Virtual PC had a GREAT feature call Undo Drives. It allowed you to test various software installs and have the option to keep the changes or discard them when shutting down. This was GREAT for testing new software. If you didn't like the software, you could discard ALL the changes, including hidden files and registry changes. Is this something that Parallels is considering? Thanks for a great product!
Making a copy of your .hdd file(s) before installing anything will have the same net effect. It's what I do, and I've reverted countless times.
It is still nice to have such a feature that does it automatically in case you change something you really didn't mean to since your last backup and want to revert. A snapshot manager like vmware has would be even better.
Snapshots would be better as they are more compact - backups of the .hdd files can use a lot of storage if it's something one does a lot. But Joem is exactly right that you can make backups now which are the functional if less convenient equivalent of snapshots. Recently a Parallels support person popped in and commented on snapshotting and suggested it was on the way. I make copies of the virtual machine directory structure every time I add new software, patches, or other maintenance. Mine are written to DVD, but they could also be put onto external firewire or usb storage which is getting pretty cheap. Given that Apple appears to be losing interest in firewire I'd probably not opt for that technology at this time.
