Sorry if I'm being a bit dim, but couldn't find anything definitive on this elsewhere in the forum... Anyway, I'm a new Parallels user, about to install XP Home Edition as a VM - recently converted to a Mac (1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo Mac Mini), but with some stuff I want to run in Windows VM - specifically MS Money & MS Office for Windows. Firstly - is it possible / 'better' (safer / faster etc) to locate the Windows installation on my external HD rather than my Mac HD? Secondly - if I disable all network connections and never connect the Windows VM to the internet (I only use Safari & Mail on the Mac behind the Mac Firewall) do I still need to install virus protection on my Windows VM? Any advice for a newbie to the VM world would be appreciated... Thanks.
If Parallels can read an external HD, that should work, but it would be slower (over usb). It would also not be as fast as possible to have the file on the Mac HD, because parallels has to transfer the information from mac to windows during install. Just put the install file into Windows during the install. You will still need virus protection, because a virus from a file downloaded onto the mac could get into windows, even if it doesn't infect the mac. You can install Kaspersky internet security (includes virus protection) from the Parallels menus (next to the guest installation tools installation button). I would recommend allowing network connections, because that won't harm the mac, and it will make things a little easier when working with windows. And since you can easily back up Windows (by either making a snapshot in version 3 or by just making a copy of the .hdd file in version 2.5), any problem that potentially comes up can be 100% reverted.
