What 'must have' software do I need?

Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
Hi all,



as mentioned a few days ago, I am about to take the leap from PCs to the new iMac. I think it has all the software I need, in terms of office type work, iTunes, iDVD, iPhoto etc. All I am going to use the machine for is basic home office stuff, editing home fils, digital jukebox and home web design



My question is this - I know I'll have to buy antivirus and firewall software (I'm connected 24/7 with broadband), but what else would you experts say I MUST buy? For example, Conflict Cather 9 - is it a Must or a Nice To Have?



Thanks for any comments!



Cheers



David
«1

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 21
    cosmonutcosmonut Posts: 4,872member
    MUST HAVE: Norton SystemWorks



    This will save your arse on more than one occasion, as well as keep your machine healthy and happy. Think of it as your small town family doctor. You don't want to need it, but gosh you're glad it's there when you do.



    EDIT: Like flossing, run DiskDoctor and SpeedDisk regularly.



    [ 02-05-2002: Message edited by: CosmoNut ]</p>
  • Reply 2 of 21
    sebseb Posts: 676member
    You don't need conflict catcher. Especially if you're going to be working is OS X mostly. Conflict Catcher works with OS 9.2 and below (Classic) to help you figure out if you have extensions that are, well, conflicting. You can do that using Extension Manager sets. And, besides, you don't have 'extensions' in OS X in the same sense you do in Classic. Don't buy it - at least not now.



    I wouldn't bother with the Anti Virus software either. I don't think Norton has an AV software for OS X yet. And there aren't any Virii for OS X - that I'm aware of - and only a handful of old and rare ones for Classic. If it comes with Norton SystemWorks then fine, but I've never had an AntiVirus program on my Mac at home and never had a problem. We have it on the 100's of Macs at work - never needed it, but at the same time this is a corporate environment so...



    Norton Utilities and/or AlSoft DiskWarrior are great, almost essential - eventually - diagnostic utilites. TechTool Pro is good as well. Sort of a matter of preference as to which is better. DiskWarrior is sort of a one trick pony but does what it does well. It's always my first line of defense, followed by Norton Utilities, followed by Tech Tool if I still have a problem.



    Check out <a href="http://apple.com/downloads/macosx/internet_utilities/watson.html"; target="_blank">Watson</a>. Very cool app.



    Toast Titanium might be handy if you want more options in your CD burning - though it isn't essential.



    Check out some of the stuff on this page, and see if any of it looks interesting.



    <a href="http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/"; target="_blank">http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/</a>;
  • Reply 3 of 21
    First off: Welcome to the Mac?I believe you?ll be very happy.





    Now:



    Norton go bye-bye

    You really, really don't need any of the Norton stuff.



    OS X is *mighty* stable?it can run for months between restarts.



    I rarely even quit applications?I have 18 of them running right now?and not a single one in Classic.





    Viruses

    You'll find that all those ?virus warnings? you hear about simply won't apply to you anymore?at least for now.



    Maybe once OS X takes off, it?ll be a big enough target to bother with, but?for now?you really will be okay.



    Don?t turn on ?Web Sharing? unless you know what you?re doing, and you?ll be fine.







    Using software

    You?ll find that AppleWorks is good?but not great. If you can afford it, upgrade to Office v10.





    If you do any web work get BBEdit, from

    <a href="http://www.barebones.com/"; target="_blank">Bare Bones</a>. There?s nothing comperable in the Windows world (no?Homesite doesn?t count as ?comperable.?).





    Apple includes a great suite of iApps, and all are very good software?you shouldn?t need to buy anything else for music, video, or photos?unless you start getting ?fancy.? And if you wanna get fancy, I?m sure you know which software you need.



    Dat help?
  • Reply 4 of 21
    What OS will you be using? That will make a BIG difference as to exactly what software you need.



    If Mac OS X, then BrickHouse is a Must Have to configure your built-in firewall.



    GraphicConverter is a Must-Have tool for OS9 or OSX.



    AlSoft DiskWarrior is a awesome for OS9 or OSX, but it only runs in OS9 (but that doesn't matter since it boots off its own CD).



    Most great Mac software can be found at <a href="http://www.versiontracker.com/macosx"; target="_blank">VersionTracker</a>.
  • Reply 5 of 21
    ybotybot Posts: 329member
    For the firewall end of things I purchased Intego's NetBarrier for OS 9 and OS X and it is quite nice! A simple GUI, easy to set up, lots of handy reports. It even tells you how much bandwidth you're uploading and downloading. I highly recommend it if you need a firewall.



    <a href="http://www.intego.com"; target="_blank">http://www.intego.com</a>;



    -Ybot
  • Reply 6 of 21
    leonisleonis Posts: 3,427member
    Acutally Norton Anti Virus 7.02 (not 7.0) is OSX native.



    I am running it
  • Reply 7 of 21
    ybotybot Posts: 329member
    After I converted from the dark side (*shudders* Oh the IBM Aptiva days...ugh) I refused ever to run a virus scanner again; and I never have. Ever. Not once on the four Macs I've owned so far. I've tried to find Mac viruses and tools to create them, but I haven't. So I feel quite safe without a virus scanner.



    Just the other day I got that virus going around that asks you to open the attachment to go to <a href="http://www.mypictures.yahoo.com"; target="_blank">www.mypictures.yahoo.com</a> to print someone's photos from their party for them. The file wouldn't run (of course) and I just smiled at Entourage and thanked the divine intervention that made me one day for absolutely no reason wander down to the Mac store and buy my first Mac.



    So, I would say that a virus scanner isn't a necessity, but it is a nice safety net. Just in case the horrible does happen.



    -Ybot
  • Reply 8 of 21
    stimulistimuli Posts: 564member
    I'd just like to echo the sentiments on this thread: viruses (virii?) ARE a laughing matter!



    Coming from a Windows background, you're sure to appreciate this. Web design: Whatever app you used on windows (ie: Dreamweaver/GoLive, or macho simple text editor) unless it's like Frontpage, in which case, you're in luck, there's no frontpage on Mac! Man, that thing make UGLY code, as does Word.



    I don't use OSX for technical reasons, but Watson, Norton System works, etc are good calls. Use Norton Speeddisk every 6 months or so to defrag your drive.



    BBedit Lite is free and very powerful for HTML find/replace types of stuff, and can do batches of files automagically. You might want that, might not. <a href="http://bbedit.com/products/bbedit_lite.html"; target="_blank">http://bbedit.com/products/bbedit_lite.html</a>;



    Other than that, Your mac comes w/ pretty much everything you'll need.



    BTW, I think you picked a great time to switch platforms.
  • Reply 9 of 21
    stimulistimuli Posts: 564member
    Oh, and save yourself some $$$, do a search on google.com for setting up a firewall on Mac OS X. You can do it without purchasing additional software, IPChains et al are included in the UNIX core. You'll prob'ly find sample configuration scripts or instructions. Should be fairly straightforward.



    You might also want to check out junkbuster at <a href="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118"; target="_blank">http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118</a>;

    it is free open source software that blocks out banner ads and cookies, and is fully configurable. the only part of the configuration you'd want to mess with is the part that allows cookies from certain sites...



    IE I use hotmail.com, so i added .hotmail.com .passport.com .msn.com so I can log in, as well as forums.appleinsider.com . You might want to add your online bank's url so you can log in. It's really great software, esp for dialup users, but even cable users save a lot of bandwidth and have faster loading pages, not to mention increased security.



    Oh, add kermit.macnn.com to the image blocklist to get rid of appleinsider forums' ads!



    [ 02-06-2002: Message edited by: stimuli ]</p>
  • Reply 10 of 21
    stimulistimuli Posts: 564member
    Oh! And Mozilla, an open source, standards-compliant browser. It's the best browser for mac right now...

    <a href="http://www.mozilla.org"; target="_blank">http://www.mozilla.org</a>;
  • Reply 11 of 21
    Thanks guys



    I knew this was a good place to ask the question. I didn't realise OSX gave firewall protection, so that's probably one thing saved.



    As for virus', I knew they were rare on Macs, just didn't realise quite how rare!



    Good tips on keeping the HD healthy - thanks again. Now I've just got to wait for Apple to ship some of the new iMacs to the UK and I'll be there, credit card in hand, to transfer.



    Cheers



    David



    PS final straw that's making me change - I bought a small digital camera, took a few pictures, loaded the software onto Windows 98, and you could have knocked me down with a feather when immediately I was able to download thumnails, preview, and import into Photoimpact. No problem at all - probably the first time I've ever had a trouble free installation in Windows.



    Of course, that was until I recorded a clip using the camera as a webcam, and clicked the button to send as an e-mail attachment. Complete ystem lockup, on solution a hard re-boot.



    Yep, in the end it was par for the course, Windows 98 is a crock of s*&t.
  • Reply 12 of 21
    stimulistimuli Posts: 564member
    It certainly is! I have a friend who just bought a powerbook for a similar reason, only I think it was Windows XP.



    Here's a firewall link:

    <a href="http://www3.sympatico.ca/dccote/firewall.html"; target="_blank">http://www3.sympatico.ca/dccote/firewall.html</a>;



    [ 02-06-2002: Message edited by: stimuli ]



    [ 02-06-2002: Message edited by: stimuli ]</p>
  • Reply 13 of 21
    ybotybot Posts: 329member
    I took the easy way out when it came to firewalls since I didn't want to figure out scripts and terminal commands. But if you do have the time to do it, by all means use the OS X built-in one. It's nice having that Unix core to provide OS X users with all these nice little bonuses I wouldn't expect from an OS.
  • Reply 14 of 21
    <a href="http://www.dekorte.com/Software/OSX/AdultMediaFinder/"; target="_blank">MUST HAVE SOFTWARE!!</a>



    -----------

    RosettaStoned
  • Reply 15 of 21
    addisonaddison Posts: 1,185member
    Must have software:-



    Office X



    Toast



    That's it!



    Once you have those and iPhoto there is little more. However I would nerver do without:-



    Quark

    Photoshop

    Dreamweaver

    Fireworks

    MacSSH

    Boredgamer



    I can't wait for Palm support with Office X.
  • Reply 16 of 21
    nx7oenx7oe Posts: 198member
    NEVER EVER USE NORTON, wel at least for nothing. it fried my logicboard <img src="graemlins/surprised.gif" border="0" alt="[Surprised]" />
  • Reply 17 of 21
    norton sux. i think IE is a pretty good web browser, tho i sometimes use omniweb. i heard bad things about mozilla, and haven't tried it.



    you should definitely look into unix for anything you can, b/c its quite common for people to do all kinds of crazy sh!t with it. (most linux ideas work on unix, just need recompilin tho). i remember on OS 9 having ipnetrouter, a great program, and i tried to get an x version when i got os x. then realized that i could do it free with unix. the msg boards at macnn.com helped a lot.



    as for sw thats needed, looking at my open progs now, its all apple, or freeware from download.com. i don't do much on the cpu but program (with apple's graciously free dev environment), so you may look into x versions of any progs you use on your [eww] pc currently.



    "welcome to paradise" -axle rose.
  • Reply 18 of 21
    I suggest the following:



    GraphicConverter - simply the best around for opening images and doing simple conversions such as changing formats, changing color spaces, changing image size and resolution and such. It also has a nice browswer and slide show. The browser lets you do lossless jpeg rotations and has a nice feature for setting the file date from information stored in the image. Useful when importing images from digital cameras.



    Tex-Edit Plus - text editor which also does styled text. It has a number of features that let you clean up text in files you get from other platforms changing them to Mac format. It is also extensively scriptable by Applescript.
  • Reply 19 of 21
    crusadercrusader Posts: 1,129member
    Oh get the Marathon Trilogy... If you can find it
  • Reply 20 of 21
    Rossetta,



    Magnificent!!



    Now perhaps I don't need Morpheus after all <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />



    Cheers!



    David
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