please help a newbie's transition to OS X

Seeing as how I will switch to OS X soon, I wanted to see what are the OS X counterparts to the Windows applications.


Video Player

I currently use Media Player Classic in conjunction with ffdshow decoders on Vista. Besides Quicktime, the most well known video player I know for OS X is VLC. I tried the windows version, but still prefer MPC. Is VLC the best video player for Mac?

Anti-virus/firewall

I know there are few, if any, viruses in the wild for OS X, but I'd feel better with a antivirus and firewall running in the background. Are there any good ones besides Norton?

Imaging mounting

Are there equivalents for Daemon Tools?

compression

I just need a simple compression software - ie something like iZarc for Windows.

Outlook

Microsoft seems to think Entourage is sufficient for emails for Mac users, but all my friends who have used it have say otherwise. I'm more than ready to try a different email client (as in something besides Outlook), but Outlook 2007 + Outlook Connector I the only way I can get into my Hotmail account (well, the only one I know of besides Windows Mail Live).

Remote Desktop

Does OS X natively contains a a remote desktop client that is capable of using the Remote Desktop protocol for Windows PCs?




The only other question I have is about Parallel. Firstly, is it really the best virtual machine for Mac? And secondly, it seems to be a bit different from the Windows virtual machines - Microsoft Virtual PC or WMware. I heard you could use the same driver as the Bootcamp partition. How does this work? Would anyone care to explain of its features to me? Thanks a lot

 

VLC supports the most codecs, it does the job fine, and so does Quicktime, but of course fewer codecs.

You really don't need antivirus for Mac right now, it'll do your computer more trouble (by slowing it down) than it helps right now (because there really isn't much it can be helping around).

Of course, my two links!

www.apple.com/support/switch101
www.apple.com/support/mac101

 

Little snitch is a Mac firewall.

 

Video Player

Plex, MPlayer, VLC, Quicktime (with Flip4mac and Perian)

Anti-virus/firewall

Little Snitch

Imaging mounting

OSX supports image mounting natively

compression

stuffit expander

Outlook

Mail

Remote Desktop

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/remote-desktop/default.mspx

 

+1 to most of what hes suggested. Personally though I dont like mplayer. I use quicktime for most playback, and plex for mkv/hd content. VLC if something doesn't wanna open, but yea.

Mail does a lot of what I need, not sure specifically what you need to do, but it probably will be fine.

As for virtual machine. I personally like VMware fusion, and I've heard other people like it too. Basically all you do, is install Windows using Bootcamp as usual, and once its done run VMware, and itll pick up the bootcamp drive. It installs its drivers and does its thing, and then you can run your bootcamp drive within osx as a virtual machine, or boot into it using bootcamp altogether.

 

very good reply, sulkorp!

 

I agree with sam. there is no need for antivirus.
If you want to mount some disk image, then disk utility will be the best. Just go to spotlight and search for disk utility

 

Thanks for all the replies.

Is there an equivalent of Acronis for OS X? ie, when I first start the computer, how can I make an image of the harddrive to restore to later? I know Leopard has TimeMachine built in, but are there any better ones from 3rd parties?

 

You can try CarbonCopyCloner, which will make a backup of your drive, to another drive. It's bootable incase something goes wrong.

As for actually making an image, I dont know offhand. Though CCC is free, and supposed to be good.

 

Isn't the OSX firewall adequate?

 

Well, I prefer something with more control. Does anyone know of a good antivirus software?

 

You don't really need antivirus for OSX.

 

Even if I like to (legally) download *things* on bit torrent?

 

should be fine. most attempts are at windows users, though i cant speak from experience as i dont use torrents that often.

 

Well, I know that without Nod32 on windows, I my data would have been lost many times overs...

 

the key word there being windows. I've never actually heard of ANYONE getting a virus in osx. I know i've read about how there are certain ones, but ive never heard of anyone actually getting one, or complaining.

Though if anyone has, itd be nice to hear it.

 

Install Perian as an extension to Quicktime, and also have VLC media player too.

You can set up your firewall in OSX, antivirus is not necessary (yet)

Disk utility does all those sorts of things, it can even burn .iso files

Unrarx for extraction, SimplyRar to create them

Parallel and VMware Fusion allow you to run Window on OSX (virtual machine), and they also can run your bootcamp partition (Windows) if you have already installed Windows in the bootcamp partition.

Bootcamp partition is the windows partition of your harddisk, you hold alt/option key when booting to selectively boot the partition you want, and you will run Windows at native speed if you use bootcamp. Installing windows by bootcamp is real easy, just run bootcamp assistant and follow the instruction guide.

 

so just to confirm, you guys are saying that I don't need anti-virus software even though I regularly use bit-torrent to download *things*?

 

There isn't any viruses out there that targets OSX (yet). You won't be getting any viruses no matter how hard you try.

 

I think the reason that there are not "any" viruses for OS X is how it's designed. It's not merely the fact that there are more windows user then Mac, there are still millions of Mac user and 99% of them probably don't have any anti virus witch would make Mac users the perfect targets.

 

Yeah, you're fine with no anti-virus on OS X. Every single one of the viruses tests and contests you've heard about (like the Air being infected in 2 minutes or something like that) were CLOSED DOORS experiments made by Apple so they can constantly improve the security of OS X.

So you're fine with no anti-virus software.
Little snitch gives enough control for ports and access of particular software.

 

Thanks for the reassurances.

A few more questions:

Should I use software claiming to reduce excess code in applications? ie. http://guides.macrumors.com/Mac_OS_X_On_A_Diet

Uninstallers like AppTrap or AppZapper?

Or what about program updaters like AppFresh?

 

OS X is not like Windows, it doesn't have a registry.
You won't feel OS X slog down after installing a lot of applications, like Windows does..

 

The articles I read seem to suggest that applications may leave behind settings files, which take up disk space. I suppose that's not as menacing as the residue registry entries and other files left behind by windows programs. Even so, would the use of these uninstallers do any harm?

 

You can drag most programs just from the applications folder to the trash, and youll be fine.

But if you want, you can get appzapper or equiv. They do get rid of most if not all traces of programs. But for the average user it probably wont make a difference. There are free alternatives out there, incase you dont want to spend the money.

Honestly, you dont have to slim or anything. If you want/really need space, do a reformat and install osx without the printer drivers. They take up a couple of gigs, but personally I like having them, because I never know what kinda printer im gonna come across, and I'd rather just have it work when i plug it in, then having to dig online for osx drivers.

 

Oh, it's not so much the space they take up, but rather, the performance hit. Since it seems this isn't the case, I won't do anything.


So from what I’ve read, it seems that I should do the following when I receive my Mac in order to have the optimal experience:


Install windows on a bootcamp partition (XP Pro probably?) and direct VMware fusion to it.
Partition the HDD so that there are 3 separate partitions – Windows, OS X, Data
Use CarbonCopyCloner to image OS X

install:
VLC for Video playback
AppFresh for application updates
The Unarchiver for archiving
Quicksilver for application
Adium for IM
Flip4Mac for WMV
Little Snitch for firewall
And ClamAV for antivirus
smcfancontrol

And then, I finally get to install the software I actually use – Office 2008, Adobe, etc.

If I can't use Time Machine (because it doesn't support backing up to my NAS), what are the better alternatives? Is there a way to make Time Machine back up to NTFS formatted network shares, or is Time Machine fundamentally programed to require special Mac formats?

Did I miss anything? Any further suggestions? Many thanks

 

anyone care to add anything?

 

For stuff to install, I'd also say get Perian, so you can play videos in quicktime. Quicktime isn't horrible, I only use vlc/plex if i get a weird video, or I need the more advanced options (like audio sync, mkv subtitles, and large 720p content[4gigs~]) For everyday use quicktime is fine, and I actually like it because it has a decent tracking bar.

Not sure if you need AppFresh, never heard of it, but most, if not all, programs that I have will check for updates on launch, and download them if needed.

Give microsofts msn a chance, personally I like it better then the other options, or try out the other ones. Unless you're gonna use it for more then just msn.

As for backing up, I know some people use CCC for their backups, though it does take more time obviously then time machine. Beauty of time machine is that you potentially have more then one backup, you can go back to other dates if needed, but if you can't use it for technical reasons, then I guess you're stuck. But yea, I know there are a couple alternatives to time machine, just not sure of their names offhand.

 

Definitely no need for an antivirus unless your using bootcamp and then I only installed it on the windows side of it. And VLC is a great program for video