Patent ID: 8479193

Claim:
A method for enhancing usability of a plurality of virtual machines (“VMs”) established on a VM host, the method comprising: presenting, on the VM host, a unified interface to provide a user of the VM host a view of a plurality of applications executed in different VMs of the plurality of VMs; intercepting, on a VM host, an incoming communication from a source remote to the VM host; examining the communication to determine whether the communication includes an attached data file; if the communication does not include the attached data file, allowing a virtual machine manager to deliver the communication to a recipient VM of the plurality of VMs; if the communication includes the attached data file: examining the communication to determine a communication type; examining the data file to determine a data file type; examining at least one descriptor module to determine how to handle the communication and the data file based on the communication type and the data file type; and processing the data file and the communication according to information in at least one descriptor module, wherein processing the communication comprises directing the communication to a VM of the plurality of VMs that is different from the recipient VM to which the communication was originally destined.