Virtual PC for OS X

ScottW

ScottW

Founder
Staff member
Alright...

I would like to run Virtual PC for (2) purposes...

1) Connect to work via VPN client (that seems to be only Windows based)
2) Use Outlook to connect to Exchange server

Which would be the fastest Windows OS to run on Virtual PC? Win 98? Me? 2000, XP?

If you run any of these under Virtual PC (on OS X) I'd like to get your comments.

Admin
 
Win 98 SE runs the best. If you're going to be netwroky stuff, then 2000 but 98SE normally.

Runs a lot faster in 9 though, OS X cycling keeps VPC from hogging the CPU load which in this case is a bad thing.

So for speed, OS9 with 98SE and Second Edition is v important.

:)
 
Actually, I tried VPC with both Win98 and Win2K, and it seems that Win2K actually runs better than 98. I looked at some newsgroups, and this seems to be an accepted perception.

I'd go with Win2K.
 
Hi,

I wouldn't go for a virtual PC anyway:

1) VPN is available for UNIX as well, so it should be available for MacOS X too. Possibly a bit difficult to setup, but worth a try. Try googeling :).

2a) Ask your Exchange admin to setup IMAP connectivity too. All Exchange servers can be easily setup to use IMAP too, apart from the M$-native Exchange protocol (which sucks bigtime, but that is another story). If IMAP is setup you can just use Mail.app to connect.

2b) Other possibility is to use M$ Entourage (part of Office X as you probably know) to connect to the M$ Exchange server using the VPN you setup in step 1.

3) Bonus :). I tried Virtual PC myself on my iMac LCD 700 MHz with 384 MB RAM and found it terribly slow (using Win98SE). I uninstalled it.

Good luck!
 
I agree with the last guy. VPC [while useful] is pretty slow and and like using a bazooka to take out a fly on the wall.

If at all possible, try to solve your problem by staying in OS X first, you will be a lot happier.
 
I have an older version of Virtual PC with Windows 98 installed on it, and it ONLY works in Mac OS 9. To get maximum speed in VPC, I have a program that kills the Finder. When I quit VPC, the Finder automatically relaunches. I think most everyone else here has a much faster computer than mine, so this reply probably wouldn't help you much Admin.
 
Well, IMAP is not an option and I need more access to network devices besides Exchange. But anyhow, I think I will just stick with my Winblows Laptap. :) I just wanted to get away w/o it.

Admin
 
I don't know if this will/will not make a difference, but I just read in ThinkSecret that macOS X 10.2 is supposed to have native support for PPTP. :D

My employer uses PPTP for VPN access. I'm definitely checking out 10.2's PPTP support (if it is there) and using the classic version of Outlook for Exchange. (not express)
 
I've installed VPC w/ win2k and it's so slow that's it's unusable IMO.

I have to wait about 30 seconds for the start menu to come up.:rolleyes:

I haven't tried Win98 though in OSX, but my guess is that it would be a lot faster.
 
There's no need to install VPC if all you really want to do is use Exchange. Microsoft Outlook is available for Classic and works wonderfully there (it's the only app that I use Classic for).

Unless, of course, your company doesn't want to spend the money to purchase the Mac client. In that case, you can use Outlook Web Access which is their web-based solution. It works pretty well, but the Mac side of things TOTALLY SUCKS with attachments (at least the way that our IT department has set it up (the only way too?)).
 
I have a Dual-533 MHz G4 system and I have tried VPC, and it worked alright with Win2K. A bit sluggish, but I could get stuff done. If you're doing networking stuff you must use Win2K or XP Pro. Although, VPC has not been optimized for XP, it will run it, I believe this was stated on the Connectix. As a last resort, I would use Win98(SE). It is absolutely terrible, Windows 98 constantly crashes as compared to Win2K and XP. Also, it's terrible at networking. It was nearly impossible to integrate the Windows 98 machines into our network and have them work with standard NT protocals let alone trying anything advanced. Therefore, we abandoned Win98(SE) and required all users to update to Win2K or XP Pro so we could better administrate, navigate, manage, and monitor the network.
 
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