Windows 8.1 Pro and Windows 7 in Parallels on Mac OS/X

I gather the technical problem affecting the video from last Sunday has spread from the camera to the computers. I'm not directly involved in any of it and am too far away to provide any sort of direct assistance. It seems to be something to do with Windows and compatibility, but I'm not completely sure.

For my movie making I use the Mac mainly, which seems to cope with most things quite well. It's a long way from a few years ago when, with Windows, I had to plug in special hardware accelerators and other general gadgetry and then switch everything else off during the lengthy 'rendering' process.

I do still use Windows from time to time on my Mac. I have that Parallels utility which lets me run multiple copies of Windows alongside the Mac OS/X. At the moment I have both Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 Pro installed, as I'm halfheartedly migrating from one to the other.

In the olden days, when a new version of Windows came along, it was possible to do a kind of in-situ upgrade (very much like with the Mac). Nowadays the upgrade assistant wants me to re-install each piece of software separately. Not a problem with, say, Microsoft Office, but quite an irritation with software that uses separately licenced plug-ins.

A useful addition in Parallels 9 is the add on that restores the Windows menu and desktop to Windows 8.1. I'm no Luddite, but I found the Metro-interface to be something of a dumbing down of the way to interact with Windows on a conventional desktop.

These labour saving devices can take a lot of looking after.