Citrix How-To: Connect Even When Your IT Department Says "Mac Not Supported"

Before I dive in, let me mention briefly what the heck Citrix is. It's basically a program that lets you run a remote copy of Windows on your company's server right from your remote computer, whether on a Windows or a Mac OS. Windows boots up remotely on the server, and you can run it right from your computer. On a Mac, it ends up looking like Virtual PC, with a Windows window open within an OS X window. Even more happily, it's not as annoyingly slow as every version of Virtual PC seems to be. To boot, you get access to your email, docs, and whatever else is saved on the company's servers.

Anyway, if you've had a recent gander at that other blog of mine, you'll note the joy I have working with the IT department of my firm. In all seriousness, they are usually efficient and take care of whatever I need quickly.

Mac support for Citrix, however, seems to be just too much to ask.

However, I, the knowledgeable virtuoso I am, have discovered the secret to using your Mac with Macphobic Citrix. Below you will find the complex and arcane formulas required to produce such results. Be wary, though. You may not be able to master the complex intricacies of the highly technical process.

1. Go to the Citrix OS X downloads page and download the OS X client version. Or just click here.
2. Follow all your normal instructions to log on to Citrix.

Painful, wasn't it? WIth such complexity, one can hardly wonder why certain IT departments refuse to support Mac.

There is one caveat: Citrix requires you to use Internet Explorer to log in (at least the way my firm does it), although Firefox works fine too. I gave Safari a whirl but it didn't work.