Virtual PC 5.0 for Mac with Windows XP Home

THIS IS GREAT GREAT SOFTWARE YOU SHOULD BUY IN MY OPINION ... COOL ... SOFTWARE


Virtual PC 5.0 Windows XP   September 25, 2002
 13 out of 13 found this review helpful

I have an "old" Power Mac G4 dual 1 GHZ processor with 1.5G of RAM installed. I am running the software under OSX. I do not believe that the OS 9 version supports dual processors.
The installation was a bit rough. I had to install and uninstall two times. The upgrade, v 5.04 is supposed to make this easier. I don't think you can install the update until you install the original version so any fixes seem useless if you first have to jump the install hurdle before updating.
Once things booted up, performance has been great. I would hesitate to wonder how well it would work with a slower processor. This version recognizes both processors.
I echo the comments about documentation. Connectix assumes too much. The second CD is used if you are prompted to insert your Windows CD. I guess it has a bunch of drivers.
I am waiting for a response from technical support regarding neccessity of using a firewall and antivirus. I run NIS on both the Mac and the virtual XP PC. I think it is needed, but NIS definitely bogs down the app. Still acceptable, but not as jawbreaking fast as the original install.
Another sore point I have with Connectix is technical support. You get one free incident response and then you are charged[...]after that. So my inability to initially install burned my response up and that response also applied to my email request.
They do have a forum, but I would have hoped for a little more support, maybe 30 days.
I would definitely respect the minimum system requirements listed. I am near the top as far as Mac performance and would wonder how well it would work with a G3 or a 500 MHZ G4.


Lousy piece of software!!!! BEWARE!!!   August 30, 2002
 14 out of 17 found this review helpful

I am a recent Mac convert. I have used Windows machines for many, many years. When I bought my IMac, I had heard about this program and was very excited...just think the best of both worlds, OS X and Windows XP Home. I plunked down my hard-earned ... and boy am I disappointed. THIS SOFTWARE IS BEYOND SLOW!!!! The documentation is lacking, the installation took several hours, and I now remember why I switched to a Mac in the first place. Believe me when I say, PLEASE DO NOT BUY THIS SOFTWARE!!!! YOU WILL REGRET IT IF YOU DO. IT IS MUCH, MUCH TOO SLOW TO BE OF ANY USE.


Waste of time and money   August 14, 2002
 20 out of 22 found this review helpful

I bought this program to run one Windows program for a Garmin GPS receiver. I have a newer model Imac with 1 gig of memory, so it's not short of resources. I was completely frustrated and finally gave up. To begin with, Connectix' documentation is very bad. You get to the installation instructions about 3/4ths of the way through the manual. They are incomplete and unclear. The onscreen instructions are just as bad: they don't even tell you to insert the second of the discs at the appropriate time. It was only after hours of trying things that I finally got Windows XP to run at all. And that's when I discovered how slowly it runs. I mean crawling, not walking, slow. It took forever to draw a map, print it, etc. I gave up; just loaded the map program on the wife's pc. You do the same and you'll save the money and effort. What a waste of both.


Great   May 3, 2002
 1 out of 16 found this review helpful

I think this is a great product that brings Windows XP to the mac with style.