Im New - Advice on Backup

Hi guys, Im new here and new to mac.

Could i have some advice please.

Firstly , Is there any programs you say i should download ? I.E to speed things up etc. Ive switched from PC so not sure if i need antivirus etc.

Secondly, I want to back up the comp from new so that i always have that save point. My brother has a mac and tells me that with time machine you need an external harddrive is this true? He uses something called Cloner which does it exactly what it says and clones it but u can only save your last copy.

Help greatly appreciated.

I have the new 2.4Ghz 13 inch macbook. ( woooo hoooo)

Don't worry about the anntivirus. Remember, you are now using a mac!
I would go with time machine.

Thanks mate. Will i need an external HDD or not with that though?

You shouldn't need an antivirus on a mac, and the OSX firewall is brilliant. Also nothing can be installed on your mac without your persmission - you need to input your password. *but* you can still pass on windows virus to your windows using friends. I downloaded Clamxav - antivirus for mac, really just because like you I've just bought a mac (infact 2 days after the alu ones came out, but a white one) and would like to protect my investment as much as possible! Clamxav is free, and small, so "why not?!" i thought.

With regards to back up, use time machine. yes you will need an external hard drive. Buy one, plug it in. The first thing your mac will say when you plug in a new external hard drive is 'would you like to use this drive with time machine?' say yes, and let it do what it wants!

Well using Time Machine with an external HDD makes more sense. Think about that: you back up on your local disk and the day you have a crash on that local disk your backup is useless as it's on the crashed disk

Time Machine is great, you set it up once and then leave it does its job

Enjoy your Mac

many thanks guys