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It's Time To Consider Virtual Machines: VMware's Fusion Pro And Workstation Pro
This content was produced in partnership with VMware.
For the average person, virtual machines (VMs) can seem quite complex. In reality, they're simple in terms of how they work and the applications they're used for. They create a virtual environment for running entire operating systems — like Windows — and exclusive applications, all contained in a virtual sandbox that is securely isolated from the physical computer. Think of it as having a totally new computer except it's inside the computer you already have. Just like with physical computers, there are a lot of useful things you can do with VMs too, like running Windows or Linux apps on a Mac, for instance. Some more examples include handling potential malware or downloading packages safely, cloning systems as a backup or testing ground, and even developing small applications for systems you don't have access to. We've barely touched upon most things you can do with a VM, however, especially a capable one. Developers, engineers, and IT admins have been using virtual machines for years.
There are many VM solutions out there, chief among them are VMware's platforms, including Fusion Pro and Workstation Pro. In fact, VMware's offerings are some of the best for running multiple operating systems and environments from a single computer. We'll get to why that is in a bit, but for now, the big takeaway is that virtual machines are incredibly useful for all kinds of users, not just enterprise-level professionals and tech savants.
VMware's solutions provide seamless virtual environmentsTypically, when you want to install another operating system on your computer you use a method called dual-booting.This involves figuratively splitting your computer in two, rebooting to use one operating system or the other. It's useful because you can have both instances, while keeping them separate, but that also comes with a series of inconveniences. To swap platforms in the middle of work, you have to reboot your computer entirely so it's not easy to share files — sometimes it's impossible — or work on the same projects. With VMware's platforms, you can run them all from one single OS, without ever rebooting. Moreover, you can share files, and swap between instances, and applications, seamlessly. To put it into perspective, if you're running a Windows application in Fusion Pro on a Mac you can swap between the platforms at will.
What else can they do? In Fusion Pro's case, users can access more advanced features you'd see in a native installation, like running a network simulation for testing latency, accessing full or linked clones to instantly duplicate VMs, and remote connectivity to enterprise vSphere and ESXi environments, so it's easy to create more complex virtual environments as needed.
In other words, it's a highly capable testing or virtual environment that doesn't lose functionality and actually opens up more opportunities, especially for developers, engineers, and IT pros.
VMware Fusion Pro vs. Workstation Pro: What's the difference?
There are a few minor differences, of course, but the most important thing to note is that Fusion Pro is designed for macOS, while Workstation Pro is meant for Windows and Linux users. While Fusion Pro is aimed at running Windows on Mac, and Workstation is targeting more IT-centric use cases, at the end of the day, each app enables you to run multiple operating systems from a single PC or Mac.
Choosing the right VM tool depends on which operating system or platform your main computer is using. If you have a Mac you'll want to go with Fusion Pro, the latest being . If you have a Windows or Linux PC, you'll want to spring for Workstation Pro, and the latest version of that is .
VMware does offer a few additional solutions, including free offerings for folks who intend to use them for 'personalized use' as opposed to a work environment. Is a free virtualization tool and sandbox that allows users to run multiple operating systems on Linux or Windows PCs, while is similar, but for Mac systems.
VMware Workstation 17 ProMeant for running multiple operating systems on a single Windows or Linux PC, Workstation 17 Pro supports a range of guest operating systems including Linux, Unix and BSD, Windows, and more. Through virtualization, you can run multiple systems, called "guests", for testing, development, learning, security research, and a bevy of additional applications. Frankly, it's one of the best and most convenient ways to run multiple VMs from a single system with seamless connectivity.
High-performance virtualization capabilities make it possible to run even resource-demanding applications and workloads, which has historically been uncommon for VMs. The latest versions of Fusion and Workstation are able to make full use of the PC or Mac hardware for guest applications to run smoothly, and even support 3D applications like CAD or gaming. In addition, the VM Isolation Boundary prevents guest applications from affecting the host operating system unless the user wants to — users receive better security and encryption overall and the virtual machine doesn't know that it's not a completely separate computer. This is absolutely imperative for testing and security analysis, as any damage caused by malware and malicious code won't be carried over to the primary system.
VMware Fusion 13 ProMeant for Mac users, and enabling seamless swaps between platforms without reboots, Fusion Pro revolutionizes working with virtual environments for just about everyone from your average user to developers and IT admins. You can easily run Windows and Linux applications, and the advanced functionality opens up a lot of additional support options, such as network simulation solutions.
All performance is optimized for the Mac by using things like Apple Metal for incredible fast 3D graphics to DirectX 11 apps in Windows. With support for the latest Windows 10 and Windows 11 updates, Fusion 13 Pro gives users the best of both worlds. Even better, integration with VMware's vSphere and standalone ESXi hosts means that VMs can be managed remotely across hosts and data centers by system admins. The latter is a huge benefit for distributed workforces.
Multiple operating systems, one computerIt really is that simple. VMware's solutions are excellent for running multiple operating systems on a single computer or machine. Beyond that, the advanced support both protects the primary machine and makes performance better across the board. The security and encryption features ensure that, while testing or running potentially harmful applications in the virtual machine, nothing carries over to the main system. Furthermore, high performance and advanced functionality, like network simulation support or linked clones, increase the usability of the VM. Plus, with integrated vSphere and ESXi, IT administrators and system admins can manage a host of VMs remotely, across a distributed workforce or team.
For running virtual machines, regardless of the platform, there is always one exceptional answer, and that's VMware.
How To Tune Windows 10 For Laser-focused Productivity
Find yourself suddenly needing to be more productive? Good news! Windows 10 comes loaded with all sorts of tools designed to help you Get Things Done, along with deeper tweaks that can optimize the operating system for productivity even more. Each new major upgrade adds even more. Now for the bad news: All those excellent productivity-boosting Windows tools and tweaks aren't immediately obvious, with many of the most useful settings buried deep inside a maze of options menus. (There's a reason we need to publish articles like 10 little-known Windows features that will blow your mind.)
We can help. Taking five or ten minutes to tinker with Windows 10 can supercharge your setup, regardless of whether you're trying to keep at work while stuck at home or setting up something more permanent. And now that Windows 10 won't receive any more feature updates, these awesome tricks should be locked-in forever.
Better yet, most of these tips also work just fine for Windows 11, though their exact location may differ slightly. Let's dig in.
Get rid of interruptionsIf you want to stay focused on a task, reducing your interruptions is key. That can be as simple as checking your email and social media only at designated times, but Windows 10 can still pop up notifications that can kick you out of a productive headspace, be it from apps or the OS itself. Let's eradicate those first.
Windows 10's notifications options
Open the Start menu, click the Settings cog icon, and head to System > Notifications and actions. You have a few different options here. To nuke all notifications from orbit, eradicating them completely, move the Get notifications from apps and other senders item to Off. Boom.
For a more nuanced approach, you can click the tiny Focus assist settings link underneath that option, which allows you to set up rules for when and how you'll receive OS notifications.
Windows 10's Focus Assist options.
If you want to receive some notifications—say, Mail and Calendar events—but not others, head back to the main Notifications and actions screen. At the bottom, you'll see a big list of all the apps that can potentially send you notifications. Slide the ones that aren't critical to off. I like to disable the Razer Synapse and Discord system notifications, for example, because even though I'm a gamer they're prone to interrupting me during work hours. I also avoid Mail notifications, preferring to check my inbox on my own schedule.
Notifications aren't even the worst offender when it comes to interruptions. Nothing is worse than Windows 10's forced restarts your PC to install updates. Fortunately, Microsoft's worked in lots of tools over the years that make that scenario much less likely to occur—if you know they exist, that is.
Windows Update options.
Head to Start > Settings> Update & Security > Windows Update to tinker with your options. Particularly, check on your Change Active Hours settings. These let you tell Windows when you're working, and it won't automatically reset your PC during that time. The ability to pause all updates for a week is handy, too; if you dig into the Advanced options menu you can push them out for just over a month.
Organize your workflowInstilling some order over your workflow can make a big difference. Sure, Alt-Tab-bing through all your open programs can work, but taking the time to set up some sort of organization can help keep things running as smoothly as possible. Windows 10 includes several tools that can make multi-tasking even more productive.
First off: Multi-monitor setups rock for productivity, and I highly recommend using more than one monitor if possible. Our guides on how to set up dual monitors and Windows 10's individual display scaling can help you out in that case. In a pinch, you can even use a TV as a computer monitor, though they work better as auxiliary displays. That said, not everyone wants (or can afford) more than one display, and the Windows 10 tools below help even if you're stuck on a single screen.
Further reading: The best monitors for any need or budget
When you Snap a window to one half of the screen, Windows pulls back all your other open windows to let you choose one to fill the other side.
Don't underestimate the power of Windows Snap, a native way to easily divvy up your monitor into multiple segments devoted to separate apps. Grab an open window by its title bar—the horizontal bar at the top that says its name—and drag it all the way to the left or right of the screen, until your mouse cursor touches the edge of the display. You'll see a transparent outline flow out from your cursor to fill half the screen. Let go, and the chosen program will expand, taking up that space. Any other programs open on that monitor will appear on the other half of the screen, and if you select one, it'll expand to fill that space. Boom! Now you've got two programs on the screen at the same time, split right down the middle.
If you've got a large monitor, or a pixel-dense 1440p or 4K display, you can use Snap to divide your screen even more. Dragging open windows to a corner of your display will Snap them into that quarter of the screen, though using this method won't trigger a prompt asking you what to fill the rest of the screen with. You'll need to Snap the windows you want manually to each corner.
Four windows Snapped into four quadrants of the screen can put a lot of info at your fingertips at once.
It's worth it, though. Having, say, a document, a spreadsheet, your work's chat software, and Outlook open and visible all at the same time can help you get a lot of stuff done faster, especially if you're transferring data from one of the apps to another. And if you want to customize the Snap functionality even further, be sure to check out FancyZones, Microsoft's killer multitasking app.
Another potent tool for organization: The criminally underutilized Virtual Desktops feature, which debuted in Windows 10. Virtual desktops let you separate "virtual" versions of your desktop, each running its own instances of software, that you can hop between. I work from home, so I sometimes run separate virtual desktops devoted to work time and play time, for instance—Office, Slack, and a browser dedicated to work tasks in one, and "fun" apps like Steam, Discord, and a browser with Reddit or Twitter open in another. When it's break time (or beer o' clock), I can just hop over to the "play" virtual desktop and pick up where I left off.
You can see your various virtual desktops at the top of Windows 10's Task View, above your activity Timeline.
Alternatively, you could set up multiple virtual desktops, each dedicated to its own complicated work task, with all the relevant programs, browser tabs, and documents/spreadsheets open to that particular project. Your only limit is your imagination!
To start using virtual desktops, click the Task View icon in Windows 10's taskbar to summon your Timeline. Select the tiny +New desktop text at the top-left of the screen.
In Windows 10, the Task View icon (a small stack of rectangles with a slider on the right side) can be found to the right of the search bar and the Cortana icon.
Once you're set up, use the same Task View interface to swap among open virtual desktops in the bar that appears at the top of the screen.
You can also use these keyboard shortcuts to control your virtual desktops:
Stardock's Groupy lets you combine several programs into one window like browser tabs, and jump among them. If you look at the title bar at the top of the screen, you'll see this window includes File Explorer, Chrome, Spotify, and Slack.
Finally, while this guide is dedicated to Windows tips, if you tend to juggle multiple programs simultaneously for complicated tasks, consider paying up for Stardock's excellent Groupy software. Groupy essentially lets you organize several programs into a single window, letting you hop between each like so many browser tabs. It's great, and only costs $10 direct from StardockRemove non-product link. Microsoft was working on a native tabbed interface for Windows 10, dubbed Sets, but alas, it's dead. Groupy earns our highest recommendation.
Odds and endsGetting rid of distractions and organizing your workflow will go a long way toward making you more productive, but a handful of other Windows 10 tweaks can make your life easier, too.
Night light's options are basic, but it's a handy tool.
Night light restricts blue light emanating from your display by changing its hue, similar to the popular f.Lux app. "Studies have shown that blue light at night suppresses melatonin production more than other colors and shifts the body's circadian timing, thereby disrupting the sleep-wake cycle," we said in our Night Light primer. Head to Start > Settings > System > Display and activate the Night Light slider to turn it on, then click the Night light settings link to adjust how it works.
Cloud clipboard further leverages the connectivity of your Microsoft Account by letting you copy text on one PC, then paste it on another. It's wonderful. Head to Settings > System > Clipboard to turn it on and configure its behavior.
File History makes it easy to manage which folders you're backing up.
If you have external storage connected to your PC, File History is a godsend, taking snapshots of your files as you go and storing the different versions, so you can recover older saves if need be. "Say, for example, you really liked a paragraph from the first draft of an essay, but you deleted it long ago and are now battling regret," we explained in our primer. "You can dip into File History, retrieve the right version of your document, and copy the paragraph." Our File History guide can set you up if it sounds interesting, while our roundup of the best external drives can point you toward the best hardware for the task. (You don't need a fast external SSD for File History; a slower—and thus more affordable—hard drive performs the job just fine.)
That about does it. If you want to finish your day sooner, be sure to check out 10 time-saving Windows tricks that help you get stuff done faster. Those simple tips aren't glamorous, and most aren't even new to be honest, but when you use them together, they can seriously streamline your workflow. You may also be interested in our roundup of 10 little-known Windows features that will blow your mind.
Editor's note: This article is updated periodically with fresh tips, tricks, and news.
Windows Sandbox Is A Virtual Desktop Environment That Could Be Coming In Windows 10 19H1
Microsoft's next big feature update for its latest operating system is currently codenamed Windows 10 19H1. As the name suggests, it'll debut in the first half of 2019. While the rollout is quite some time away, news about upcoming and deprecated features has already started coming, thanks to Insider builds.
Now, it appears that the company might be planning to integrate a virtual desktop environment called "Windows Sandbox" in Windows 10 Pro and Enterprise.
As spotted by ZDNet, Microsoft has officially announced Windows Sandbox, which it describes as a "lightweight... Isolated, temporary, desktop environment" for running potentially harmful software on your PC. The company notes that running a malicious program in Sandbox won't have a "lasting impact" on your machine, and once you close the software, all of its associated files and sessions will be permanently deleted to ensure security.
Microsoft has noted several advantages of Windows Sandbox over other traditional alternatives, such as the fact that it's built in to Windows and you don't need to download additional software. Furthermore, each instance of Sandbox acts as a freshly installed Windows copy with no existing files from previous sessions. Moreover, it makes use of hardware-based virtualization via hypervisor to isolate its kernel from the host, and it is also more efficient because it uses the integrated kernel scheduler and virtual GPU, along with smarter memory management.
Interestingly, Microsoft has stated that you need to have Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise build 18305 to utilize Sandbox. This build is expected to roll out to Insiders soon, which also means that it is slated for official release in Windows 10 19H1 next year. Microsoft has suggested that those who want to utilize Windows Sandbox have the following prerequisites on their machine:
You can check out Windows Sandbox setup details on the company's announcement page here.
Source: Microsoft via ZDNet
Thanks for the tip Jazmac!
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