options running XP on newer PCs?

well, I'm really disappointed with this. Not only can I not go online with virtual XP, since it virtually freezes when running MSE, I cannot read music/video discs from dvd drives.  Processing audio/video was the main reason for having XP. You have to tick "passthrough" for "Secondary master" (or slave) in E drive to get the Atapi driver to work, but that also slows down the virtual XP to a useless standstill. And you cant have multiple rom drives available simultaneously in that situation.

Maybe this is all specific to Virtualbox, but these obvious limitations were never spelled out to me.

It's definitely a good idea to run an antivirus, especially since you're going to be in the VM a lot. MSE running on the host will help a little, I think, but it's no substitute for an antivirus in the VM. I'm not sure how much of the traffic to the VM the host OS is aware of, but I'd assume it's a direct connection with little if any "filtering" going on. All the host is doing is sharing its connection with the client VM.

I'd get the rest of the setup taken care of, and then try MSE again. Unfortunately you're not going to find an antivirus much lighter on your system than MSE, so any others you try are likely to slow your machine down even more.

MSE lets you set how much processor power it uses when scanning. Make sure it's set low, around 10-20%. The scans will take longer, but you'll have more power available.

You could download Malwarebytes Antimalware, and scan with it on a regular basis (every few days). Just don't use the real-time scan, as it's likely to slow your system down, too. It's not a substitute for real-time protection, but if you're careful online you might be ok.

I'd actually recommend Malwarebytes as a second opinion scanner even if you do reinstate MSE. No antivirus catches everything.

If you can do without networking on the VM, that would give you some protection from viruses by removing the main access point for them. You could download your stuff through Windows 7, scan it there, and then access it in XP afterward. It's a very inconvenient workaround, though.

I'd be extremely nervous running XP, even if virtual, with no antivirus, since it's 12 years old  and about to be unsupported. Especially for anything serious.

I'll play around with my XP VM at home over the weekend. I actually don't have MSE on it, since I don't use it often and just for games. (Half the time I have the network disabled on it.) But I'll install MSE and see if I can come up with any answers for you.

The normal boot sounded like it was loading windows but of course I couldnt see anything, and since Safe Mode froze, I had no choice but to reinstall Windows.

I googled 'XP slow in Vbox' and aside from the APCI issue, someone suggested it was Antivirus programs. I deactivated Microsoft Essentials and sure enough, XP acted like it was a real instal (superfast).

Does Vbox need an antivirus program? Whether it's being used online, or the host system is actively connected?

For the graphics card, you might have to note the manufacturer (Dell seems to favor ATI Radeons) and try the built-in drivers `til you find a decent approximation. Or you might luck out and there's an XP driver for it you can download. Did you try the generic SVGA driver? It won't give you full color, but at least you'll do better than 640x480 for the resolution. I'll try to remember take a look at the video settings on my VM when I get home.

For the rest, you may need to ask around on the Virtualbox forums.

well, I managed to figure out some of the issues, but it was still very slow - copying data from a shared folder, and loading a wave editor. Increasing RAM from 1 to 2 GB didnt help.

I read somewhere changing a setting (ACPI to Standard PC) might help, which caused an error warning message that the Graphics card needed to be installed. I tried to check the Graphics driver, but at that point, there wasnt one (might have been there before I changed the ACPI to Standard PC). It was simply set to "System." I selected "Auto" from the menu, thinking it might help, but instead the screen stays black (after booting). I've tried Safe Mode, but the screen freezes when the lines of text start presenting after selecting the mode. If this were a problem on a real harddrive, I'm wondering how it would get solved, aside from reinstalling XP.

Anyway, thank you for your help and encouragement.