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Reunited with my 17" MBP!

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Just thought this would be a cool little story to share as I'm still pretty excited about it.

Almost 10 years ago, I got a 17" MBP as a graduation gift some time after finishing high school. A few years after getting it, I had built a Windows gaming PC and had little use for the Mac so I sold it within the family for their personal use. During the years between selling it and now (I want to say ~6 years) I had paid no attention to the MBP even while visiting in the same house it was at. Well, recently I had helped the same close family by fixing issues on a couple of their cars and helping move things around while they try to sell their house and they decided to pay me with my MBP back!

After using a few alcohol wipes and compressed air, it's really in decent shape and is only missing 1 screw on the bottom and the left speaker seems blown. I got everything wiped last night and upgraded all the way to El Capitan today and using it to type this message. It feels weird since I hadn't thought about ever owning it again, but nice at the same time. I can definitely feel the performance difference between how fast it felt when I first got it and having a 6-core gaming computer as my main computer lately.

Anyone have any cool, new apps that are "must have" that I've missed while not having a Mac these past few years?
 
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chscag

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Nice story there Image. Glad to have you back after the long "vacation" from us. Enjoy your "new" MacBook Pro. :)
 

pigoo3

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Thanks for sharing Image...great story. Also gives you a very good reason to visit Mac-Forums regularly.:)

As far as apps:

- Onyx for occasional maintenance (free).
- Open Office (free)...if you need MS Office type apps.
- Malwarebytes (free) for occasional scans for malware.
- Carbon Copy Cloner (if you wanted/needed to make a clone of your HD).
- Make sure you download all macOS releases. When a new macOS version is released...the previous version is removed quickly. If you downloaded a macOS version previously (even if you didn't need it at the time). It will always be in your App store downloads when you do need it.

HTH,:)

- Nick
 

Slydude

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Welcome back. Great story.
 
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- Make sure you download all macOS releases. When a new macOS version is released...the previous version is removed quickly. If you downloaded a macOS version previously (even if you didn't need it at the time). It will always be in your App store downloads when you do need it.

HTH,:)

- Nick

Bolded mine, as this is no longer true for macOS 10.12 and 10.13.
 
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That may be true, Bob, but then again you will have the installer if you download and just save it. And from there, you can do the updates to the latest.
 
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As far as apps:

- Onyx for occasional maintenance (free).
- Open Office (free)...if you need MS Office type apps.
- Malwarebytes (free) for occasional scans for malware.
- Carbon Copy Cloner (if you wanted/needed to make a clone of your HD).
- Make sure you download all macOS releases. When a new macOS version is released...the previous version is removed quickly. If you downloaded a macOS version previously (even if you didn't need it at the time). It will always be in your App store downloads when you do need it.

HTH,:)

- Nick

Thanks for this. I thought I remembered a thread in one of the sub-forums that had a list like this of popular, free/inexpensive software for various uses, but I can't seem to find it now. I remember using Onyx and I'm glad you linked that because I'd forgotten about it. I just wish there was a Windows/Mac package for Malwarebytes since I already pay the legacy fee for it on my Windows computer. The free Malwarebytes doesn't protect from ransomware and, to be honest, that stuff scares me more than the possibility of getting a virus on my Mac.
 
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OP
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chscag

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Thanks for this. That etrecheck app is pretty cool, but too bad there's only a trial =/

Use your search engine. Only the latest version of Etrecheck is not free. Versions before that were all free and work just as well as the current version does.
 
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I'm sorry, but where does it say it is pay for software? I gave you the link, and at the top it says "Free Download".
 
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I'm sorry, but where does it say it is pay for software? I gave you the link, and at the top it says "Free Download".

Screen Shot 2018-08-16 at 9.14.43 AM.png


No worries though, I'll search for earlier versions like chscag suggested when I have a few minutes.
 
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Sorry, I didn't realize that, as I only use it a few times a year.
 

chscag

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Sorry, I didn't realize that, as I only use it a few times a year.

They only started the payware version with their latest offering. However, as I mentioned above, the older version before the payware works just as well and it is free.
 
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But, there is this on one of the Notifications that pop up,

"If you decide not to purchase an EtreCheck license after your trial expires, just drag EtreCheck to the trash to uninstall. If you ever have Mac problems in the future, please try EtreCheck again",

which I don't recommend as developers have the right to be paid for their services.
 

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