How to Run Windows Applications On Apple Mac

Many people are moving away from Microsoft Windows computers and instead opting to purchase Apple Macintosh computers. At first, this may be very frustrating because the applications you might be used to will only run under the Windows systems. There is an option however to run the Windows operating system and windows applications right on your mac. Below are steps you can take to run your favorite windows applications on your Mac.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Parallels Desktop for Mac or
• Virtual PC for Mac

1. In order to run Microsoft Windows and Windows applications on your Mac computer, you will have to install a virtual desktop manager, otherwise known as a virtual machine. There are several options for installing virtual desktop managers, including Microsoft's Virtual PC for Mac, and Parallels Desktop for Mac.

2. 
    
   Parallels is one kind of desktop manager

   Purchase and install the Virtual Desktop manager of your choice. All virtual desktop managers will allow you to either install a fresh Windows installation directly into the virtual machine, or transfer an existing windows computer system to the virtual machine through a network connection. These options are available during and after the installation of the virtual machine desktop manager.

3. 
    
   Windows running on Mac

   After the virtual machine is installed on your Mac computer, and you have either installed or transferred your Windows operating system and applications, you will be able use your Mac computer with both Mac applications and Windows applications. When in virtual desktop mode, the system will look exactly like your Windows computer. You can browse the web, install applications, and run any application you would normally run on a windows system.

Resources

• Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac
• Microsoft Virtual PC for Mac 7.0 with Windows XP Professional
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