A Mac cannot open an .exe. The options, from easiest to most involved:

  1. The Mac version. Office, Chrome, Teams, Zoom, Spotify, Steam and most big names have one. Check the maker's download page before anything else.
  2. The web version. Office, Outlook, Teams and most business tools run in a browser.
  3. A virtual machine running Windows 11 for ARM: Parallels Desktop (paid, the smooth one), VMware Fusion (free for personal use) or UTM (free, open source). Windows runs in a window or full screen at near-native speed on Apple silicon and can run most x86 programs through Microsoft's built-in translation. Needs a Windows licence.
  4. CrossOver (paid) or Whisky (free) run some Windows programs and games without Windows at all, through a translation layer. Hit and miss; the CrossOver site lists what works.

Games: Steam on a Mac shows only Mac-native games in your library. Cloud streaming (GeForce Now, Xbox Cloud Gaming) covers many of the rest, and Apple's own Game Porting Toolkit is aimed at developers, not players.

Boot Camp, running Windows directly, ended with Intel Macs.