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Essential Mac Software for Mac Newbie

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pnz999

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 6, 2002
70
0
I will be getting my first macs (dual 867 G4 tower and ibook 800 G3), very very soon just one more week. Well, I just need new software?

I know theres Office X, Brickhouse (for firewall), Chimera (for web browsing), StuffIT (for compression), Norton Sytem Work (anti-virus, disk defrag), Toast (for CD burning)

Anything else?
 
Ok

First, dont get Office unless you really need it for work and you have PCs that need to use office. The mac will come with AppleWorks, and that should be fine.

StuffIt is free. Toast is a maybe, you only need it if you burn a lot of just files (not mp3s, or .dmg)

As for NAV, do not get it. Get .mac

Its better, comes with web storage, comes with Virex, comes with BackUp, and other cool things i am sure you will love.
 
Originally posted by 8thDegreeSavage
Macanalysis - Firewall /antihack software.
[/B]
Click to expand...

Do you guys really need a firewall? I dont use one, and I never have problems. If you use one you will have problems when gaming and trading files...
 
10.2 comes with a built in firewall guys, that was one of it's big selling points. i pretty much rely on freeware and some good apps to check out are...
Youpi Key - hotkey, launcher, scheduler app
Locator - uses the unix locate database to find files (even hidden ones) very quickly
DesInstaller - allows you to remove packages that you've installed
Download Wizard - excellent download manager that can be called through a service
ICeCoffEE - input manager that allows you to command click on web/email addresses in any app and launch browser/mail

and the few apps that are truly worth the money...
LaunchBar - type a few letters (abbreviations, acronyms, any combination) of anything on your hd and this will bring it up instantly (apps, text files, music, email addresses, bookmarks, etc).
Photoshop Elements - if you're a student, academic superstore has this for $45 and it's worth every cent.
 
Apps I use day to day

Interarchy - shareware FTP program
VideoLAN.org (VLC) - freeware - Plays many movie media types not supported by Quicktime (divx, mpeg2)
NetMonitor - displays current bandwidth usage
BBEdit Lite - freeware text editor
Snak - shareware IRC Client
Thoth - shareware news reader

You can find these all at http://www.versiontracker.com

arn
 
10.2.2 has a built-in firewall? its automatic turn on, or atleast how do I active OS X's firewall? Is it better than Brickhouse or Norton Personal Firewall/


Apple Works is good but I need word processor that opens and saves *.doc files for school.


Btw, I'm also a big IRC fan, in my PC I use mIRC but there good programs for the MAC?


-thank you for the replies.
 
Originally posted by pnz999
10.2.2 has a built-in firewall? its automatic turn on, or atleast how do I active OS X's firewall? Is it better than Brickhouse or Norton Personal Firewall/
Click to expand...

System Preferences -> Sharing -> Firewall

arn
 
Originally posted by pnz999

Apple Works is good but I need word processor that opens and saves *.doc files for school.
Click to expand...

AppleWorks DOES open and save .Doc files. It contains a program that allows all AppleWorks to open and save Word and Excel documents. It's one of the many common misconceptions about AppleWorks. I'm a college student, and I think AppleWorks is great. It's much more affordable than Office, and it's very easy to use. Get AppleWorks and save yourself $150.
 
The one thing you forgot to mention is what you plan on doing with your two new systems. There are quite a few good apps out there, why don't you tell us what you want to do.

D
 
Originally posted by pnz999
10.2.2 has a built-in firewall? its automatic turn on, or atleast how do I active OS X's firewall? Is it better than Brickhouse or Norton Personal Firewall?
Click to expand...
like arn said, it's in the system prefs. osx has always had a firewall, but until 10.2, there was no built-in way wo configure it without using the terminal. brickhouse simply provided a gui for configuring the built in firewall, it was not a firewall itself, and i'm not sure how well norton works as i have not tried it. the built in firewall is very easy to use and set up, check it out.
 
Originally posted by dukestreet
The one thing you forgot to mention is what you plan on doing with your two new systems. There are quite a few good apps out there, why don't you tell us what you want to do.

D
Click to expand...


My intention for my macs are the dual 867 is for my multimedia stuff like photoshop and imovie, ibook is for college, basic stuff - writing essay, icalc, and watching dvd.

all and all, i think iApps covers everything i need do with my computer in a day-to-day basis from a dvd player, mp3 player to ichat.

i was just looking for other people's suggestion on good freeware/shareware programs? [but i think going to versiontracker.com is my best bet]

im still looking for a FREE ftp/irc programs? [any suggestions]

=======
Hello OS X.2.2! Good Bye Microsoft XP Pro!
 
one more thing, i do need an "uninstaller" program for the mac too? [meaning completely delete the program cuz im probally gonna install alot of shareware/freeware software from versiontracker.com]


for example, MS XP doesnt completely erase "deleted" programs it just simply leave it in the recycle bin.
 
as far as irc programs go, ircle has several years of development behind it and has about every feature you could ever want ($15 shareware with 30 day demo). there have been several newcomers on osx and upk is actually looking like a very cool free irc client.
an uninstaller is kind of a tricky deal. there is a program called "desinstaller" which will uninstall programs, but only those that used apple's "installer" program. things that use vise or other proprietary installers often put stuff all over your system and don't leave a record of where it went.
 
For FTP I would download Fetch. Fetch has years of development and is OS X native nowadays.
 
Re: Ok

Originally posted by MacAztec
The mac will come with AppleWorks, and that should be fine.
Click to expand...

Appleworks comes only in the consumer models, not the professional ones. check apple's website, or better yet, just trust me, as i have a dual 867 and it didn't come with any text editors other than Text Edit.
 
Originally posted by pnz999
for example, MS XP doesnt completely erase "deleted" programs it just simply leave it in the recycle bin.
Click to expand...
Uh. No. They do for the most time completely erase deleted programs. Uninstall programs don't use the recycle bin.

If you wanted to delete individual files, you could just shift+delete it or drag in the recycle bin and later clear out the recycle bin.
 
Re: Ok

Originally posted by MacAztec
First, dont get Office unless you really need it for work and you have PCs that need to use office.
Click to expand...

As a Macuser working in the Microsoft-dominated corporate world, I'd have to agree with this statement. Get Office only if you need to read .doc and .xls files without worrying about any issues about how they look. If you're a student who's just writing term papers/essays, you can get back with AppleWorks or something like ThinkFree Office.

BTW, the only feature from MS Office that impresses me is VBA. As a spreadsheet/quant modeling veteran, VBA is pretty neat to say the least.
 
IRC/FTP stuff

OSX has a built in FTP client:

/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app

then do:

% ftp foo.bar

Type in "help" after that or initially do

% man ftp

For more information on how to use it. Finder's FTP support is less than stellar.

For IRC, look for a copy of SIRC, a perl-based IRC client, to run it, pop open the terminal and type in:

% perl path/too/script/dsirc -s irc.foo.bar

You don't have to put the stuff from the -s on, but it'll try to connect initially to a non-existant server. I'd suggest keeping an eye on Fire, as it has pretty decent IRC, with more coming.
 
Get GraphicConverter for $25 (Unless of course it comes pre-installed on your new Macs.)

It opens and saves to more file formats than I care to mention.

http://lemkesoft.com

As arn mentioned, BBEdit is a wonderful freeware/shareware text editor. BBEdit Lite is free and fine for simple daily usage. You'll have to pony up $99 for the full thing though.

Also you may want to consider picking up a copy of ThinkFree Office. It opens, writes to, and saves MS Office documents, Excel files, and Powerpoint presentations. It costs around $50.

You really won't have to purchase Toast if you are just going to burn a casual music or data CD. The built-in burner in iTunes and Mac OS X itself is fine for the average CD burning.
 
Re: IRC/FTP stuff

Originally posted by guifa
OSX has a built in FTP client:

/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app

then do:

% ftp foo.bar

Type in "help" after that or initially do

% man ftp

For more information on how to use it. Finder's FTP support is less than stellar.

For IRC, look for a copy of SIRC, a perl-based IRC client, to run it, pop open the terminal and type in:

% perl path/too/script/dsirc -s irc.foo.bar

You don't have to put the stuff from the -s on, but it'll try to connect initially to a non-existant server. I'd suggest keeping an eye on Fire, as it has pretty decent IRC, with more coming.
Click to expand...


btw, there are some cool websites where i can learn basic command line (terminal)?

thanks .
 
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