Parallel's Question

[Toughbook]

I just installed Parallel's and W7. Everything seems ok from the little I know about this...New Mac owner here...Longtime PC user..

At the top of my screen when I am not using W7 I have some of there icons. Is this correct? This appears that W7 is always running in the background???

Should I have a W7 icon on my desktop or just the Parallel icon?

Thanks for the help

 

[WSR]

You must be in coherence mode.

If you go to Window or Full-screen mode in Parallels, those icons will disappear. I personally like running it in Full-screen mode in a separate space. Thus, giving me maximum emulation. Then I just switch spaces to go back to the full Mac experience.

Just like any other app, parallels and thus W7 are running in the background. This is so that if you are doing something like running a virus scan in W7, you can go over to the MacOS and continue working. Don't worry, if W7 is idol then only its background processes are running and it shouldn't slow down your Mac.

 

[Toughbook]

Thanks for the tip. I still can't figure out why I can't find the W7 desktop? At the top of my screen I have the parallel ion and one of the options is to see the Start Menu. Can I not open W7 in a full screen desktop mode like a PC? Sorry for the dumbass questions but like I said this is so new to me!

 

[hakuin]

One of the options under the Parallels icon should be "Exit Coherence". Select this and you should be shown the W7 desktop inside the Parallels window. Now with the Parallels window selected go to "View" in the menu bar and you should see some options. "Enter Full Screen" may be what you are looking for.

 

[fjs08]

Curious from all your experiences here as to how this Windows on a Mac stuff really works. I've been an Apple/Mac guy my entire life. There are a few items I'd like to use that are Windows only programs. Nothing earth shattering but I've been very hesitant to put Windows on my Mac, concerned that "stuff" will happen. Friend recently did it and had to add RAM to get his Windows programs "moving" at a reasonable pace. Another found he had internet connection issues... viruses, etc... Did you all add antiviral programs once you added Windows???

What's the total outlay to add windows to a Mac.... Costs of basic PC's are pretty reasonable. Are we talking similarities or not.
What I want to do is like computer baseball and the like, so it's not like I need it for business or anything.

Thx in advance for your advice.

Frank

 

[WSR]

I have it on an early 2011 Macbook Pro with 4 GB, and I have found it works well. True Parallels and Window7 is a memory hog since for every 1 GB you give to W7 that's 1GB less for the Mac, but 4 GB is comfortable.

I did install a virus program, the one available to CenturyLink customers, on the W7 virtual machine. So yes it's a concern, but a virus on the VM shouldn't affect your MAC. Also restoring you VM after a virus should be easier than restoring a real W7 machine.

The cost for me was a couple of hundred dollars for Parallels, W7 and Office. I don't remember the prices.

 

[fjs08]

I was told, and obviously "they" can be incorrect but I was told tha a virus will infect the entire hard drive.
Frank

 

[WSR]

I was told, and obviously "they" can be incorrect but I was told that a virus will infect the entire hard drive.
Frank

I was forgetting that the VM can see any folders or files you have on your MAC desktop, but it doesn't see the drives on your desktop, i.e. the Mac system drive.

I'm no expert but if the VM can't see a file, I don't think it could be infected by a virus on the VM.

As I said I'm no expert, so hopefully someone with more knowledge of viruses will chime in.

 

[squeakr]

The virus has to be written to utilize a certain construct. Since the OS file system is not the same formatting and uses none of the same constructs of the Win7 partition, even if the virus were to get onto the OS partition, it will not work nor be able to infect the files. It would be like a midol whizzing through a man's body not knowing what if anything to do.

If you were to get a virus that works with Mac OS, then it would have to be given permission to open and interact. SO there are no worries as long as you are careful of what you allow access.