Virtual PC 4.0 with Windows 98

The advertising for this product is no doubt accurate. Certainly, it is much faster than 3.0, which was glacial in its response. It is now like running Windows on a 386, rather than an 8088 chip. It is easier to manipulate via Mac controls. The transfer of files between the two OS's is much simplier, a shared file located on the Apple Desktop. A very nice status monitor is located beneath the main screen that tells you about what the hardware is doing. It was actually a joy to use at first, until all the problems began to crop up.This program is actually a beta form pushed quickly into the market in time for the Christmas season, however. It crashed my 9.0 OS using IMac more than 15 times completely enough to require a complete reboot from the power key, while using their default settings of memory, etc. It says that it supports USB, which my printer uses, but it also turns off the Chooser when it takes over, so, when I try to print out something the job actually gets as far as the printer spool in the computer, but it never would bridge the gap between the computer and the printer itself.And, so, at the price that you pay for the thing, it is not something that anyone should try, in the least. All the little advertised improvements really work, it is just that nobody seemed to have tested it out before they put it out on the market. As such, please don't buy this software!

Virtual PC 4.0 with Windows 98 is one helpful program. It allows you to access different programs that are only available for Windows machines. It doesn't emulate Windows, it emulates a Pentium processor on your computer, so if you want to upgrade to a different version of Windows at a later date, you will be able to. I really got this program for use with my Handspring Visor, since no one out there makes software to sync your address book and calendar over the internet for the Mac. I have used 2 different services thus far (Yahoo and MyPalm) and both of them have worked without a hitch. One thing everyone wants to know about Virtual PC though, is what about the games! I haven't really invested all too much money in that, but the ones that I have tried, have worked well enough (Grim Fandango and Close Combat series). If you decide to get this and want to run some games on it, let me caution you... first make sure the game does not require hardware acceleration as Virtual PC 4 will not access any 3D cards on your Mac. Secondly, check out the processor requirements. If a game requires a 500mhz Pentium, you are going to have one frustrating gaming session. The common rule of thumb is to take your Mac's processor speed and divide it by three (i.e. 466mhz mac = 155mhz Pentium). By following those simple hints, your gaming should be a good time! Overall, I wholeheartily recommend Virtual PC if your have no desire to get a full desktop PC and want to run a few Windows programs.

If you need to run Windows apps on your mac, this is the way to go. I've run it under both 9.0.4 and 9.1 on 3 different machines and have had no problems. I've used Internet access through my Mac's DSL line, file sharing and printing in addition to running apps. You can boot multiple OS's (98. 95, Me) and the interface and speed is much improved from earlier versions. You can't play PC games on it, but for everything else, it's an excellent solution.