Virtualization software allows you to run Windows (or just about any other operating system) on your Mac. With virtualization you can boot into Windows while you’re still running your Mac software. Unlike Bootcamp where you have to choose either Windows or Mac os when you boot, virtualization lets you run both operating systems simultaneously. It’s amazing. The two top packages available for consumers are Parallels 5 and VMware Fusion 3.1. In this article you’ll read what my experience was with both packages and why VMware stands out, for me, as the better of the two.

Let’s talk first about why I need virtulaization software running on my Mac. Two Words: Sony Vegas. Sony Vegas is a video editing program that kicks ass over iMovie and iMovie HD. It’s also a fraction of the cost of Final Cut and Adobe Premier. If you want super flexibility and a pro-sumer level of control over your video clips and titling, get yourself into Sony Vegas. But if you’re a Mac user, you’ll also need to make sure you can run WinXp. So where does that leave us?

All last year I was using VMWare. I produced about 6 videos a month for various customers. Some examples can be seen here:

Hunting the Next Big Franchise: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWTEhyx4el4
Touchup Guys: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18VZ9Avaioo

But then when I got a hold of Parallels I figured I would try it out to see if there was a speed difference. When you look at their website, listen to their marketing, or talk to other people, the common statement about Parallels is that it’s faster than VMware.

Once I got it installed, I immediately noticed that Parallels approaches virtualization very differently than VMware. What Parallels wants to give you is a seamless workflow between your Windows and Mac environment. This includes adding a folder on your dock where you can access your Windows programs, even if Parallels isn’t running.  At first this confused the hell out of me. Maybe I’m slow, but when I’m seeing WinXP  Start button on my dock, It makes my brain warble. After a couple of days I got used to this way of thinking. Then I began to like it. It unified my hard drive for the Windows and Mac sides of my machine. Of course you can change your settings to give the two sides of your machine more separation. When you want it unified, Parallels calls it Coherence mode. VMware handles it differently.

With VMware you get more separation between your Mac and Pc. This split personality is further supported by the fact that you have a C drive partition for your Windows machine. (Parallels does not set up a partition…at least not in the default installation I performed). Any other drives (files and folders) you want access to through VMware will need to be “shared” through settings.

When I tried to switch out of Coherence mode in Parallels I noticed a weird screen flicker. This was my first red flag about Parallels.

Another big reason that I wanted to switch to Parallels was because it was supposed to be better about RAM consumption. And it was. Booting Parallels was faster than VMware. Once it was up and running I still had some of my ram left.

Still having some RAM resources after Windows was launched was a big deal. When VMware launched, my machine would grind to a halt . As VMware went through its boot up process, every other process on my machine froze. This was aggravating as hell.

My world consists of running multiple programs on my machine at once. When one is booting I’m in something else…just keeping the ball rolling. But to have to wait for 1 or 2 minutes for something to boot, then get settled, then release my machine back to me makes me grumpy. With Parallels, you are up and running and your machine keeps humming along.

So what’s the problem with Parallels? I can sum up the answer to that question in 4 words. Mind you, these are the most terrifying words known to a Windows computer user. You might want to get the children out of the room for this: Blue Screen Of Death.

Here is where VMware stands apart:

Blue Screen of Death score

VMware: 0

Parallels: 3

Over an entire year of heavy WinXP use through VMware not once did I get a blue screen of death. In six months of Parallels use, I got 3 and now my Sony Vegas won’t render out to .MOV. Parallels is basically dead on my machine after the 3rd and final BSOD. Luckily I had left  VMware installed so, under deadline yesterday, I dusted it off and got back to work through VMware. Sorry Parallels.

Conclusion

Parallels is like  a wild stallion that’s ready to drag you full tilt out of the gate, anywhere you want to go. Its lithe, squirly and chomping at the bit to race. But sometimes it trips. If you’ve even been on a horse that stumbles into a gofer hole at a full gallop, I don’t recommend it. It sucks.  Like an overly spiritied thoroughbred that can’t wait to get out of the gate at the Preakness, Paralles races off with or without you .

VMware, on the other hand, is more stable than Parallels. Yes, your machine is going to take it in the shorts when you’re booting Windows through VMware, but just give  it a moment to catch up. Close your Firefox or Safari during boot just to give VM a little more RAM. But let it do its thing. Because once VMware is up and running, you’re going to have a stable, well behaved Windows experience on your mac. Had it not been for the blue screens of death, I probably would have put up with the quirks that Parallels brings with it. But having spent months away from VMware, and then returning to it, I found its stability and organization a welcome relief. Sometimes getting the job done is more about finding Clydesdale than a thoroughbred.

The other day a friend of mine lost his hard drive and all of his email. Needless to say, he was at the bar. The whisky was flowing. And it was only noon. On a Tuesday.

Chances are if you’ve been using computers long enough, you’ve had similar hard drive problems. Whether it’s a failure or a file corruption, the computer stops functioning. And it always seems to happen at the exact wrong time, like when you’re late for a meeting or you’re on deadline. Poof! Drive death.

Here is how to survive drive death without breaking into the Knob Creek:

The only way to shorten recovery from drive death is with a bootable clone. Basically I’m talking about is a mirrored version of your hard drive that you can use to start up your computer.

Let’s face it. You might already have some sort of backup plan in place. You might be diligent about storing files off site, as well as on some external hard drive system. But how does that really help you get your computer back? When you put a new drive into your machine, you still have to drop the operating system on it. THEN you have to load in your apps, re-input the registration keys (if you can find them), put your data back on, re-config all of your email accounts, not to mention somehow getting your email database back up and running, and finally tweaking all your settings so you can get back to work. That’s NOT a backup plan. That’s backup PAIN.

When you can’t boot to your drive, and all you have is a fresh, blank drive in a box, it’s like not having backed up at all.

This is where a bootable clone saves the day. First of all, the clone is an exact replica of your hard drive. I’m not talking about just your data. I’m talking about every jot and tittle. Every application. Every setting. Every registration code. Every bookmark. Everything.

Bootable means that you can boot your Mac to it. With the drive plugged in, you turn on your mac and hold down the Option key. You’ll be shown a screen with icons of the drives that the system recognizes it can use for booting. (btw, if you’re still slogging away on a Winblows machine, I can’t help you. I have no idea if you can boot to an external drive. My advice: go buy a Mac.)

The application you use to do this is called Carbon Copy Cloner.

What’s great about this application is that it’s FREE. Yes. You should donate something to the CCC geniuses. Because, as their little ad says, this is an app that “saves your bacon,” and that’s true.

I make a fresh clone of my drive every couple of days. That way, if I lose my main drive, I don’t have to worry about lost email, or docs or time. Drive goes poof, I pop in a new drive, clone my stuff back onto it, and I’m  up and running. If I don’t have a replacement drive handy, I go through the day on the clone, and then when I have time, I go buy a drive. (it’s a little like a patient living on the operating table with his heart beating in a pan next to him).

Mistakes you can make when Cloning:

Mistake 1: Clone to a drive larger than the replacement hard drive. Do not do this. Clone to a drive that’s the same size as your source disk. Why? Because when you go to clone it BACK, you won’t be able to. You can’t clone a larger drive on to a smaller drive. Then you’re relegated to hand picking your stuff off the large drive and putting it back on your drive. I’ve never successfully done this. NOTE: you can use  a larger hard drive as your target if you tell Carbon Copy to delete everything that’s not part of the clone.

Mistake 2: Let your Clone get out of date. I believe that Carbon Copy has a setting to make automatic backups of your system, but I’ve never used it. I do my clones about once a week and just set it up before I go to bed.

Mistake 3. Don’t test the “bootability” of your clone. Again, the key to a good clone is that it’s bootable. When it’s bootable, you can keep on working until you have time to install a new drive. But if your clone isn’t bootable, you’re stuck. Your time shifts to just getting back up and running.

Mistake 4. Don’t protect your clone as if it were your hard drive. Remember, your clone IS your hard drive. And if someone gets hold of the clone, they have access to your entire world…

Additional reasons you make a bootable clone:

1. You’ve just purchased a larger hard drive that you want to put into your machine. This is what turned me onto cloning in the first place. Take the new drive and put it in an enclosure. Once that’s done and the new drive has been mounted, clone your old drive onto the new drive. Once that’s done, then pop the old drive out of your machine, put in the new drive, boot…and voilà! You’re up and running.

2. Updating your operating system. Usually the best way to upgrade your operating system is to do a fresh install. Just installing the new operating system on top of the old one typically turns out bad. I go into more detail on this here. Creating and testing a bootable clone before you do the fresh install will save you hours if the install: A. doesn’t go right. or B. does things to your machine you don’t like. Basically, the clone lets you roll back your machine to its previous incarnation w/out a bunch of hassle.

3. Setting up multiple (identical) machines with identical settings & software. Create a master drive clone, and then dupe that onto the drives for the other machines. This can really save you time if you have to set up a class room or small business.

4. Traveling overseas and you don’t want to take the ENTIRE contents of your hard drive with you. So maybe you clone out your drive and wipe your computer?(or buy an iPad).

Keep in mind  the backup rule of thumb:

“If your data is not in 3 places, your data is nowhere.”  Offsite, on another drive in your office or house, and on a DVD,  that’s 3 places. But recovering from a drive failure is more than just getting your files back, its also about getting your applications, settings, tweaks and operating environment back. Without a clone, you’re relegated to rebuilding from scratch. Doing this while dealing with the pressures of your day will drive even the staunchest prohibitionist back to the bottle. Say it with me. I clone therefore I am.

Do this: Under VMWare Settings, open the Virtual Machine drop down menu. Then hold down the Option key to change “Shut Down Guest” to “Power Off”.

You may not be able to afford a new computer every 1 or 2 years. Don’t fret. On average I have made my Mac laptops last well into their 5th year of use. Trust me, with the amount of time I spend on my laptop–the photo of my keyboard, below, should be a clear  indication of how much use my laptop gets–if it’s not keeping up,  I’ll be the first one to ditch it.

Worn Keyboard or Dead Mac?

But keeping up doesn’t mean I have to settle. My machine has to be fast. It has to deal with video editing plus all the other crap I throw at it. I can’t afford for my laptop to be a dog when it comes to handling http, .psd, .swf, .mov, ftp, etc…

My black MacBook (2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo) is nearly 4 years old. It was expensive when I bought it. It will be expensive now to replace it. But I use it every day. I edit video, run Windows XP, manage websites, Photoshop, listen to music, process images, synch my iPhone, write blogs, do screencasts, video chat on Skype, watch Netflix and Hulu and earn a living all without a slowdown or any problems for that matter (knock on wood). On top of that, it’s only a MacBook, it’s not a Pro. How am I accomplishing all of this on such an “outdated” machine?

Don’t be fooled. Computer sales are just like car sales. You see a new car and your dopamine cells fire off telling you that you want that new car. Same goes for new computers. I never walk into an Apple store without getting a little weak in the knees after touching a new iMac or new Macbook Pro.

If temperance ever had a place, it’s when it comes to buying tech. With tech, you’ll never get ahead. I could go out today and buy the best laptop that Apple has to offer, and tomorrow they’ll have something better. Bigger screen, faster processor, SSD Drive, More RAM, Firewire 800 instead of 400, backlit keyboard…mmmm backlit keyboard…see that? I’m already fantasizing and I’m just writing you a note. Step away from the cash register.

Let’s put off the purchase of a new laptop for as long as we can. But let’s not suffer in the process.

But How? How do you keep your older laptop humming at peak performance and out of the closet (where your other tech has been accumulating) for as long as possible?

First lets explore how a perfectly good machine can suddenly feel old? Just forget the stuff you already know about defragging your hard drive, and file management. We’re well beyond simple shuffling of crap on your hard drive. Bottom line: An old machine is a slow machine.

Slowness evolves. New software is released. New technologies are used on the Internet. Updates and patches to your OS come creeping in. With every update your current hardware is taxed just a little bit more. All of this progress adds up to one thing and one thing only. Your machine is doomed.

Lucky for us (thrifty folk out there) there are specific, and relatively inexpensive, things we can do to our older machines to stave off the effects of old age. Much like what a good shot of Botox can do for your face these tricks can add a good 2 or 3 years of life to your laptop.

Three ways to extend the life of your laptop:

1. Upgrade your RAM

2. Stay current with your OS

3. Upgrade your Hard Drive

Max Out Your RAM

One of the first things you should do with any computer you care about (read: use all the time) is make sure you’ve got as much RAM as you can  a. afford  b. cram in the box. I’m not kidding. If you’re running your Mac with anything less than 2 gigs, or 4 gigs (even better), then you’re missing out on some real performance boosts in your machine. A little bummer about the Black Macbook is that while you can fit 4 gigs of RAM onboard, and the OS “sees” it, I guess the system can’t use all 4 gigs. Look, just spring for the 4 gigs of RAM. You’ll thank yourself. Rule of thumb, always, always outfit your machine with the maximum possible amount of RAM. When you chince on RAM you hobble your machine. You wouldn’t want to fly jet liner with only one engine would you? Yea, it’s just like that. The #1 way to extend the usefulness (and therefore the life) of your computer is by adding RAM.

Upgrade Your OS

For the Mac, the next thing you can do to speed up your machine is make sure you are running Snow Leopard. I noticed immediate performance benefits on my mac the minute I got Snow Leopard installed. Sooo much has already been written about Snow Leopard that I dare not belabor the point. But keep this in mind. When you do your upgrade do a FRESH INSTALL. Do NOT just overwrite your old OS with the new one. To really get the benefit of the new OS, you need to get rid of the gunk that has built up on your hard drive. Cultofmac.com has the best write up on how to do this.

Upgrade Your Hard drive

First of all, let me dispell the myth that the max hard drive size that will fit in the Black Mackbook is 250 GB. Not true. The drive I have in mine is 320 GB. I’ve been told that you can go up as far as 1/2 Terabyte. Had I know this, I would have done that, but alas, I fell victim to the myth. Anyway, when you’re looking at a new drive, storage size is not the only aspect to consider. When you are looking to boost your Mac’s performance drive speed needs to be factored in.

Note: I’m not going to discuss solid state drives (SSD) here. They are in a class of their own, both from a speed and price standpoint. If you can afford a SSD for your machine, and you’re ok taking a hit on how much onboard storage you can have, then go for it. Right now, SSD just isn’t there for me…but I’ve definitely got my eye on it.

For a regular SATA drive, speed is determined by how fast the the platter spins. Plus some drives have RAM on board to give you even more of a performance boost. You can either buy a 5400 or 7200 RPM drive. Faster the spin, the faster your seek times and, theoretically, the faster your machine will run.

Putting the 7200 RPM drive in my machine was  a bit of an experiment. I had no idea if I would be able to detect a noticeable boost in speed. I am pleased to report that I do notice a bump, and I think it’s more than just a placebo effect. Here’s what I’ve got running in my machine right now: 320GB Western Digital Scorpio Black 7200 RMP 2.5 SATA internal drive. But let me summarize my experience:

Things I like about this drive upgrade:

• VMWare boots faster
• Photoshop boots faster
• Entire machine boots faster
• More space than expected. I was not limited to 250gb as I had previously thought

Things I don’t like about this drive upgrade:

• Slight vibration in the machine
• Battery life cut down to 1.5 hrs.* Now I know Western Digital is supposed to deliver 5400 RPM-equivalent power consumption but I’m not seeing that.
• Heat. My machine is definitely running hotter. (I’m tempted to put my old drive back in to see just how much hotter).

Really, there is no substitute for spending a little time maintaining your machine. Dust out the keyboard. Wipe the screen clean with microfiber cloth. Do not slam the lid when you leave. Also make sure that all of your software is up to date. You would not believe how many people are still running IE6. This is crazy. Upgrade your browser. Next make sure your hard drive is clear of clutter. Manage your files. Do that optimize thing you do. But beyond these simple do’s and don’ts you need to dig deeper to get every bit of life out of your laptop.

By upgrading key components on your laptop, including RAM and Hard Drive, and making sure your operating system is up to date you can extend the life of your machine by years.  Let’s save the icebergs for the polar bears, maybe a random grandparent or two, and keep your machines running longer.

P.S. A Note for Late Adopters:  Get With It!

Now, if you’re not on an Intel processor, then forget everything you just read. Going Intel was the best thing Apple could have done. And if you’re still using ANY Mac that predates the Intel chipset, then no amount of tinkering will help you. Give it up. Your devotion to that G3 or G4  is honorable, but it’s time to cut that box free.

Only someone from the Phoenix area would understand and the really funny thing is that this is all so true!

1. ‘Phoenix’ actually consists of Scottsdale, Chandler, Tempe, Mesa,
Gilbert, Glendale, Peoria, Tolleson, Avondale, Goodyear, Litchfield Park,
Sun City, Sun City West, Sun City Grand, Sun Lakes, Surprise, Laveen, Apache
Junction, Gold Canyon, and half of the Mexican border.

2. The morning rush hour is from 6:00 am to 9am.

The evening rush hour is from 3:00pm to 7:00 PM.
Friday’s rush hour to Flagstaff starts on Thursday morning.

3. The minimum acceptable speed on most freeways is 85 mph.

On Loop 101, your speed is expected to match the highway number.
Anything less is considered ‘Wussy’.

4. Forget the traffic rules you learned elsewhere.

For example, cars/trucks with the loudest mufflers go first at a four-way
stop; the trucks with the biggest tires go second. However, in the East
Valley , SUV-driving, cell phone-talking moms ALWAYS have the right of way.

5. If you actually stop at a yellow light, you will be rear ended.

6. Never honk at anyone. Ever. Seriously. It’s an offense that can get you shot.

7. Road construction is permanent in Phoenix.
Detour barrels are moved around for your entertainment during the night to
make the next day’s driving a bit more exciting.

8. Watch carefully for road hazards such as drunks, dogs, barrels, cones,
cats, mattresses, shredded tires, rabbits, vultures, javelinas, roadrunners,
quail, and the coyotes feeding on any of these items.

9. Maricopa Freeway, Papago Freeway and the ‘I-10′ are the same road.

SR202 is the same road as The Red Mountain FWY, and is the same as the San Tan Freeway.

Dunlap and Olive are the same street too.

Hayden and McClintock Dr are the same street.

Scottsdale Rd. and Rural Rd. are the same street.

Peoria and Shea are the same street.

Mesa Drive and McQueen are the same street.

Stapley Road and Cooper are the same street.

Apache Blvd. in Tempe is Main Street in Mesa which is Apache Trail in Apache Junction..

Also Glendale Ave. becomes Lincoln Drive.

Jefferson becomes Washington, but they are not the same street.

I-17 is also called The Black Canyon Freeway as well as The Veterans Memorial Highway .

The Superstition is also known as US 60.

The 101, 202 and 303 remain a large mystery to most of us.

It is not yet determined if there is a Red Mountain and a San Tan or just a
Red/Tan Mountain Freeway all of which is the Loop 202.

The SR51 has recently been renamed to Piestewa Freeway because Squaw Peak
Parkway was too easy to pronounce.

SR101 is also the Pima FWY except west of I-17, it’s the Agua Fria FWY.

Lastly, Thunderbird Rd. becomes Cactus Rd. — but, Cactus Rd. doesn’t become
Thunderbird Rd. because it dead ends at a mountain.

10. If someone actually has their turn signal on, it has been ‘accidentally activated.’

11. If you are in the left lane and only driving 70 in a 55-65 mph zone, you
are considered a road hazard and will be ‘flipped off’ accordingly.
If you return the flip, you’ll be shot.

12. For summer driving, it is advisable to wear potholders on your hands.

13. Please note that there are many, MANY more issues to the phenomenon of
driving in Phoenix –like the 4-cars-through-a-red-light rule — but these
will at least get you acquainted with our unique life on the road.

** HOWEVER *** THE MOST DANGEROUS THING ON THE ROAD ARE OUT OF STATE DRIVERS!!!

We “lovingly” refer to them as Snow Birds

Let’s say you’ve just finished a project on your computer. Maybe it’s a Keynote or PowerPoint presentation. Or maybe it’s a video, a screencast or other file format that’s just big. Really big. I mean huge. The phone on your desk rings. It’s your boss. He would like for you to send over that file to him ASAP. (substitute boss for client, partner, friend, grandparent, accountant…you get the point.)

Now, it used to be an unspoken rule, on the Internet, that you never sent any attachment through email that was over 1 meg. The reason for this was because most of us were on dialup. Sending a large file to someone basically locked up their machine while it tried to download the file. Access to broadband changed this unspoken file size from 1 meg to 5 megs. Today services like Hotmail and Gmail allow you to send files that are 10 and 25 megs in size, respectively. Godaddy allows you to send a 30 meg attachment.

That’s all fine and dandy, if A. your recipient is on the same email system as you and B. your file doesn’t exceed those limits (or you have multiple files of that size to send.)

The reason that email can’t be used for large files is mainly because of the limitations that administrators set to preserve hard drive space on the mail server. Big files take up lots of space. If lots of people send lots of big files, then mail server hard drives can fill up faster than you can say buffer overflow.

In the past we used to just transfer large files onto CD, DVD or USB drive and “sneaker net” or “snail mail” them to our recipients. The problem with that approach today is that a lot of the people we are dealing with aren’t in the same office, state or even country. Plus, with broadband just about everywhere, using the US Mail or FedEx to send large files just feels stupid too.

So, it’s time to break away from the “email solves all of my problems” attitude and consider using a file sending service.

A file sending service allows you to use an application on your computer or a website to upload and send a file to those you designate as recipients.

Over the years I’ve used a number of these services. Some are free. Some are paid. The free services are ok as long as your file is 100 megs or smaller. The two services I like the most are Dropio and YouSendIt.

For years I used dropio.com (formerly called drop.io) to transfer my files to people. Basically you go to the drop.io website, click the upload button and upload your file. When the upload is complete they give you a URL (web address) that you can then paste into an email and send. Files are password protected. What’s great about this service is you don’t have to go through any sort of signup. You just go to the site, upload your file and then email the URL to your recipient. This is what attracted me to Dropio in the first place.

The service I recently started using has been around for a LONG time. YouSendIt is a paid file sending service that has done an amazing job of earning a special spot in my heart.

Some of you reading this will be like.. DUH! What took me so long to discover the benefits of YouSendIt? Well, first of all, I always thought it was stupid to pay for a file sending service. And in most cases if you’re not sending out a few large files every month, then the free services work fine. But if you’re sending out large files on a regular basis, then you’ll want to take a closer look at YouSendIt.

The first thing I like about YouSendIt is its desktop application. Instead of logging onto a website to send the files, I just click the little paper airplane icon to open the application. From here I can address those to whom I’m sending my files and then DRAG and DROP all of the files I’m sending into the application. This drag and drop part and the fact that I can load in all of the files at once is a small thing, but’s HUGE when you’re busy.

What the recipient gets on their end is also very nice with YouSendIt. They get a nicely formatted email with a big DOWNLOAD button. When your recipients click this button they are taken to a temporary web page that presents clear instructions for downloading the file. YouSendIt makes the process super easy. And makes you look good. This service seems to be the de facto file sending service for professionals.

Free file sending services are ok, but  they limit the size of the file you can send. If you don’t do big file transfer on a regular basis, then dropio.com is a great service to use. However, if you are constantly sending files to colleagues, your boss and or clients and you’re tired of trying to do this manually, then YouSendIt is worth a few of your clams.

Hitting any wordpress site from your iphone (or other touch-enabled) device can be a bit of a bummer for your readers. Without a doubt it’s better than the dark ages of Blackberry and Windows Mobile.

Today we take enlightened browsing from our mobile devices for granted, but that’s not to say there isn’t room improvement. Access your blog from iTouch or iPhone (or one of those other Apple knockoffs) and you’ll see what I mean…

Even when you enlarge the screen, the user interface presupposes you have the benefit of a full monitor and a mouse.

That’s why when I stumbled across WpTouch, a free Wordpress plugin from Bravenewcode I had to do a little happy dance.

By adding WpTouch to your blog you instantly optimize it for mobile viewing. In fact the formatting is so nice that it almost makes your regular, un-mobilized blog seem so…passé.

Easier to show you this little gem rather than blather on about it. Below are my before and after photos.

Wordpress on iPhone before WpTouch

Wordpress on iPhone after WpTouch is installed