Simple Questions from someone that just got into OS X

Well.. after 15 years of windows and Dell computers, I have made the jump and getting me rMBP 15" w/retina today. So... I have some pretty general and probably stupid question, but rater than scour the forum for each question, i thought i would post a few of my questions here, and then someone can flaunt their infinite wisdom and categorically answer all of them so... here goes:

1. So... will ANY mouse work with macs? If not.. can anyone suggest a really good one? I VERY much need a "right click" option, and A middle mouse wheel... Assuming that should not be a problem, but again never really had to use mac's much.

2. Reinstall. So.. In the windows world, i would periodically just reinstall the OS and start from scratch. If i ever have issues with my Mac, what is the process of doing a full reinstall??? Also... Anyone know of some Simple and good working backup/clone software? Never really cloned my machine before, just would reinstall everything and then put on all my pics/music but im guessing there is an easier way?

3. I Have an external hard drive with all my files and pics etc, i have heard that macs don't recognize some hard drives, possibly do to the file format like FAT vs NTFS or whatever.. but is this true, and if so what is an easy way to maybe get it to work with my External HDD?

4. Anti Virus.. So i know macs typically do not get as many issues due to mainly market share, and hackers/virus targeting predominantly windows OS. BUT.... I know its not impossible for a mac to get virus.. so Would anyone suggest getting like avast or something just in case?

5. Software... So, Does anyone have any suggestions for some good software for like keeping the OS running good? I know I've used like Ccleaner and various other tools for windows to fix Registry errors and clean cache/junk files and determine what programs start up when you boot up etc... but what are some opinions on mac software?

6. ANYTHING else you Pro's would suggest. Sites that have good tutorials on learning mac OS, gestures, how to create hidden or password protected folders etc and just anything in general that may help the transition. I may update this list, and REALLY appreciate any responses. THANKS!!!

 

I retitled your thread. No need for "joined the darkside." It unnecessarily creates an "us versus them" environment.


To your questions:

1. Logitech makes excellent mice that are programmable with their Setpoint software. So any button can perform almost any function you want.

Others can answer the rest. Though most of those things aren't really as necessary as they were on Windows.

There are a few ways to read NTFS formatted drives. http://www.tuxera.com/products/tuxera-ntfs-for-mac/ is one such product.
Here's a tutorial for how to do it for free: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_...-manually-enable-ntfs-read-and-write-in-os-x/

If you Google search "NTFS for OS X" you'll find a number of ways including some free software that can get you sorted.

 

1) If all you need is left, middle, and right buttons with a scroll wheel, any mouse will do fine. When you start getting into thumb buttons and such, it's a bit more tricky, but for basic use, just plug and play.

2) All Macs that came with OS X 10.7 and later offered the ability to use Internet Recovery to reinstall the operating system. If you need to do this, hold Command + R as you power on the system. Make sure you're connected to the Internet, and the system will start downloading the files it needs. Follow the prompts to reinstall, and the download process will continue. It will take a while, even if you're on a high speed connection, which is why you should create a bootable USB drive to act as your recovery.

Get yourself an 8 GB thumb drive. USB 2.0 units work better than USB 3.0. Go into the Mac App Store and select OS X Mavericks from the column on the right. If it's not there, do a search for it. Download the installer. A warning will pop up saying that you already have Mavericks installed, but ignore it and download the file anyway. Once that has completed, the OS X installer will try to launch automatically. Close it. Download and install a program called DiskMaker X. It's a utility that automates the bootable USB recovery drive process. Connect the 8 GB flash drive directly to your Mac and run DiskMaker X. Follow the prompts, and let the program do its thing. It could take 20-30 minutes and look like the system has frozen, but be patient. Once that process has completed, should you need to reinstall OS X, connect your recovery USB, power on the computer, and immediately press and hold alt/option. A list of drives will come up, and you'll want to select the one that says, "Install OS X Mavericks" or something to that effect. Follow the prompts to complete installation.

Just as a heads up, there is no reason to reinstall OS X on a regular basis. It doesn't suffer from the same "creep" that Windows can. It's usually only necessary if you or a program causes irreversible damage.

3) Macs can read pretty much any file system, but OS X cannot write to a drive that's formatted with NTFS. There are third-party drivers to get around this, but they cost money and aren't necessarily always reliable. The best way around this is to use a Windows machine to copy the data from your external drive, then format it with the exFAT file system, selecting a cluster size of 1024. Then you can copy the data back to your external drive, where it can be both read from and written to by OS X and Windows. If you're not going to use the drive in Windows any more, you can use OS X's Disk Utility to format the external drive to HFS+.

4) It actually is impossible for a Mac to get a virus, as none exist in the wild. Malware is a different story, but this is easily avoided by not installing Java and using common sense. Antivirus on OS X is a cash grab.

5) Such programs are not necessary on a Mac and will almost always do more harm than good.

6) Google is going to be your best friend here. There really isn't a centralized place for this kind of stuff. Apple's support site is as good a place to start as any as it covers most of the basics of what you're looking for.

Good luck.

Edit: Props to 2.0 for changing the thread title. I've edited my response accordingly.

 

1. Yes, any mouse will work with OS X. I have a wireless Logitech laser mouse but I use an old Microsoft optical mouse at work. Right-clicking and the scroll wheel work the same as with Windows. In fact, you can use any Windows keyboard with OS X too. Some of the keys will be mapped a little different (the Windows key will become the command key) but there's nothing special about the way each OS handles keyboards or mice (aside from a few differences).

2. There is a process. You simply boot from a ~600MB restoration partition and go from there. You can use that partition to perform a full clean install of OS X. It's not like the restoration partition that many manufacturers include with Windows machines where it will re-install Windows along with all those crappy add-on programs you never use. OS X has Time Machine built-in, I suggest using that for system backups. I rely on it all the time and it has never let me down. I have a 2TB USB 2.0 hard drive hooked up to my wi-fi router. My Mac then backs itself up everyday automatically. The initial backup takes a while but, after that, it's just incremental backups.

3. External hard drives work fine, it's the file systems that can get a little messed up. OS X can read and write to FAT16, FAT32, exFAT, and the Apple file systems (HFS, HFS+). OS X can only, natively, read NTFS formatted hard drives. All of my external hard drives, except for the one I use as a Time Machine backup, are formatted using exFAT since it works with both OS X and Windows. Others have had issues with exFAT but I haven't. I used OS X to format the hard drives and they work fine with my system along with the Windows XP and Windows 7 desktops at work.

4. I use Avast. I used to rely on something else, I don't remember the name, but Avast has been fine. I mainly use a virus protection program to stop my Mac from spreading Windows viruses. There have been many times when a friend plugs a thumb drive into my Mac and it's infected with something that goes after Windows. Avast cleans it just fine. I have yet to encounter any OS X viruses/malware/etc. but it's nice to be protected. Avast doesn't use many resources (I think it idles at 20MB of RAM) and it hasn't bogged my 15" MBP down at all.

5. You don't need any of that, at all. Definitely keep away from Mac Keeper too as it is a known virus. Apple continually updates OS X to stop people from installing it. OS X works a little differently and it doesn't have a registry like Windows. It's pretty easy to see what programs are running when you boot a Mac and, unless you install all sorts of things, they will be minimal. I have 2 programs that boot with my Mac: Dropbox and Avast. Even then, programs that open when OS X boots don't seem to have the same affect they do under Windows. OS X Mavericks changed the way it addresses running programs too.

6. I'm no pro but Apple's website has a bunch of resources for people switching over from Windows. They go through the basic things, have instructions with pictures and videos, and all sorts of other information. If you live near an Apple Store, you can also go there and take free classes that go over how to use OS X and other aspects that people switching come across. The best thing you can do is just play around with the OS. I'm not talking about opening random folders and deleting files but opening things up, closing them, fully closing a running program (it's called Quitting), how to maximize a program window, how to run apps full screen, etc.

I used Windows ever since 1997 starting with Windows 95, then 98, ME, 2000, XP, Vista, and 7. I switched back in 2011 after playing around with the Metro interface of Windows 8. I hated it for keyboard and mouse use (touchscreens seem to be fine though) so I picked up a 13" MBP in January of 2011. It took me all of a couple of days to get used to things.

 

I'm a very literal person. So when I see "ANY" in caps I really take it literally. Will ANY mouse work with macs... No. This mouse is not likely to work with a Mac. As for your standard USB mouse sold today, yes, they will work. Depending on how fancy the mouse is, there may be reduced functionality. A mouse with 20 buttons might not have support for all 20 buttons, for example.

As for "right button" please be advised that Macs have supported USB mice since the late 90's, and have explicitly supported right-clicking since then. Just because Apple didn't sell a mouse with a right button themselves, doesn't mean right buttons didn't work. Break that thinking right now.

Modern Macs can do a internet-based recovery through firmware. The EFI has enough of an environment to install OS X over the internet with no local OS present. There are also processes for making USB-based installers, if desired. Note that much like modern Windows, the need to specifically reinstall OS X is an extremely rare instance.

 

Thanks for the info, and just to clarify... I was not trying to ruffle feathers with the dark side thing.. honestly didn't know it was such a soft spot. I've used Dells for years and had very few issues, but recentally I TRIED to purchase a Dell M3800 as I do 3D, Motion work. Wont bore you with all the details, but they sent me totally wrong machine, and took me literally 64 days to get my money back and fully refunded. No apology, didn't ever send me the correct system.. blah blah blah. SO.. I've been Thinking of making the switch, and that essentially was the proverbial Straw that broke the camel's back. So... Im not a hater on PC or MAC, was just being a bit tongue and cheek and did not know would upset anyone. Anyhoo... Thanks for the info, and always welcome any other opinions, especially on the Virus stuff. So, is that really true that there are literally NO virus that can affect OS X? I had thought that they were LESS common due to market share being predominantly windows, And OS X just having a more secure environment/coding etc, But good to know if that is not the case..


Ahh... one last very stupid question, which I'm sure I can figure out, but... Installing files on OS X. So I believe you just drag the installer into your "applications" icon? Also, I have seen where macs have a file format of .dng, and wondering if that is equivalent of like an .exe format in win, OR if it is more like a .zip or .rar file that can be extracted? Lastly.. what software if any do you recommend for archived (zip, rar) type files to extract and view etc?? Thanks!

 

Wow, SubZero.. What an utterly unhelpful post. Thanks for um... I don't know, being so condescending. There are tons of people who are happy to enlighten someone and genuinely try to help someone rather than Look down on them. So am I to discern from your comments that you are in fact a Soccer mom? Seriously, you don't need to respond as I will likely peruse right past your retort. And fyi mods.. not personal attacking here, just pointing out that people can reply without Implying that I am an idiot.

I was trying to preemptively get some tips and info so that the transition would be smoother. That's it. I am very confident in my abilities to trouble shoot and learn a new OS, just trying to get some insight from people that enjoy sharing knowledge. When you say things like "A responsible Windows user never needs ccleaner" to me that is asinine. Are you implying that a responsible user would never uninstall a program, or clean temp. Internet files etc? And the whole "dont know what to tell you if you cant figure it out" comment is pretty ridiclous. I mean, here you are in a OS x forum, answering questions (loosely) about Mac/OS X and you basically are ripping on the poster. Sorry if my intermitant use of certain words in all CAPS to convey emphasis ruined your day.

 

No worries buddy. This is why I changed your thread title. It wasn't to disparage you, it was to try to prevent the very sort of response you received.

Thread carefully in here. There were/are some Windows users who drop in to troll from time to time, that make some of the OS X users tend to be... well like that.

So be careful not to make any Windows references as a point of reference. It's tricky because there are some Windows features that one coming from Windows would like to be able to enjoy in OS X. Many of those same features exist in OS X. But you have to pay deference first to OS X, then ask your question. <--kidding... per se. You get my meaning.

So best bet; ignore the snarky, arrogant, and/or flippant posts. Keep asking whatever you want to know. There are plenty of rational folk in here that will be more than happy to help you as best they can. Some are multi-platform users so they have no real allegiance to any one in particular but have a good understanding of both or more platforms. They know some of the best tricks and tips.

 

1) Well, everyone else already answered this multiple times. Most mice work, basic stuff (right/left click, scroll) universally work, blah blah blah.

2) You should be able to just take an OSX CD/DVD/USB drive, plug it in, boot from that, and follow the on-screen instructions to reinstall if you wish. OS installs in this day and age are stupidly easy to perform, on pretty much any platform (barring purposefully-difficult OSes like Slackware, Gentoo, etc.).

3) exFAT is one option, though it's not ideal for something as large as a HDD. You can install software (free or paid options exist) that'll read/write NTFS, though.

4) For all OSes (not just OSX, Windows, etc.), the best AV is common sense. Don't visit sketchy websites, don't download something from a website you don't fully trust, use adblockers, etc. The biggest threat for computing these days is social engineering, which is 100% OS agnostic (it targets the human using it, which is always the weakest link in the security chain), so just don't fall for BS like MyCleanPC, etc. If you want AV though, there are a few free/paid options to consider, though personally I don't use AV on most of my machines.

5) I don't play around with OSX enough to have a good handle on maintenance software. OSX doesn't have a registry, so you don't have to worry about that. Otherwise, I'd just keep a tab on your file system and trim out the fat, so to speak (eg, delete downloads when you're done with them, etc.).

6) Google, NBR Apple/OSX subforum, macrumors, etc.

 

There are things that can infect OS X but you have to specifically access something that you shouldn't be. Avast will prevent this. OS X won't be like Windows where using the Windows Mail client and simply viewing an infected e-mail can cause a virus to hop over. Having said that, there are many Java OS X exploits out there but the websites that use them are questionable.

The DMG file type is just an OS X file. You open that and, normally, a virtual disk is mounted to OS X. You then open the virtual disk (or it opens automatically) and either run the installation file or drag and drop the application file to the application folder. It's all pretty laid out though and you will know what to do. After that you unmount the virtual disk and then delete the DMG file. It isn't like EXE files in Windows. OS X has native support for zipped files and I rely on UnRarX for RAR files. It doesn't have the same interface as Win-Rar but it works and is pretty automatic (i.e. double-click on the RAR file and it will automatically extract it).

Windows is designed to be used by people who don't know any better and like having their computers infected with 3498573X10^987 viruses while Linux is only for 500 lb nerds who drink Monster all day, eat Hot Pockets, and still live with their Mom. Generalizations, along with taking everything literally, doesn't help anyone.

 

QFT.

10char

 

I don't know why you took it as an offense. I honestly answered every question. Macs are an unknown to many people, my post was meant to reassure you that they are not as daunting as you might imagine them to be. A lot of people overthink it, oh man I've been using Windows for so long I'll never figure out Macs they look so complicated and what is this where's the right mouse button it's confusing... No.

One of the nice things about Macs is Apple has entire stores with floor models of *every* Mac they sell. You can wander in to an Apple Store, or a certified Apple reseller, and touch Macs and play with them and learn them. Apple stores even have employees dedicated to helping answer questions on-the-fly. They even help with migrating from old computers to new ones. When I say Macs were designed for soccer moms I really mean it, and I mean it in a good way. There's a lot less "tech" to doing seemingly tech things with Macs. "I need to [thing]." OK, click, click, click, done. One gets a more zen experience with Macs when they don't overthink what they want. Until they are looking for the home/end keys anyway.

I own three macs and have owned many over the years. I also own PCs.

 

Thanks for clarifying.

 

With the exception of a few proof of concept viruses and a bunch of minor ones that went wild as early as 2006 some of which are still unpatched. HOWEVER Malware, Phishing scams, Trojan horses, backdoors, Java exploits and cute utility apps that are malware in their own right are just as not if even not more invasive and by the numbers appear to be worst on the Mac Platform the last couple of years as there is still a large sense of security from the OS and previous marketing. Flashback, Leap/Oompa-Loompa, Mac Defender and the millions of fake codec packs etc are a few examples. If you find that a bit of a stretch go visit some of the illicit forums on TOR and buy someone personal information which is listed as " stolen from a backdoored Mac OSX version 10.x.x "

lesson is be careful no matter what OS you use and try not to be a Typhoid Mary and pass on junk to the rest of us either. I use ESET mostly and Avast on one unit

 

Strongly agree with this, it's a small cost to to get your system protected... I use SEP SMB 2013 on our MACs and Windows systems, cost $30 per system and it's decent.

 

Welcome to Mac. I use both windows and Mac laptops regularly.

1. Yes any USB mouse works. I've never seen one that doesn't.

2. You can do this easily by USB thumb drive or internet as others have said. There's a few good cloning software. I recently cloned the drive of my late 2011 mbp 13 to upgrade to SSD. Do a Google search.

3. Your external will most likely plug and play. If not you can always use dropbox or Google drive.

4. My company uses Norton. I would just use a free one like avast personally.

5. I never saw why this was necessary. It's a bunch of FUD if you ask me, unless you are installing a bunch of suspect adware that is causing problems. There tends to be much less of this type of software on macs.

6. Experience and googling.. Best way to learn.

EDIT: I'd like to add that I use ESET AV on my windows boxes, I didn't know it was available for Mac since my company dictates Norton. I'd use that.

 

I used to as well, but no longer. after the unpatched Java exploit Apple left for months and all the random malware apps attaching to everything from games to utilities we used to trust I say better safe than sorry. plus if your on a network its nice to not try and pass on infected macro bugs and malware to other OS's as well.

 

For this very reason I just started running rootkit detection and basic antivirus on my Linux systems just to make sure I'm not passing garbage on to the Windows systems on the netowork.

 

Question number 5 wasn't about AV, it was about performance issues. Don't get me wrong I'd never advise against running AV on all platforms, I've just never had these performance issues that require reinstalling windows all the time or 'cleaning the registry'. It's been at least since 95, definitely Win2K/XP, since that has been necessary if you're smart about the apps you use.

I digress however. Use some sort of AV.

 

Thanks for the replies, And sorry if i kinda freaked out on you Sub Z... May have had a bit of a bad day, so no hard feelings. So, got my mac and for the most part I'm loving it. Getting things figured out for the most part. 1 or 2 quick questions for all your knowledgable peeps out there.

1. When i purchased it, on apple.com I got the upgraded version where i have 2.6 GHZ processor, and its says you can over clock to 3.8 I believe. Actually over clock may not be the proper term but says (Turbo Boost). So Please dont eviscerate me.. because i am a total noob but, How (and should you) over clock / Enable turbo boost? Is it just an automatic thing and if not, Would it void any warranty or anything?

2. So this may be a bit related to question number 1, but when im doing work in various programs like photoshop... Things seem quite choppy. Granted I have been working on large files over 100MB typically, but on my Older 1645 dell Studio XPS it almost seems smoother. Also just kinda browsing though bookmarks in chrome or Firefox, when i hover over a folder and you get the little fly out menu... things just seem to be a bit slow/choppy. Is this just "how it is" or should things be moving a bit faster? I have rendered out a few scenes in a 3D App (Cinema 4D) and they do seem to render quite a bit faster, but just the navigation thing seems a bit slow. Even moving a line of Text/Type in photoshop is a bit choppy and not a smooth thing. OR ever changing a Hue/Saturation in PS its not a "LIVE" feedback, you have to pause for a sec to see results. Is this normal?

3. Lastly Totally unimportant but it bugs me.. is there a way to swap out the little Color Circle wheel icon when the system is busy/processing stuff? For some reason it reminds me of like the old school White Mac Desktops in early-mid 90's

Want to say thanks for the various Info, as it has helped. So thanks, and sorry if these questions are somewhat of a no brainer for experienced Mac users....

 

1) It's an automatic clock adjustment. It goes up when you're demanding more from the computer (say, running an intensive game or such), and goes down when you're not doing much (idling, Internet, etc.).

2) Might be the complexity of the files you're working on, or some minor software faults, or hardware faults (though those are rare). Or it could be lag between the input (keyboard) and output, which could be likely if you're using some sort of wireless input.

3) I'm not sure if there's a built-in way to do that. Perhaps there's a hack-around.

 

Did you get the model with just Intel Iris Pro graphics or the one that offered that and the Nvidia GPU? Does the choppy performance occur when using the built-in retina display or when hooked up to an external display (or both)?

 

I recommend, if you come from Windows Linux, you should disable the inverted scrolling