The first time you run VPC Helper, you see the screen below. This is the setup screen. You can get back to this screen to change your preferences later, if needed.
 
The first option is for setting Virtual Memory use. This is only activated in Mac OS 9. This feature allows you to easily tell VPC Helper how to set your memory usage when you are going to be using Virtual PC. It is highly recommended that you either 1) turn VM to its lowest setting (1MB over your built-in amount) or 2) turn VM off completely. We found that turning VM off completely on iMacs and iBooks has a negative effect, so we recommend these users stick with option 1 (or any other user having difficulty with getting it to work with VM off). Setting this feature to 'Do Nothing' will tell VPC Helper to simply leave your VM settings the same at all times.
The second option allows you to tell VPC Helper to quit the Finder as it launches Virtual PC. This is highly recommended, seeing that the Finder hogs between 15 and 25 MB of RAM. And it will only bog down the system while you are running Virtual PC. Many users do not access the Finder at all while using Virtual PC, so this is preferred. Your shared folders will still work! The Finder will launch again automatically once you quit Virtual PC.
The third pop-up menu provides an option to tell VPC Helper to quit all background applications. These little memory hogs take processor cycles to themselves and hurt performance. This feature will quit things like the Control Strip, Time Synchronizer, Folder Actions, Virus Scanners, macro utilities, and other 'hidden' programs that you never see or interact with (as well as other open apps). It can save you even more RAM, and RAM is really the key to good Virtual PC performance.
The Extensions/Control Panels box allows you to specify your preferred Virtual PC-ready set as well as your standard set. By turning this on, VPC Helper will automatically set and restore your extension/control panel sets before and after Virtual PC use. Both options here are optional... Only turn them on if you want this feature enabled (we highly recommend it!).
If you own Conflict Catcher 8, you will want to turn on 'Use Conflict Catcher'. You must type the names of the sets in the boxes, as VPC Helper has no way of knowing which sets you currently have (or their titles). Again, this box only works with Conflict Catcher, as Apple's Extensions Manager is not capable of receiving application control (they never built that into it, for some reason). We highly recommend Conflict Catcher… Not just for these uses, but for all troubleshooting and overall system control.
If you do not have Conflict Catcher, but still want to set up a special Virtual PC extensions set, turn on the 'Use Base Extensions' options. This process is simple but requires some configuration on your part (because we have no idea what extensions you want/need). With this option on, two new folders will appear in your system folder. These two new folders are titled 'Extensions (Disabled VPC)' and 'Control Panels (Disabled VPC)'. They are empty by default. After this setup and before your first 'Run' of Virtual PC by VPC Helper (you only have to do this part once as setup), copy only the extensions/control panels you want enabled for Virtual PC to these new respective folders (copy them from your regular Extensions/Control Panels folder, don't move them... You need to have regular copies in your normal set). For best Virtual PC performance, copy only the extensions and panels that you need to startup and use Virtual PC (see FAQ near the end of this page for tips). These extensions/panels will only be enabled during your Virtual PC use, and will only be used when you use VPC Helper to set up Virtual PC use. When you run VPC Helper and choose to setup for Virtual PC, VPC Helper swaps these files with your regular extensions set... Voila! One restart (VPC Helper will do this too if you want) and you are ready to go. When you use VPC Helper to restore your old settings, these files will be swapped again and all will be as it was before you ran Virtual PC!
The 'Run VPC immediately after restart' box will allow Virtual PC to launch immediately after a restart (when needed), virtually making it like starting up a Windows PC. It's simply a more seamless, timesaving feature. If your feature selections require a restart, you should consider enabling this feature. Restoring the old preferences will also remove this auto-start feature.
Note: Using any 'Virtual Memory' setting (other than 'Do Nothing') or turning on Conflict Catcher support will require a restart before the changes take place. When you run VPC Helper for the setup, it will offer to restart for you.
After the Setup
Okay, you've setup VPC Helper and are ready to run Virtual PC. Great! Depending on your choices, there are three possible ways to do this:
If you only told VPC Helper to quit the Finder and/or background processes, you can simply launch VPC Helper and hit 'Run'. This will quit all open applications and background processes, quit the Finder, launch Virtual PC, and quit VPC Helper. Do this every time you want to run Virtual PC.
 
If you additionally told VPC Helper to change your VM settings or extension/control panels sets, you do pretty much the same thing. Run VPC Helper and hit 'Run'. VPC Helper will automatically set your VM settings and extensions set and ask you to restart (you can quit if needed and restart later… Just remember to restart before you run VPC Helper again for the final process). VPC Helper stores your old settings… After the restart, run VPC Helper again and you are confronted with a new window. This has three options. 'Restore Old' will do nothing but restore your VM and extensions settings back to the way they were before you prepared for Virtual PC. This is what you will use to instantly set your Mac back to the way it was. The 'Run' button will launch Virtual PC (quitting the Finder and background apps if so chosen) and leave the settings as is… Such as for later use or subsequent Virtual PC launches. 'Restore and Run' will first restore the old settings and then run Virtual PC (quitting the Finder and background apps if so chosen). This is the likely choice for most, since you will likely want to go back to the old settings on the next restart (after you've finished using Virtual PC). Remember that old settings will not go into effect until the next restart.
 
Finally, if you chose to have VPC launch immediately after restart, you can bypass the above. When this option is chosen, VPC Helper will run Virtual PC immediately after the post-'Run' restart. It's automated. Running VPC Helper and choosing the 'Restore Old' option will remove this auto-start feature at the same time it resets your Mac to the old settings.
Remember, to go back to the regular settings and usage, all you have to do is run VPC Helper and hit 'Restore Old' and restart. Voila! Remember that you'll only see the 'Restore' features if you chose options that require a restart.
Note: Had a crash or hard reset and feel like settings got out of whack with VPC Helper? Have no fear... There is a built-in safegaurd auto-reset feature that will fix these troubled. Read question 4 below!
Performance Tips ( READ THIS! )
There are a few tips for getting the most out of Virtual PC and VPC Helper. These tips are pretty useful regardless of whether you use VPC Helper with your copy of Virtual PC.
Q: VPC Helper sometimes asks me to locate my Virtual PC application before running. Why?
A: Make sure your copy of Virtual PC is named 'Virtual PC‚Ñ¢' as it orignally came to you. Also, if VPC Helper cannot locate your copy at times, it's time to rebuild your desktop files. Use Conflict Catcher or simply do the old Option-Command at startup trick... That should do the trick.
Q: Which extensions/control panels do you recommend as a base set for Virtual PC use?
A: The bare minimum... Only what you need to startup and use Virtual PC. You'll need AppleScript and AppleScriptLib (if it is there) for VPC Helper. If you use 8.0/8.1, you may need the 'Appearance' extension and Control Panel. If they are on your system, you should also enable: Text Encoding Converter extension, Memory control panel, Startup Disk control panel, CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drivers and software, and any hardware drivers that you absolutely need to startup or use Virtual PC. If you use Conflict Catcher, it should warn you if you are disabling something that you need for your Mac. The fewer the better... These items often take both RAM and processor cycles, so nix 'em if you can.
Q: Sometimes Virtual PC will require me to start from scratch (no saved state load) because of insufficient memory. Why?
A: When you use Virtual PC under multiple conditions, this is likely to happen sometimes. We suggest you always try to use Virtual PC under the same atmosphere… Same VM settings, same extensions and control panels, etc. This way, the RAM allotment is balanced and the program can always load your saved state into RAM. A good example of the problem is when you run Virtual PC once under Virtual Memory and then turn VM off the next time. Suddenly, the RAM the program is used to has been diminished but the saved state is still the same size. Thus, a new restart is needed in the Windows world. We do recommend a restart every once in a while to keep things fresh and efficient.
Q: Virtual PC crashed and required a hard restart… Now my Mac tries to launch Virtual PC at every startup because of VPC Helper! OR: My Mac is still starting up from the VPC extensions set (and I'm not using Conflict Catcher)!
A: At any time that you feel the VPC Helper has gone out of whack (such as after a crash or hard restart), you can correct it easily. VPC Helper has a built in 'rebuild' process that wipes the slate clean and saves your base preferences. It does nothing to Virtual PC itself… It only sets itself back to the proper settings. To do this, simply hold down 'Option-Command' (Option-Apple) as you launch VPC Helper. This will rebuild the program 'memory'. You'll see a dialog saying that it was done and VPC Helper will quit. That's all there is to it… You can launch VPC Helper again to restart the process (your setup preferences are still there). If you use the 'Use Base Extensions' option (not Conflict Catcher), it will also make sure your normal extension set is enabled... If not, it will enable it again for you. Name another program that has this kind of safeguarding feature!
Q: I upgraded to Windows 98 Virtual PC and everything seems much slower…
A: That's because it is much slower. While Windows 98 is indeed a better OS than 95, it is a CPU hog. You should have at least a G3 before you consider using Windows 98 on your Virtual PC.
Q: Does VPC Helper support RAM Doubler in RAM management?
A: No. RAM Doubler 8 is not compatible with the needed software uses of VPC Helper. RAM Doubler 9 may well be... If so, we will update VPC Helper for it. Right now, however, RAM Doubler does not work with Mac OS 9 and offers no noticeable benefit for OS 8.5 or 8.6 users. Virtual Memory has come along way since 7.5 and has improved ten-fold.
Q: Does Norton Utilities 2000 do anything for a Mac running Windows via Virtual PC?
A: Yes! Norton Utilities 2000 has an entire suite of tools for fixing Windows problems. I bring this up because I recommend it to all Virtual PC users using Windows 95/98. Norton 2000 has several key features that speed up your entire system by optimizing directories, swap files, and the system registry. It can do wonders for your Windows efficiency (or lack thereof).
Q: How does Virtual Memory effect Virtual PC performance?
A: When set to the minimum, it really does not do much damage at all. When set high (say, 10-20MB over your built-in), it slows things to a crawl. In our tests, leaving VM even marginally high caused startup performance to lag by 2 minutes or more. And that was loading a saved state! With VPC Helper, the time was cut to a few seconds.
Q: In addition to VPC Helper, whats the best thing I can do to boost Virtual PC performance?
A: More RAM... Plain and simple. Adding more RAM to your Mac and giving more RAM to Virtual PC will boost your performance considerably. Coupled with VPC Helper, you should have a pretty speedy PC. With VPC Helper installed, you should be able to allocate practically all of your RAM to Virtual PC!
A performance comparison chart follows (next chapter)...
