Patent ID: 8499304

Claim:
A method, comprising: displaying, by a handheld device, a plurality of icons associated with a plurality of segments, wherein each segment is associated with a virtual machine of a plurality of virtual machines; receiving, by the handheld device, first user input indicating a first icon of the plurality of icons, wherein the first icon is associated with a first segment of the plurality of segments; executing, by the handheld device, a first virtual machine of the plurality of virtual machines associated with the first segment; executing a first application on the first virtual machine; receiving second user input indicating a second icon of the plurality of icons, the second icon associated with a second segment of the plurality of segments; in response to the second user input indicating the second icon associated with the second segment, selectively prompting for authentication information based on a second virtual machine of the plurality of virtual machines having access to sensitive information, wherein the second virtual machine is associated with the second segment; receiving authentication information; determining whether a user is authenticated based on the authentication information; executing, by the handheld device, the second virtual machine in response to determining that the user is authenticated; executing a second application on the second virtual machine; determining whether execution of an instruction associated with the first virtual machine would result in a fault; and in response to determining that execution of the instruction would result in the fault, preventing execution of the instruction and allowing the first virtual machine to fail without adversely affecting the second virtual machine.