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So I've just bought a Mac. What should I download?

I read somewhere in another thread that essentials are Flip4Mac (allows you to play WMV/WMA files), and Perian (I think adds DivX and other video codecs). Both are free.

Free:
Click2Flash (improves battery life drastically on the MBA; integrates into Safari)
Firefox or Chrome (I installed chrome, but I mainly use Safari. Some sites still dont support Safari)
Calibre (to convert ebooks to kindle, ibooks, etc)
Handbrake (to convert videos to avi, iPhone/iPod, etc)
MPlayerX (better than VLC, IMO)
The Unarchiver (the best unzipping program)
Transmission (very simple, clean, excellent bittorrent program)

Paid:
Aperture (more advanced than iPhoto with some features of Photoshop)
Photoshop
Office or iWork (I have iWork, but some power users prefer Office)

Best bet is to check out the MacAppStore first, and macupdate.com for the rest (I would recommend downloading from there rather than random sites on the internet)
 
Last edited:
ritmomundo said:
avi, iPhone/iPod, etc)
MPlayer (better than VLC, IMO)
Click to expand...

Not to hijack the thread, but I installed MPlayerX and do like it better than VLC. However, is there an easy way to get Mplayer to open as the default program for video files? I didn't see anything in settings, and all of my videos are still opening with VLC or Quicktime. I know I can right click and change individual file types to open in MPlayerX, but didn't know if there was a quicker/better way to do this? Thanks!
 
Travisimo said:
Not to hijack the thread, but I installed MPlayerX and do like it better than VLC. However, is there an easy way to get Mplayer to open as the default program for video files? I didn't see anything in settings, and all of my videos are still opening with VLC or Quicktime. I know I can right click and change individual file types to open in MPlayerX, but didn't know if there was a quicker/better way to do this? Thanks!
Click to expand...

I'd like to know this too. I want to set MPlayerX to be the default player, rather than Quicktime, but I can't find any info on how to do that other than setting file types individually.
 
Travisimo said:
Not to hijack the thread, but I installed MPlayerX and do like it better than VLC. However, is there an easy way to get Mplayer to open as the default program for video files? I didn't see anything in settings, and all of my videos are still opening with VLC or Quicktime. I know I can right click and change individual file types to open in MPlayerX, but didn't know if there was a quicker/better way to do this? Thanks!
Click to expand...

Hold down option and right click a movie file. The "open with" becomes "always open with".
 
Travisimo said:
Not to hijack the thread, but I installed MPlayerX and do like it better than VLC. However, is there an easy way to get Mplayer to open as the default program for video files? I didn't see anything in settings, and all of my videos are still opening with VLC or Quicktime. I know I can right click and change individual file types to open in MPlayerX, but didn't know if there was a quicker/better way to do this? Thanks!
Click to expand...
To change the default app for any file type:
  1. Locate a file of that type in Finder
  2. Right-click and Get Info (or Command-I)
  3. Change the Open With... to the app you want
  4. Click Change All.
 
newdeal said:
the only issue with this is with finite hard disk space you can run into an issue since you need to allocate whatever amount to windows right off the bat whereas a normal parallels virtual machine file will dynamically resize as you put more on it. Not normally an issue but could be if you have a 128gb air as you may need to put a large portion of that towards the windows partition
Click to expand...

I found that 50GB was more than plenty for the Windows partition, since all the data lives in Lion. 200GB for Lion is also plenty for everything except my video collection. That lives on an external hard drive.
 
I use my mba for development too

- I use cyberduck to connect
- MacVim to edit

- Xcode is good if you need all the functionality for making apps and programs.

- pixelmator for graphics is great


Other stuff i found important

- Wunderlist (task list management with syncing)
- Chrome / ff / opera
- Skype
- Caffeine
- Dropbox
- Adapter
- Handbrake
- VLC

And i also run windows under virtualbox as i don't need max performance, just the use of IE for testing.
 
karlth said:
Regular Windows user.

What is the essential Mac software I should download?
Click to expand...

Everyone at my work, a PC shop, started buying Macs for home. I made a list for them. It's a little outdated now that Lion's out, but there's still a few gems…

Quicksilver - you either don't need this at all, or will find it to be the most useful app on the Mac. basically this is an indexer, like SpotLight, but sorts the results based on "apps first". Better yet, if there's two apps with the same letter, it notices which one you use more and sorts it upwards. So you can SUPER quickly launch any app on your machine with a maximum of three keystrokes (or two really, one is option-space). Might not sound like much, but trust me, try it!

Perian and Flip4Mac, adds codecs to QuickTime so you can open practical any media.

The Unarchiver - adds support for practically every archiving/compression format out there. Get an archive from the 'net, double-click, done.

Mailplane - if you're primary email is on gmail, give this a run. Basically it's a lightweight mail program that talks only to gmail. The idea is that you don't want to run a big app just to do a quirky reply. However, since installing Lion I've found myself using Apple's built-in app instead, as it launches just as fast, or faster.

AppFresh - run this once a month or so and it tells you if there's updates for any of your apps.

MarcoPolo - are you on a laptop that moves from home to work? you might want to try this out. It looks around the network and tries to figure out where you are. if it can, it re-connects your servers, default printer, etc.

OmniGraffle - diagramming app. not the best, but workable.
 
Maury said:
Is this post a troll?
Click to expand...

I don't think it is. Just because there aren't a lot of viruses out there on Macs doesn't mean OS X is immune to the threat or has some magic pixie dust sprinkled on it that makes viruses impossible. If you want to split hairs between "malware", "trojans", or "viruses", fact is a determined hacker can cause damage to your system, especially if you do stupid things on the Internet. Something akin to having unprotected sex with complete strangers. Or Russian roulette...
 
ZBoater said:
I don't think it is. Just because there aren't any viruses out there on Macs doesn't mean OS X is immune to the threat or has some magic pixie dust sprinkled on it that makes viruses impossible.
Click to expand...
Fixed that for you. :)
 
ZBoater said:
Found this interesting.

Why are there no Mac viruses?

So the argument that I haven't got a STD because no one wants to have sex with me is kinda weak... :p
Click to expand...
The fact remains that the only forms of Mac OS X malware in the wild are trojans, that require the user to actively install them. As long as you are careful to only install software from reputable, trusted sources, you don't have to worry about malware on a Mac.
 
GGJstudios said:
The fact remains that the only forms of Mac OS X malware in the wild are trojans, that require the user to actively install them. As long as you are careful to only install software from reputable, trusted sources, you don't have to worry about malware on a Mac.
Click to expand...

I agree, but sometimes you want to install stuff and you don't know exactly where it came from (at least I do, I like to explore and try out stuff). It'd be nice to have a malware/trojan/bad juju detector software that would scan downloads to at least reduce the risk. Not a virus detection like Norton, but a utility that you run only when downloading files. Anything like that worth trying?
 
ZBoater said:
I agree, but sometimes you want to install stuff and you don't know exactly where it came from (at least I do, I like to explore and try out stuff).
Click to expand...
There's the problem. If you don't know where it came from, you assume a huge risk by installing it. If it's legit software, chances are great that you can search this forum for the app name and find other people's experiences, opinions and recommendations related to the app, before installing it. If it came from a torrent site, it would be pretty irresponsible to install it, as there's no way of knowing if it's been tampered with.
ZBoater said:
It'd be nice to have a malware/trojan/bad juju detector software that would scan downloads to at least reduce the risk. Not a virus detection like Norton, but a utility that you run only when downloading files. Anything like that worth trying?
Click to expand...
In my opinion, no. As an example, consider the MacDefender issue. It wasn't a true trojan, because it wasn't disguised as another app. It simply did a drive-by download and launched an installer. No antivirus app recognized it as malware when it was first encountered. It took some time before AV apps were updated to defend against it. However, those practicing safe computing by not installing something they didn't initiate were completely unaffected. They knew better than to believe their Mac was infected with viruses (as MacDefender claimed on the bogus scan), and they simply canceled the installation and deleted the file.

Exercising common sense in installing software is a much more reliable method of protection, rather than depending on any 3rd party software to detect and intercept malware.
 
"So I've just bought a Mac. What should I download? "

Pr0n :p

And:
RightZoom
Audacity
VLC player
Deeper
Onyx
StartupPrefPane
Coconutbattery
HandBrake
istat pro
MacFuse
gfxStatus (if you have a discrete gfx card in your mac, MBA doesn't)

I also d/l:
Firefox
Thunderbird
LibreOffice
Skype
Dropbox
Spotify
 
Now that NeoOffice is donationware, I recommend LibreOffice as well if you want a free office suite.

But, with the new features in Lion, I also recommend iWork (Pages, Numbers, & Keynote in the MAc App Store) if you are willing to go with a non-free option.

Before purchasing iWork, look out for rumors about the next release of iWork, which may be soon. But, rumors about this release have been inconsistent.
 
Oppressed said:
Hold down option and right click a movie file. The "open with" becomes "always open with".
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'm familiar with this method. I just thought there might be some way to tell Mplayer to be the default for all video file types in one setting. In Windows, for example, usually media players will have an option to take over all video types so you don't have to change each kind of file separately.
 
Pick file -> Get Info -> Scroll down to 'Open With' -> Pick program of choice -> Click 'Change All'

Tested this on a folder of vids, all of them changed from Quicktime to MPlayerX
 
Desktop Monitor
OpenOffice
Blender
Inkscape
Gimp
Sketchup
VLC
Google Earth
Tux Guitar
EverNote
Kindle
Firefox
 
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