A troubled blond...

[Harlowgold1]

Last November, I decided it was time to get a new PC. I had always been a Windows user and was quite comfortable with the OS (of course, I grew up on it) and started my in-depth research. A friend of mine recommended Apple and they kept sharing the “blue screen of death story with me.” To be quite honest, I have either been very fortunate or my constant cleaning of my registry has resulted in this occurring infrequently. So that argument does not work for me and anyone that does not auto-save their work every five minutes will lose data on any OS from time to time. My concerns with PC’s are two fold; sloppy PC craftsmanship and constant viruses. A system should not need two or more virus checkers running simultaneously that still misses malicious coding.

I fell in love with the iMAC/MacBook Pro last year. The screen, resolution, and quality on both systems are SUPERLATIVE and slowly I was moving toward the Apple line of products. Despite this new affinity for Apple, there are some concerns that seem to be perpetuating from me making the switch. In the simplest of terms, it is in the lack of flexibility and adaptability in their product compatibility outside the world of Apple. I prefer my Sony and Sansa mp3 player over an iPod but I cannot fully utilize iTunes for my music. iPhone’s are great, but for me, my Blackberry through Verizon is best suited for my professional and personal needs. The new MacBook line with the sturdy aluminum unibody is fantastic but am I paying for a PC chassis that will outlive the typical three years of use (or my lifespan ) - I think that I am.

Please do not take my comments as ripping Apple – to the contrary. I know there is not a perfect computer or OS out there and that is not my concern – it goes back to being manipulated as to what I can or cannot do – albeit Apple or MS.

So what about maintenance with Leopard? How often must I maintain my system registry and what exactly needs to be done?


Any unbiased insights for this troubled blond?
Thanks,
Jenny…

 

[Sky Blue]

OS X doesn't have a register and needs very little, if any, maintenance. Installing applications is as easy as drag and drop, as applications are really bundles that store all the necessary files.

 

[kornyboy]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5G77 Safari/525.20)

Just a note. You can always install Windows on any Intel based Mac using boot camp (which is free) or Parallels. It runs natively and that should solve many of your compatibility issues. You can also get Real Media Player, Windows Media Player, and several others for the Mac. Not to mention that Microsoft puts out a plugin for QuickTime that allows you to play wmv files in QuickTime.

I hope this helps. Good Luck with whatever you decide.

 

[redwarrior]

I was a life-long Windows user until the beginning of this year. But now, I will never look back.

I have a MacBook Pro running Leopard. I also use Parallels to run Windows XP Pro, but I only use it for Quicken, the only piece of software I have not been able to replace on the Mac side.

The Sansa player will not sync with iTunes, that is true, but I simply use Finder and drag and drop music. It works for me. When my daughter wants to sync hers, I bring up WMP in Windows and do it from there.

There is no registry to worry with. Programs run independently of each other, for the most part. And installation is as easy as drag and drop, and uninstalling is simply done by trashing the application. The nature of this procedure and the security checking done upon program installation prevents viruses, malware, spyware, etc., from being able to latch on as well.

So there is no need for anti-virus or anti-spyware. There are threads on this, however, and some have had some issues. Macs are not completely immune, but the threat is so minimal that most will tell you to just not worry about it. I do have to say though, that I never contracted a virus on any of my Windows machines either, but I have repaired over a dozen friends' Windows computers that did.

I still think of myself as a newbie, but I hope this helps.

 

[*old-guy*]

Can I just jump in with a side question here?
Mention was made about how simple Macs were because there is no registry to clean etc (or words to that effect) and that installation and removal of programmes is simple, which is all good news for a doofus like me.

Are you saying that there is no place I need to go to every now and then, like on a windows machine, to empty the cache, temp files etc?
Is that kind of stuff done automatically with Tiger?
Cheers,
Steve

 

[Sky Blue]

Your browser will have a cache you can empty (Safari > Empty Cache for Example).
Applications usually create preference files in ~/Library/Preferences and files in ~/Library/Application Support. These file are usually very small in size.
These files aren't removed if you delete the application from the Applications folder. If you want to remove them you can use an application like AppCleaner

 

[redwarrior]

There are others around that know more about this than I do, so hopefully, they'll jump in too.

Yes, your browsers will have a cache and temporary files. I only clear those when mine slow down. I've done it once since I got my computer in February.

I have also had to go in and repair disk permissions. I'm not sure exactly what this is, but I was told to do it, so I did.

One other thing about removing programs. There are some files that are left behind when a program is removed. These files are small and I've had more than one person tell me not to worry about them. There are free applications though that will completely remove programs, AppDelete for one, by removing all the pieces. It's not good to do this if you think you will ever reinstall the program.

 

[Sky Blue]

I have also had to go in and repair disk permissions. I'm not sure exactly what this is, but I was told to do it, so I did.

Repairing Disk Permissions isn't really a maintenance task. If you're having trouble with a permissions related issue (for example, you're dragging a new app to the Applications folder and it says you don't have rights) then it's likely to help. Otherwise, it's not going to do much.
It's checks permissions on Apple files (not third party apps) and puts them back to default.

 

[redwarrior]

Repairing Disk Permissions isn't really a maintenance task. If you're having trouble with a permissions related issue (for example, you're dragging a new app to the Applications folder and it says you don't have rights) then it's likely to help. Otherwise, it's not going to do much.
It's checks permissions on files and puts them back to default.

Ok, that explains that then, cause that is exactly what my problem was at the time. Thanks!

 

[reclusivemonkey]

it goes back to being manipulated as to what I can or cannot do – albeit Apple or MS.

You're always going to be manipulated in some way with proprietary software; even with open source software (i.e. Linux) you are not totally free, although you can enjoy much greater freedoms albeit with greater costs.

I think it comes down to how the manipulation feels; doing things "the Apple way" seems to be a lot more comfortable that doing things the Windows way. Sure, if you use iTunes to manage all your music it might not be as easy with a third party mp3 player as with an iPod but that's a choice you make. Apple certainly aren't going to stop you from using something else but of course they can't control that experience fully for obvious reasons.

A simple bit of research will tell you how any existing equipment you have will integrate with Apple, and of course any future purchases can be made with this in mind. As more and more people move to Apple, this scenario can only get better.

I switched to Apple from using Linux for about eight years, and its been a very comfortable transition. I am sure you will not regret it. Very few people seem to.