Whats the worst that could happen - literally?

I just switched to Mac and own a Macbook Pro unibody style, the new one..

I was wondering, if mac has a much less chance of getting viruses spamware, etc.. what exactly could happen to a mac?

what is it that could ruin a mac, and what is this time capsule thing, should i backup my hard-drive or what?

There are trojan horses transmitted by pirated software, but that's rare.

There's really not much stuff out there that will ruin a mac. Just remember the basic stuff:

Don't spill on your computer, don't drop it, etc.

Time capsule? I think you mean TimeMachine. TimeMachine is a utility which backs up your files to a USB Datastick or external hard drive once every hour. This way, if your mac crashes, or if there's a short from a power outage, or anything like that, you can retrieve any missing files.

I don't have a need for it, so I back up certain things to CD's. But, if you use your laptop for lots of important stuff that you don't want to lose, it's a good idea. PM me or post if you have any other questions.

Time Capsule is an External hard drive by Apple that also contains an Airport Extreme in one case and is for use with Time Machine. No matter how stable a computer/OS is, hard drives die, accidents happen. A good backup like Time Machine provides can save your data should anything happen.

Thanks for clarifying! I didn't know that!

Time Machine is a lifesaver. And it's a lot of fun to "go back in time" and see my past Finders reaching back into the infinity of space. Very cool.

:

As for the other stuff - there are zero viruses and malware that will run on your Mac. There are a couple of Trojans out there now, but if you stay away from downloading video codecs from porn sites and illegal software, you won't have to worry about those either.

About the worst that could happen is you get a Windows virus on your machine (which does nothing to you since it will not run) via some e-mail attachment and pass it on to your Windows using friends for their anti-virus to deal with. Of course if you just delete all that kind of junk, not really any worries.

The worst that could happen? The worst I've heard so far is that one dude's MBP catching fire and spewing green smoke from the magsafe haha. But that's so rare, your biggest worry will probably be downloading software that you haven't checked to see if it's reputable. Just make sure that stuff you install is known and checks out okay.

dtravis7 said:

Time Capsule is an External hard drive by Apple that also contains an Airport Extreme in one case and is for use with Time Machine. No matter how stable a computer/OS is, hard drives die, accidents happen. A good backup like Time Machine provides can save your data should anything happen.

Click to expand...

Is time capsule worth the extra $ in your opinion?

soccerphysio said:

Is time capsule worth the extra $ in your opinion?

Click to expand...

Time capsule is only worth it if you have multiple macs to backup over a network. For a single mac, use an external HD connected directly to the computer.

IMO, the cost of the drive built into the time capsule is expensive. I think an external drive connected to an AEBS is a better deal, but there is some question about whether Apple will support that configuration long term.

Time capsule is not just about back up and in fact it is not a bootable back up for that u need Superduper or carbon copy cloner. Latest Time capsule has internal HD, has dual antennas so u can have a 11n and 11g LAN as well as it being a router and providing for a shared USB printer or another HD.