PC maintence - Mac??

A

Annie

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Here is what I go through with my Win XP pc:

1. Make sure virus scans are running, updated, etc.
2. Firewall
3. Spyware programs - update and run at least once a week
4. Windows Updates
5. Delete temp files, etc.
6. Degrag

There's probably more - do I have to do any of this on the Mac?? Did a search but find conflicting answers to this.

Annie
 
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Annie said:
1. Make sure virus scans are running, updated, etc.
2. Firewall
3. Spyware programs - update and run at least once a week
4. Windows Updates
5. Delete temp files, etc.
6. Degrag

1. No- viruses do not run on OS X because every virus out there runs on the .exe file system- executable files, which OS X doesn't understand (which is also why Windows apps won't run in OS X). That's one of the greatest things about macs.

2. The firewall's automatically tunred on. To change it, go to System Preferences in your dock, then select sharing. You can customize it from there.

3. No spyware- same reason as no viruses

4. You should check for updates, under System Preferences, go to System Update, then Check Now, and it'll check. I suggest you install updates whenever you can.

5. No deleting temporary files, there are no temporary files.

6. I assume you mean defrag, http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38350
 
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1 - Not required
2 - Built in, just turn it on and fine tune as you desire
3- Not required
4- Turn on Auto updates (actually, it defaults to on) and the Mac will tell you when something new is available for download. You pick and choose what you want to install.
5- Not really necessary, but you can empty the cache etc as you desire.
6- Not recommended or required. OSX defrags, somewhat, on the fly.
 
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Annie

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baggss said:
1 - Not required
2 - Built in, just turn it on and fine tune as you desire
3- Not required
4- Turn on Auto updates (actually, it defaults to on) and the Mac will tell you when something new is available for download. You pick and choose what you want to install.
5- Not really necessary, but you can empty the cache etc as you desire.
6- Not recommended or required. OSX defrags, somewhat, on the fly.


Wow!! I can't believe this - Windows is so much harder to maintain - some kind of problem every week even after careful maintenance. That is the reason why I ordered the macbook - I can't take it anymore!! LOL - I do have to use my PC tho :( for work purposes but for everything else........

Annie
 
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Well, we do live in a Windows centric world, and I am typing this on my Dell (running Win2K) at work. I use Macs at home and PCs at work. Just the nature of life. Using both will give you a better appreciation of the strengths and weaknesses of both platforms and will make you appreciate them both more for what they can do.
 
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You can also clear your cache in Safari if you feel it necessary.
 
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Yes Windows is hard to maintain. Simply because it's meant for more intelligent people, unlike us. *pun*
 
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Annie said:
Wow!! I can't believe this - Windows is so much harder to maintain - some kind of problem every week even after careful maintenance. Annie

You're whistling my tune. Switched five weeks ago. Main reason was flight from PC-maintenance requirements -- like you, I believe. First surprise was having the new iMac up and running in no time right out of the box. After these few weeks, I am still unaccustomed to being able to just turn my computer on and go to work without worrying about all that stuff. Seems like I'm getting away with something.
 
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asolo said:
Switched five weeks ago. Main reason was flight from PC-maintenance requirements -- like you, I believe.
14 months and counting for me for mainly the same main reason. After 14 months on my old PC things were starting to slow down and act strange (online and offline) despite having all the latest anti-virus definitions, the firewall, the anti-spyware, doing frequent defrags, etc. But my Mac hasn't slowed down a bit or acted strange since the day I got it, and all I use for security is the built-in firewall. I'm sure most (all?) long-time Mac-aholics can say the same.
 
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Annie

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iWish said:
14 months and counting for me for mainly the same main reason. After 14 months on my old PC things were starting to slow down and act strange (online and offline) despite having all the latest anti-virus definitions, the firewall, the anti-spyware, doing frequent defrags, etc. But my Mac hasn't slowed down a bit or acted strange since the day I got it, and all I use for security is the built-in firewall. I'm sure most (all?) long-time Mac-aholics can say the same.


I plan on using my Mac for everything except for work (which is the only platform it will work under.) - I don't play many games so I can't think of anything else I need my pc for - I'm sure there is but right now can't think of any. :)
 
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R

RAMS

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This is wonderful reading this section of this site. All these converts. I have been using a friend of mines older PC with the WIN ME edition and this is a very laborius, primitive, trouble prone high maintainence way to compute. Trully awful.

Been a Apple Mac guy since 1984 after switching from a WANG running DOS. Never looked back after getting an Apple II, my first computer.

I am here:
http://www.behold-the-rage.com/
and here:
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/copernica/
archived here:
http://www.woz.org/

Glad your happy with the Mac, Annie.

Have fun and welcome to the Mac world all you folks that switched. Very cool!

Robert
 
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Ah great.
I am really looking forward to when my macbook arrives.
With all the praises, I am sure glad I did not spend valued money on a windows based laptop. :)
 
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My macbook should be here by the end of the week!
 
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RAMS said:
This is wonderful reading this section of this site. All these converts. I have been using a friend of mines older PC with the WIN ME edition and this is a very laborius, primitive, trouble prone high maintainence way to compute. Trully awful.

Been a Apple Mac guy since 1984 after switching from a WANG running DOS. Never looked back after getting an Apple II, my first computer.

Robert

A WANG? Blast from the past. My first computer was a WANG 386 with DOS 6.21 and Win 3.1. I finally saw the light and switched :)
 
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Welcome to all the new Switchers. As a PC tech, I can tell you that you will gain about 20 minutes in the morning, when you first boot up. You won't know what to do with yourselves for the first few weeks. Thereafter, you'll find that you get to get in just that much more news, websites, funnies, etc.

As Annie so well put it "getting away with something". You are. Let me tell you that you have been brainwashed by the Windows world into thinking that you NEED them. Your computer wont LIVE without a myriad of protection. The great thing about the Mac platform is that out of the box, its ready to use. No antivirus, no antispyware to update, no windows pop up dialogs to answer. Just boot, or even better, resume from sleep, and work away.

My setup is pretty simple. I get up in the morning, get my coffee going, tap the spaceabar on my Apple keyboard and then go get my cup of coffee. When I come back, my Mac is up with my mail, ical, and firefox all up on the screen and ready to go. Only thing I have to wait for sometimes, like once a week, is my podcasts to update.

But being able to sleep, then come back and wake almost instantanious, is a godsend.

A few pointers:
Mac's do not need antivirus. You need an antivirus on a Mac only if you want to scan outgoing mail and files that are going to a PC contact. Its called the good neighbor effect. If you use your Mac for email and have an antivirus you'll scan emails and files that you would be resending, catching virus' as they appear.

As far as defrag, Macs do it on the fly, but there are some tools out there that do a "better" job. I say "better" because I have not seen any conclusive tests like they have for PC and Norton Disk doctor. Tools like tech tool pro deluxe and the like have that kind of capability built in and they say that they do a better job. Worthy of note is that all programs of this sort say the same thing. That they do a better job. I've been using a Mac, without such tools for 4 years now, and no ill effects. I do sugguest this method of working though.

Try just using the sleep fucntion at night. Wake in the morning. You can go for about 3 weeks without a reboot. You do need to reboot though. It runs clean up scripts in the background when you do. Reboot every once in a while. You'll realize just how much time was wasted of your life, sitting in front of a windows pc rebooting and starting. Its quite amazing.

As far as maintainence goes like scandisk and defrag, you dont really need to do it on a mac, but if you're going to, search the apple store online for apple recommened products. As it was said before , you dont really need it, but if it makes you feel good, knock yourself out.

So sit back, boot up and enjoy a stress free enviroment. It truely does take some getting used to.

Bishop
www.spaceage-computers.com
 
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I would disagree about no viruses and no spyware. With Macs becoming more and more popular, what's to say there isn't viruses in .dmg or will be in the future? I always think it is better to be safe than sorry. I have a free virus scanner called ClamXav, it hasn't found anything yet but I will be glad if it does and feel sorry for other Mac users who were too complacent.

Windows XP and Internet Explorer are attacked so often by malicious code not because they are bad pieces of software, far from it. They are attacked because that is what most people use. I feel Apple or Linux would have the same problems if they had the same popularity, don't get me wrong though I do prefer Macs to Windows!

Maybe I am just being paranoid!
 
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I feel Apple or Linux would have the same problems if they had the same popularity, don't get me wrong though I do prefer Macs to Windows!

This is a subject that has been discussed at great length in the Linux community. The problem is that it assume that Unix derived systems are as inherently insecure as Windows is. This is simply not true, and it's mostly due to poor foresight and bad configuration decisions.

For example, Window allows (and actively encourages, up until Vista) everything to run as an administrative user. In Windows 9x, there was no other kind! Anything that gets in has the run of the system. I can think of 2 Linux distributions that tried to run with elevated permissions (ostensibly to make things easy for the user) and they are both floundering in the grand scheme of things.

Other problems stem from technology such as DCOM or other Windows services that enable all kind of wonderful things, but have singularly failed to prevent the bad things that it also enables.

Have a look here for more discussion along these lines :)
 
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M

MacHeadCase

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A great freeware maintenance app is MainMenu. The daily task runs in about 10 seconds. The weekly and monthly tasks take a bit longer but they run in the background anyway so no worries there.

Mac OS X comes from the Unix mainframes world: those computers were meant to be on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And like I said it in another thread somewhere in Mac-Forums, it isn't always convenient, practical or ecological to run your Mac around the clock like that.

The maintenance tasks come built-in Mac OS X and are set to run every day around 3:00 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. and if it is shut down, the tasks can't be performed. In the long run this can cause your Mac to behave strangely.

That's why I use MainMenu. OnyX too is a swell freebie.
 

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