Today's technology has come a long way in closing the divide between Windows and Mac applications, especially in the enterprise. However, a gap still exists for some and requires a bridge to move between computing environments.
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We tested remote access software by installing each app or service on four machines: desktops running Windows 10 and Windows 7, a laptop running Windows 7, and a Mac laptop running macOS. Oct 04, 2017 Best PC Remote Control Software For Windows 10, 8, 7 1. One of the best free PC remote control software, TeamViewer is available for almost all platforms such as Windows, Mac, Linux and more. It is available for free for personal use. Download and install the best free apps for Remote Access on Mac from CNET Download.com, your trusted source for the top software picks. With the help of good free download hacking software, anyone can become a successful hacker. 6 Best hacking software for Android and iPhone 2018. Home >> Blog >> hack a phone. Anyone can become a successful hacker. There are some important tools for hacking to work for windows, Linux, Android and OS X. Remote Desktop Support Software for Mac Bomgar has supported Mac OS X since 2007. And, unlike some remote support solutions that stop with basic support, Bomgar offers largely the same functionality for Mac as it does for Windows.
5 Ways to Run Windows Software on a Mac. Chris Hoffman @chrisbhoffman June 19, 2017. Android tablet, and other devices. If you’re just a home user who also has a Windows PC, you could configure that Windows PC for remote access and connect to it whenever you need a Windows application. Bear in mind that this isn’t ideal for visually. We tested remote access software by installing each app or service on four machines: desktops running Windows 10 and Windows 7, a laptop running Windows 7, and a Mac laptop running macOS.
For Mac users, the stalwart tool has been the Microsoft Remote Desktop connection. Available now through the Mac App store, it allows users to remotely connect to a Windows desktop to access local files, applications, and network resources.
Note: If you want to access Microsoft Remote Desktop on a newer Mac running macOS Sierra, check out this article instead.
In order to get started with Microsoft Remote Desktop, you must begin by downloading it from the Mac App Store. Click the blue 'App Store' icon in your dock. Or, you can download it from our sister site Download.com here.
Once you've accessed the Mac App Store, use the search bar at the top right of the screen to search for 'Microsoft Remote Desktop.' The first search result should be what you're looking for. To begin the download, click the blue 'Get' button. This app is free, so no price will be listed.
Next, open the application by clicking through the grey 'Launchpad' icon and clicking on the Remote Desktop app icon. Or, you can use the searchlight feature by clicking the looking glass at the top right of your home screen, or by using the shortcut Command + Space Bar, and searching for 'Microsoft Remote Desktop.' Opening the app should look like this:
If you think you'll be frequently using this remote desktop connection, now would be a good time to set it in your dock. Right click (control + click) on the icon, mouse over 'Options,' and click 'Keep in Dock.' This will keep you from having to look for the icon every time you need to use it.
At this point you'll need to enable remote access on your target PC. For a Windows 8 machine, the fastest way to get this done is to search for 'Allow remote access to your computer' and click on that when it comes up. You may need an administrator password to complete this step. Under the 'System Properties' box you should see 'Remote Desktop' and the button labeled 'Allow remote connections to this computer' should be selected.
Next, you'll need to select the users who will be able to be accessed through the remote desktop connection. Now, search for 'System' and click it when it appears. Turn off hibernation and sleep settings for the target PC, as you won't be able to access it remotely if it falls asleep.
SEE: Software usage policy (Tech Pro Research)
While still in 'System,' it's a good time to go ahead and get your full PC name if you don't already have it, as you'll need it to set up the connection. Click on 'Computer name, domain, and workgroup settings' to find the full PC name and write it down. Enabling a Windows 7 computer is a little different, but you can find out how to do that here.
Head back to your Mac and click the 'New' button at the top left of the Microsoft Remote Desktop screen. You'll be prompted to fill in quite a few fields.
The first thing you'll need to input is the connection name. This is simply what you want to call the connection and it has no real bearing on the connection itself. For example, you could call it 'John's work computer,' or 'Jennifer's PC.'
Next, you'll need to input the PC name (the one you wrote down from earlier), or the IP address so your Mac knows where to find your PC. The next line down allows you to configure a Gateway, which would let you connect to virtual desktops or session-based desktops that are on your company's network. Check with your network administrator to see if there is a gateway you are to use.
Credentials is where you will type in the domain, username, and password for the target PC so you can log in through the remote connection. Resolution, colors, and full screen mode are all personal preferences for how you want the remote desktop to launch on your machine. If you're not sure, start with the standard settings and go from there.
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If you want to configure peripheral devices for your remote desktop, you can find options for that under the middle tab, 'Session.'
The first choice is a drop-down menu for sound. You can disable sound, have it play on the remote PC, or have it play on your Mac. If you want to connect to an administrator session on a Windows server, click the box next to 'Connect to admin session.'
The next option to 'Forward printing devices' will make your local printers available during your remote desktop session. 'Swap mouse buttons' will allow you to use left click commands with a right-click Mac mouse.
The last tab at the top of the window is 'Redirection.' This is where you would choose a local folder you wanted to be available during your remote session. Click the '+' button, choose a name for the folder, and input the folder's path to have it available.
When you are finished configuring your remote desktop, click the red close button at the top left of the dialog box and your new remote desktop will be added. To start a session with that desktop, simply double-click it to begin.
If you want to edit, duplicate, export, or delete that remote connection, right-click (control + click) on the desktop name to access those options.
If you don't think Microsoft Remote Desktop is the option for you, here are some other options available at Download.com:
What do you think?
Is there a better way to access your Windows applications? Tell us in the comments.
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What Is Virtualization?
Virtualization software lets you run apps written for a different operating system than the OS that runs your computer. You might, for example, want to run a Windows application on your shiny new Mac. Each OS has its strengths, but many users who make the big switch from Windows to the macOS discover Windows apps that they've used for years (such as Microsoft's Project and Visio, Corel's WordPerfect and CorelDraw) don't have matching Mac versions. Or they discover that the Mac version of their favorite software—like Microsoft Excel or ABBYY FineReader—has fewer features than the Windows version. Or maybe the Mac version is simply a few update cycles behind. Virtualization apps let you keep your Windows apps while enjoying the elegance and convenience of a Mac.
Virtualization Isn't Just for Macs
Of course virtualization isn't only for the Mac. If you need to use Windows apps that don't work under modern Windows version, virtualization apps let you run older Windows versions inside Windows 10. Or you can run Linux and other open-source operating systems, or ancient systems like MS-DOS, OS/2, or NeXTSTEP in a window on your modern Mac or Windows system. Almost all serious developers use virtualization software to test their work under multiple OSes, but today's virtualization apps are easy enough for nontechnical users to master.
What Are Your Choices?
This survey covers the three full-scale virtualization apps for the Mac, because the Mac is the environment where these apps are likely to get the widest use. The three include Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion, both of them commercial apps that you'll have to pay for, and the free, open-source Oracle VM VirtualBox. In forthcoming articles, we'll explore other methods of running Windows apps on a Mac, or obsolete Windows apps in modern Windows, methods that tend to require more technical skills than the main virtualization apps. These other methods include Codeweavers Crossover and Wineskin Winery for running Windows apps on a Mac, WineVDM for running Windows 3.x apps in 64-bit Windows, and DOSBox, DOSBox-X, and vDos for running MS-DOS apps and games.
All three of the full-scale virtualization apps detailed here let you run Windows apps in a variety of ways. You can run a complete Windows desktop in a window on the Mac desktop or run it full-screen as if you were working at a real Windows machine. You can also conceal the Windows environment and desktop entirely, and run a single Windows app either in a desktop window on the Mac or full-screen, in the same way you can run any Mac app full-screen. When you run a Windows app in this single-app mode, the Windows environment runs invisibly in the background, and can be made visible with a few clicks on the Mac's top-line menu, but if you don't need the Windows desktop, you can avoid being distracted by it.
How Does Virtualization Work?
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Modern virtualization apps try to break down the barrier between the Mac host system and the Windows guest, but in different ways. All three of the apps in this roundup install tools that let you drag and drop files between the Mac and Windows (or Linux), and all three let you copy data into the clipboard of one system and paste it into the other. These guest-system tools are available for Windows, Linux, Mac and some other emulated systems, but each virtualization app supports a different set of guest systems, with VMware offering the widest range of support.
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Parallels and VMware let you print to any printer connected to your Mac, while VirtualBox lets you print to networked printers, but not to printers connected to your Mac by a USB cable. Parallels, by default, provides the deepest integration, although VMware can be customized to provide similar features. VirtualBox provides basic-level integration. One typcial difference is that Parallels automatically lets you print from Windows apps to your Mac printers, while VMware makes you enable this feature manually. With VirtualBox, you'll probably have to search the web to find the unintuive networking option that lets you print to networked printers. You'll find more details about Windows integration in our individual reviews.
To run Windows or Windows apps under Parallels, VMware, VirtualBox, or Boot Camp, you'll need either a Windows activation key or a full Windows installer on a USB stick, DVD drive, or downloaded disk image. You can download a Windows 10 installer directly from inside Parallels. Alternatively, you can migrate an existing Windows system from a network drive or Boot Camp partition. If you don't want to provide a full copy of Windows, and you're willing to get your hands dirty configuring software that may or may not work, you can try to run individual Windows apps by running the commercial CrossOver app, or the freeware Wine and Wineskin apps. All these are based on the open-source Wine project, and can run some—but by no means all—Windows apps without requiring Windows itself.
Before Parallels and VMware Fusion had enough speed to make them practical for everyday use, many Mac owners used Apple's Boot Camp to run Windows on Mac hardware. There was even a time, around ten years ago, when some users claimed that the best Windows laptop was a MacBook Pro with Windows running under Boot Camp. Those days are long gone. Apple still officially supports Boot Camp, but it gets more awkward to use every year. Two years ago, when all Macs used the older HPFS file system, you could switch back from a Boot Camp-based Windows system to the operating system simply by clicking on an icon in a Mac-style Startup Disk applet accessible from the Windows taskbar.
Now that all current Macs use the new APFS file system, the Startup Disk applet no longer works, because Apple didn't bother to update it to communicate with APFS drives. To switch back from Boot Camp-based Windows to the macOS, you have to hold down the Option key when restarting the Mac and then select your Mac drive as a startup disk. If your timing is wrong, you'll end up back in Windows. Apple seems to have decided that Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion make Boot Camp irrelevant, but many gamers will still want Boot Camp, because Parallels and VMware support DirectX graphics only through DirectX 10, while Boot Camp supports DirectX 11 and 12 if the graphics hardware on your Mac natively supports those DirectX versions.
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One major advantage of running Windows or any other OS in a virtualization app is a snapshot feature that lets you preserve and restore the state of the virtualized system at any moment when you mske a snapshot. So if you're worried about installing something that might be malware, take a snapshot of the Windows system, install the suspected malware, and test it. If it turns out to be malign, restore the snapshot, and all traces of the malware disappear. Parallels supplements this feature with an optional rollback feature that automatically restores an emulated system to its original state every time you start it up.
Virtualized OSes, Real Flexibility
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Virtualization software isn't perfect, and an emulated Windows systems will amost always be slower than Windows running on a Windows PC. But these apps give you the flexibility to run almost any app you like on a single machine, and keep using the apps you like best even when you've abandon the operating system that those apps were written for.
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Best Virtualization Software Featured in This Roundup:
Parallels Desktop (for Mac) Review
MSRP: $79.99
Pros: Fast performance in testing. Tight integration with guest OSes. Effortless installation. Flexible file and folder tools. Options for opening Mac files in Windows apps. Can install macOS virtual machines directly from the Mac recovery partition.
Cons: Some Mac-integration features can be confusing or impractical until you turn them off. Only runs on a Mac, so you can't share guest machines with Windows or Linux users.
Bottom Line: Parallels Desktop is an excellent way to run Windows apps on MacOS, especially for ordinary users. It's fast in testing, offers tight integration between Macs and guest systems, and supports many other OSes, too.
Read ReviewVMware Fusion (for Mac) Review
MSRP: $79.99
Pros: Flexible virtualization solution for expert and professional users. Reliable performance. Useful and easily modified default settings. Official and unofficial support for almost any Intel-based operating system.
Cons: Run slower than Parallels or VirtualBox in testing. Lacks Parallels' Rollback feature for kiosk-style emulated systems.
Bottom Line: VMware Fusion is a reliable virtualization solution with deep customization options and integration features for running Windows or almost any other OS on a Mac. It's slower than competitor Parallels Desktop in testing, but it has a better-balanced feature set.
Read ReviewOracle VM VirtualBox (for Mac) Review
MSRP: $0.00
Pros: Free and open-source. Creates emulated machines for almost any Windows, Linux, OS/2, Solaris, and Unix-based system. Highly customizable, but without excessive default integrations of commercial services.
Cons: Simple integration features like printing require advanced-user skills. Some viewing options don't yet work with Windows 10. No easy support for macOS or OS X guest systems. Less powerful graphics than Parallels or VMware.
Bottom Line: VirtualBox is free, open-source, and works well for developers and hobbyists, but it's less ideal for anyone who wants to seamlessly run Windows and Linux apps on a Mac.
Read Review
Best Virtualization Software Featured in This Roundup:
Parallels Desktop (for Mac) Review
MSRP: $79.99Pros: Fast performance in testing. Tight integration with guest OSes. Effortless installation. Flexible file and folder tools. Options for opening Mac files in Windows apps. Can install macOS virtual machines directly from the Mac recovery partition.
Cons: Some Mac-integration features can be confusing or impractical until you turn them off. Only runs on a Mac, so you can't share guest machines with Windows or Linux users.
Bottom Line: Parallels Desktop is an excellent way to run Windows apps on MacOS, especially for ordinary users. It's fast in testing, offers tight integration between Macs and guest systems, and supports many other OSes, too.
Read ReviewVMware Fusion (for Mac) Review
MSRP: $79.99Pros: Flexible virtualization solution for expert and professional users. Reliable performance. Useful and easily modified default settings. Official and unofficial support for almost any Intel-based operating system.
Cons: Run slower than Parallels or VirtualBox in testing. Lacks Parallels' Rollback feature for kiosk-style emulated systems.
Bottom Line: VMware Fusion is a reliable virtualization solution with deep customization options and integration features for running Windows or almost any other OS on a Mac. It's slower than competitor Parallels Desktop in testing, but it has a better-balanced feature set.
Read ReviewOracle VM VirtualBox (for Mac) Review
MSRP: $0.00Pros: Free and open-source. Creates emulated machines for almost any Windows, Linux, OS/2, Solaris, and Unix-based system. Highly customizable, but without excessive default integrations of commercial services.
Cons: Simple integration features like printing require advanced-user skills. Some viewing options don't yet work with Windows 10. No easy support for macOS or OS X guest systems. Less powerful graphics than Parallels or VMware.
Bottom Line: VirtualBox is free, open-source, and works well for developers and hobbyists, but it's less ideal for anyone who wants to seamlessly run Windows and Linux apps on a Mac.
Read Review