CATIA CAD on Mojave + Parallels 17.1 + Windows XP - Much Faster than Windows 10

Recently I needed to re-install Dassault CATIA V5R20 on my 17" MacBook Pro which just turned 11 years old this year. I know I should upgrade, but I want an Intel CPU and removable hard drives so Apple has abandoned me as a customer. My company purchased some CATIA licenses many years ago but I have not used the software in ages, and certainly not on such a slow machine. If not for CATIA I have no use for Parallels.

I installed Windows XP Professional 64-bit using Parallels and it installed perfectly and quickly. I completely blocked the Internet from the Windows XP 64 Virtual Machine because I do not need Microsoft security holes in my system. I did upgrade Windows XP with Apple fonts to make the display a bit more readable.

Parallels is lightning fast. XP lacks all the fluff and security features that newer Windows OS have, but I really don't need any of that because Windows is NEVER going to touch the Internet. Better yet I am not getting ANY black screen problems when Windows XP or OS X goes to sleep. Literally better than the problems I encountered with a previous CATIA installation on Windows 7 a few years ago.

I tried installing Parallels with Windows 7 on my system but got the Blue Screen of Death repeatedly. I thought about ditching Windows 7 and buying a Windows 10 license but didn't want to make Bill Gates any richer than he already is and I didn't want the performance hit. I actually called Parallels in Seattle to find out if they still supported Windows 7 and they sad "Yes" and that I should go through customer support. I off handedly asked if Parallels 17 still supports Windows XP and I was told "No" in no uncertain terms.

So Parallels sales support was 100% wrong on Parallels support for Windows XP and CATIA installs and runs flawlessly with no crashes or hicups. Just thought some people might find this information valuable.

If anybody has resources to good CATIA tutorials please share. I also use other CAD software including QCAD (a FREE native OSX AutoCAD replacement), FreeCAD on Mac OS and Transmagic on Windows XP, all with great results.