just switched

I'm still in a little shock. I've been working in IT and related fields for over 10 years and have never used a mac. I've been fighting a losing battle with viruses on my laptop for the past 2 weeks and finally lost that battle Saturday (even while running updated virus software every day). That, and other issues with the MS Reboot OS's, helped me develop a new-found hatred for PC's. So, I went out and bought a 1GHz iBook G4 Sunday. I have to say I'm extremely impressed. Everything worked. No lengthy set-up. No installing drivers. Nothing. Just plug things in and they work. Plug in my digital camera, everything works. Plug in my ethernet connection (through a router), instant internet access. That's -- well -- amazing. Add in some very cool features that MS doesn't have and I think I'm hooked.
I used to call them "Macintrash" computers. Now, I realize how truly ignorant I was. It's actually nice not having to reboot every time I sneeze. Apple did a good job.

Yeah, now comes the hard part.... convincing your friends that they're good computers....

Happy to see you join! In case you want to know, here is the recommended maintenence:
After every software update, and about every 2 weeks: close all apps and log totally off. Log on, go in Finder, Applications. Utilities, Disk Utility. After the message -getting disk information- select volume (below the hard drive name -upper left corner. Just highlight it. Now look to the lower two things are there near the middle, varify permissions, repair permissions. Click repair permissions. Also make sure you run cron tasks Finder, Applications. Utilities Terminal type (switching to root - superuser) sudo sh /etc/daily > this needs to be done /weekly (instead of dailly) and monthly. again with all apps closed.

welcome to the sanity of computing. I think it is safe to say many of us were in your shoes and now reap the benefits of a solid and secure OS platform.

I too experianced a situation like yours and previously mocked the Mac. Oh how nice it is to have my blinders removed. The comfort of surfing the internet without hassel or worry is enough for me, however there is so much more as I've learned in the past month.

Feel free to ask any questions that you may have. Everyone here is helpful,

yay for switching

i almost have my die hard pc loving friend convinced to buy a mac.... if so, **** HAS frozen over hehe

im so glad to hear of everyone switching

Adding to what witeshark has said (well modifying a bit I suppose) - you only have to do that infrequently. I've never repaired permissions and I've had my iBook for 6 months now. Do it if you get problems, or if you get bored

About the second thing witeshark suggested (cron tasks) - you can get applications to do it for you instead of typing it in to the terminal, like MacJanitor (get it from somewhere like VersionTracker.com). That also is something you don't have to do - I only do that once every month or so.

Yeah, I tend to be a bit over thorough, maybe a carry over from defraging habits in my dark doz days SO glad they are over! Happily, my Mac has been uptime all since Christmas time!

Cool. Thanks everyone. I already have one of my friends leaning towards a Mac to replace his PC when the time comes. The more I use mine, the more I like it. I had completely forgotten that using computers could be fun instead of frustrating.

Indeed.

Beatles4Life said:

sirlan: I know exactly what you mean about getting frustrated with computers. That used to happen to me all the time with Windows, which is precisely why I got a Mac.

When I was at home over break, our Windows computer would crash every time I went on it. It must be a sign.

Click to expand...

That's one of the main reasons I got out of pc tech support. Life is too short to put up with that much frustration. After only 3 days, I'm a total convert (actually didn't take that long). Now, I just have to find a way to get that dual 2GHz G5 I want . . .