Just Bought a Mac

[beautox]

Just wondering if anyone had any tips short cuts or things of that nature for someone just getting into Mac; some friends have already directed me to the following websites.

 

macupdate.com

versiontracker.com

apple.com/downloads

 

thanks in advance for any info

[nitetrain8601]

I heard quicksilver is the application to get for your Mac. I also had this one software hacker for Mac (don't have it anymore since I'm an Accounting/Finance major and we use PC's) that would crack any program you wanted literally. You didn't have to download seperate keygen's or anything like that. It was pretty cool.

[FlaSoxxJim]

Get BootCamp (free) or Parallels ($100-200 I think) loaded up and you can boot natively in Windows for anything you might still need to do on the Dark Side. You will never have a reason to switch back to the cheap iron again.

 

Welcome to the Hive

Edited September 21, 2008 by FlaSoxxJim

[southsideirish71]

Just wondering if anyone had any tips short cuts or things of that nature for someone just getting into Mac; some friends have already directed me to the following websites.

 

macupdate.com

versiontracker.com

apple.com/downloads

 

thanks in advance for any info

 

Heres a good place to start.

 

 

Office 2008

 

http://mactopia.com for your Microsoft integration needs.

 

Isquint to convert different video formats to your IPod

The Free StuffIt expander

Handbrake to burn movies.

Toast Titanium for that Roxio commercial DVD burning hook.

RadioLover takes internet radio streams and splits them into Mp3s for IPod Format.

TrueCrypt for creating encrypted virtual disks. I use this to create encrypted virtual disks for my banking and personal needs. A combo cipher keeps the bad guys out.

 

Here is a program everyone should run. KeePass. Here is the Mac version KeePassX. If you have multiple passwords, instead of writing them down. Putting them in a text file, or fogetting them use this. One password to unlock an encrypted database of your passwords. Passwords only work, if you only know about them.

 

 

You will need to run antivirus. There are less threats to Mac because of the target base, but there are bad guys out there.

 

Here are a couple of products. Give them a try and pick the one that fits your budget the best.

 

Symantec for the Mac

 

Virus Barrier by Intego

Edited September 21, 2008 by southsideirish71

[beautox]

thanks for all the insight guys i appreciate it and ill defiantly be checking into a few of the programs you recommended southsideirish71

[almagest]

I don't really think you need an antivirus program for your Mac, since it's Unix-based. No real virus problems to worry about there -- unless you have Windows machines on your network, in which case I'd just recommend running antivirus programs on those. Some things I would recommend:

 

Open Office 3.0 for Mac -- unless you absolutely require MS Office for some reason, there's no justification for spending the money on it. Open Office is more than good enough. Note that it's currently in release candidate phase, not full release. This really doesn't mean much, though, since by RC time most applications are without any major bugs.

 

Leopard's built-in firewall

 

Otherwise, just use this. Try them all out; see what you like and/or need. I suggested the native Open Office port instead of Neo Office, since Neo requires X11, and Open is native. Other recommendations:

- Camino

- Adium

- Quicksilver

- The Unarchiver

- Transmission

- VLC

- Seashore

[southsideirish71]

I don't really think you need an antivirus program for your Mac, since it's Unix-based. No real virus problems to worry about there -- unless you have Windows machines on your network, in which case I'd just recommend running antivirus programs on those. Some things I would recommend:

 

Not to pick on you, but how exactly does having a Mac change the need for anti-virus. And better yet, how does the addition of a windows based hosts on your network raise or change the threat level for your Mac system. Apple being on an Intel architecture and becoming more popular makes it a more appealing target.

The view, and it not just you, that the mac is not a target for malware is wide spread. Making it a very attractive target. Linux has malware, hell just take a road down malware and virus history and you see the first worms on the Internet were based on exploits in sendmail on Unix systems. If its plugged into the internet or a network and especially if you have a browser or other applications on it you are at risk.

 

[almagest]

Not to pick on you, but how exactly does having a Mac change the need for anti-virus. And better yet, how does the addition of a windows based hosts on your network raise or change the threat level for your Mac system. Apple being on an Intel architecture and becoming more popular makes it a more appealing target.

The view, and it not just you, that the mac is not a target for malware is wide spread. Making it a very attractive target. Linux has malware, hell just take a road down malware and virus history and you see the first worms on the Internet were based on exploits in sendmail on Unix systems. If its plugged into the internet or a network and especially if you have a browser or other applications on it you are at risk.

My point in mentioning Windows hosts wasn't that they raise the malware threat level for a Mac, it's that a non-Windows system can often relay Windows malware to machines, especially on a LAN where security is generally more lax.

 

I also don't disagree that Macs *are* targeted for attack a lot more now than a couple years ago, due to the rising popularity of the OS. That being said, there's still a minuscule amount of malware for non-Windows machines. I just don't see the need for an unwieldy, slow, sometimes invasive antivirus system on a *nix machine, when intelligent usage, a properly configured firewall, Firefox browser extensions (primarily Noscript), and userspace management tools such as jailcell and SELinux can stop or limit threats before they're even on your system. Granted most users won't know about the last thing I mentioned, but the first three are as easy to find and configure as any antivirus software.

[southsideirish71]

My point in mentioning Windows hosts wasn't that they raise the malware threat level for a Mac, it's that a non-Windows system can often relay Windows malware to machines, especially on a LAN where security is generally more lax.

 

I also don't disagree that Macs *are* targeted for attack a lot more now than a couple years ago, due to the rising popularity of the OS. That being said, there's still a minuscule amount of malware for non-Windows machines. I just don't see the need for an unwieldy, slow, sometimes invasive antivirus system on a *nix machine, when intelligent usage, a properly configured firewall, Firefox browser extensions (primarily Noscript), and userspace management tools such as jailcell and SELinux can stop or limit threats before they're even on your system. Granted most users won't know about the last thing I mentioned, but the first three are as easy to find and configure as any antivirus software.

 

I think you over estimate the capabilities of the average user. It might be Unix under the hood, but when it comes down to it these are users under the controls, not sysadmins. They are not thinking security and safety when they browse the internet.

[almagest]

I think you over estimate the capabilities of the average user. It might be Unix under the hood, but when it comes down to it these are users under the controls, not sysadmins. They are not thinking security and safety when they browse the internet.

True, but I don't see how an antivirus program is going to address this problem, either. It's just another line of defense that has questionable validity, in my mind.