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MacsomJRR

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 8, 2003
517
3
San Diego
Is it just me or is virtual PC absolutely terrible. It's too slow for even web browsing. Has anybody heard anything about a VPC upgrade or revamp in near future?
 
That's just the way it is. It's really meant to just get you through an app that doesn't exist on the Mac. It's not meant to really be "used" as a computer.

Also, what hardware are you running it on? I'm running Win2000 on a 1 GHz G4 with 350 MB allotted to Windows. I find it quite usable for office type apps.

Also, if you're running XP on it, turn off all the effects, and switch to the classic Windows theme. It runs better.
 
Same here as far as the system it's running on. PB G4 1ghz w/ about 250 mb alloted.

I'll try using 2000 (I'm using XP in full) and see if that helps. I'm sure it will. Thanks a lot!
 
Also, Windows runs unnecessary background services by default. After a Win reinstall or getting a new PC I always go to blackviper.com and use his recommendations (because I don't do it enough to remember) for enabled and disabled services. It doesn't make a huge difference in normal operation for a fast CPU, but I was able to reduce compile times for my Java code by 40%, and slower CPUs (e.g. the virtual one in VPC) should see a better response. The disk indexing service is particularly slow if you're doing a lot of disk access (e.g. compiling)

Also, someone posted a recommendation for VPC setup that apparently speeds things up - do a search for it.
 
CanadaRAM said:
Could you please doublecheck that URL? It sounds interesting but I just get a Network Solutions page there.

It's the correct URL - I used it only two or three weeks ago during my SP2 install saga. I just didn't check before posting. The alternative www.blkviper.com is also down - I don't know if this means it's permanently down.

I found this site http://www.jasonn.com/turning_off_unnecessary_services_on_windows_xp. It's harder to read than the blackviper site was, but at a cursory glance it looks ok.
 
I tried both XP and 98, pretty bad IMO. but now ive completely passed over the the 'light side' i think to myself that i probably will never use a PC again. i've stopped using the PC only Multimedia Fusion and swapped to Flash MX 2004 for my games/presentations.

but there are people out there who DO need VPC. cut down on all the effects, all i can say.
 
Actually, I find VPC very useful for me. I live in a country which Macs are rare, (nearly non-existent) and, since my university's support in Macs is simply not there, I need VPC to write applications in PC format.

But, look man, it's Microsoft we are talking about. You didn't thing that their software would run decently, did you?
 
I wish they ported VMware for OSX

Much better program, and they were first.

On my Athalon XP Linux box I have 3 Virtual servers loaded on my VMware Workstation.. I can have my Novell (don't ask) Netware 6 Server booted and running at the same time as a Windows 2000 Server session.

The box is mostly used for playtime, but it is stable, and the uptime on the Linux box it is hosted on is over 4 months now, with MULTIPLE crashes of Windows 2000 (not because of VMware), and some strange network changes I was doing on the Novell session.

I was going to look and see if VMware can be loaded into an X11 session in OS X, but I haven't had time to try.
 
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