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VMware Fusion and RAM

Chad H

Chad H

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 13, 2008
764
0
Auburn, AL
Hey guys,
I am fixing to install VMware Fusion and Windows XP so I can do some light gaming on my iMac. Its a 2.4Ghz with 4GB of RAM and ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO 256MB. I just have a couple of questions since I am not very familiar with running windows on a mac. Can I segment my RAM so windows gets 2GB when running fusion but when its not running my mac reverts back to full 4GB? Also. is it true if I install firefox on windows and access the internet through fusion using windows I can get adware,spyware, and or viruses? I will be playing real light games like the old Unreal tournament and such. I might even try Wow. And lastly, the only two things I need to make this run smooth is VMware fusion and a copy of XP right? Thanks in advance guys.

-Chad
 
Chad H said:
Hey guys,
I am fixing to install VMware Fusion and Windows XP so I can do some light gaming on my iMac. Its a 2.4Ghz with 4GB of RAM and ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO 256MB. I just have a couple of questions since I am not very familiar with running windows on a mac. Can I segment my RAM so windows gets 2GB when running fusion but when its not running my mac reverts back to full 4GB?
Click to expand...

Not necessary. When Fusion is not running, OSX will automatically use all the RAM for OSX

Also. is it true if I install firefox on windows and access the internet through fusion using windows I can get adware,spyware, and or viruses?
Click to expand...

Yes. You have a Windows machine inside the virtual box, warts and all.
 
VMWare Fusion will grab the ram you allocate to it (through VMWare's prefs) only when running - in every other respect, it's just like any other application - when it's running, it uses resources, when it isn't, it doesn't :p

Yes, you can still get Windows viruses - to all intents and purposes it's just another Windows PC - just running in a virtual environment. If you don't share your home directory with the VM, your Mac data can't get infected, but you'll still need to install something like AVG to keep your Windows environment clean.

Yes, all you need is Fusion and a full copy of XP. OEM versions are generally the cheapest. By the way, the Fusion 2 beta is pretty damned good - it's also going to be a free upgrade for v1 owners. :D
 
Chad H said:
Hey guys,
I am fixing to install VMware Fusion and Windows XP so I can do some light gaming on my iMac. Its a 2.4Ghz with 4GB of RAM and ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO 256MB. I just have a couple of questions since I am not very familiar with running windows on a mac. Can I segment my RAM so windows gets 2GB when running fusion but when its not running my mac reverts back to full 4GB? Also. is it true if I install firefox on windows and access the internet through fusion using windows I can get adware,spyware, and or viruses? I will be playing real light games like the old Unreal tournament and such. I might even try Wow. And lastly, the only two things I need to make this run smooth is VMware fusion and a copy of XP right? Thanks in advance guys.
Click to expand...

1. You can tell Fusion to use 2GB of RAM for Windows; the rest will happen automatically. 2. When using Fusion & Windows, you can get Windows viruses in exactly the same way as you could with Windows running on a PC. Firefox is probably safer than for example Internet Explorer, but doing your internet access through MacOS X would be better. On the other hand, you can install Windows, make a backup copy of everything, and if you catch a virus, just throw away your Fusion installation and restore it from the backup. 3. Yes, Fusion and Windows XP is what you need.
 
Does VM have a default RAM setting? I was just wondering when I closed it OSX would grab all the RAM back(4GB). I am OCD about RAM for some reason. Well, I wouldn't be doing any internet surfing at all. Just didn't know if I there was a way in windows to eliminate the chance of viruses period.
 
Chad H said:
Just didn't know if I there was a way in windows to eliminate the chance of viruses period.
Click to expand...

Run as a limited user, use a free lightweight virus scanner (I like avast), and use some common sense.
 
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