Windows

How to Run Windows 11 for Free on an M1 or M2 Mac

For many years, Apple made it easy to run Windows on your Mac. Apple’s Boot Camp allowed you to start up your Intel-based Mac in either macOS or Windows, and this dual-boot capability was great for people who needed to use both operating systems.

Unfortunately, Apple only supports Boot Camp on Macs with an Intel processor. Since Apple has been updating its Macs to run on its own Apple silicon (i.e. M1 and M2) processors, few Macs are still available that let you dual-boot Windows or run Windows apps natively with an Intel processor. For now, Apple still sells one model of Mac mini with an Intel processor, as well as the more expensive Mac Pro which is out of most consumers’ price range.

But for those who want to move forward with Apple silicon, there’s another option: virtualization. Of the two popular apps that have been used for years to run Windows and other operating systems on a Mac, namely VMware Fusion and Parallels Desktop, only the latter has been updated to run on an M1 or M2-based Mac. Parallels Desktop’s pricing can range anywhere from about $50 (for upgrades from a previous version) to $100 for the Pro Edition, unless you happen to buy it when it’s on sale.

There’s another solution, which is QEMU: a free, open-source emulator that (at least in its standard package) is somewhat difficult to install and set up. You can bypass much of the initial setup complexity by using the UTM app, which allows you to run QEMU on your Mac with very little setup. UTM is not as feature-rich as Parallels Desktop, but UTM is free (more accurately, payment is optional).

In this article, I’ll explain how you can run Windows on an M1 Mac (or any Mac with an M1 Pro, M1 Max, or M2 chip) with UTM, for free—including a free version of Windows 11 Pro.

Read the rest of the article on The Mac Security Blog.

How to Run Windows on an Intel or M1 Mac

For some people, running Windows on a Mac is the perfect way to use a specific app that is unavailable on Mac, or to play Windows games. For a long time, it was easy to run Windows on a Mac. Since Windows is designed to run on an Intel processor, you could Windows on your Mac and boot into Windows, or run it in a virtual machine on your Mac.

But with the new M1 Macs, which run on a variant of ARM processors, everything has changed. In this article, I’ll look at the various options for running Windows on an Intel Mac, then discuss how you can run Windows on a new M1 Mac.

Read the rest of the article on The Mac Security Blog.

Gatekeeper-like feature for Windows 10 only allows apps to be installed from the Microsoft Store – Graham Cluley

A new feature available for Windows 10 behaves like Apple’s Gatekeeper by blocking app installations that occur outside the Microsoft Store.

The option, which is currently available only in Windows Insider Preview Build 15042, allows an administrator to configure a PC’s app installation preferences. Its settings enable users to install apps from anywhere or only from Microsoft Store.

The feature can also tell the system to “prefer” apps from the Store but to accept apps from anywhere, which means users will be warned about installing outside applications.

I honestly didn’t know that there was a Windows Store that sold apps, but I guess it’s no surprise. If Microsoft does deploy this feature – which is currently just in a preview build – it could help make Windows PCs more secure. It also prods more people to buy apps through the Windows Store, which is what Microsoft wants. But for most users, this would be a good thing.

Source: Gatekeeper-like feature for Windows 10 only allows apps to be installed from the Microsoft Store

Learn How to Run Virtual Operating Systems on your Mac with Take Control of Parallels Desktop 12

Tc parallelsIf you need to run Windows alongside your Mac apps or test macOS 10.12 Sierra while booting safely from 10.11 El Capitan, your solution is at hand with the just-released Parallels Desktop 12, which was the first virtualization app for the Mac when it debuted 10 years ago.

In this book, virtualization expert Joe Kissell explains how beginners can set up a virtual machine to run Windows or another operating system, share files with a virtual machine, and switch smoothly between virtualized apps and Mac apps.

For those who are familiar with virtualization in general and previous versions of Parallels, he explores the many preferences and settings you can tweak for specific situations, to increase performance, or to enhance security. Joe also offers tips and directions for connecting peripherals to your virtual machine and discusses snapshots, backups, malware prevention, troubleshooting, and more!

Get Take Control of Parallels Desktop 12.

Dissing owners of older PCs, even accidentally, may not be the best way to sell them an iPad

One remark [Phil] Schiller made during yesterday’s launch event raised a few eyebrows. In noting that the majority of 12.9-inch iPad Pro customers had actually switched from Windows PCs, he pointed to the huge potential switchers market still out there for Apple. There are, he said, over 600 million PCs more than five years old.

What he said next generated laughter in the room, but may not have gone down quite so well with those owners.

“This is really sad. It really is.”

Now, he may be right. A Windows PC more than five years old is going to be creaking somewhat by now. But it seems to me that there are three types of owners of old PCs, and the remark may well offend all of them …

Ben Lovejoy makes a good point.

But also, who owns those 600 million PCs? My guess is that the majority of them are beige boxes in offices and call centers, which are only used to run a few applications. And the people using them have no say in what type of computing device they use. And, most of them probably couldn’t use an iPad anyway, since they’re using apps that aren’t available on the iPad.

Yes, it was a clumsy comment, and one that Schiller shouldn’t have made.

Source: Comment: Dissing owners of older PCs, even accidentally, may not be the best way to sell them an iPad | 9to5Mac

What does Apple have in store for Windows users?

It’s that time again. Apple has sent out invitations to its September 9 new product event, and tech journalists are reading the tea leaves, checking the colors and tagline of the invitation for clues as to what’s coming. Apple is messing with us this time, suggesting we ask Siri for some hints, but Siri is just being a tease.

We know that we’ll see a new iPhone, most likely called the 6s and the 6s Plus (or the 6 Plus s?). There may be new colors, and there may or may not be a 4-inch model of the iPhone. (Personally, I hope so.) iOS 9 will be released at the same time as the new iPhone. A new Apple TV is rumored to be announced, and to ship in October. And perhaps we’ll see other hardware, or updates to existing Apple software.

But one detail piqued my interest: Apple will be streaming this event to Windows 10 users.

Read the rest of the article on Macworld.