Setting up a new Mac

I've set up two MacBooks recently, and I thought it might be a good idea to gather all of my background research into one place. There's no magic or imposition here, just my personal opinion on some of the things to consider when setting up a new Mac.

1. Leopard

Tiger (10.4) is good, but Leopard (10.5) is better in some key areas - the ones that I found significant (and upgrade-worthy) were Time Machine (incremental backups) and the improved Quartz Composer (Which I would definitely recommend for anyone who wants to play with interactive graphics).

2. Security

The basic approach here is to create a 'Working' user account with no administrator privileges and to use that for everyday use, and to have an 'Admininstrator' user account with administrator privileges. Different passwords and some adjustments to the default settings should give you a pretty safe computer. I followed these intructions from MacGeekery:

http://www.macgeekery.com/tips/security/basic_mac_os_x_security

3. USB Boot Drive

It is possible to install a bootable (on Intel Macs) version of Leopard onto a 16 Gig USB Flash drive. It can take a while to install on slower drives, but the resulting portability and assurance is great. All I did was follow these instructions from Maciverse:

http://www.maciverse.com/install-boot-os-x-leopard-from-a-usb-flash-drive.html

Once done, you insert the USB drive, hold the alt button and power up, then select the USB drive.

4. Bootable Time Machine Drive

Time Machine makes incremental backup easy, but the default setup means that you have to do a restore when things go wrong. I'm much happier if there's the minimum to do when stressed by one failure, and so here's how to make the Time Machine drive bootable:

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=2008011623365026

http://www.thegraphicmac.com/create-bootable-time-machine-backup-drive

The one point of concern here is that when Time machine fills the drive, then there is no space for working files. One solution seems to be to store a sacrificial 1 Gig (or more) of files in a folder that can be deleted when required. Time Machine does not overwrite files, so this should help.

5. Applejack

When Mac OSX falls over, then probably the worst circumstance is when something is wrong during the Unix start-up, or if you don't get as far as the GUI starting up. Applejack provides a simple trouble-shoot or clean-up without requiring any knowledge of the Unix command-line at all.

http://applejack.sourceforge.net/

http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=2005041817191411

Note that you access Applejack by holding down Command+S (Command is that 'propeller' symbol) during a reboot, and then typing 'applejack' when the text prompt on the black screen appears. Then type 'a' for auto. I've only used it twice, but it rescued me each time!

6. Cocktail

Cocktail does all of the Unix routine maintenance jobs that should happen when a machine is left on all the time - but if you turn off your Mac then they never happen. It also does a lot more besides!

http://www.maintain.se/cocktail/index.php

I'm told that a partial free alternative is Maintenance ( http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/16790 ), but I've always used Cocktail and have no experience of Maintenance.

7. SuperDuper!

SuperDuper! makes backups easy - and once you've done that first backup, then only changed files are backed up, so it is much faster for the second backup (unless you have changed a lot of files in between the two backups!)

http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html

8. QuickSilver

Quicksilver provides a way to control applications on a Mac with the qwerty keyboard instead of the mouse. Once learned (and it isn't difficult) it can really speed up many common activities. Definitely worth trying out, and persisting with, especially on a MacBook.

http://docs.blacktree.com/quicksilver/what_is_quicksilver

http://vjarmy.com/archives/2004/03/quicksilver_a_b.php

http://www.blacktree.com/

9. Blogs

You will have noticed that there's quite a few links to Mac-oriented blogs in this post - you will find them an invaluable resource for finding out, keeping up to date, and more...

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