Question about updating a new MacBook

Hey all,

I just received my MacBook on 5 July. I have a question about updating it. As you might know, it is a refurb from Apple. It came to me with 10.4.8 on it. I was going to run software update to bring up to 10.4.10. However, I was reading on the Apple.com forums about problems after the update. Has anybody with a C2D MacBook updated 10.4.10? Any airport or kernel panic problems? I'm afraid to update. Should I wait or do the update?

Anything else I need to do?

What about firewall software? Is that built in or even needed?

I know Macs are not prone to viruii (or hear some people say there is not even a single virus made for a Mac), but should I install Norton AV anyway? I'm in the Army and they provide it to us free. I have it installed on my iBook G4 and have not had a problem wiith it. But if I don't need it and it could hinder performance, I'd rather leave it off.

Guess that's it for now. Sure I'll have more questions.

Thanks so much for the help. This forum is most helpful.

William

ArmyChief said:

Hey all,

I just received my MacBook on 5 July. I have a question about updating it. As you might know, it is a refurb from Apple. It came to me with 10.4.8 on it. I was going to run software update to bring up to 10.4.10. However, I was reading on the Apple.com forums about problems after the update. Has anybody with a C2D MacBook updated 10.4.10? Any airport or kernel panic problems? I'm afraid to update. Should I wait or do the update?

Anything else I need to do?

Click to expand...

I have two of them, and I updated both. No problems. I trust Apple with their updates, and have yet to experience any problem with it. You'll see anecdotal incidents where people have problems with an update for whatever anomalous reason, but you should not be afraid to let software update do its thing.

What about firewall software? Is that built in or even needed?

I know Macs are not prone to viruii (or hear some people say there is not even a single virus made for a Mac), but should I install Norton AV anyway? I'm in the Army and they provide it to us free. I have it installed on my iBook G4 and have not had a problem wiith it. But if I don't need it and it could hinder performance, I'd rather leave it off.

Click to expand...

There is a built-in firewall you can turn on, and it doesn't hurt to do so. If you're behind a wireless router with private IP addresses, however, there really isn't much need to do so.

Everything I've heard about "anti-virus" for Macs is that it either hinders things, is completely unnecessary, or only needed to prevent passing on viruses to less fortunate Windows users you may interact with. Otherwise, they are more trouble than they are worth, especially if you're going to pay any money.

ArmyChief said:

Hey all,

I just received my MacBook on 5 July. I have a question about updating it. As you might know, it is a refurb from Apple. It came to me with 10.4.8 on it. I was going to run software update to bring up to 10.4.10. However, I was reading on the Apple.com forums about problems after the update. Has anybody with a C2D MacBook updated 10.4.10? Any airport or kernel panic problems? I'm afraid to update. Should I wait or do the update?

Click to expand...

You can safely run the Software Updates. I would, however, recommend that while doing the update, you close any open programs and allow the updates to run their course. Do not use the machine until it has finished and rebooted. Most of the problems people have are attributable to what they're doing when the updates are running.

What about firewall software? Is that built in or even needed?

Click to expand...

It's built in, but I would recommend turning on "stealth" mode. You can do this in System Preferences => Sharing => Firewall => Advanced => Enable Stealth Mode.

I know Macs are not prone to viruii (or hear some people say there is not even a single virus made for a Mac), but should I install Norton AV anyway? I'm in the Army and they provide it to us free. I have it installed on my iBook G4 and have not had a problem wiith it. But if I don't need it and it could hinder performance, I'd rather leave it off.

Click to expand...

It's not that they're not "prone" to viruses, there are literally no viruses in the wild for Macs, period. So anti-virus software is basically left to monitor your system for suspected virus-like behavior (most AV products scan based on a database of known viruses, since there are none on a Mac, there's nothing to scan for). This can be a fairly significant hinderance to performance for very little benefit (other than protecting PC users you might share files with).

Guess that's it for now. Sure I'll have more questions.

Thanks so much for the help. This forum is most helpful.

William

Click to expand...

Welcome! Don't forget to take advantage of the search feature. Many questions have been asked previously and this forum is a wealth of knowledge.