Parallels Desktop 16.0.0

Run almost any operating system — macOS, Windows, Linux — as a guest on an Intel Mac

- HOWARD OAKLEY

From $79.99 From Parallels, parallels.com

Needs macOS 10.13 or later, 4GB memory, Intel Mac

We’re now at peak virtualization: whichever operating system you want on your Mac, this is the easiest time to go virtual, and the latest version 16 of Parallels Desktop should prove an excellent platform for almost any Intel Mac.

Parallels has long been a convenient way of running Windows on your Mac without having to resort to Boot Camp, although if you’ve got that installed already, Parallels can also run it as a guest operating system or Virtual Machine (VM). If you haven’t got a copy of Windows 10 to hand, Parallels can download and install it for you, and other methods are demonstrated at parallels.com/blogs/install-windows-10- parallels-desktop.

Version 16 brings mostly incremental improvements for Windows users. It’s now compatible with more than 200,000 Windows apps, including specialist apps for lighting design and molecular modelling, as well as a great many games. One important advance is that you can opt to have your Windows or macOS VM automatically compacted when it’s shut down. When Windows requires temporary additional storage space, that isn’t normally returned, causing the VM to grow. This helps keep its size to a minimum, although the process of compaction can take several minutes.