Parallels Desktop is a virtual user session solution built to run Windows on Macintosh computers without rebooting. It is designed for OS X Yosemite with one-click tuning.
$49.99
per license
Wayk Bastion (Discontinued)
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
Wayk Bastion is a self-hosted remote access management server for machines running Wayk Agent. All remote desktop connections made by technicians using Wayk Client are authorized and monitored with corresponding session audit trails. Allowing remote access is one thing, but keep track of who accessed what, when and for how long is just as important for security. Zero Trust Security Freedom Devolutions Gateway relay servers configured with Wayk Bastion ensure independence from…
$99.99
Per Technician
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Parallels Desktop
Wayk Bastion (Discontinued)
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I often get asked, why not the "free" stuff (VirtualBox), and/or why not VMWare. VirtualBox, etc. are not as performant for interactive usage. I think they are fine for small applications, perhaps some enterprise app usage, but for developers, it's not good enough. VMWare has become too enterprisey and lacks some of the user-friendly stuff that Parallels focuses on. Ultimately, for developer types running OSes for deep tasks, Parallels is unrivaled.
It is a product that is very small footprint that allows remote control.Can be used very efficiently and effectively in a small environment. That would be up to 50 computers. You can use this in a larger environment but it would require multiple techs to cover. Currently I am the only helpdesk tech in my company.
File Transfer - You can easily transfer files between Parallels virtualized desktops and the host desktop either through Copy and Paste functionality, or Drag and Drop. You can also configure shared folders.
Switch Between Virtual and Host Desktop - You can configure swipe gestures on a MacBook Pro to be able to switch between the virtualized and host desktop. You can also launch apps from the OS X Taskbar.
Performance - Apps in Parallels run quite smoothly on my 2015 MacBook Pro, as of 2020. Considering they are running on a 5-year-old computer, I give Parallels top marks for performance.
Wayk Now has 3 authentication methods to use when connecting in to a remote Wayk Now instance - Secure Remote Password (the app password), Secure Remote Delegation (the OS credentials which is used to gain elevated rights should they be required) and finally Prompt for Permission which is very handy if your client isn't IT literate so they just get a prompt to click on to authenticate with the app that way. From what I've seen in other remote assist apps, this is fairly unique.
Another new feature that I think gives Wayk a slight edge over the competition is a new graphics codec for the video feed from the client app called GFWX. Again its certainly a unique take on this problem of streaming the video to the client ends app. Basically it means that the image quality is a lot better for a lot less bandwidth because of the codec's compression.
The last point that Wayk Now does well is its integration with the other Devolutions products such as Remote Desktop Manager in which you can create Wayk Now session entries so that you can build up a DB of your clients/your own unattended Wayk Now instances that you can open from within RDM.
The ability to do snapshots, backups, and other types of branching for VMs is a little confusing and takes a bit to get used to
The Parallels tools frequently pop up windows advertising functionality, while this is helpful at times it can also happen when you are doing a presentation or typing in a password.
Careful using the VMs on a shared cloud drive such as Dropbox or OneDrive, there are hundreds and sometimes thousands of files which are updated when running a VM and this can clog up your Dropbox or OneDrive sync for minutes to hours even on a 2gb connection.
Requires an agent install on the remote computer (or a full Wayk install). Would like to see a tool that allowed someone to connect to my WAYK invite, and use the services remotely so that it is a true no-touch on the remote server.
Limited feature set (by design, but if you are looking for a full featured remote support product, this probably isn't it). Of course since this is by design it could be considered a pro.
Users are familiar with the application which will keep us going for a little while. However since we are seeing a decline for a need for the software, I wouldn't be surprised to find that this answer changes dramatically in the near future. We would probably keep it to some extent, but we would probably reduce our licensing count.
Considering that Wayk Now comes in a free edition that can be used commercially, even if I wasn't to renew Wayk Now for whatever reason, I would still use it, but I do actually require the unattended access feature which is available for free now with the new free business licence.
It has a good integration, including the connection of peripherals. Taking files back and forth works well and I can attach my Home drive as a network drive in Windows. There is even integration with iCloud and other macOS services. There are also a few different display modes which are useful and fleixible (coherence, windowed, full-screen with multiple screens)
I feel Wayk Now is very useable as it's still a very simple concept packaged basically the same way that the competition does with their remote assist type apps
So, this rating is a little skewed toward older behavior from Parallels, as I haven't had to contact them recently. However, in an older version of Parallels, an "update" included pop-ups urging users to upgrade to the latest version, implying that their current version wouldn't work for the latest MacOS. I found it very frustrating to be getting ads for a new version of the software in a version I had already paid for. I contacted support about this and got a generic, uncaring response. It was pretty disappointing.
My experience with their support is for a related product, not Wayk Now; however Devolutions support has always been superior to most regardless of the product being used. I left it at a 9 instead of a 10 simply because I haven't used it, but I would expect nothing less than a 10 from my experiences with RDM - both free and paid versions.
Main two features that made the balance decission go to the Parallels Desktop were the possibility to pause the Windows partition easily (allowing to consume less resources in Mac and save battery) and the other one is the user interface feature called "Coherence" with allows you to show the Windows application windows as if they were native to the macOS, allowing for a better user experience.
I think they're great tools also. But. Skype for Business, it's only for 365 users or, with external users, be prepared to download a nice 50Mb PLUGIN.... And TeamViewer, I think it's great, but lots of companies around the world block it thinking it's a malware, more than a support tool.
Avoid extra costs: majority of users have a Mac, so if they needed to dod something that is Windows related, it will require to users have an extra computer to do that tasks, and this have a lot of costs
Developers have more concerns how websites behaves on Windows only browsers, which increased the satisfaction of users
There is a no-cost version of the tool which has an immediate positive Return on Investment as it allows remote support users to efficiently assist users
