat. Then your AV program gets a signature file update and you can scan and find the virus. Proactive protection works differently. It looks for certain features in a file that are common to virus files. If the file fits this profile, the program will block it even though it doesn't have a signature file for that particular virus yet. So while everyone else gets the virus maybe you don't (if you notice, the success rate for proactive protection is much lower than on demand). Yet some programs, like NOD32 and (usually) Kaspersky do proactive much better than other programs (don't know why Kaspersky slipped so much this time). I prefer NOD32 because it not only rates advanced plus in both on demand and proactive but also update signature files very quickly, uses few system resources so it doesn't slow you down, and works quietly behind the scenes
(Kaspersky can bug you to death sometimes).