New switcher help sought

[reno55]

Hey all! I am now the proud owner of a new 20" iMac. This is my first mac so I apologize if th questions are a bit dumb:


1) I have added 3 networked windows drives from my home network. How do I make sure they stay connected so after the mac reboots it will always have those available to me?

2) The networked drives are on my desktop as little silver networked icons or spheres how can I change the icons?

3) What programs can I use for the following:

downloading of nzb's:
burning of .img or .iso files
burning of video_ts folders (for dvd's)


I am sure I will have more at some point but I am so ecstatic to be a part of the mac nation now.

 

[twocargar]

Re: New switcher help sought

Congrats on the new Mac & being a new Mac user!

In regards to your questions,

1) The way I have found to do this is to create an AppleScript app to mount the drives then add the app to your login items. Do a Google search for this and I'm sure you can find one. AppleScript is pretty awesome. This post may help too: http://appledoctor.freeforums.org/viewtopic.php?t=4

2) You can get info on an icon (Apple+I) you like, and copy the icon (Apple+C), then paste (Apple+V) the icon into the Get Info box of the server icon. I hope that makes sense to you.

3) What programs can I use for the following:

downloading of nzb's: I've heard people using HellNZB, so check that out, or try www.versiontracker.com to see what's available. I use my XP box for newsgroups (NewsLeecher).

burning of .img or .iso files: Use DiskUtility (Applications/Utilities/DiskUtility)

burning of video_ts folders (for dvd's): I use Roxio Toast (which you can also use for burning iso's and img files).

Good luck,

 

[Nugget]

twocargar's applescript suggestion is clever, but not necessary. You can just drag the mounted drives themselves to your Login Items list (in System Preferences under Accounts) and OS X will mount them automatically when you log in.

 

[askywalker]

I also came from the Windows world recently. I have been VERY impressed with the combination of:

Unison (for automated NZB downloads)
Macpar Deluxe (automated par fixing, unzipping and cleaning up after itself)

Both apps work great.