VMware on Tuesday rolled out the final version of its free-of-charge VMware Player, which lets users run pre-set virtual machines (VMs) built with the company's more advanced products.

One of the free virtual machines was created in conjunction with Mozilla Corp., and provides an additional level of protection against Internet threats like spyware and adware, VMware said.

Called the "Browser Appliance," the player-ready VM runs Mozilla's Firefox browser in a virtual machine on either Windows or Linux computers. The VM takes advantage of virtual machine isolation from the "real" system to guarantee that any malicious code downloaded via the browser -- such as adware, spyware, or drive-by Trojan horses -- doesn't spread to the normal desktop.

The VM also automatically resets the browsing environment after each use, so personal and confidential information, including passwords, browsing history, and credit card numbers, are unavailable to unauthorized users who get in front of the PC's keyboard.

VMWare Player and the Browser Appliance can be downloaded from the VMware site. The Player runs on either Windows or Linux systems.