Considering running Windows w/Bootcamp or parallels or fusion

I'm considering running Windows 7 on my MBP and have been looking at Parallels and Fusion 3. Can someone explain how Bootcamp works with these third party programs? I watched an Apple video but all they said was you could use them with Bootcamp. If someone could explain how the third party software works with bootcamp, and if it is needed, would greatly be appreciated. If it matters, I'm using 10.5.x, not SL and don't have any plans on upgrading anytime soon because of all the problems I've been reading about.

Also, am I correct in assuming that if I don't use Windows to access the internet I won't need any security software in Windows?

I don't have either Parallels or Fusion (I use VirtualBox because it is free but it doesn't do anything with Boot Camp), but I believe that they just detect the boot camp partition on your HDD so you can run it as a VM.
Good luck!
By the way VirtualBox does support Windows 7 if you are interested in that. virtualbox.org

Proff49 said:

I'm considering running Windows 7 on my MBP and have been looking at Parallels and Fusion 3. Can someone explain how Bootcamp works with these third party programs?

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First, let's explain what all this is.

Your MBP, by all accounts, is an Intel x86-64 based computer.

Which leads us into Boot Camp. Boot Camp is a fancy name. It's a fancy name for Apple's implementation of "dual booting." Boot Camp has very limited purposes: It provides the tool for partitioning the hard drive to receive Windows, it provides the drivers for Windows, and provides the mechanism for toggling which OS to boot when the Mac is turned on. That's all it does.

When you "use Boot Camp" (a bad way to phrase it), you..run Windows on your Mac. It runs on the bare metal, just like on a Dell or an HP or a Sony or Lenovo or whatever. Your MBP becomes a PC. End of story.

Now then, you introduce Parallels and Fusion. These are "virtualization" programs. If you don't know (or if someone else is curious), what this software does, is it creates, in software, a PC. A window appears, and inside that window is a PC with a BIOS and a PC that wants an operating system. It has it's own generic set of software-generated "devices" like a hard disk controller and video card and whatever else.

The idea with these virtualization programs is you install your OS inside this fake PC, and it runs in a "sandbox," as in it runs confined to the window and can't interact directly with the rest of the system hardware.

It sounds like what you want to do, is you want to use these virtualization applications to run your Boot Camp'd Windows 7 installation. I believe these apps have a mechanism to do this. I know with Virtualbox (another such app), it's not recommended, since Windows is very whiny about drastic hardware changes, and pulling Windows off the bare metal hardware set to a virtual hardware set is pretty drastic. It may refuse to boot entirely, and it may trigger a "I think I'm running on new hardware, activate me!" type thing. It's generally not advised to do this if you do not have to.

Proff49 said:

Also, am I correct in assuming that if I don't use Windows to access the internet I won't need any security software in Windows?

Click to expand...

As long as you aren't introducing questionable content in some other way, you're fine. Windows doesn't exactly spontaneously generate viruses.