The VM from the Virtual Hands On Lab (VHOL) doesn't have internet access. This means you can't install any of the tools from the internet, however, the ones needed for Week 1 with IE are available for install from a folder on the desktop (IST_VM_Package). Unfortunately the version of firefox is 4.0, which is incompatible with the httpwatch plugin and (far) too old to use the similar built-in tool. With these tools I was able to get the assignment completed in short order, but I wanted to try out the other options as well.
I didn't have much luck at all with the VM that runs on Virtual Box. I was able to get HacmeBooks running, but the only plugin I could install was TamperIE. Httpwatch requires windows 7. I couldn't even install a decent version of firefox (it is stuck at Firefox 12) because the OS is Windows XP (pre-serivce pack 2!) and modern versions of firefox require at least XP SP2.