First macbook, just some silly questions

[TudorB]

Hi guys/gals,

New macbook user here, figured I don't need to praise how it looks and feels as everyone here knows this but i am just thrilled with my experience so far. I have a Couple of questions though as I have been using windows for some years now and im trying to find the mac counterparts for some programs/features.

First of all, sometimes i get this pop-up window in firefox when switching back to it from watching something in VLC (not all the time though) and not sure what it means. It doesn't have a text, i can't interact with the brower until i hit Escape.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vc38rfrik1ibgrh/Screenshot%202014-01-20%2013.20.09.png

Anyone have any idea what this is?

Moving on, i was wondering what is the best way to integrate my calendar from the phone's S Planner app (yes, samsung mobile) to the mac? Also, is it easier to use the stock calendar app or try a different one?

Next, i know people used to say there are no viruses for mac's OS but there are things like malware ? Should i install something for my peace of mind, knowing i use my card details a lot on this machine.

Battery life: overall im impressed with it, much much better than any other laptop i have owned but sometimes doing similar tasks like web browsing and word editing gives me different estimates? Sometimes id be looking at 11 hours 52 mins, which in my opinion can't be right as it's a 13" macbook pro with retina display, and sometimes less than 5. Is there a way to check if the battery is performing correct and should i tweak some more settings? Currently i use it with brightness at 50-60%, no keyboard backlight, bluetooth off.

Also, can you use apps that you have purchased on your ipad on the mac?
Thanks for any help!

 

[Wuiffi]

Next, i know people used to say there are no viruses for mac's OS but there are things like malware ? Should i install something for my peace of mind, knowing i use my card details a lot on this machine.

I had Kaspersky installed for 1.5 years. Never found a virus or any other kind of malware, but caused some performance problems. I deinstalled it about a year ago. My opinion is: as long as you don't click every single popup and don't give away your credit card information on every site, you will probably be fine without anti virus software

Battery life: overall im impressed with it, much much better than any other laptop i have owned but sometimes doing similar tasks like web browsing and word editing gives me different estimates? Sometimes id be looking at 11 hours 52 mins, which in my opinion can't be right as it's a 13" macbook pro with retina display, and sometimes less than 5. Is there a way to check if the battery is performing correct and should i tweak some more settings? Currently i use it with brightness at 50-60%, no keyboard backlight, bluetooth off.

First, the estimate can be way off (in both directions, as it is ... an estimate)
Second, the battery life depends on what you are doing. And from my personal experience using word uses more power than other Apps do. If you are browsing the web use ClicktoFlash to get longer battery life. You can also check the battery icon in the menu bar. It tells you which App uses much energy. Furthermore you can take a look at the Activity monitor - Energy tab, which does the same too.

Also, can you use apps that you have purchased on your ipad on the mac?
Thanks for any help!

You can't. Those are two different operating systems, based on two very different concepts. (ARM vs Intel and touch input vs cursor).

 

[thundersteele]

Don't know about the Firefox thingy. Does it happen with other browsers?

Calendar: I don't think you have a chance to integrate your Samsung calendar with some OSX calendar app. I use Google Calendar which integrates well with the native OSX calendar app, and is available on most mobile platforms I believe.

Keeping your system up to date should, at this point, be sufficient to protect yourself from any kind of virus or malware.

The battery estimates are based on your current power consumption. If something like e.g. a video playing in a browser is consuming a lot of power, the estimate will go down. Your battery is most certainly doing fine.

 

[disasterdrone]

You should never install any kind of antivirus software on your mac - at best they are worthless, more usually they are malware scams themselves.