If you don’t know what Parallels is or what’s it’s used for and you own an Intel Mac, then you must check out my blog entry “Installing & Using Parallels In My iMac or How To Finally Get Rid Of My Windows Laptop“.   After you read that, check out how it works by watching my Parallels 3 Coherence training cast.

 Now, I’m assuming you know what Parallels is, and you may even be using it.    Make sure you upgrade to version 3.0 if you are on any older versions and if you are on 3.0, make sure you upgrade to this build (build #5160).

Here is what’s new in this build:

Coherence

• Each Windows application window opens as a separate Mac window.
• Expose support
• Mac-style drop shadow support.
• Transparent windows support
• Minimize windows to Mac Dock (this is really cool, you don’t need the Windows taskbar, just minimize the app to the Dock)

Other

• Memory Management - You can now access more then 4GB of memory.  I have a 4GB machine and it only allowed me to access 1.5GB.  I know have full access to up to 50% of my memory (or 2GB).
• Shared User Profile - I can map my windows desktop, documents, pictures and music folders to my Mac desktop, documents, pictures and music folders.
• Map Shared Folders to Windows drives letters - I can map shared folders to drive letters in Windows.
• Recycle Bin Integration - Ability to drag and drop files from Windows to Mac OS X trash bin and ability to empy windows recycle bin directly from the Application menu.
• Show Windows Desktop - You can now show Windows desktop in Coherence mode directly fromthe Application menu.
• Virtual Keyboard - Send key combinations to virtual machine in one click.
• Parallels Mounter - Mount Parallels Virtual Disks to Mac and access them even if the virtual machine is not running.

THere are more enhancements and bug fixes, but you can check out the release notes in the application.

I highly recommend you upgrade to this version if you have not already, but like always, make sure you make a complete backup of your virtual machine, you never know if it will crash during the upgrade or not.

Cheers!

- Marcelo

The Digital Media Dude

http://www.thedigitalmediadude.com/

http://www.marcelolewinphotography.com/