The best way to run a small windows app or two under mac OS X?

well, if you’ve got a copy of windows lying around, boot camp is much more battery-friendly than parallels… but it requires that you partition your hard drive, and you have to reboot every time you want to switch from windows to mac. generally speaking, the problem you have is the whole reason someone invented parallels and vmware in the first place… “i have a couple of windows apps, but i don’t want to drag around a whole windows laptop…”

Sounds like you’re looking for Crossover. It allows you to run most Windows programs without installing a copy of Windows.

Double-check the compatibility area on the Crossover website to see if the application you want has been tested. Better to know for sure before bothering with it.

I just got into this – using advice off of fluther. I like parallels a lot. You have to buy it (less than $100) and you have to have a copy of windows, but you don’t have to reboot, and it can operate within the mac OS – individual windows on your OSX desktop – still in your dock, working with expose, etc – that are just windows programs.