Very slow to open Outlook on Parallels 8 with Windows 7 on OS X 10.8.5

Installation of version 6.0.11992, the newest release of parallels desktop, fixed the problem. Installing a new release also reinstalled the parallels desktop tool and relinked the shared folders.

It took about 5 days for the release to be visible for the parallels updater after it was available. But once it was, all worked like a charm.

My problem took place over Christmas, and I was helped wonderfully through these days. I want to thank the people of Parallels support team. (I have to blame myself for spending my time with this problem instead of taking time to worship the king.)

What the problem was never really became clear. But thanks for your help.

The best advice. Trail both and then decide. I was a long time fan of VMWare, however recently moved to Parallels. Side by side, Parallels gave me a 5.1 experience index for Windows 7, and VMWare Fusion gave me a 4.9. Performance wise both are solid on my hardware, however I prefer the interface and coherence features of Parallels over Unity. This is however a personal preference. Full disclosure: I run a MacBook Pro i7, 8GB's of RAM and a 500GB 7200RPM HDD.

Both product does the job, and both work well. They are also in the same price bracket. You also can't compare features since both have the same functionality, just the method of implementation differs. The choice between the two is really up to you and how you use Windows virtualised. I game in Windows, and Parallels provided me a better experience. I also had issues running Expression Web, Silverlight and WPF in VMWare due to the graphics card, but this has apparently been resolved in the latest update.

My wife however prefers VMWare and finds it easier to use then Parallels. Moving machines between the two are fairly easy. Use one for the full trail, and then transfer your machine to the other and trial it. Do a comparison on which one works for you.