[NTLUG:Discuss] Modify VMplayer Download

[Robert Pearson]

Chris Cox <cjcox at acm.org> wrote to NTLUG
[...snip...]
> I do recommend that people give Ubuntu a try.  The
> easiest way (IMHO) is with a VMplayer download...
> http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/appliances/directory/cat/45

I downloaded the Browser Appliance when it first came out and
liked the Security but wanted to change some things in the User
interface.
How do they get updated with the latest Firefox?
Can one of these downloads be modified on the fly?
Like with a package manager like apt or yum?

The last time I Googled all this out I just got confused. It appeared
some people claimed they could be updated in place without being
rebuilt.

I would love to know enough to be able to do this:
>From another mailing list---
"My kids have to use Windows for school (example: oldest is taking
photography and has to use photoshop for homework assignments), and I
got tired of rebuilding their Windows box.  I bought a used shuttle xpc
off ebay and installed SuSE (now running 10.1) and VMware.  I built an
XP Pro guest OS for them to use for their school projects, and tar up
the directory for the Windows XP Pro once a week.  Now whenever they
break Windows, I just untar the xp.tgz file over the current guest OS
directory and they're back to where they were the last time I built the
xp.tgz tarball.  As for their user files, I'm running samba on the linux
host OS and they use it for their "network shares."  So, even it they
crash Windows, they don't lose their work.  Most of the time, the kids
don't even bother to boot their Windows guest OS unless they're having
to use Windows apps for school, and they're using Open Office to manage
the MS Office documents they submit for other homework assignments."

Could I do this now with my Windows disk? It is smb mounted to SuSE.
Just tar it up and if it gets corrupted just tar over it?
Microsoft used to have some hooks to prevent this. Maybe running
virtualized neutralizes them?