Section 7.59. VirtualPC: The Program of Last Resort

7.59. VirtualPC: The Program of Last Resort

If you absolutely can't find a replacement for your favorite Windows programs, you have one last choice: an emulation program that runs a simulated PC inside your Mac. Such programs hog memory and hard drive space, and are slow as a sedated sloth, but sometimes nothing else will do.

Virtual PC, a program made by Microsoft, is the most popular choice for emulating a PC. Depending on the version of Windows you buy with it, though, you could end up paying over $200a point at which, honestly, you might be better off buying a year-old PC on eBay.

Still, if you decide to install Virtual PC, you can run almost any proprietary Windows software you had on your old PC on the same machine that you're running great Mac-only software like iMovie and iPhoto.

In other words, it's the best of both worlds , but only barely .