Need Help - Parallels or VM Fusion

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Prosdo

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I am very new to the Mac world and am loving it. I recently bought a Macbook Pro. I have a couple of Windows programs I would like to install on my Macbook. I have Adobe Photoshop, Quicken 2008, and Microsoft Office. What is best to use for this? Also I heard of Virtual Box. I am just looking for the best product to use. Also if I want to remove Windows is that difficult? Thank you.
 
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Shouldn't be diffcult to remove.

I'd suggest downloading the 30 day trial versions of both and seeing which you like best. Remember that running a program in Fusion or Parallels isn't going to be as fast as running it natively - you're running two operating systems, effectively halving the resources each one has available to it.
 
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Prosdo

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That's not a problem. I won't be using Windows much. Just to check my banking and write school papers. Do I need to install anti-virus on Windows or no because it is not booting solely in Windows? Thanks.
 
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Virus

Well the Windows "Virtual Machene" might still get a virus, but it wont affect OS-X which will be your main operating system.
 
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Prosdo

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Thanks for the reply. I'm going to try and install one of them when I get home from work tonight. Thanks guys.
 
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you want to run parallels to check your banking and write a school paper? wouldnt It be easier to get Word for mac? and im surprised theres nothing like quicken for mac.....
 
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Prosdo

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i already have the software for PC. To buy Quicken, Office, and Photoshop for Mac would be like 300+ dollars.
 
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I like VMware its faster.
 
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I'd go with VMWare. They make a lot of good software for the server side of things as well, and I know that Parallels does not uninstall completely/cleanly.
 
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Another vote here for VMWare, love it.
 
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MacInWin

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And another vote for VMWare. As for virii, if you install everything in VMWare, then save the image, then if you get infected later, just kill the image and reload the saved version. No need to reinstall!
 
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Prosdo

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Really having trouble with this. The Vista version apparently is an upgrade version which you need to be running a previously version of Windows to install it. So I only have XP SP1. Ah this is not looking good.
 
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Well, if you really want to run Vista, you could install XP, then use the Vista upgrade on it.
 
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Prosdo

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It won't let me install SP1. I searched the forums and found some site about making a new install CD by adding in SP2 with it. Hopefully it works.
 
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I know you need SP2 for Boot Camp, so that could well be the problem.
 
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Well, I was able to install XP SP1 on my Parallels VM with no problem. I've tried 'slipstreaming' my install CD to SP2 but it didn't work, and so I didn't bother with it. It then proceeded to update about fifty updates (literally) then brought it all the way up to SP2.
 
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Hmmm, I'm pretty sure I installed Boot Camp with SP1. I don't have any XP SP2 discs around that I'm aware of. But I could be wrong. It's been a bit since I built it.
 
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Prosdo

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Maybe I will download Parallels and try it. The slip CD is almost ready. I'll let you know how it goes.
 
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I would also try virtualbox as it is free and backed by Sun Microsystems
 

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