Patent ID: 8353044

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for remediation of a computing device attempting to access a network, the computer-implemented method comprising: detecting that the computing device is attempting to access the network, wherein the computing device comprises a base operating system that includes a base file system and registry; determining that the computing device does not comply with a network-access-control policy of the network, wherein the computing device is a foreign device that is not controlled by an entity that controls the network; determining that the computing device does not support virtualization because the computing device does not comprise virtualization layering software; in response to determining that the computing device does not support virtualization: installing virtualization layering software on the computing device, the virtualization laying software being programmed to determine whether access requests to the base operating system are permitted to continue to the base operating system or should be redirected to the virtualization layer; installing the virtualization layer on the computing device; using the virtualization layer to bring the computing device into compliance with the network-access-control policy, wherein: the virtualization layer comprises file system and/or registry changes that are isolated from the base file system and/or registry; the file system and/or registry changes in the virtualization layer are isolated from the base file system and/or registry; when the virtualization layer is enabled the file system and/or registry changes are overlaid over the base file system and/or registry such that the file system and/or registry changes appear to the base operating system as if they had been installed using traditional installation techniques; the file system and/or registry changes are inaccessible when the virtualization layer is disabled; permitting the computing device to access the network after the computing device is brought into compliance with the network-access-control policy.