Running .exe programs on Mac OSX

macososx-snow-leopardwindows

My question is actually fairly simple: is there any way i could run windows programs (for example PC games) on my iMac? (i am currently running OSX Snow Leopard). I know about things like VirtualBox and Parallels to run windows itself, but is there a Mac application that will allow me to run .exe programs and the like?

Best Answer

The closest thing you can get would be using WINE, however, the list is relatively limited as to what it can run (especially on Mac). As for games, there is Crossover - which is getting decent - but still not native speeds of a normal OS.

The absolute best way to run Windows applications would be to set up BootCamp and dual boot (that way you have real Windows and real OSX, not OSX and an emulated, kind-of Windows that is bug laden.

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Mac OS X Snow Leopard – How the Upgrade Process Works

OS X upgrades generally go extremely smoothly. You can imagine that most users will find it most convenient to upgrade rather than reformat, and Apple engineers work very hard to make sure the process is smooth. (You can rest easy that an upgrade install won't be missing anything you'd get from a clean install.) In fact, having upgraded to Snow Leopard on a few machines already, the install process is even more painless than ever before. With such a recent machine, I wouldn't foresee any problems.

It's always wise to check for compatibility of third-party software and devices — for example, my wife has a BodyBugg that depends on a kernel extension to interface with the system, and the driver hasn't been updated yet. For now, I'm keeping around a Leopard partition on the drive for the "just in case" scenario.

By the way, you can partition without formatting by using Applications → Disk Utility, and the migration assistant can transfer data between partitions. Thus, if you're paranoid, it might pay off to create a Snow Leopard partition, do a clean install there, and migrate your data from the Leopard partition. Once you know it all works, either upgrade the Leopard partition or stick with the new one, then erase and re-merge the unused partition.

Mac – How to disassociate a file type with an application in Mac OS

This is what I did in Parallels Desktop 5.

Open Application: Parallels Desktop
Click Menu: Window/Virtual Machine List
Right Click: Virtual Machine
Select Pop-up Item: Configure
Select Tab: Options
Pick from List: Shared Applications
Uncheck: Share Windows Applications with Mac OS X
Optionally uncheck: Share Mac OS X applications with Windows.

I tested it with this command in Terminal:

open -a Firefox http://www.apple.com

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