Another switcher question

I haven't switched yet, waiting for Leopold. Still looking into the 24" I mac. I want to be sure before I spend all that money.
I plan to run parallels, so that I can run the windows programs I can't do without. Will I need anti virus software with this or is it safe without it? I have a neighbor with an I mac, not an Intel I mac, and she was advised to run anti virus software.
Also how much hard drive would I need? I have only 160 now and it is not even half full after years of accumulating software yet I have read on forums that you should get at least 500. I have a lot of photos but am not big into music. I know of course that with two operating systems it will take more.

I would assume running anti-virsus software on the Windows side is necessary, of course not while using OSX.
Personally, I would recommend looking into an external Hard-Drive for the storage of digital photos & music, etc.
The say 10-15% of your Hard-Drive should be empty for the operating system to swap files, etc.

pastle said:

... waiting for Leopold.

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Why, does he owe you some money?

:bone:

Amen-Moses

for amen-moses

Sorry, don't understand your post.:radioacti

pastle said:

Sorry, don't understand your post.:radioacti

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Leopold

Amen-Moses

Running windows, whether through Parallels, through BootCamp, or on a Dell, should always have Virus protection.... because, well, it's Windows.

With that being said, on a Mac, through Parallels (or BootCamp), any virus will only effect the Windows side of your partition, with no effect on the OS X system.

I believe you are waiting for LEOPARD... not "Leopold"...

Let us know if you have any other questions... There is wealth of information on these forums, just waiting to be asked for.

Thanks all

Thanks for the help everyone.

Amen-Roses, I meant leopard, duh!:dummy: :dummy:

Now, for some reason I keep thinking that the name of the upcoming version of Mac OS X is "Leoben". Hope it doesn't turn against me.

Anyway, as has been stated you should think of your Parallels virtual machine as being exactly the same (while it's running) as if it were a 'real' computer. When it's down (or suspended) it's just a few (albeit large) files on your Mac, but when it's running everything in the 'virtual world' meaning the Internet, viruses, worms, hackers, you, your router, or anything that would interact with it will consider it to be a computer running Windows the same as if it were running on completely separate hardware.

This is kind of a new thing to many, and kind of 'Matrix' like, in that it doesn't really 'exist' as a physical entity, but certainly does in an abstract sense.

So yeah, all virus/worm protection you would apply to a physical machine running Windows should be applied to a virtual machine running Windows. They won't do anything to your Mac, however.

(I just wanted to get a BSG reference in with this post.)

Amen-Moses said:

Why, does he owe you some money?

:bone:

Amen-Moses

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Hehe

anti-virus

So does that mean that the anti-virus program will just be installed in the windows side and have no effect on the mac side? And that I will not need any on the mac side? After years of windows this is all very confusing. I wish that I could do without my windows programs and just use mac but there are some programs I like that mac doesn't provide.

pastle said:

So does that mean that the anti-virus program will just be installed in the windows side and have no effect on the mac side? And that I will not need any on the mac side? After years of windows this is all very confusing. I wish that I could do without my windows programs and just use mac but there are some programs I like that mac doesn't provide.

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correct, the anti-virus program will be installed on the windows side and have no effect on the mac side. In my opinion there is no need for any-virus software. I have used mac computers for 20+ years and never once had a virus.. what windows programs do you use that there are osx does not provide?

My favorite game is Brainsbreaker, a super jigsaw puzzle game and there is no mac version. I have a lot of graphics programs that I use all the time, Greeting Card Factory, Hallmark Card Studio, CreataCard 8, Calendar Creator, Scrapbook Factory, etc. There may be some with mac versions but it would be costly to replace them all.