New Parallels build features return of Image Tool

It was just a couple of hours ago that reader Greg wrote in to share his frustration with Parallels tech support, or the lack thereof, and a key missing feature in v3 -- "The members of their support forum are generally as confused as I am... [also] while Parallels 3.0 brought in 3D support, it REMOVED disk image resizing."

We did mention that interesting exclusion from version 3, but no sooner asked than answered: Build 4650, now available for download or via auto-update, features the triumphant return of the Parallels Image Tool, among other features and fixes (see below for the full list). No longer will dual-OS users be blocked from expanding a virtual disk! Relish your freedom, my friends, for it is sweet.

What's New in Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac (Build 4560)

Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac includes the following new features and feature improvements:
• Coherence 2.0 - Run your Windows and Mac OS X applications in single integrated environment
• Image Tool - Add capacity to your virtual disk image
• SmartSelect - Open your files in Mac OS X or Windows with any available Mac OS X or Windows application
• Shared Applications and SmartSelect options in Configuration Editor were redesigned: you can now enable/disable all options
• Shared Applications and SmartSelect options in the Applications menu were redesigned: you can now access Windows Start menu and the list of recently opened Windows applications, as well as configure SmartSelect without starting a particular Windows application.

Bugfixes and improvements in Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac (Build 4560)
The most important fixes and improvements include:
• SmartSelect and Shared Applications
• Some correct file associations in Mac (like .doc association with Microsoft® Office Word for Mac) reset and switch to Parallels Desktop - fixed
• Errors when opening certain file types in Mac (like .msg files from Microsift Office Outlook 2007) - fixed
• Detection of the file types that don't have associations in Mac - improved
• SmartSelect and Shared Applications configuration options added
• SmartSelect now correctly recognizes default web browser in Mac
• Video and 3D
• No textures in some games (like Max Payne™) - fixed
• Some games crash on nVidia® video cards - fixed
• VM cannot suspend after iTunes® upgrade to 7.3 due to incorrect DirectX® detection - fixed
• Pixel size calculation - improved: graphics are displayed correctly in Microsoft Access™
• Performance of some CAD/CAM applications (including SolidWorks®) - improved
• Multi-threaded CAD/CAM applications now show workspace correctly. The list of applications includes, but not limited to, AutoCAD®, 3D Studio MAX®, CATIA V5, PowerSHAPE, Zemax®, Pro/ENGINEER® and many others
• Vertical Sync enabled (this will result in benchmarks performance cut-off at 60 FPS, but will provide less resources usage and less artifacts when resizing screen)
• Boot Camp
• Detection of the operating system installed in Boot Camp - improved
• Vista reinstalls ACPI PC on each restart - fixed
• Snapshots
• Delete with children (recursive delete) option added
• Possible corruption of the .xml file included in the bundle .hdd during reversion to snapshot - fixed
• Parallels Explorer
• Many segmentation fault cases were fixed
• Correct handling of non-NTFS file systems added
• Many look and feel improvements
• Other fixes
• Having USB device in configuration significantly (by 30%) increases Parallels Desktop CPU usage for Vista guest OS - fixed
• Mouse gets automatically ungrabbed if Vista had been put into sleep mode from inside the virtual machine
• Correct tools for eComStation™ 1.2 included
• Windows® 98 restart hangs - fixed
• Parallels Tools installation changes default printer in Windows - fixed
• Compatibility with Microsoft® LiveMeeting - fixed
• Mouse issues with Flex/Flash drag-n-drop - fixed
• Shared folders: Changing file extension affects the dates in the file info - fixed
• Shared folders: Cannot use mkdir a\b\c in the mapped Parallels Shared Folder disk - fixed
• Shared folders: Cannot open file with brackets in the filename from a shared folder - fixed
• Compatibility with MacFUSE 0.4 - fixed
• Animation transitions between view modes (Full Screen, Guest OS Window, Coherence) improved for better look and feel
• Parallels Tools for Linux: time synchronization tool added
• Virtual machine sometimes crashes when working with hard disks connected to IDE 1:0 and IDE 1:1 channels - fixed
• Bugreports are now sent via default Mac mail client
• In rare cases Mac OS hangs for some time after sleep if Parallels Desktop is running - fixed
• Image Tool added - now it is possible to increase virtual HDD capacity