By Randall Hull
Tech Talk
This column offers solutions to personal technology questions from our readers. Neither the author nor this newspaper endorses products or companies mentioned.
Q: We have two Macintosh computers at our house, a 500Mhz iMac and a 550Mhz Titanium PowerBook both running OS 9.2. We wish we could run some of the software for a Windows PC without having to buy a third computer. Is there a way to run these applications on our Macs?
A: Lucky you, there is a solution. One year ago there were several choices in the PC emulator market - SoftWindows, RealPC for Macintosh and Virtual PC. Today’s survivor wins by shear Darwinism - Connectix’s Virtual PC 5.
Virtual PC works by mimicking PC hardware, tricking the Windows operating system into thinking it is running on a PC. You can run any Windows OS on VPC, from 95 to XP Home or Pro. VPC isn’t meant for playing games though - few run correctly. VPC doesn’t support graphics acceleration. However, it is great for running Windows business software.
Among many features are drag-and-drop file transfer, and copy and paste between Mac and PC applications. What makes VPC the real winner is its multi-OS juggling. If you move up to OSX on your Mac, you can actually run VPC with Windows 98 on OS 9 and Windows XP on OS X simultaneously.
Virtual PC 5.0.2 ships with a copy of Windows. Prices vary based on the Windows version you choose, but for about $200 you can have your Mac and get a PC, all in one computer. Visit www.connectix.com for details.
Q: What is the best way to mirror my laptop drive? I am traveling and would like a bootable backup, easily restored. Can I use my router to copy everything or mirror directly to another drive connected to my laptop through the USB port?
A: If you are running Windows 98/2000 the Microsoft Backup program that comes with Windows might do. It can back up to other hard drives, Iomega Jaz disks and CD-R/RW disks. The backup program that comes with Windows 95 isn’t worth consideration.
NovaBackup 6.6, $54 from NovaStor, backs up to CD and Iomega Jaz. NovaBackup has its own antivirus software, assuring your backup files are uninfected. Download a 30-day trial demo at www.novastor.com.
Symantec’s Norton Ghost 2002 writes disk images directly to another hard drive, Jaz or a non-USB CD-R/RW. Ghost works with DOS, OS/2 and Linux, in addition to Windows XP. $70 at www.symantecstore.com.
Dantz Software offers Retrospect Desktop 5.5 at $149, a versatile program with many features. It works with all Windows OS up to XP Pro. Back up to Jaz, SuperDisk, magneto-optical, qualified CD-R/RW and DVD devices as well as hard drives. Download the 30-day trial version at www.dantz.com.
Please keep questions to 100 words or less. Send to: Tech Talk, Town Crier, 138 Main St., Los Altos 94022 or e-mail: echtalk@latc.com. Randall Hull is a Los Altos resident and owner of The Br@nd Ranch, a marketing firm.
