New to Apple Need some help

[flynhawaiian]

Hey guys I've been with windows and android my whole life as thats all i was comfortable with, until recently i upgraded my phone to an iPhone 6 and decided i better slowly start migrating everything else. So I inherited a Macbook Pro 2009 model running OSX 10.5.8. After removing all unwanted files from the previous user I found out i deleted some pretty important stuff. So after searching all over the web as well as in this forum i'm turning to you guys to see if i get get some help.

I deleted my system preferences app and was wondering if someone might be able to send me a .zip or something i can download. Still getting used to apple but not gonna give up just yet.

 

[Meister]

Make a time machine backup.
Boot into recovery mode.
Reinstall the OS.

La voila!

 

[yjchua95]

Hey guys I've been with windows and android my whole life as thats all i was comfortable with, until recently i upgraded my phone to an iPhone 6 and decided i better slowly start migrating everything else. So I inherited a Macbook Pro 2009 model running OSX 10.5.8. After removing all unwanted files from the previous user I found out i deleted some pretty important stuff. So after searching all over the web as well as in this forum i'm turning to you guys to see if i get get some help.

I deleted my system preferences app and was wondering if someone might be able to send me a .zip or something i can download. Still getting used to apple but not gonna give up just yet.

I suggest you order a Snow Leopard retail DVD from Apple, install Snow Leopard and then open the Mac App Store to upgrade to Yosemite for free.

 

[flynhawaiian]

Was gonna do that and then noticed that the previous owner did not make a time machine backup. Nor had the option to boot into recovery mode. Then i also noticed there was no bootcamp either. And the only software disc i was given was a burned copy that cannot be read by the disc drive. Im hoping i dnt have to go get a retail disc.

Thanks for the quick response btw.

 

[poiihy]

I suggest you upgrade to the latest operating system (10.10 Yosemite). It is free. However, to upgrade, you need the app store, and that requires 10.6 Snow Leopard at least. You have 10.5 Leopard. Snow Leopard (still) costs money. So sadly you are in a bit of a pickle.

 

[flynhawaiian]

Dang i so did not want to do that haha So is there anyway to get my mac to read the burned disc? I know she said it has 10.6 on it. Is there a way to install it with the assistance of another computer?

 

[Meister]

Dang i so did not want to do that haha So is there anyway to get my mac to read the burned disc? I know she said it has 10.6 on it. Is there a way to install it with the assistance of another computer?

Like others have suggested, at this point I'd also recommend buying a copy of Snowleopard.
That seems like the best option.

 

[Algus]

Apple Icon->System Preferences

It will list the OS. Are you sure you're still on 10.5? That would be...unfortunate. You have to buy a copy of Snow Leopard from Apple (or somewhere else I guess) Good news (?) is the disc is only twenty bucks.

Strongly recommend you back up any important files you have on the computer now because the best way to fix everything is going to be a clean install.

Be careful about deleting stuff that isn't in your /Users/ directory. Welcome to OS X

 

[flynhawaiian]

Welcome to OS X [/QUOTE]

Haha... ya im just gonna go that route to avoid the headache. Thanks guys. Do i have to close this thread? Im how to proceed from here lol

 

[Bending Pixels]

One other option would be to use someone else's Mac to download a copy of Yosemite or Mavericks, and create an install USB.

Here are the instructions to create a Mavericks install USB, and here are the instructions to create a Yosemite install USB.

 

[poiihy]

Dang i so did not want to do that haha So is there anyway to get my mac to read the burned disc? I know she said it has 10.6 on it. Is there a way to install it with the assistance of another computer?

What exact Mac is it? is it a 15" mid-2009?

 

[flynhawaiian]

Solved ... New Question

Ok guys i ended up just getting Mountain Lion. All problems have been solved lol thanks for all your responses. Now i have another question...what is the best software to have installed for my mac? Yosemite? Mavericks? I dnt want to "overpower" any hardware if you will...

MacBook Pro
13-inch, Mid 2009
Processor: 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory: 2 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256MB
Software: OS X 10.8.1 (12B19)

 

[yjchua95]

Ok guys i ended up just getting Mountain Lion. All problems have been solved lol thanks for all your responses. Now i have another question...what is the best software to have installed for my mac? Yosemite? Mavericks? I dnt want to "overpower" any hardware if you will...

MacBook Pro
13-inch, Mid 2009
Processor: 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory: 2 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256MB
Software: OS X 10.8.1 (12B19)

I very much suggest you up the RAM to 4GB or 8GB (depends on your needs), and definitely get an SSD.

That way, Yosemite will be really really fast. Besides, you'll be secure too.

 

[flynhawaiian]

i did install a samsung pro series sad...ram would be next. how much does ram go for? as for now will mavericks run really good for me with what i have?

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

Yeah, there shouldn't be much of a speed difference between Mavericks and Mountain Lion. I would hold off on Yosemite though.

 

[poiihy]

Ok guys i ended up just getting Mountain Lion. All problems have been solved lol thanks for all your responses. Now i have another question...what is the best software to have installed for my mac? Yosemite? Mavericks? I dnt want to "overpower" any hardware if you will...

MacBook Pro
13-inch, Mid 2009
Processor: 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory: 2 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256MB
Software: OS X 10.8.1 (12B19)

I suggest you stay at Mountain Lion for a while until you loose support, then upgrade to the latest your machine can run.

If you want to upgrade then upgrade to Yosemite, not Mavericks. Yosemite is more finely tuned than Mavericks.

Also 2GB is too little, that is the bare minimum. You need 4GB at least for acceptable speeds.

 

[flynhawaiian]

cool sounds good thanx for all the help!

 

[yjchua95]

i did install a samsung pro series sad...ram would be next. how much does ram go for? as for now will mavericks run really good for me with what i have?

With an SSD, just go to Yosemite. It's nice on an SSD.

 

[poiihy]

With an SSD, just go to Yosemite. It's nice on an SSD.

Actually, no.
I forgot to mention that Yosemite has some new security feature called kext signing (a kext is an extension or driver or something like that) so kexts need to be signed (approved by Apple) to be installed. So if you want to enable TRIM (which you really should do to extend the life and preserve the speed of your SSD) you would have to disable the kext signing.
But TRIM enabler can easily do this for you so it's no big deal.

In Mavericks you can straightforwardly enable TRIM.

This is TRIM enabler:
http://www.cindori.org/software/trimenabler/

TRIM enabler and Yosemite:
http://www.cindori.org/trim-enabler-and-yosemite/

About Trim in Yosemite
In OS X 10.10 (Yosemite), Apple has introduced a new security requirement called kext signing. (A kext is a kernel extension, or a driver, in Mac OS X)

Kext signing basically works by checking if all the drivers in the system are unaltered by a third party, or approved by Apple. If they have been modified, Yosemite will no longer load the driver. This is a means of enforcing security, but also a way for Apple to control what hardware that third party developers can release OS X support for.

Since Trim Enabler works by unlocking the Trim driver for 3rd party SSD’s, this security setting prevents Trim Enabler to enable Trim on Yosemite.

To continue to use Trim Enabler and continue to get Trim for your third party SSD, you first need to disable the kext signing security setting.

It is important to note that the kext-signing setting is global, if you disable it you should be careful to only install system drivers from sources that you trust.

Trim Enabler support
Trim Enabler 3.3 will disable the kext-signing setting automatically for you, by giving a choice when you flip the switch.

By clicking Proceed, your computer will reboot with kext-signing disabled. You can then flip the switch again to enable Trim.

When you flip the switch back to Off, Trim Enabler will ask you if you want to restore the kext-signing setting back to normal.

So I recommend you upgrade to Yosemite and install TRIM enabler, then flip the switch to disable kext signing and flip the different switch to install and enable TRIM support.