new to mac, would like some help!!!!! please

Its mail.app, not "imail" , no, you do NOT need a .mac account to use mail.app

Torrents, most people would recommend "transmission". I heard uTorrent for mac is under development.

#3, depends on what do you want to do...

Welcome to MR.

 

iMail? Are you talking the e-mail account that comes with .Mac? If so then you need to pay an annual fee for the .Mac account. If you mean Mail (the software that comes with OS X) then you can set that up to work with your ISP e-mail account such as Comcast, Charter, Verizon, etc. It won't work, as far as I know, with gMail, Hotmail or other web-based e-mail programs though.

I like Adium over iChat if you're into IMing. There is a good program called SmartReporter that monitors the health of your hard drives. Plaxo is good if you have multiple e-mail accounts and want access to your address book and calendar from any computer with web access.

Not touching this one.

 

for mail it's best to get a gmail account...
leopard will automatically set it up for you once you've registered

 

1) Welcome!

2) Apple Mail works with any POP3 or IMAP email. Just open up the program then open up the Preferences under Mail->Preferences.

3) Many people use Candybar to customize icons on they system. Use Adium for all IM.

4) There are many bittorrent clients for Mac. I use Tomato Torrent, but many others are available.

If you are looking for software, check out Versiontracker.com and search for info.

TEG

 

Not true. You can use any email that supports POP3 and/or IMAP and gmail and the like definitely support these. Gmail support both for free. I know because I used to use Gmail with POP3 and now I use IMAP.

As for other programs, I recommend Handbrake as a useful tool to convert DVDs to mp4 so you can watch video in iTunes and an iPod/iPhone.

 

Everyone else has answered most of your questions,
so I'll add my 2 cents as well.
As for software, this ought to get you in the right direction.
I send all my switcher friends here.

 

Here is tons of stuff you will find useful

http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=571489