I have software for my insulin pump that unfortunately will only run on XP or Vista. Having recently gotten rid of my old Windows laptop & fired up Bootcamp on my iMac running OS X, I discover that it will only run Windows 7. As my pump is from a company that has ceased production there will never be an update, so I am stuck with Vista for the next 2 years whether I like it or not.
I do have a copy of Parallels 7 which I had installed when I first became a Mac users (11 months ago), but something got messed up, so I uninstalled it shortly afterwards & put my Mac back to it’s pristine condition.
So now I am agonising over whether to have another go at Parallels or to just get my hands on a cheap old laptop to do the job. This brings me to my questions….
1 – Is Parallels 7 truly safe on my Mac and if I decide to uninstall it at some future date will it leave a mess of files behind?
2 – If I will only be using Parallels 7 for my insulin pump software (once per week) & will never be doing anything on the internet with it, or transferring files between Windows & OS X do I really need antivirus software?
I’ve Googled these two questions but just keep coming up with conflicting or emotive information. I’ve grown to trust your level headed approach so would value your opinion.
Thanks
Caraline
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Caraline
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Will I Regret Putting Parallels 7 On My Pristine iMac?
Comments: 4 Responses to “Will I Regret Putting Parallels 7 On My Pristine iMac?”
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I love Parallels. My experience with it has been great. As for safe -- what, exactly, is you concern there?
Uninstalling it pretty easy. Just delete any Windows images you create, then uninstall Parallels. It keeps everything pretty neat, with the entire Windows install basically just one large file.
If you won't be surfing the web or downloading software, then you should be OK without Windows anti-virus. Though you can always install a free one. I would just immediately disable file sharing of all kinds in Windows once you install it. I think XP/Vista had some trouble with file sharing being turned on by default and viruses getting in that way. But I'm not a Windows guy.
I use Parallels for testing, and have Windows 7 installed. But I've done XP and Vista in the past. Since I use it only for testing, I didn't install any anti-virus. I figured that I would just wipe and re-install Windows into a new Parallels image if I ran into trouble. I did that on a regular basis anyway so I could test on a pretty new system.
Hello Gary,
I also would have told Caraline,
That any software that can run Vista, will run Windows 7 with the same drivers.
Just of course as long as it is same 32-64 bitrate type.
Thanks Gary, I find all of the most reassuring. I think the earlier struggles I had with Parallels was more to do with the fact that I didn't really understand what it was doing & I was very twitchy about my new iMac (read as inexperience).
Bob, unfortunately the software I need to run does not work on Windows 7 32bit or 64bit. It is a real backwater program with very few users & now absolutely no tech support.
Ok I am off to install my Parallels. Many thanks :)
Just a bit of follow up here. I've installed Parallels and it is working great. As it turned out I only had version 6 but still it is doing everything I need. I am impressed with how fast it all loads & works even though I have given it minimal resources.
Many thanks :)