8.2. Windows in a Window
The problem with Boot Camp is that every time you switch to or from Windows, you
have to close down everything you were working on and restart the computer—and
reverse the process when you're done. You lose two or three minutes each way. And you
can't copy and paste between Mac and Windows programs.
There is another way: an $80 utility called Parallels Workstation for Mac OS X
(www.parallels.com
), and its rival, VMWare Fusion (www.vmware.com). These
programs let you run Windows and Mac OS Xsimultaneously; Windows hangs out in a
window of its own, while the Mac is running Mac OS X (Figure 8-4
). It's something like
the old, dog-slow emulation software known as Microsoft VirtualPC, with one key
difference:speed. You're getting about 90 percent of Boot Camp's Windows speed—not
fast enough for 3-D games, but plenty fast for just about everything else.
UP TO SPEED
Removing Windows
Maybe you're a switcher who held onto Windows because you were worried
that you'd need it. Maybe you're finished with the project, the job, or the phase
of life that required you to use Windows on your Mac. But one way or another,
there may come a time when you want to get rid of your Windows installation
and reclaim all the hard drive space it was using.
Not only can you do that, but the process won't touch anything that's already on
the Mac side. You won't have to erase your entire hard drive or anything—
Leopard simply erases what's on the Windows partition of your hard drive, and
then adds that disk space back to your main,Mac partition.
To do this, start by making sure you've rescued anything worth saving from the
Windows side of your computer—it's about to be erased.
Start up in Mac OS X, quit all open programs, and make sure nobody's logged
in but you. Now open up the Boot Camp Assistant program in your Applications
Utilities folder.
On the welcome screen, click "Restore the startup disk to a single volume," and
• You don'thave to run Windows in a window. With one keystroke, you can make
your Windows simulator cover the entire screen. You're still actually running two
operating systems at once, but the whole Mac world is hidden for the moment so
you can exploit your full screen. Just choose View Full Screen.

Tip: Or use the keystroke Alt-Enter (Parallels) or Ctrl- -Return (Fusion) to
enter and exit Full Screen mode.

• Conversely, both Parallels and Fusion offer something called Coherence or Unity
mode, in which there's no trace of the Windows desktop. Instead, each Windows
program floats in its own disembodied window, just like a Mac program; the Mac
OS X desktop lies reassuringly in the background.

Tip: In Fusion's Unity mode, you can access your Computer, Documents,
Network, Control Panel, Search, and Run commands right from Fusion's Dock
icon or launch palette, so you won't even care that there's no Start menu.

In Parallels, press Alt+Ctrl+Shft to enter or exit Coherence mode. In Fusion, hit
Ctrl- -U for Unity mode.

Tip: In Fusion, in Unity view, you can use the usual Mac keystrokes for Cut,
Copy, and Paste within Windows applications ( -C, -X, -V). In
Parallels, on the other hand, you can remap all Windows Control-key shortcuts to
the c key in Preferences.

POWER USERS' CLINIC
Beyond the Big Names
Parallels and VMWare Fusion are bloodthirsty rivals. New versions tumble out

• When you quit the virtualization program, you're not really "shutting down"the
PC; you're justsuspending it, or putting it to sleep. When you double-click the
Parallels/VMWare icon again, everything in your Windows world is exactly as
you left it.
• Your entire Windows universe offiles, folders, and programs is represented by a
single file on your hard drive. In Parallels, it's in your Home Library
Parallels folder. In Fusion, it's in your Home Documents Virtual
Machines folder.
That's super convenient, because it means that you can back up your entire
Windows "computer" by dragging a single icon to another drive. And if your
Windows world ever gets a virus or spyware infestation, you can drag the entire
thing to the Trash—and restore the entire thing from that clean backup.