I’m a little late to the post here but I’ve noticed using the latest version of VMware usually slowed my computer down so I’ve stuck with VMware 9 for the past 3 going on 4 years of scambaiting. It really doesn’t matter what version of Windows you choose to use, as long as it isn’t something obsolete obviously and you have snapshots beforehand. I had the same issue with it being slow, I still do sometimes. One thing that helps is having the VM files on another Hard Drive/SSD. I do think that Virtualbox is faster and is easier to use (also free) however, there is more information in the scambaiting community about disguising VMware making it look less like a VM to scammers. (Links to that videos/info below) Also, note that you need the paid version of VMware to have snapshots, VMPlayer doesn’t have that feature. Obviously, there are ways around this but I’m not going to post that here (I also discourage others from doing so too, you’ll most likely be banned for doing so.)
Info about disguising VMware:
How to make a VMware Virtual Machine match host system info (One of the easiest things to do, a video I made a few years ago)
[Tutorial] How to make a stealthy Virtual Machine - YouTube (Little more advanced changes by Jim Browning)
Final note, don’t be discouraged if your first few calls don’t go as planned, it takes time, practice and patience. Hope this helps! Happy Scambaiting!
-Dev