Should this combination work?

I am using parallels, but not very successfully. The Windows program is very slow, frequently stops responding. I only use it for one program, which is supposed to run fine on parallels, and other people report using it with no problem.
I have Windows 7, Parallels 8 and Mac 10.9 (Mavericks). 2.3 GHz Intel Core processor with 8 GB of Memory (1067 MHz DDR3). Is the problem here?

 

Hi Barbara,
There could be several reasons why your vm is running slowly. The first thing I would do is reinstall parallels tools.
It could also be how you have your vm configured. This knowledge base article may help you if that is the issue: http://kb.parallels.com/en/113649