Guest PC Update for Mac

User Reviews

• These kernal panics have not been solved yet?

  phillman5September 22, 2006

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />1) I just updated from 1.8.5 to 1.96. I too have the kernal attacks These need to be fixed, and I am surprised they haven't yet! 2) Why would someone want this ported to the intel Macs beats the heak out of me. Just partition your drive with bootcamp and install the real thing! or get Parallels version. 3) I could not get my Garmin GPS Vista to work 100%. It Guest PC/Windows 2000 talks to it, so I could get current position, but I couldn't download maps. $) in a reply to someone here I compared Guest PC to virtual PC. Altough VPC was faster, some of the software to measure CPU speed would not work on virtual PC, now they might have USB working thats also a +.

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• A worthy purchase.

  CascadeHushMay 29, 2006

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />After buying the disaster that is WinTel, I gave this a try. It is quite reasonably priced, and works okay with DOS or Win98 on a G4 PPC. Whilst performance and features are nothing spectacular it does indeed work pretty well. I could not get it to run Windows NT, and I didn't even want to try XP, but there are a lot of current programs that will still run on Win98. This is a worthy effort and as long as your expectations are reasonable, this is a pratcial way of running those few programs that you absolutly need windows for. I recently got Virtual PC with MS Office 2004, since it was on a special and I basically got Virtual PC free. I can say that XP Pro on VPC is about equivalent to Win98 on GuestPC. So Virtual PC performs better and has some useful options, but is more expensive. If you want a balance between price and performance and can live with Win98 (and indeed have a copy you can use), and are willing to live with the basic feature set, I can recommend GuestPC. If you have a little extra cash, Virtual PC is definetly worth the extra, with features such as state saving and pausing which means you can have a windows session ready to go anytime without tying down your CPU. (My iBook is unusable for anything else whilst using GuestPC, whereas I can have VPC running in the background without things grinding to a halt.) Ultimatly Guest PC is a stable, resonably priced program that does what it says on the tin (and not much else). Even though I have now moved on, I don't regret the purchase, it served it's purpose for me.

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• Good progress

  AZUsovApril 25, 2006

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I used Guest PC before but now with version 1.8 I feel much better. Never before I had a chance to use my Garmin GPS 60 with my Mac, while now yes sir, it works. Some faster and it will be my ideal.

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• In the right direction

  genrichsOctober 11, 2005

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />"Long ago" (in computer-life-span terms) I was a user of Blue Label Power Emulator, made by the same guys who have brought this Guest PC. Despite being a bit slowler than Virtual PC, Blue Label did it job and did it well, and was very usable under shy specs such as a G3 running at 600 MHz. Now with Guest PC (1.6) not only I've found it to be reasonably fast (considerably faster than iEmulator and QEMU based emulators, and much much faster than Bochs and DOSBox), but it only takes around a 20% more time to install Windows Me than VPC 7.02. That means that the speed is more than acceptable and, under my G4 1GHz the performance is more than enough to make it more than usable. It gives a very neat interface with great capabilities such as the possibility to install Windows OS' without the hassle to enter any information at all during the installation process. It can read physical and virtual CD's and floppies, gives networking support and the very nice touch of working in full screen mode. Guest PC costs less than half the price of M$ Virtual PC, and it almost delivers most of its features. Customer service, which is very responsive, informed me that it will include a comprehensive USB support in a not very far away future, which will make Guest PC and equal competitor to VPC at an acceptable price. I like this program.

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• The cool thing

  Rosvold--2008September 21, 2005

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I guess guys none would argue that Drag-and-Drop is the cool thing and only now I got have bad I have being missing it. No network setup is needed anymore, besides files run like rabbits from Windows to Mac and vice versa. Keep up the good work guys, keep up!

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• Surprisingly good!

  ShuffleJuly 4, 2005

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />Finally I've boughtt it and I have no reason to regret. Installing Windows worked like a charm. My friend uses VirtualPC 7 and I didn't find any significant differences in Windows speed on both emulators. Guest PC is much better when you want to install new os, just 1 minute and installation starts (and is quite fast). Printing and wireless network work great as well. As a student I've got also 40% discount for Guest PC, so for only 40$ I have great x86 emulator (you can install Linux also) which in my opinion is really reliable and much easier to use then VirtualPC. Great customer support.

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• Great for me!

  Rosvold--2008July 4, 2005

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />Now the sound is perfect and also the Internet access over Airport works best. With 1.5 I can easily run my language learning software, I have been missing all the time. Well done!

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• 1.4 Works fine for me

  m-bombJune 30, 2005

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />Works fine for me. I had an old copy of Windows 98 from the Orange PC days. I installed it in a PB 1.33 10.3.9 with Guest PC. Great for expanding .exe files for palm installs, for example. But Airport (1st Gen Station). didn't work. E-mailed support, got a quick response, which I was able to get to work: To setup Windows to use static IP address please follow the instructions: - run Windows from Guest PC - right-click Network Neibourhood and select the Properties menu item - select TCP/IP or TCP/IP blah-blah 2140 blah-blah-blah from the list - click the Properties button - select Specify an IP address - fill the IP address field with the unused IP address from the same subnet where you Mac is (in my case this just involved choosing an arbitrary unused airport address, i.e. 10.0.1.210) - fill the subnet mask with 255.255.255.0 - click the DNS Configuration tab - select Enable DNS - fill the Host field with your Macintosh name - fill the DNS Server Search Order with DNSes from your Macintosh (Earthlink DNS's, very common, are: 207.69.188.185 &amp; 207.69.188.186 - click the Gateway tab - fill the New Gateway field with router from your Macintosh - click the Add button - click OK - click OK - restart Windows when prompted I was impressed with the quick support. In another e-mail they told me how to use regedit to get Windows Update to work, which had been blocked by Orange PC, so I could get what security fixes there were.

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• A few issues, but otherwise works great!!

  BlueDjinnJune 29, 2005

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />As I noted earlier, I *was* having serious problems getting the networking up and running; the developer made several configuration suggestions, and after some trial and error the networking now works perfectly (internet, at least). Still a little rough around the edges (the networking setup can be troublesome, as I just noted, and Mac/Windows file movement looks to be a bit convoluted as well), but overall I'm very impressed by both the product and especially the support--I received email responses within 12 hours of the original request, and the developer didn't abandon me after the first few suggestions didn't work; they are genuinely devoted to satisfied customers. The only real gripes I have are: --No trial version (you have to pay the full amount up front) --Networking setup (when using a router, at least) needs some work (I succeeded, but only after a lot of trial &amp; error) --Haven't used the Mac/Windows file copying yet, but it appears to require jumping through some hoops --No "save state" option (you have to fully shut down Windows each time you quit). However, I'm sure they're working on most of these, and others are minor. Overall I'm *very* satisfied--you get about 90% of the features of Virtual PC for about half the price (DOS version), *and* assuming you already have a copy of Windows, your money isn't going into Microsofts' pocket either (nice bonus)!

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• Good update

  MacBelwindsMay 24, 2005

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />1.4 has brought back networking to my "guest" PC. Perfect. And since 1.2 Guest PC has not been slow at all. It runs "like a rabbit" on my G5 1.6 Ghz. It might be different on older Macs. The only thing they need to improve is the file exchange between Mac and PC. Whereas VPC has full "drag&amp;drop" usability, in GuestPC you still have to create disk images in order to exchange data. For me that means one star off. But, hey, this application deserves way more than one star!

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