Mac folks, most have tricks, tips, apps for Mac OS

[RANDY P]

Originally Posted by masraum

Anyone use any virus / malware programs?

I did NOT use any anti-virus software (a mask) on my old Windows PC other than the free from Microsoft malware thing, Defender or Security or whatever it was. I do have Pi-hole and No Script and uBlock on the browser. I don't want to add any bloaty crap to this if I don't have to.

I use a separate Admin account for installation, and surf using a standard user account.

rjp

[Porsche-O-Phile]

AdBlock Pro, Little Snitch, StopTheMadness. Enjoy the Internet again on Safari.

Pages / Numbers are (IMHO) way better than Office (Microsoft bloatware). To each their own but I really like Apple Mail and can’t stand the bloatware feel of even “simple” Outlook. But that’s maybe just a personal preference thing.

I still really like Affinity Photo. Pretty much all the functionality of Photoshop without the insane pricing. Adobe recently went to a subscription model, successfully alienating most of the customers they still had left (including my office). Screw ‘em.

QuickPlan for project scheduling is awfully good unless you really need Primevera P6 for something crazy complicated. It’s just as intuitive as Project (maybe more so), they have an iPad version for 15 bucks and the output is plenty professional for even big clients like we’ve got.

I like handbrake for fooling around with videos too. And yes, GarageBand is really good for most home audio music making. It’s actually a pretty capable piece of software. I have no need for FinalCut...

Honestly PCs are surviving because (1) they’re the standard and (2) they still make better gaming platforms (because they’re the standard and more developers write for them). Aside from that and price tag I’m not sure why anyone wanting the best stuff wouldn’t go Mac.

[masraum]

Lots of good stuff, folks. Thanks!

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by masraum

Anyone use any virus / malware programs?

I did NOT use any anti-virus software (a mask) on my old Windows PC other than the free from Microsoft malware thing, Defender or Security or whatever it was. I do have Pi-hole and No Script and uBlock on the browser. I don't want to add any bloaty crap to this if I don't have to.

a Level 2 tech at Apple let slip that they use malwareBytes - it's free

[masraum]

Originally Posted by RWebb

a Level 2 tech at Apple let slip that they use malwareBytes - it's free

Interesting.

[masraum]

Why didn't anyone tell me that when you hit "new finder window" you get a new tab in the same window? Tabbed finder windows might be cool, but sometimes you want 2 separate windows. It might be cool if you could vertically tile 2 tabs.

Hah, for whatever reason, this just popped into my head
Norton Commander

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by masraum

Why didn't anyone tell me that when you hit "new finder window" you get a new tab in the same window? Tabbed finder windows might be cool, but sometimes you want 2 separate windows. It might be cool if you could vertically tile 2 tabs.

Finder->Finder Preferences deselect Open in Tabs

[stealthn]

For AV - I use this https://www.intego.com/

For VM’s I use VirtualBox

You will love LaunchPad and Mission Control

[masraum]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

Finder->Finder Preferences deselect Open in Tabs

going to do that now! I think I vaguely remember setting that because 9:10 I prefer using tabs. But I was mistaken this time.

Originally Posted by stealthn

For AV - I use this https://www.intego.com/

For VM’s I use VirtualBox

You will love LaunchPad and Mission Control

cool, thx.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by stealthn

For AV - I use this https://www.intego.com/

For VM’s I use VirtualBox

You will love LaunchPad and Mission Control

And Sidecar if you have a newish iPad.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

And Sidecar if you have a newish iPad.

My iPad is too old for that. My wife thought it would be cool to have that capability, but I don't feel like I can justify spending the extra money just to get a newer iPad.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by masraum

My iPad is too old for that. My wife thought it would be cool to have that capability, but I don't feel like I can justify spending the extra money just to get a newer iPad.

the 10.5 is under $300.00 and Apple Pencil compatible.

Meaning you can use it as a tablet on for your Mac

[RWebb]

I used to LOVE Norton Commander - nostalgia...

[RANDY P]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

AdBlock Pro, Little Snitch, StopTheMadness. Enjoy the Internet again on Safari.

Pages / Numbers are (IMHO) way better than Office (Microsoft bloatware). To each their own but I really like Apple Mail and can’t stand the bloatware feel of even “simple” Outlook. But that’s maybe just a personal preference thing.

I'll say it: Office (especially Excel) for Mac is garbage. It's not worth paying for- it's neutered compared to Win version. The best one is the Windoze version.

I use Win Parallels, and Win Office subscription so I don't get the crippled version. Excel for Windows can use all cores of the processor where Mac is limited to I think 2

You also get cool stuff like Fuzzy lookup which isn't available anywhere except for Win Excel.

rjp

[masraum]

Originally Posted by RWebb

I used to LOVE Norton Commander - nostalgia...

Yep. It was great for what it was at the time.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by RANDY P

I'll say it: Office (especially Excel) for Mac is garbage. It's not worth paying for- it's neutered compared to Win version. The best one is the Windoze version.

I use Win Parallels, and Win Office subscription so I don't get the crippled version. Excel for Windows can use all cores of the processor where Mac is limited to I think 2

You also get cool stuff like Fuzzy lookup which isn't available anywhere except for Win Excel.

rjp

Interesting. I'll keep that in mind. I suspect I may end up setting up a VM eventually, which shouldn't be an issue since I've got plenty of RAM. I've got a full version of MS Office. I may do it so I can use Visio.

[RANDY P]

Originally Posted by masraum

Interesting. I'll keep that in mind. I suspect I may end up setting up a VM eventually, which shouldn't be an issue since I've got plenty of RAM. I've got a full version of MS Office. I may do it so I can use Visio.

OOoh yea I forgot about Visio and MS Project not on Mac.

I need Visio, but luckily my employer tortures me with an HP laptop for mapping duties.

rjp

[RWebb]

relatedly... I found an old ThinkPad under the bed in the guest bedroom last night - I thought that area was reserved for Sauternes but there was all sorts of crap under there

I may fire it up for the sake of nostalgia - there was a Win95 install disc sitting on top of it...

[RKDinOKC]

If you do databases, Filemaker is worth every penny. Any platform, but mac scripting is the best.

[Paul_Heery]

I second the opinion to use Excel for Windows versus the Mac version. It is a night and day difference. I use Parallels for running a Windows VM as well as a Linux VM. Parallels makes things easy to do. I can fire up a Windows VM and be using it in under 6 seconds.

I use Windows on my Macbook Pro for both Excel and MS Project. They run great, actually better than on the crappy HP Windows laptop that work gave me.

It is also nice to see that others are recommending the use of AV on your Mac. There are so many Mac OS vulns that are being exploited that you need to have an additional level of protection. I've found Bitdefender to be one of the better programs.