Patent ID: 7434218

Claim:
A computer system for archiving user-created data in a virtual application environment, the computer system comprising a processor, a memory, a storage, an operating system, user-created data to be archived, and a plurality of application programs including at least one application program suitable for operating on the user-created data, and wherein the computer system further comprises: a virtual application environment generator in response to an instruction to archive the user-created data, the virtual application environment generator is configured to: identify which of the plurality of application programs is suitable for operating on the user-created data according to an application installation manifest corresponding to the identified program; generate a virtual application environment comprising the user-created data, the identified application program, and the operating system; verify whether the virtual application environment is suitable for execution on a virtual machine corresponding to a computer system upon which the operating system and the identified application program can function; and store the virtual application environment in the storage if the virtual application environment is suitable for execution on the virtual machine.