[adamm321]

Hi,

I know I have started a couple of threads on the forums about various questions I had before I got the computer, but I was hoping I could start this one and get some actual questions answered now that I am actually doing it.

I had asked if I should do a virus scan of files on my win pc before transferring them to the new Mac, and I was directed to a Cnet download site for a free virus scan. I was reading the reviews and some people were reporting false positives on the Avast program. I looked at the Trend Micro program that Consumer reports suggests, but someone reported it crashed their machine. I haven't transferred my files from theh old winpc to the new mac yet and I wouldn't like to crash my machine before doing so.

I wonder, would music and photo files be infected with a virus, if they were not downloaded online but are files I put on my computer myself from my camera and the music burned from a CD?

Would it be possible to transfer those without scanning them?

Any other suggestions for what I should be attending to with a new computer before I actually start using it?


Thanks..adam

[linskyjack]

Why don't you just scan your files on the PC before transferring over to the Mac? Get yourself a copy of Avira Anti-vir---put it on your Windows machine and do a complete scan.

[ferrija1]

I don't see why you are worrying about viruses on your MacBook Pro. Are you installing Windows on it and putting files there?

[Serge_N_Gin]

AFAIK, a Mac user can possibly forward on a file infected with a Microsoft intended virus/trojan etc to a Windows user OR to his/her Windows partition on his/her Mac. So while a Mac can carry an infected file, the virus/trojan can only affect the OS it was written for and that's mainly Microsoft products.

The same doesn't work in reverse so any Microsoft targetted viruses won't affect your new MacBook Pro

Here are a couple of links re: Mac Security Measures.

10 simple steps for securing Your Mac

Basic Mac OS X Security





.

[adamm321]

linskyjack....thanks for the name of Avira antivirus program, I will look into it.

ferrija1....well, I guess I worry by nature. :-) Worrying is not a bad thing, you know. lol I wish my kids would 'worry' about things that need worrying about. I worried myself right out of a win pc into an Apple, and now I am sure I will worry myself into getting it all set up as well as I can, before I finally relax and enjoy my Apple, worry free. :-) To answer your question, I will have to install windows at some point, but not right away. I will need windows to work from home with my office server.

serge...so you agree with ferrija that win viruses can't effect the mac, but you point out I could transfer something to another win system or the win side of my mac. Got it! Thanks so much for the two links. Just what I was looking for.

Can I assume from the fact that no one answered my question.......whether my music files that I physically burned from a CD onto my windows hard drive, and my photos which I downloaded straight from my camera...... that everyone is uncertain of how to answer that? My thought was, that the risk of those having any type of problem would be low, and since a windows virus would not effect a mac and I would be putting those type of files onto the mac and even if I had windows on the machine, the files would not be going on there, that I should be fine to transfer those over, without thinking about it any more than that? Also, if I email a photo or mp3 file to a friend with a win pc, won't my email program and theirs scan for viruses and malware?

So, I have the MBP up and running. I am just loving it already! Love the weight of it, the shape of it, the metal finish, the screen, the backlit keyboard. And that's before I have even tried most of the software. [g] Of course, any new computer would feel super at this point after using the stuffing out of our old Dell..lol....but I think this may end up being my favorite computer so far!

I was starting to go through Systems Preferences yesterday and I wonder is there a reset somewhere, so that, if I mess up changing something, I can revert all the system preferences back to default?

Going through my System Preferences...

Does anyone use a screensaver?
Love the translucent bar on the desktop image.
Love the ability to customize the dock.
Love Spaces...and looks like a lot of ways to speed up using that...not getting Expose yet, but I will come back to that.

Security settings...any recommendations or links to explaining what is important to know?

Under displays...I set my screen to the maximum brightness but it keeps bringing it back down again for some reason?

Does anyone do anything with the energy saver settings?

adam

[tomdkat]

Originally Posted by adamm321

Does anyone use a screensaver?

I support three Macs (one Mac-mini and two iMacs) and all three use screensavers. They use the screensavers that come with OS X.

Does anyone do anything with the energy saver settings?

You can use the energy saver settings to control if/when the machine goes into "sleep" mode and powers down hard drives, etc., to save electricity. The two iMacs I support go into sleep mode after 4-5 hours of inactivity, I think (something like that).

Peace...

[dannyn]

i just set myne to sleep mode after like 2 minutes...
it goes to sleep and wakes up so quickly its no problem to do that.

[ferrija1]

Originally Posted by adamm321

linskyjack....thanks for the name of Avira antivirus program, I will look into it.

ferrija1....well, I guess I worry by nature. :-) Worrying is not a bad thing, you know. lol I wish my kids would 'worry' about things that need worrying about. I worried myself right out of a win pc into an Apple, and now I am sure I will worry myself into getting it all set up as well as I can, before I finally relax and enjoy my Apple, worry free. :-) To answer your question, I will have to install windows at some point, but not right away. I will need windows to work from home with my office server.

serge...so you agree with ferrija that win viruses can't effect the mac, but you point out I could transfer something to another win system or the win side of my mac. Got it! Thanks so much for the two links. Just what I was looking for.

Can I assume from the fact that no one answered my question.......whether my music files that I physically burned from a CD onto my win
dows hard drive, and my photos which I downloaded straight from my camera...... that everyone is uncertain of how to answer that? My thought was, that the risk of those having any type of problem would be low, and since a windows virus would not effect a mac and I would be putting those type of files onto the mac and even if I had windows on the machine, the files would not be going on there, that I should be fine to transfer those over, without thinking about it any more than that? Also, if I email a photo or mp3 file to a friend with a win pc, won't my email program and theirs scan for viruses and malware?

So, I have the MBP up and running. I am just loving it already! Love the weight of it, the shape of it, the metal finish, the screen, the backlit keyboard. And that's before I have even tried most of the software. [g] Of course, any new computer would feel super at this point after using the stuffing out of our old Dell..lol....but I think this may end up being my favorite computer so far!

I was starting to go through Systems Preferences yesterday and I wonder is there a reset somewhere, so that, if I mess up changing something, I can revert all the system preferences back to default?

Going through my System Preferences...

Does anyone use a screensaver?
Love the translucent bar on the desktop image.
Love the ability to customize the dock.
Love Spaces...and looks like a lot of ways to speed up using that...not getting Expose yet, but I will come back to that.

Security settings...any recommendations or links to explaining what is important to know?

Under displays...I set my screen to the maximum brightness but it keeps bringing it back down again for some reason?

Does anyone do anything with the energy saver settings?

adam

1. I bet you could get OS X to recognize the server one way or another. You won't want to go back to Windows, I tried.
2. It's highly unlikely that there are viruses on those images and songs, but you could always scan them first to be sure.
3. Display Brightness: System Preferences > Displays (second row) > Automatically adjust brightness...
4. Screen Savers: I don't have one, whenever I'm going to take a >5 minute break, I just close the lid and it automatically goes into sleep mode. This conserves power and lengthens the backlight's life.
5. Keyboard and Mouse Settings (Sys Prefs): There are a lot of options here... I set right-click to be a two-finger tap, you can also set keyboard illumination settings there and change some keyboard shortcuts...
6. Desktop & Screen Saver (Sys Prefs): I set up a folder in Documents that is filled with desktop backgrounds, then I added it to the list on the left and set it to cycle through the pictures, 1 minute each.

Those are my most important settings, I hope a few help you.

Haver fun with your shiny new laptop.

[adamm321]

Hi ferrija1...thanks for your input. No, I don't think I will be going back to Windows anytime soon. I am loving this Mac already. :-) If I have to put it on this machine to connect to the server at work, I will, but hoping I won't have to.

I did download a free virus ware and scanned the old Dell. It came back with one trojan which was disturbing. It was the only problem and it quarantined it. I was just getting ready to start moving my photo and music files.

Got my screen brightness all straightened out and it is plenty bright enough for me.
Got the screen saver working but I have barely been off the keyboard, so ..lol.

Keyboard/Trackpad preferences are pretty neat, with videos demonstrating how the new trackpad works, right there.

I spent an hour the other night downloading more wallpaper from National Geographic, my favorite. :-)

danny....2 minutes into sleep mode would drive me crazy. I am always in the middle of just sitting here staring at the screen, reading something, and the constant dimming and darkening wouldn't work for me.

tom...the OS screensaver for forests is very nice..have not got to the energy saving settings yet.

Getting there, chipping away. :-)