I highly recommend VMWare for its easy of use, performance speed and reliability. I set it up with 20GB of my Macs hard drive and it’s running just fine. I have MacAfee virus software on my windows machine and when it updates and installs new downloads it significantly slows down the V-machine. Perhaps b/c i setup the v-machine to utilize 1 processor and 1gb of ram. [i suppose i could have beefed that up initially] I don’t use the windows V-machine for much else because i wanted to avoid loading it up with unneeded programs and slowing it down.I don’t recommend running VMWare when you are not planning to use it. I do notice a small decrease in performance in my mac when i run the program, but that’s understandable considering your literally running windows inside a program. I load it up about 3-4 times a week to update my Money software and pay bills then i just back it up and shut it down. [Personally i like to keep it in a separate 'space' using 'spaces' which comes with your mac. [it's nice to have it out the way] You need to keep your ‘virtual windows machine’ up to date just like a normal windows PC and you should consider some lite virus protection software for it b/c it can get infected just like all windows machines.

I did run into a snag, but it was related to my older version of Money. I had 4.0 or some other low version. Money is up to version 9 i think and in order to continue to use the auto download features you need to upgrade to the latest version and i believe it lasts for 2 yrs, at which you can extend it for a fee or upgrade to the newer version. I ended up getting the latest version and i like it. I was considering using the ‘lighter’ version, money express [i think], that doesn’t include tax support and in-depth investments. It doesn’t allow importing your old Money file, so i had to get the standard Money Plus version $40-50.

As for MS Money, for that kind of money (Parallels + the price of Windows, now Vista unless you can find an XP) you should shop around for a good Mac option, of which there are many. Or try and use money with the version 1.0 of Darwine that just shipped (free) – http://www.kronenberg.org/darwine/ – If that works, you can use your existing copy of Money. Or if you buy Parallesl/VMWare – consider taking your OS with you off your old machine (of course, you can not run it on both your old machine and the Mac if you transfer the serial of either Windows OR Money).

If you don’t plan to re-use the drive, simply drill several holes in it or put it under a train. I’ve been told by a forensics guy that physically destroying the drive is the best way to make sure no one gets to the data.

Crappy answer.

Why not suggest they surf to VersionTracker.com or MacUpdate.com and take a look at other personal money managers?

,dave