I think it's time to switch

You might want to check out SteerMouse, a third-party USB mouse driver. There is also USB Overdrive but SteerMouse is the new kid on the block.

Disregard post, found my answer by searching.

Yep, you'll find that in your System Preferences ---> Sharing (in the Internet & Network section) ---> Firewall tab.

You simply click on the features you want and those you want to block.

MacHeadCase said:

Yep, you'll find that in your System Preferences ---> Sharing (in the Internet & Network section) ---> Firewall tab.

You simply click on the features you want and those you want to block.

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Thanks - you beat me to it. Right after I posted that, I found my answer in the forum sticky... DUH!!

Question for those of you following this thread - and I know this is really subjective, but I wonder what sites you frequent for Mac software/accessories (obviously aside from Apple). I've seen MacMall.com and a few others, but am wondering who generally has good prices, fair customer service policies and speedy order processing. Just curious... there's a few things I need to pick up and I want to make sure I'm getting a fair deal. Thanks.

Here is one not sure what they are like to deal with. http://www.cdw.com/default.asp

Have dealt with elgato.com and found them to be excellent!

I've been extremely happy with MacConnection.com ... their prices are slightly cheaper than normal, they often have great rebate/bundle deals, and their shipping is usually same-day. When I bought my MBP, it arrived about 12 hours later (ordered late at night on Monday, arrived Tuesday before noon).

ToddG said:

I've been extremely happy with MacConnection.com ... their prices are slightly cheaper than normal, they often have great rebate/bundle deals, and their shipping is usually same-day. When I bought my MBP, it arrived about 12 hours later (ordered late at night on Monday, arrived Tuesday before noon).

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Thanks, that's exactly what I was looking for - an e-tailer that specializes in Macs.

As a side note, I'm thinking about getting Toast 7 Platinum for disc burning chores. Any thoughts on that? Are there better (cheaper) products out there? I'm also thinking about picking up Parallels, although I have yet to have a need to run any Windows software, I'd imagine I will eventually.

No experience with Toast, sorry.

As for Parallels ... it's not free. So unless you foresee a situation where you absolutely needed to run an WinXP program immediately and couldn't wait a day to get Parallels from your local store or by mail order, why spend the money?

Installing WinXP/Parallels takes up 4+ GB of space on your HDD, as well.

But if you really do have some Win app that can't be solved with a Mac OS X equivalent, then Parallels is definitely a great solution.

As for parallels, would read their documentation before you buy to find out what it will not alow you to do in windows.

Better yet, do what I did, you can download it for a free trial, install it and XP to give it a spin. Check it out for free to see if it does what you need. Ultimately. either way you'll need to get a fresh copy of XP becuase it will have to be activated same as on a PC. I used an existing OEM copy I have to try in Parallels, installed fine, but Parallels does not yet support the functionality I need, so it was uninstalled the same day. Will try Bootcamp this weekend.

Thanks - I'm aware of XP's product activation. I've already installed the trial of Parallels and installed a retail copy of XP that I don't use on any of my Windows machines. It runs beautifully, but the only thing I can think of that I'd use Windows for would be to play the occasional game. That being the case, I'd need to use Bootcamp to take advantage of the video card anyway, so maybe I will hold off on Parallels for the time being.

Thanks for your input, everyone.

OMG - now I KNOW I love OSX:

"We trust you have received the usual lecture from the local System
Administrator. It usually boils down to these three things:

#1) Respect the privacy of others.
#2) Think before you type.
#3) With great power comes great responsibility."

I know you've probably seen this before when you're messing about in the shell, but I giggled like a school girl when I saw that. That's just geek-tastic!

When I first got my Macbook, I installed Windows via Boot Camp, but I didn't like the fact that I had to restart my computer if I ever needed to use Windows, so I decided to try out Parallels instead. I downloaded the free trial and tried it out. Windows installed without a hitch. Only problem is that now I only use it to amaze people that I can run Windows and OS X on the same machine side by side rather than for any practical use :bone:

I discovered an excellent little program last night - http://www.freepops.org. They have an OS X port that installs with very little fuss and enables you to check just about every kind of Webmail out there. After a little bit of configuration, I've got Mail set up to check each and every one of my mail accounts. That was the last stepping stone to completely replacing my essential Windows apps.

If anyone else is interested and needs help configuring Mail to work with it, let me know. I guess you can just as easily use Thunderbird or any other mail application that comes to mind too.

Can anyone recommend a good book to learn the nuts and bolts of OS X? I'm not looking for a "switcher's guide" or something for people who just want to learn the basics - I'm looking for something that gets into the core of the OS. I'd like something that gets into the actual guts of the OS, including file and folder structure, the shell and maybe even a primer on development tools. Right now, I sort of feel like I'm flying blind. I know OS X isn't prone to breaking, but I'd like to feel like I understand the "behind the scenes aspects" in the event it ever does. To put it into perspective, for someone new to Windows, you might get a book that gets into aspects of the GUI, but might not necessarily teach one about the registry, NTFS, group policy or aspects of Active Directory and admin tools. I've been searching around Amazon, but it seems that most of the OS X guides are geared toward newbies/non-techies.

I know OS X is based on a customized version of BSD, known as Darwin - and I have a good understanding of *NIX, but I'm looking for something specific to Darwin.

Amit Singh's Mac OS X Internals: A Systems Approach?

MacHeadCase said:

Amit Singh's Mac OS X Internals: A Systems Approach?

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Perfect - that's exactly what I was looking for. Once again, you folks come through! (and quick too, I might add). Many thanks.

Glad I could help. :girl:

Question - does anyone know if there's a log left behind after a .pkg file runs an install routine? Specifically, I'd like to know what folder it created and where files were copied. I'm having some issues installing a USB printer via an external USB print server. I can establish an LPD session without an issue, I just can't seem to locate the right driver. Canon has a driver, and it does install without any fuss, but I can't seem to figure out where it is installed to? OS X seems to know where since it adds the driver just fine when connected via USB, but it isn't giving up its secrets. Thanks.

This is a wild guess, m'kay?

But... In the menubar, under the Apple (upper left hand corner) ---> About This Mac. In the window that appears you click on More Info.... In that window, there is a left column which has a section on Hardware, Network, Software in which you will find Logs. Click on Logs once and a pane will appear on the right with a list of logs, including one called install.log. Click on it and below it will reveal plenty of info.

Would that be what you are looking for?