Mac Forum / General / General / December 2006

There are no known viruses affecting Mac OS X (so far). Thus, most
folks will tell you that you don't need to worry about such software at
this point. If you're going to be exchanging MS Office docs and the
like with Windows users, though, you might want to get something that
will scan for Windows/Office-based macro viruses. A pretty good
run-down of the state of OS X antivirus tools is covered at
<http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20060511065134478>.

For development tools, you probably already have all you need. On your
OS X installation DVD, you will find Apple's Xcode installer, which
installs the full Xcode suite of development tools (including Java).

I am not saying that the MAc is virus-proof, because it is not, but on
the other hand, there are no known Mac viruses or trojans in the wild
and have not been for a very long time. If you want to be absolutely
sure (and protect your PC feriends from inadvertently passing some nasty
bug on to them), I recommend ClamXav antivirus (freeware).

I haven't tried myself, but most people I know and respect online seem
to _not_ recommend Norton's products for Mac OS X, more or less
wholesale. So I'd say don't, unless you are very determined that you
need it or research it further.

Seems a good way to go. However, MS also offers a very good version of
Office for the Mac, and the Edu price (which is easy to qualify for in
most cases) is reasonable.

I have a 2GHz MB in the family, and I agree. It is a lovely machine, but
does like RAM. Get at least 1GB, IMHO.

Look no further to start with: Apple offers their entire develoipment
suite, Xcode, for free to all Mac owners (strictly speaking, licencees
of Mac OS X). Yuu can get it on disk with the retail version of Mac OS
X, or online from http://developer.apple.com (huge download, though).
There is Java, C, C??, Objective C and more in there, + very good
interface building tools.

Otherwise, go to places like http://sourceforge.net, or try your luck on
http://versiontracker.com.

HTH, and welcome.

The best protection against viruses and other forms of malware on Mac OS
X is a user who thinks twice before double-clicking something. The
vectors leveraged by the great majority of cheap-n-easy Windows malware
simply don't exist on the Mac and for the most part an attack on a Mac
requires either a careless user (one who opens unsolicited files they
receive without question) or a machine that's already technically
compromised. One key tip: When you first set up your machine, you will
create an admin user. Don't actually use that one for your day-to-day
use; create a second user that doesn't have admin rights. Then as long
as you don't get into the habit of blindly authenticating any time
you're prompted, you've pretty much protected everything outside your
own data from both malicious and accidental corruption.

G

Just bought a Mac book and thinking about getting an iMac as a
desktop.

Welcome to the wonderful world of Macs.

Some resources and all my opinion:

Have you looked at the info at apple.com? The discussions are very
helpful.

http://www.apple.com/support/quickassist and
http://www.apple.com/support/switch101/

http://www.xvsxp.com/
http://www.switchingtomac.com

try: macfixit.com forums and everymac.com, as well.

In general, get as much memory as you can.

Bootcamp or Parallels (better choice thought by many) and run Windows
if you miss it :]

Here is something from one of the discussions:
Boot Camp may be known as the shortest relevant product Apple Has ever
offered. It is IMMEDIATELY irrelevant.

And now the Parallels' solution is official. You can run Windows IN A
 WINDOW of your OS X now. This lets you run Windows ONLY when you NEED
 TO and without the cumbersome time consuming Dual Boot Camp BAD
 SOLUTION.
  (http://www.parallels.com/en/news/id,8655)

  (http://www.parallels.com/en/products/workstation/mac/)
This solution is totally safe since you can replace any infected setup
with an uninfected setup in less than a minute!!! Totally superior
solution to Boot Camp.

No worry about viruses! see here: (http://tinyurl.com/mf5lb)
Do not put Norton on your Mac, or anything Microsoft if you can avoid
it. IE is no longer supported for Macs, anyhow. Your Firewall should be
turned on and you will be fine.

Browsers: Safari, Firefox, Camino and SeaMonkey from Mozilla, and
Opera, are all ones I use all the time...frequently switching back &
forth.

re: videos at websites...there are some glitches with Quciktime 7.1.1,
at the moment, so you may want to stay with 7.0.4. There are many
choices for other video helpers at: versiontracker.com.
some people really like: VLC player. I have VLC, WMV, QT, DivX and RP.

See also, and MacIntel discussion at google groups, too. And, excellent
imac chat at Yahoo.

The fabulous folks at Tekserve in NYC have a free downloadable PDF
FAQ/trouble shooting guide that just about everyone could find useful:
(http://tinyurl.com/p4ol8)

For more help try MacUser group in your area:
(http://www.apple.com/usergroups)

David Pogues The Missing Manual Series of books are indispensable! Just
make sure to get
the correct version for your particular OS!

Get a Unix utility for regular maintenance, like: Macaroni from
atomicbird.com, or Onyx or Cocktail These work automatically. You can
also find
out more at Versiontracker.com

And, of course, back-up, back-up, back-up. I and others like SuperDuper
for its ease and the fact it makes complete bootable back up.

When doing upgrades from Apple, Don't Do it from the automatic software
upgrade (turn this off) but, rather go to the Apple site and download
from there.

You can also sign up for Kbase info from apple, too.

Another invaluable resource, is the great Randy B. Singer:
http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html

Have Fun
Cali