but the VM uses the host Internet connection- meaning that any virus would hit both VM and host
You lost me. I thought the participants you were having with VMs was file portability. I typically don’t access the interswebs from VMs, but I haven’t had much problem with virii in VMs. One other feature unique to VMs that might be relevant to you in that respect, is that you can constantly keep reverting the VM to a fixed state, so long as you’ve already moved your work filed off there, so viruses can’t really get a foothold. I don’t do that, but as I said, I’ve never had much issue with viruses in VMs.