Little bit of Mac help

mfin
mfin Posts: 6,729
edited September 2009 in The bottom bracket
Been given a MacBook (1.83ghz core duo) the white one to do some web testing on....

Couple of things, first, any pointers to free anti-virus programs like Avast and Avg for the PC???

Plus... anyone know of a free Hard Disk activity led Icon program?

Ive searched around but not come up trumps on either of these, OS 10.4.11 by the way.

Also, if Im just hammering browsers (checking rendering quirks) is there much advantage in upgrading to Leopard or SnowLeopard or whatever its called, and at what costs (do I just go to apple.com) ??

If someone could spare a minute to answer some of the above then that would be great, I also assume a lot of mac users dont even run anti-virus products.

Comments

  • Puzzler
    Puzzler Posts: 73
    Never had or needed anti virus software in all my mac owning years. Just such good computers, when I have to use a pc I hate it.

    Sorry, no idea on any of the the other questions.
  • mfin
    mfin Posts: 6,729
    Yeah, I used to use Macs a hell of a lot but not much any more... once you're in the programs you use everything's much of a muchness to me nowadays.

    Could definitely do with a HDD led icon type thing though, I need to see when its mucking about so I know when there's a reason the responsiveness has dropped off and the machine hasn't hung.
  • 2Phat4Rapha
    2Phat4Rapha Posts: 238
    AntiVirus ..
    http://www.clamxav.com/index.php?page=dl

    Disk activity ...
    http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/9389

    There's very little chance you'll get a virus that will affect the Mac itself. Some Word Macros that can affect old Microsnot Word. The Mac is inherently more difficult to infect but it's also mostly below the script kiddies' radar. They'll be back one day I guess but right now not a prob.

    Run as many updaters as you can for your release (Software Update in the Apple menu). Safari is usually way ahead of many web sites so it's not a bad testing environment. Back up the tests with FireFox and the dreadful IE of course.

    PM me if you like. I breath Mac!

    Ian

    www.wheelingwrinlkies.co.uk
    I may be a minority of one but that doesn't prevent me from being right.
    http://www.dalynchi.com
  • mfin
    mfin Posts: 6,729
    Ahhh brilliant, disk icon bit solved, installed, lovely, cheers for that.

    Seems little point with the AV then, I'll PM if I get some more questions. Ta.
  • balthazar
    balthazar Posts: 1,565
    iStat Menus:

    http://www.islayer.com/apps/istatmenus/

    is a free app which covers any system monitoring needs, including disk activity. It is well supported and updated for Snow leopard, if you do upgrade. I really miss it if I'm using somebody else's Mac.

    I agree with the other respondents: don't install AV, it's unnecessary.

    I also have a 1st generation MacBook like yours, as a general use second computer. With Snow Leopard installed, it seems to run faster and more efficiently than ever. Safari, particularly, appears to be on amphetamines. I strongly recommend the upgrade (especially as you can technically just use the £25 Snow leopard upgrade disk, without installing Leopard first).

    I could go on, but I'll mention just one useful browsing utility: ClickToFlash.

    http://rentzsch.github.com/clicktoflash/

    If Safari ever crashes, it's usually Flash that causes it. This utility prevents Flash loading unless you explicitly choose to. It also opens YouTube videos in QuickTime Player.
  • mfin
    mfin Posts: 6,729
    The £25 Snow Leopard thing... can I buy that from somewhere and it will get me fully upgrade then, is there a trick to it or anything?
  • balthazar
    balthazar Posts: 1,565
    mfin wrote:
    The £25 Snow Leopard thing... can I buy that from somewhere and it will get me fully upgrade then, is there a trick to it or anything?
    Apparently yes, no trick. From John Siracusa's review:

    "Given Apple's history in this area, no one should have been surprised to find out that Apple chose the much simpler option: the $29 "upgrade" DVD of Snow Leopard will, in fact, install on any supported Mac, whether or not it has Leopard installed. It will even install onto an entirely empty hard drive.

    To be clear, installing the $29 upgrade to Snow Leopard on a system not already running a properly licensed copy of Leopard is a violation of the end-user license agreement that comes with the product. But Apple's decision is a refreshing change: rewarding honest people with a hassle-free product rather than trying to punish dishonest people by treating everyone like a criminal."

    Of course, there's an ethical issue, but that's your choice. I already had Leopard, so can't vouch personally, but the internets are full of discussion about it.
  • mfin
    mfin Posts: 6,729
    One thing I have noticed, AntiVirus apart is that email I have on my PCs coming through both Windows Mail and Thunderbird is auto filtered against junk very well cos I have Kaspersky Internet Security installed... should I go for some AV or Int Sec product that will do the same? For eg. one send and receive brought in 30 junk emails that there's no way I would have seen on my PC... and this is just down to a standard install of Kaspersky. Any comments or advice???? Cheers.
  • bompington
    bompington Posts: 7,674
    Surely junk emails wouldn't dare sully the Holy Mac!
  • balthazar
    balthazar Posts: 1,565
    mfin wrote:
    One thing I have noticed, AntiVirus apart is that email I have on my PCs coming through both Windows Mail and Thunderbird is auto filtered against junk very well cos I have Kaspersky Internet Security installed... should I go for some AV or Int Sec product that will do the same? For eg. one send and receive brought in 30 junk emails that there's no way I would have seen on my PC... and this is just down to a standard install of Kaspersky. Any comments or advice???? Cheers.
    Try SpamSieve

    http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/9116/spamsieve

    It'll work with whichever email client you prefer.

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