garcon magnifique Posted November 27, 2015 Report Share Posted November 27, 2015 Now I have my shiny MBP I've been doing a bit of reading in old threads here and elsewhere on t'internet about tips for the newbie PC to Mac convert, covering general use, security, good practice, apps of choice and so on. Thought I'd start a new thread as some of the stuff already in here is a bit dated. To provide context when asking questions, a quick summary of how you use your Mac might be useful. In my case, it's pretty straightforward: general business use (Office 365 when I get round to it), surfing t'internet, social media, photo management, etc. I'll probably download the odd game but I don't tend to go for the online gaming 'experience'. I don't absolutely rely on this machine for business right now but that will change so I ought to be prepared. So my first question is on security. I'm reasonably aware and careful when it comes to scams, trojans, phishing etc. (but we're all human). I switched on the OSX Firewall (default is off), I've just uninstalled Flash ( ) and I've downloaded and run the free Malwarebytes anti-malware tool, which reported a clean bill of health. It turns out there's still a raging online debate about whether OSX needs anti-virus/anti-malware software. On balance, the sensible conclusion seems to be that it's a matter of chance. Your odds are better than on an unprotected Windows machine but there's no actual reason to claim it won't happen. Then I read about how free AV offerings can potentially be a privacy threat in themselves through the data mining they do. And then I wondered whether there is a sufficient clear and present danger to warrant spending £40 or £50 a year on a subscription offering. I read several reviews, many of which just confused matters when it comes to free versus paid offerings, actual effectiveness, impact on system resource and so on. So, if we cut the do you need it debate and assume the answer to that is yes, what are the latest recommendations? (I was going to mention Malwarebytes anti-exploit tool, but it only appears to be designed for Windows.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Posted November 27, 2015 Report Share Posted November 27, 2015 A_B put me on to the free Sophos anti virus which has done me proud so far. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted November 27, 2015 Report Share Posted November 27, 2015 (edited) Clam XAV or Bit Defender Free. Now, hold down the Shift key on the keyboard and then minimise this window. You'll giggle. p.s. yes, it works in reverse too. Edited November 27, 2015 by NewNiceMrMe 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garcon magnifique Posted November 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 27, 2015 :roflmao: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarMad Posted November 28, 2015 Report Share Posted November 28, 2015 I use Sophos on mine and it's found things, but only that have come from Windows machines or could affect them. Either way they aren't good to spread so best have AV as who knows what might attack OSX at some point.Alfred is a fab tool as well get that not on it at the moment so will post back any other suggestions. Parallels is on offer if you want to run Windows on it and get lots of bundled software.1Password I think it's fantastic and have it on all platforms worth every penny for me. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lussac Posted November 28, 2015 Report Share Posted November 28, 2015 Sophos and 1Password here too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garcon magnifique Posted November 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2015 Good stuff so far, chaps. 1password looks useful, but what makes it worth buying over using iCloud KeyChain? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lussac Posted November 28, 2015 Report Share Posted November 28, 2015 I don't know much about iCloud Keychain but when I was looking for something to cover the profusion of different passwords 1Password seemed to be the best of the bunch, easy to use once you are up and running and I've no complaints so far. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac Posted November 28, 2015 Report Share Posted November 28, 2015 here and here 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garcon magnifique Posted November 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2015 Thanks Mac, that should keep me busy for a few days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daz Posted November 28, 2015 Report Share Posted November 28, 2015 Top Tip - don't pour water (or coffee) over/into your MBP, apparently they don't like it 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daz Posted November 28, 2015 Report Share Posted November 28, 2015 I've tried 1password and didn't get on with it - I've always used Roboform instead. Evernote is also a must have 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted November 28, 2015 Report Share Posted November 28, 2015 Top Tip - don't pour water (or coffee) over/into your MBP, apparently they don't like it Ahem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted November 28, 2015 Report Share Posted November 28, 2015 I don't use 1Password or Evernote. I had 12 months free use of Evernote Premium and found it didn't fit my uses. I use iCloud Keychain and then a combination of the new Notes, iCal and Dropbox across devices as well as Office365. Works perfectly for me. I think Evernote is a case of habit and getting used to it. On a few others things:I use Firefox as my main MBP browser due to the add-ons. I also use Chrome with Safari as my last-ditch browser. I also have Tor on it, just because I hate Google as much as I do and will never trust them as long as I live. If you need a coding editor, I use Komodo Edit (free). For FTP I use Filezilla v3.14. Don't forget you can fire up the App Store on an MBP and find a wealth of free apps that'll run on OSX. Facetab Pro is excellent. Tweetdeck is as good as it gets for Twitter. If you need to get your phone screen on your Mac, Squirrels Reflector 2 (recommended to me by Mac a long time ago) is superb. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garcon magnifique Posted November 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2015 (edited) Just encountered some of the limitations and frustrations of KeyChain. It only works on Safari It doesn't sync with iOS apps such as facebook, meaning you have to find the password in KeyChain and copy and paste it It doesn't appear to sync with iCloud Internet Accounts On that last one, Internet Accounts kept asking for and refusing (unable to verify blah blah) my new facebook password. That appears to have stopped now, but possibly only because I've unticked some of the sharing options (Calendar, Contacts). I'm already sick of how rubbish Safari is on OSX so I'll be investigating 1password in more detail on Monday! Edit to add: It is of course entirely likely my problems with KeyChain are actually PBCAK. Edited November 28, 2015 by garcon magnifique Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted November 28, 2015 Report Share Posted November 28, 2015 KeyChain works on Firefox and Chrome too. I use it on them. On Chrome, it doesn't default to iCloud Keychain, you need to tell it to. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garcon magnifique Posted November 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2015 Ah. Bit more investigation using up to date guides required! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waylander Posted November 29, 2015 Report Share Posted November 29, 2015 (edited) I used Safari and icould keychain thingy until very recently but found (in ways I have no idea why or how) it f*cked up access to some work secure websites - to the extent I had to use another browser AND stopped using the ichain thingy. If I recall - it might have saved a RSA Secure Token code and refused to unremember it or something Edited November 29, 2015 by Waylander 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waylander Posted November 29, 2015 Report Share Posted November 29, 2015 A_B put me on to the free Sophos anti virus which has done me proud so far. I use Sophos as well - as that is what work use too and so have it on OSX and WIn7 via Parallels 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rachel Posted November 29, 2015 Report Share Posted November 29, 2015 Garcon, re: your original post, I use the inbuilt (incoming) firewall, Little Snitch for outbound firewall (just excellent) and ClamXAV on all my machines. Firefox (with a pile of no-track, security (self destructing cookies?) and other addons), VLC, Dropbox, Bocxcryptor and Evernote are on all my devices and Carbon Copy Cloner are my main playthings. For my laptops I also use Flux. Mac's lists are very useful too! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac Posted November 29, 2015 Report Share Posted November 29, 2015 (edited) I use ClamXAV too but I don't do on demand scanning for anything other than my downloads folder. I then do scheduled scans for the weekends. The biggest threat from AV on OSX from what I've seen is the ease of which you can pass on windows virus files without realising. Don't mean to sound anti-windows there, but it's a fact. OSX couldn't care less about most Windows virus files as it won't affect the platform, so if you're not careful it'll just pass them on in emails/files. I don't want to be sending bad shit out. Also, big fan of Little Snitch. Very handy if you're trying to work out what app talks to where too - for firewalling/priority routing and the like. Other apps - I use Evernote extensively on ALL my devices. No matter what device I pick up, it's got all my stuff on. Searching is where it really comes alive - tagging, and other more advanced searching, makes OneNote look like 'My First Note App' by Haribo. Would be utterly lost without it. Also, TextExpander is awesome. Essentially you can use shortcuts to type common stuff. So my/our filing system uses date led notation for all filenames - so 2015-11-29 <filename> for example (sorts well). As I type it a lot, I can configure a shortcut to auto fill it. I use ; en for example (I mainly use it in Evernote). Other ones like d_date (ignore the _) which give me full dates like 29 November, 2015. Also ones that give me specific client signatures so //clnt1 //clnt2 etc. Very bloody handy, saves you a load of typing. Other minor stuff - Keyboard Maestro. Great macro type. Can take a while to set up but it's worth the investment. So for example I have a specific macro that sets my machine up for different clients - sets DNS, AD hosts, any other client specific settings. OSX is a very flexible platform - getting it configured how you want will absolutely make your use of the machine really productive. It's this productive nature - customising to how you use - that makes OSX so damm flexible and powerful. Edited November 29, 2015 by Mac 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac Posted November 29, 2015 Report Share Posted November 29, 2015 Also, running windows virtualised. I use both Parallels and Fusion - but for slightly different things. Fusion was always great for server stuff as it's easy to move stuff to ESX, parallels was nicer for desktop type stuff. Now though, Parallels have become a pain in the arse. Previously licensing was per user - so one copy of parallels was licensed for *you* not per device. Now it's locked per device. For me, that makes it way too expensive as I typically have 3-5 machines on the go. Fusion is still per user, so go for that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garcon magnifique Posted November 29, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 29, 2015 Thanks Mac, Rachel, Waylander, Daz, NNMM and everyone else. It's this kind of info that makes me realise I need to get out of the habit of being a numpty user, get to grips with all the available tech (it's not as if I'm not capable of doing that), do the research to suss what set up really works for me. I shall try to keep this thread updated through my journey. Hopefully it'll be useful to others. Of course, I started this as a general tips thread for all, so you won't be hijacking by asking your own questions or adding other random tips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac Posted November 29, 2015 Report Share Posted November 29, 2015 It's an interesting fact that beyond Breevy (windows version of Text Expander), I don't do any of that type of customisation in windows. Not sure if that means you don't need to do it in Windows, or it's just too hard? Am very NOT anti-Window, I think Win 10 is awesome. It just runs so much better when it's got top grade hardware and a proper hypervisor under it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted November 29, 2015 Report Share Posted November 29, 2015 One of the biggest things for any Windows to Mac user migration, in terms of experience, has got to be Spotlight. Cmd-Space is magnificent. I throw everything into Dropbox and when I want to find something, I use Spotlight and there it is. Instantly. The speed and accuracy is staggering. It many respects it completely negates the requirement for any file management from a user perspective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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