Parallels - Amazing Program that Needs RAM

OK, so you've bought your new Intel Mac and now you want to run Windows. It's time to invest in Parallels.

Parallels is virtual machine software, which means, it's like running a Windows machine on your Mac.

How good is Parallels?

Well, for sure, it's fast. I set up Parallels on a 2.4 GHz Intel iMac with 1 GB RAM and it runs my Windows software faster than on my 2.8 GHz Intel Dell computer with 2GB RAM. That is amazing.

But it did slow up all my other Mac programs somewhat while Parallels was running.

There are settings on Parallels so you can optimize your memory usage, but I chose to just upgrade my iMac to 4GB RAM.

One nice thing about Parallels - you can take a snapshot of your Windows system, let's say, right before you install some questionable program, and if your install gets infected or corrupted, you can revert back to your snapshot of what your Windows system was at the snapshot.

And, of course, Time Machine, is backing up everything on your computer (including your Windows system) every hour (isn't it?).

Parallels requires you to do an actual Windows install, so you will need a Windows XP or Windows Vista installation disk to start.

If you like Linux, you can try it on Parallels, too. In fact, you can have 3, 4, or 5 operating systems installed on your computer if need be.

I think the thing that got me was, and that still puzzles me, is how is Windows on a 2.4 GHZ iMac faster than a 2.8 GHz Dell? Let's just chalk it up to the miracle of the Mac.

Time Machine makes the Mac and Leopard a must

How important is it to back up?

It's the most important thing you can do. So, the easier it is, the more of a chance that everything you have is protected.

Well, now, backing up is free and easy with Leopard (Mac OS 10.5). The backup scheme included in Leopard is called Time Machine.

Time Machine backs up every hour each day, then saves a daily copy for the last month, and then, it just keeps going. It's as easy as plugging in a hard disk and turning Time Machine on.

So what happened recently?

A user had a power failure over the weekend. The server computer did have a battery backup, but it failed to protect the data. The data could be restored, but it took overnight, and some work was involved.

But imagine this.

Imagine if he had Time Machine on the server computer.

He could have restored his computer to last Saturday before the power failure, and could have been working again in a few minutes.

And you needn't restore your whole computer either (although you could). You can just restore the files you need (or the ones that got corrupted).

It's not often I recommend an entire new operating system based on one feature, but I think, in this case, it's time.

You can either buy a new Apple Computer with Leopard pre-installed, or upgrade what you are using now.

Leopard runs great on G4 Macs as well as Intel Macs.

Get it today, and start backing up - before you need it.

Oh yeah, and do get a battery backup anyway, and take a copy of your data offsite every week or two, just in case.