Additional Information About VMware User Experience Improvement Program

VMware is committed to protecting your privacy while delivering industry leading software. This VMware product contains features that you may choose to enable, to provide a better user experience and help VMware to improve our products. The following text lists each feature, explains how to opt-in or opt-out of using the feature, describes the information being collected and outlines how VMware handles the information.

VMware Software Updates

VMware products have the ability to check online for the availability of a newer version of the installed software. This check can be done automatically when the application is started or manually via the Check for Software Updates entry in the application help menu.

Enabling automatic software updates ensures that you will always be aware of the latest releases from VMware. Staying up-to-date enables you to take advantage of new product features and performance improvements, ensures that your system includes the latest patches, and provides timely support for new guest operating systems.

You may choose to enable the automatic software update feature during installation or through the product preferences screen. You can disable this feature at any time.

To determine if there are updates available for your product the software updates feature securely sends the following anonymous information to VMware:

A universal unique identifier (UUID) that identifies each individual system

The product name, the product version and the build number

Your host operating system name, version and the locale setting

The VMware software updates feature does not collect any personal data, such as a name, address, telephone number or email address. The VMware software updates feature does not collect any information that can be used to identify you or contact you. Your product license key and MAC address are not sent to VMware and VMware does not store your IP address with the data that is sent.

The information sent by the software update feature may also be used by VMware for product planning purposes. To protect your information VMware employs industry-standard controls including physical access controls, internet firewalls, intrusion detection, and network monitoring and limits access to the data.

All information collected by the VMware software updates feature is handled in accordance with VMware’s Privacy Policy.

VMware User Experience Improvement Program

VMware truly values the participation of our customers in helping to make our products the best virtualization software in the industry. We gather customer feedback through our support organization, our community forums, running beta programs and usability tests, running surveys, and conducting other types of field research.

The User Experience Improvement Program extends our efforts to better understand how our customers are using our applications. VMware uses this information to improve the quality, reliability, and performance of our products.

Participation in the program is voluntary and you can opt out at any time.

When you choose to participate in the User Experience Improvement Program, your computer will send anonymous information to VMware which may include product configuration, usage, and performance data, virtual machine configuration, usage and performance data and information about your host system specifications and configuration.

The VMware User Experience Improvement Program does not collect any personal data, such as a name, address, telephone number or email address.

All information collected by the VMware User Experience Improvement Program is handled in accordance with VMware’s Privacy Policy.

What Information is being collected?

In general, the product data collected includes information such as the product name, version, build number and configuration settings. This helps VMware to compare data from identical installations and determine popular configurations.

The VMware User Experience Improvement Program may collect product usage information such as selected menu items, toolbar buttons pressed, virtual machines run and virtual machine configuration settings. This helps us to identify usage patterns such as the most popular features, how many virtual machines users create, how many virtual machines are run concurrently, which operating systems are the most popular or what virtual machine settings are typically selected. This is helpful in determining where we should invest in future development and how we may improve our user interfaces. Additionally, product performance data may be gathered such as errors encountered or measurements like virtual machine suspend and resume times, uptime, or application startup time for VMware to use to ensure that our customers have a great experience with our products.

System configuration information may be collected such as the operating system that your computer is currently running, how many processors are in your computer and the processor models, how much memory you have installed, how many network connections are available, the video cards and video drivers you have installed, screen resolutions for display devices, etc. This helps VMware to identify what system configurations should be used in our testing to best match our customer’s environments and to plan our future development based on hardware industry trends and the adoption of new technologies.

The User Experience Improvement Program uses a universal unique identifier (UUID) to differentiate information from individual machines. The User Experience Improvement Program uses the UUID to determine how common the feedback is and how to prioritize it. For example, the UUID allows VMware to distinguish between one computer running a virtual machine one hundred times and one hundred computers running a virtual machine once.

Not all of the available information is collected from every system every time the User Experience Improvement Program data is submitted. Some information will only be included by certain products and from select installations, and some of this information is collected only when applicable (e.g. error messages may only be sent if they are encountered.)

The VMware User Experience Improvement Program does not collect any information that can be used to identify you or contact you. The product license key and MAC address are not sent to VMware and VMware does not store your IP address with the data that is sent.

How often does the User Experience Improvement Program send data?

Typically the data collected on your system will be sent when you start the application. If your computer does not have access to the internet, the information will be collected and sent the next time you are online and running the application. The information can also be sent at other times such as during a check for software updates.

Can I review the information that is sent to VMware?
Yes. All information sent to VMware is stored on your system in clear text. The files can be found in the same directory as your log files and are named *****UploadedData.log where ***** is the product name. This information is transmitted to VMware using an SSL connection which encrypts the contents of this file to prevent other internet users from being able to read it.

If I choose to participate, can I opt out later?
Yes. You may choose to join or end participation at any time. In the application preferences page the option to send feedback to VMware may be unselected to prevent any further data from being sent to VMware. Some pre-release products that are under development might require participation in customer the User Experience Improvement Program to help ensure the final release of the product improves frequently used features and solves common problems that exist in the pre-release software.

Will I be contacted or receive spam if I participate?
No. The User Experience Improvement Program does not collect contact information, such as your name, home address, email address, or phone number. This means the User Experience Improvement Program will not ask you to participate in surveys or to read junk e-mail, and you will not be contacted in any other way.

Is the User Experience Improvement Program spyware?
No. Spyware collects information or acts on your computer without your full knowledge or consent. VMware’s products do not take actions other than those described in here and you can choose to join or end participation at any time.

How does VMware protect my privacy if I choose to participate?
VMware employs industry-standard controls to protect your information including physical access controls, internet firewalls, intrusion detection, and network monitoring and limits access to the data. All information collected by the VMware User Experience Improvement Program is handled in accordance with VMware’s Privacy Policy.