Unity with Dragon, Office, viruses?

[lacereza]

Accidentally posted this in the hardware forum!

I need to use voice operated software. The Windows programs are still better than the Apple-friendly stuff when it comes to learning new words (very important for me).

So I'm getting a Macbook Pro in a month or two and plan to run XP and VMWare. I know that I can use Unity to run Windows programs in my OSX environment, but I want to know if it's possible to use Dragon (in Unity) to dictate into Mac programs (ie Office). That would make me very happy, as I already have Office for Mac!

Also, I've had Macs at home almost all my life, and am curious about the virus protection you need to run Windows. Is it possible to stop the Windows programs from connecting to the internet, keeping the machine safe? Or do I need to install AVG or something?

 

[tersono]

I've not used Dragon under VMWare on the Mac, so can't help you there, although in theory it should work fine - make sure you've got plenty of RAM available (i.e. upgrade your MBP to 4gb - it makes a real difference when running Windows under virtualisation). Might be worth posting the question on the Fusion support forums, however, to see if anyone else out there has tried it.

Yes, to be safe you need AV. You _could_ disable networking, but frankly it's simpler (and safer - odd viruses have shown up on install CDs before now...) to just install AVG free

 

[The General]

Accidentally posted this in the hardware forum!

I need to use voice operated software. The Windows programs are still better than the Apple-friendly stuff when it comes to learning new words (very important for me).

So I'm getting a Macbook Pro in a month or two and plan to run XP and VMWare. I know that I can use Unity to run Windows programs in my OSX environment, but I want to know if it's possible to use Dragon (in Unity) to dictate into Mac programs (ie Office). That would make me very happy, as I already have Office for Mac!

Also, I've had Macs at home almost all my life, and am curious about the virus protection you need to run Windows. Is it possible to stop the Windows programs from connecting to the internet, keeping the machine safe? Or do I need to install AVG or something?

No, it will not work.