Switch not all that I'd hoped.

Got myself a shiny new chunk of Apple advertising (new gen MacBook Pro) that looks like a spare part from Hangar 18 at Roswell. Beautiful object. I've had it for a week now and although I am enjoying the learning curve of the new operating system (I was a PC guy for 18 years), I am amazed at all the false hype these things get. I love the new machine (I'm a writer by profession and had to make the switch) but soon realized that all the "no viruses, no freezing, no plug-and-play" talk was just that. I've been reading posts here and the Mac, like the PC, seems to have a litany of problems. My machine froze twice today - while I was using Toast - and I had to shut it down both times to get it to respond. A friend of mine told me this afternoon that he has a collection of Mac viruses (and apparently there's plenty of Malware out there - read LOTS of posts about that right here). Sometimes my touchpad does what it's supposed to, other times it doesn't. I realize that Mackers go against the old Groucho adage and desperately want to belong to a club that is full of people like them but the reality of these machines is that they are just that - machines. And let's face it, has anyone ever heard of a machine that functions perfectly all the time? Me, neither.

Please, don't send me poison figs if I have offended your god (the Jehovah's Witnesses could learn the meaning of the word "fervor" from Macophiles - their blind devotion to all things Mac is just a little bit spooky).

That being said, I have no intention of going back - half a dozen of one is as good as six of another.

Thanks.

Umm, ok. Congratulations?

Your experiance will get better in due time! You have much more to learn and love about these artistic creations Plus you bought a first gen. Macbook Pro. The kinks will be worked out and you will be another "follower" as you stated. I dont think I have touched the power button on my mini in two years

Can you produce this COLLECTION of Virus's for OSX? Remember what a real Virus is. I use both Mac's and PC's and have for 20 years now. I go more places on the net in a day then most people go in a month. Funny I have not had one so called OSX Virus since I started using OSX 4 years ago or more.

Glad you at least like the machine enough to stick with it. You might find your "Friend" is exaggerating a BIT. All the so called real Virus's for OSX (The few there are) are proof of concept virus's and never made it into real time and the user would have to agree and allow it to install even if one did get out into the wild. There is a Trojan that affects all platforms out there that is disguised as a Video Codec and usually found on Porn Video sites but even with that you have to agree and let it install.

By the way just for the record, I am not saying a Virus with OSX is impossible, but more unlikely than with Windows due to better security. I am sure there will be a real virus in the wild down the road and the main thing to remember, just be careful and do not say yes to anything you are not sure about if it wants to install!

There is no Spyware for OSX that I have ever seen either.

The freezes in Toast are interesting. I have never had a freeze in Toast but errors with some optical media that the burner does not get along with.

I have a feeling unless you got a Lemon machine, you will like it more with time. Some Windows users who have tried OSX took a while to really get used to it and then you could not take it away from them with a loaded gun!

Anyway Welcome and if we can help in any way, let us know. That is why were are here at Mac Forums, to help people with their issues.

I just got my macbook pro thanksgiving weekend of 2008 (old generation 15 inch with 200 gig hd and the 2.4 ghz core 2 duo, for 1500 only brand new). I am very pleased, took me about all of 15 minutes to learn how to do everything I can do in a pc. I wondered where such things as administrative tools are, and realized I don't need to disable services and such.


My only complaints about MAC so far is there is no hibernate feature (I don't like to shut down but i also don't like to sleep as i want to be able to maintain the battery and move it at the same time without having to reload the last thing i was doing). My other complaint is that windows rips you off when you want to buy windows to install with bootcamp.

The only things i need windows for are; ruckus, my linksys wmb54g music bridge, xbox media center (i've never even had media edition windows before), sim city 4 (i got a mac version for free on torrent to try it out before buying it, and it runs utte comcast rly slow on intel mac os x machines), rise of nations, and a few other pc games.

I LOVE mobile ME, it works splendid with my sales job and my iPod touch. I am a door to door sales agent for cable, and I NEED an ultra portable calendar and contacts list that can be synced to my cloud.


I like the widgets and the hot corners, i can go to my hot corner and go to contacts widget, type in "bob" and send bob an e-mail faster than i could have dreamed of doing on windows.

I love how mac doesn't program their OS to LOAD every da@# program at the same time when the machine starts up. Does MS think that its faster to get to your programs if your machine attempts to load them all at the same time during start up!?! (this feature has made my loss of the hibernate function not so bad)

I am obsessed with the multi touch pad, and how I can zoom in and zoom out. I love the cntrl+2 finger zoom feature.


lastly, I cannot believe how good the battery life is, my 2004 HP zx5000 with p4 3.0 ghz HT last about 45 mins brand new, and after about a year it ceased to hold a charge. I never bought a replacement battery, but after the first failure they replaced it for free. The HP laptop had every single component replaced at least once. I am way more impressed with the quality of the hardware of the macbook. This hardware is what mainly attracted me to it, as i figured if there was something about mac os x i didnt like i could always just run windows on it. I have since realized i really don't need windows and I am trying to put windows in my past and leave that past behind.



As for your comments Hemlock, i find the hilarious lol I was laughing when i froze my macbook the first day i turned it on, however i'd find a computer that i couldn't freeze more of a technological achievement of human kind than putting a man on the moon.

Lets see i had 15 tabs opened up on safari (this is how i compute on a daily basis), had open office open with 5 differnt documents, an open office calc sheet, 3 safari windows in another space, garage band opened in my bottom right space, itunes in my bottom left space, song playing itunes, video playing in another safari window. Oh and i had a firefox window running before i realized you don't even need firefox on a mac as safari is superior. I also was ripping a dvd at the same time yea the dual cores couldnt take that abuse, but i dont think man will ever create a machine that can handle me.

right now my machine is running pretty low use, i only have ichat, imail, 13 safari tabs on one window, vuze and system settings open

My machine froze twice today - while I was using Toast - and I had to shut it down both times to get it to respond. A friend of mine told me this afternoon that he has a collection of Mac viruses (and apparently there's plenty of Malware out there - read LOTS of posts about that right here).

Click to expand...

Toast: Update and see if that resolves your issues.
Viruses: Nobody said it was impossible or that they don't exist... but the vast majority of OS X users (I'd say approaching 99%) has never had one, so that's a bit like saying cars explode all the time because you saw it happen in the movies once. Most of the posts about malware you read here are from new Mac users who have Safari crash on them a few times and immediately assume that all their problems are due to viruses and spyware.

A friend of mine told me this afternoon that he has a collection of Mac viruses (and apparently there's plenty of Malware out there - read LOTS of posts about that right here)

Click to expand...

Your friend is talking absolute garbage.

Hemmlock said:

Got myself a shiny new chunk of Apple advertising (new gen MacBook Pro) that looks like a spare part from Hangar 18 at Roswell. Beautiful object. I've had it for a week now and although I am enjoying the learning curve of the new operating system (I was a PC guy for 18 years), I am amazed at all the false hype these things get. I love the new machine (I'm a writer by profession and had to make the switch) but soon realized that all the "no viruses, no freezing, no plug-and-play" talk was just that. I've been reading posts here and the Mac, like the PC, seems to have a litany of problems. My machine froze twice today - while I was using Toast - and I had to shut it down both times to get it to respond. A friend of mine told me this afternoon that he has a collection of Mac viruses (and apparently there's plenty of Malware out there - read LOTS of posts about that right here).

Click to expand...

With regards to Toast... have you looked for an update? Is the version you using KNOWN to be compatible with the version of OS X you are using?

As for viruses and malware... your friend is either full of baloney or confused. There are no viruses that infect OS X and I've never seen ANY malware nor heard of any (and I get around!). There are a handful for the CLASSIC Mac OS, but to date no one has successfully written a virus that can infect OS X. As for "LOTS" of posts about that right here... link them. I've never seen a single one that was anything more than pure speculation.

Sometimes my touchpad does what it's supposed to, other times it doesn't. I realize that Mackers go against the old Groucho adage and desperately want to belong to a club that is full of people like them but the reality of these machines is that they are just that - machines. And let's face it, has anyone ever heard of a machine that functions perfectly all the time? Me, neither.

Click to expand...

The touchpad on these new MacBooks is still new technology... bound to be bugs. Have you installed the recent update that is supposed to improve things?

Please, don't send me poison figs if I have offended your god (the Jehovah's Witnesses could learn the meaning of the word "fervor" from Macophiles - their blind devotion to all things Mac is just a little bit spooky).

Click to expand...

I don't think you'll find the crowd here overly zealous. However, we do call out "BS" when we see it. And I doubt anyone here is deluded enough to make claims that OS X never crashes, never has bugs, etc. We experience and see enough of others' experiences to know better.

Who said Macs never crash? Those commercials only are saying "Sure, they crash. But at least not as much as Vista". I would be curious to see these "viruses" of which you speak.

Alexis said:

Your friend is talking absolute garbage.

Click to expand...

I think his buddy is referring to a handful of trojans, which are frequently confused with viruses.

Yes, there are trojans for OS X. There are trojans for every operating system that can run third party software. A trojan is NOT a virus, not even close. Simply put, it's a piece of non-desirable software that comes in a desirable wrapper. One still needs to install it (and on OS X, give it authority by entering your admin password) and it is NOT self-replicating.

Any idiot can write a trojan. Simply build a script that nukes partitions, rename it to "INSANELY GREAT WHOSIWHATSIT, CLICK ME!" and put it out on the Internet.

You can avoid trojans simply by being judicious about when you enter your admin password. If you don't know where the program is from, don't trust who it is from, or don't know why you're being prompted for your password, simply don't run it and you'll never have a problem with a trojan - and the same goes for Vista and Linux.

It's a little different with viruses and worms, which thankfully OS X has not been a victim to yet. Viruses are self-replicating by definition. Worms are also self-replicating, but are worse than viruses in that they do not need any user interaction to install, instead they exploit security holes in operating systems.

to the OP. if you have read lots of posts here you'd know that the blind love of all things mac quotient is actually pretty low here. your taunting is unecessary and a bit out of line.

Howdy Hemmlock,

Here's a post you may find an enjoyable read. It's mine, three weeks into my first Mac. Check it out first and then come back.


Well, here I am two years later. Still, don't know that the Mac is 'better'. Some things, yep. Others, not so much. I guess some might call me a true 'switcher' now though. OS X has become my primary OS at home. The Win box I didn't think I could give up back then, it sits still in the other room. Hasn't been turned on in 2008 except to help walk friends thru problems with their Win machines. In fact, sold the primary 32" screen that it was attached to.

Maybe I have decided. I think the Mac is better. At least for me. And when friends ask for my recommendation about getting a new computer - typically I am recommending a Mac to them, but not always. Don't know whether it will be better for you. Only you can decide that. If you give it enough time.

OS X is not for everyone. Neither is Windows. Neither is Linux. It's good to have choices. Yes, there are some what I termed Mac Zealots here. But you'll find, there really aren't that many. That's not to say we don't prefer our Mac's to our Windows machines. Am sure most of us do. That's why we hang out here.

A Mac forum, whether this one or another, or a couple of them, is a great place for learning about and discovering new things about your machine. I'm still surprised, 2 years down the road, when I read something and I'm going "I didn't know I could do that".

So, while there may be a few here that have 'drank the kool-aid', you'll find that's not the case with the long timers around. We like our Mac's and we enjoy helping each other out with our problems. And yes, there will be some issues raise their head, like there are with pretty much any man made piece of electronics or just about anything else you can name.

Well said, bobtomay. I think you'll find that most of us that switched found that the Mac has its advantages and disadvantages in some ways. In my opinion, the pros outweigh the cons.

As an example - I love the way OS X handles app installs. Although there are exceptions to the rule, for the most part, apps are self-contained. If you open a .app file, you'll see that although it launches like an executable, it's actually a package (much like a zip file). Within it are most or all of the support files the apps needs to run. There's a number of advantages to this. Firstly, there is no need for a registry - and that's a big one, because a corrupted registry is one of the biggest contributors to "Windows rot". It also makes it easy to move applications between machines or back them up. And finally, you can easily install and uninstall, simply by drag and drop.

With that said, there's many things that Windows does better. For one thing, Windows handles printers FAR better than OS X. Since the Mac is pretty limited on ports, Apple has not built a framework for port handling. So, most printer drivers are built to use USB alone. If you get a print server, you can't simply redirect the port so that it prints to a network port like you could in Windows. Instead, you've got to hope that your driver will be available when you manually add the printer. And if it's not, good luck trying to find a 3rd party driver that doesn't care how the printer is connected.

Those are just some limited examples. But you can see that not all of us think that Apple is flawless in every action. In fact, I think that with time you'll see that this forum is often very critical of Apple. But when it comes down to it, most of us are here because we like our machines. They may not be flawless, but we've grown weary with Windows in one way or another and found solace in OS X.

Well said everyone! To the OP, give the Mac and OSX some time to grow on you. Also do look to be sure Toast is up to date.

yea, the registry in windows is its Achilles heal. The other thing that mac os x has thats great for us bad spellers is the built in spell checker.


I've used linux before, and linux offers many of the same advantages of stability that mac os x has, however mac os x finishes the job by making it as user friendly as windows (or more even). Linux also doesn't use a registry. The father of linux and mac os x is unix, and this is why mac os x is so good.

I've actually found more compatibility with linux and windows hardware than with mac os x and windows hardware.

Another feature of mac os x over windows is the password protection for every kind of system altering activity. For example to install an update or change a setting you can have it under password protection. This help prevent malware from taking over your machine. This is something that linux uses as well.


Using NDAS hard drives on mac os x is way simpler than on windows, even though NDAS was designed for windows.

As printers go, my HP network all in one printer came with mac os x software, so i can scan print and fax all from my laptop over wifi.


The only thing i am lacking right now is the ability to connect to my linksys audio bridge, but an airport extreme should solve that problem.

Hemmlock said:

soon realized that all the "no viruses, no freezing, no plug-and-play" talk was just that. I've been reading posts here and the Mac, like the PC, seems to have a litany of problems. My machine froze twice today - while I was using Toast - and I had to shut it down both times to get it to respond. A friend of mine told me this afternoon that he has a collection of Mac viruses (and apparently there's plenty of Malware out there - read LOTS of posts about that right here).

Click to expand...

I've been using Macs since 95, both at work amd at home. Aside from a slew of MS Office Macro Viruses in the late 90s, there are really no Viruses for OSX or Classic and only a few Trojans in existance. I'm not sure where your friend got his info but he's out to lunch on this one.

As for freezing, well, it IS a computer and any computer can freeze. My Mac freezes a lot less than most Windows machines I have ever worked on and is on Par with most Unix boxes I have had my hands on.

baggss said:

As for freezing, well, it IS a computer and any computer can freeze.

Click to expand...

i've seen our colossal IBM mainframe freeze. and, as usual, nothing to do with the hardware or OS - it's always apps or lousy configurations by admins.

It's nice to see that Mackers are all level-headed individuals. From the folks I met at the Mac store (and a few of the guys I work with), I assumed that everyone would be a Kamikazee-hardcore-Mac-Brotherhood type. Not so. I appreciate all the honesty here.

That being said, I'm past scratching my head with the Mac and have settled in to a somewhat comfortable relationship with the machine. Better? Time will sort that out.