First time mac buyer has a question

bavlondon2 · August 22, 2009 8:59AM

OK so I am pretty sure I am going to wave bye bye to my PC and go for one of the new imacs.

Just a few questions though.

1) Regarding anti spyware and virus, is this something I need to worry about? Will it come pre loaded with some sort of software? I heard there are not that many virus's lurking around for macs but my thinking is as they get more popular people will target them more.

2) On my PC I can do a system restore if something goes wrong. Is there a similar function on the mac? And if so once executed does this work the same way as on the pc in the sense that you go back in time in terms of apps installed but any files saved on your drives recently are still there?

Thanks

nofeer · August 22, 2009 9:31AM

i can give my opinion on #1

i have not run antispy, virus etc on my macs since 1984 presently have 5 macs and two iphones all running fine without it.

aresee · August 22, 2009 10:04AM

For #2. I've never done a restore. The closes I've been has been a clean install on a major system upgrade.

futurepastnow · August 22, 2009 10:59AM

1) I've never run antivirus software on a Mac. I can only think of one situation that would really justify it, and I didn't bother then. So you shouldn't worry about it, for now at least.

2) Macs now have a backup application called Time Machine, which literally lets you look back through all of your files, although it requires an external drive to save the backups to.

However Time Machine is not really equivalent to Windows' System Restore, since it doesn't let you return the entire system to the state it was in a certain point in time. But that's not really necessary. With no registry, applications can't usually break the system.

mac64 · August 22, 2009 11:04AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FuturePastNow

However Time Machine is not really equivalent to Windows' System Restore, since it doesn't let you return the entire system to the state it was in a certain point in time. But that's not really necessary. With no registry, applications can't usually break the system.

If you boot from the install disk, you can choose Restore from backup and point to your time machine disk. It will show all of your backup points including the hourly backups for that day.

sequitur · August 22, 2009 12:28PM

Back when I was using PC's, two of them "caught" a virus even though I was using an anti-virus program (evidently not the right one). In seven years of using a Mac, without an anti-virus program, my Mac has not been infected.

By default, Mac's firewall is not on, but you could use it. Never having used it, I can't tell you what to do, but one of the IA member tech types could tell you what to do if you can't find out how in the help section.

mpw · August 22, 2009 12:55PM

To reiterate what's been said already, I've used Macs since 2001 without any anti-virus software, and never had a problem, but you do of course still need to be sensibly cautious regarding use of a firewall... I'm told; being the kind of user that takes my Mac outta the box, turns it on and uses it until it dies (or funds allow an elective replacement to be bought) I'm probably a good advert for how a Mac will avoid problems even with very little care being taken by someone who wouldn't really know what to do with virus software, and certainly wouldn't remember to run it frequently enough!!

While singing the praises of Mac OSX for it's virus-free computing I should point out that I compute with equal gay abandon at work, and after a recent scan by an IT consultant(we don't have in-house IT) 135 virus/malware etc. items were fund on my colleague's MSXP box, while my MS Vista had nil! I was suitable impressed.

bavlondon2 · August 22, 2009 3:13PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mac64

If you boot from the install disk, you can choose Restore from backup and point to your time machine disk. It will show all of your backup points including the hourly backups for that day.

That sounds like the closest thing to a windows system restore. How are the backup points made? Im guessing you can specify that?

Regarding the antivirus I guess I was just worrying over nothing. I don't really intend on downloading anything like torrents anyway. It's only really going to be used for design work and some surfing but that's about it.

Can't wait to get it now!!!! My only gripe is the small keyboard you get but I heard if you order via the apple site you can choose to get the normal sized one for no extra cost so hopefully that should be fine.

iphone91 · August 22, 2009 4:45PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bavlondon2

That sounds like the closest thing to a windows system restore. How are the backup points made? Im guessing you can specify that?

Regarding the antivirus I guess I was just worrying over nothing. I don't really intend on downloading anything like torrents anyway. It's only really going to be used for design work and some surfing but that's about it.

Can't wait to get it now!!!! My only gripe is the small keyboard you get but I heard if you order via the apple site you can choose to get the normal sized one for no extra cost so hopefully that should be fine.

Time Machine backs up every hour, of every day, of every week, of every month, so long as you have your computer turned on. The nice thing is that it only backs up the data that has changed since the last back up. So when doing a "system restore" you can either chose the most recent back up or you can chose a certain point in the past. It is a wonderful piece of software. Also very handy if you are moving from an old Mac to a new Mac.

I think you will love your new iMac. I switched from a Dell to an iMac 2 years ago and I have never regretted my decision. I now have another Mac, a MacBook Pro. Welcome to the Mac world. And don't worry about Viruses.

mac64 · August 22, 2009 7:42PM

iPhone91 answered your question to me. You can also do a force backup at any point to create additional "restore" points. Keep in mind, this does a full system restore to that point in time (every file) so it takes longer than a Windows system restore. But in my opinion it is a more complete way of reverting back. I've always wonder just exactly how Windows determines what exactly it restores during a system restore. Sometimes some things are left the same, sometimes they're not.

You can also restore items a-la-carte using the regular time machine interface or even browsing the backup hard drive.

You can see the Apple WWDC Keynote Demo Here:

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/wwdc06/ (starts @ about 33 minutes in).

More in depth info:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2OPprfi3Dk

Still in Beta, but TimeWarp allows Off-Site Backup using Time Machine as well using Amazon's S3.

http://jumpingbeansoftware.com/

Personally I haven't had any virus software on my Mac or my PC in years and don't have any issues. But I'm pretty conscious about security in my internet life so, that said, behavior has a lot to do with susceptibility to viruses and mallware.

At first I found the "chicklet" style keyboard to be a bit awkward, but now I prefer it to my standard keyboard. It takes some getting used to, but it is really small, easy to keep clean, and very durable.

There really is no down-side to getting a Mac. If you decided you don't like OS X, you can always just install Windows on it and you have a kick butt Windows machine.

bavlondon2 · August 23, 2009 8:44AM

I have been going into the Apple shop on regent st pretty much every day for the last week so I think it's safe to say I like OSX!

bavlondon2 · September 1, 2009 3:39AM

Ok I ordered mine! How long does delivery take after it has been shipped? I need to work from home to be able to sign for it.

mpw · September 1, 2009 3:45AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bavlondon2

Ok I ordered mine! How long does delivery take after it has been shipped? I need to work from home to be able to sign for it.

You should get a tracking number at some point, then you can track it online and depending on which company you use might even get a due date.

Despatch, and del. time, will depend on what config. you've gone for.

rokcet scientist · September 2, 2009 8:50AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bavlondon2

Ok I ordered mine! How long does delivery take after it has been shipped?

Ask your reseller.

bavlondon2 · September 2, 2009 5:39PM

Got it this afternoon. At first I was thinking 24 inch was too big but im loving it now.

Question:

On the right there are icons of when I put in external hard drives and there is one for the mac hard drive too. But there is also one for msn and skype I installed. Can i not get ridofthem from that side panel?

mpw · September 2, 2009 5:43PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bavlondon2

...Question:

On the right there are icons of when I put in external hard drives and there is one for the mac hard drive too. But there is also one for msn and skype I installed. Can i not get ridofthem from that side panel?

If you've installed them then yes you should be able to 'eject/unmount' the disc images; just drag then from the desktop to the trash... I should mention I haven't used Snow Leopard, but I'm assuming this hasn't changed with the new OS.

bavlondon2 · September 3, 2009 2:15AM

Thanks but it says for them theyare still in use but I'm not even connected to the net.

Btw I'm not running Snow Leopard. It came with it on disc but the actual machine came installed with 10.5.6. Thats just Leopard right?

mpw · September 3, 2009 6:13AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bavlondon2

Thanks but it says for them theyare still in use but I'm not even connected to the net.

Btw I'm not running Snow Leopard. It came with it on disc but the actual machine came installed with 10.5.6. Thats just Leopard right?

I doubt your 'net connection would make a difference, don't understand why you're not being allowed to trash the drives though?

If it were me I'd load Snow Leopard OS before adding any downloaded programs.

mac voyer · September 3, 2009 8:26AM

[QUOTE=bavlondon2;1469281Regarding the antivirus I guess I was just worrying over nothing. I don't really intend on downloading anything like torrents anyway. It's only really going to be used for design work and some surfing but that's about it. [/QUOTE]

For the record, it wouldn't matter if you did download torrents and surf porn all day; you still wouldn't get a virus. Don't ask me how I know.

Welcome to the Mac.

The biggest difference you will discover between the platforms is this: When on Windows, you have to think about the machine. When on a Mac, you only have to think about your work. Enjoy.

bavlondon2 · September 3, 2009 8:41AM

Thanks Mac Voyer,

I am really enjoying the speed and ease of use but I have another question. I think I will just use this thread to get my questions out of the way instead of starting a new thread each time.

Regarding video codecs I have some videos that are DivX, XVid, MKV and even WMV and I don't think Quicktime as it is preinstalled can play any of those. On my old Dell I just got that combined community codec pack and was able to play them all through WMP.

Is there a similar all in one codec I can get for the mac? Should I look at a different player altogether that can play all these formats? VLC maybe?

rokcet scientist · September 5, 2009 10:02AM

Yes: VLC.

First time mac buyer has a question

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