I wish that my Parallels icon had the blue light below it when Parallels is running. When I am running in Crystal mode with my Windows task bar, but not running any Windows application, there is no visible indication on my Snow Leopard machine that Parallels and/or Windows is running. (I don't have it set up to have the Windows task bar visible). If I click this unlit Parallels icon that I keep in my dock, I get the Windows start menu. Without a visible way to switch from Crystal mode. To do that it appears that I need to start an application. One game I have (Civilization II), won't run right in Crystal mode (I can't get city windows to open). So if I want to run it, it appears that I need to start Hearts in order to switch to full screen. Is this the way this is supposed to work? Is there a setting to make it work better?
When running in crystal mode the intention is to make it seem more integrated with the OSX environment, hence there is no indication in the dock that Parallels is running. Do you not have the Parallels logo in your menubar as per the following image? More information on Crystal mode and how it works can be found at the KB article.
I'm pretty sure I did not see it. I had to take my mac to the Apple Store where it is awaiting a new video card. I'll check again in 5-7 days when I get my computer back.
I may have a clue. I got my computer back from the Apple Store where they replaced the video card. When I started Parallels, it still did not show the Parallels icon on the menu, but I did see the eTrust message telling me that eTrust in Windows was not up to date. It was pointing to the iTunes menu bar. I infer that the Parallels menu items were underneath the iTunes menu items. It may be because I have a utility that uses lots of my menu bar (see attached files). I noticed that when I installed my wife's Parallels upgrade, she has the light under her Parallels icon in her dock - all the time, whether or not she's running Parallels. On my computer that light is always off, whether or not I am running Parallels. Either case is useless, we both prefer it operate just like all other applications, turning on when that application is running, and off when it's not running. I don't see anything indicating that my uploads worked, I'll check shortly.
