Hey people. Does anyone have a Mac that can also run windows programs?

Husband is wanting Macs (he HATES viruses) but all of our programs are Windows. He says that there are Macs that run Windows, kind of like a dual PC.. Anybody have anything like that?

opinions welcomed

blsbet44, let me get hold of Kickaha. He is running a Mac with Windows. I'm sure he can give you some pointers and opinions.

I've been running Windows operating systems since 1999 and have never had even one virus. Good safe computing and surfing along with effective software can keep your computer just as clean as a Mac. And as Macs become more and more mainstream, attacks targeting them are increasing. But the bad guys are still targeting Windows operating systems for the most part. Poor Linux even got hit a few months ago!

Well that's the argument that I have with Husband. the more Macs out there , the greater chances of viruses

I try to keep a clean PC with daily scans, good firewall, freebies like Spybot S&D and Piricleaner (adn others) and pay attention to any glitches however minor.

BUT he is REALLY fixated on this Mac thing. I told him to get one for himself and see if he likes it. I told him that regardless of Mac or PC, one has to constantly be alert

I sent Kickaha a PM, so hopefully he will get with you soon...

One can dual boot a Mac (I'm playing "Lost Horizon" like that on my Mac) but you can also use software like VMWare Fusion or Parallels to have both Windows and OSX up at the same time. Some games will play under VMWare / Parallels.

You need to be sensible no matter what your operating system. I'm a happy Mac user but I don't seek to convert everyone to using a Mac. Long live variety.

Thank you Kickaha

I have a mac and I originally intended to set it up as a dual boot with OS X and XP, and things were going fine for about a month or so, then I d/l a optical drive speed reducer program (in an attempt to install a CD-ROM-based game into DOSbox - thought game's installer froze cos my optical drive speed was too high) from Brothersoft, this caused problems with my burning DL DVD's in the windows side of the mac (previous to d/l from brothersoft there was no problems with burning DL DVD's in windows) so my mom made me eliminate windows from the mac.

Today I'm the happy owner of 3 laptops - a MacBook Pro, a Asus Eee PC netbook, and a Acer Aspire laptop, and 1 Dell Dimension 8200 desktop PC.

If you have a MAC - check out Boot Camp. You install a Windows Operating system in the MAC - Virtual Machine etc. You can actually run Windows from within the MAC. Check it out - much too big a subject for a casual discussion.

I run them all - Windows - Mac - Linux. Windows is still the OS to use for gaming - if you follow some simple guidelines about downloading garbage - opening "no subject" emails - etc etc - Windows will serve you right.

The MACs are not immune to virus, spyware, crashes, and lock ups. Neither is Linux.

I am using a MAC right now - it's just as big a "boat anchor" as any other machine when its bad - its BAD!! Very Very proprietary too !! Just try and fix it without jumping through hoops ! Hardware is very specific to them - can't just go to a "computer" store and ask for a video card - motherboard etc. I rant.