I've got a bit of fruit!

[lsemmens]

I've been given a iMac(I think) to give the once over, i.e. patch, check for nasties, etc. Anyone with experience with these to give some pointers, please? Haven't touched a mac since W95 was king.

[porkop]

I doubt it will have any nasties.

In the App Store icon, it should tell you if there are any updates needed.

The disk utility, under launcher, should allow you to check the health of the disk partition and allow you to repair it if needed.

I have Ccleaner for OSX installed that allows me to clean the crap (funny that) off my MacBook Pro, only really cache type crap. It doesnt to reg type fixes like the wondows version allows.

good luck

[ol' boy]

OnyX

[mandc]

Top left of desktop click the apple icon...the dropdown menu will include Software Update. This removes the need to go to the app store if you only want to update the OS.

To find out about the hardware go to the About This Mac.....More Info...System Report.
Here you can find all necessary info about the machine.

[lsemmens]

OnyX? Is that another OS for the machines? Unfortunately it is not mine, so I cannot play, otherwise I'd be investigating a 'nix variant anyway.

[mandc]

OnyX? Is that another OS for the machines? Unfortunately it is not mine, so I cannot play, otherwise I'd be investigating a 'nix variant anyway.

It is a very neat free download that analyses your machine for problems...I installed it from oceanboy's recommendation and it seems really good

[ol' boy]

Yeah sorry i didnt expand, i was already getting bar-rated by the missus for being on the lappy again

Yep, as mandc says.
Its the First Go To program on the all the Mac forums, when you wish to increase speed and clean things up

You will find it here:

I have used it a few times, i'm no expert at it, but its not harmful and seems to speed things up a little.
The best thing to speed up a Mac is just the Resources and Ram, if they are overused, it will get the spinning wheel thingy.
Once the Resources are free'd up, everything is click, snap, open

So "Unload" anything that is not critical.
Run Onyx

Should be sweet

[lsemmens]

Thanks guys, the owner has collected the machine and is very happy with the results. Once I sorted out the administration password, (previous owner kindly left it as a password hint) all updates downloaded themselves and after cleaning up old crap all seems well. What is re-assuring/concerning, depending on your POV, is that the various apple fora all seem to think that there is no need for security on them. has me thinking that cloud cuckoo land might be nearer to their home than anywhere else. Yes, it's a nice system, but not so nice that I'd consider it any better than a PC. Sorta like Holden vs Ford.

[ol' boy]

Thanks guys, the owner has collected the machine and is very happy with the results. Once I sorted out the administration password, (previous owner kindly left it as a password hint) all updates downloaded themselves and after cleaning up old crap all seems well. What is re-assuring/concerning, depending on your POV, is that the various apple fora all seem to think that there is no need for security on them. has me thinking that cloud cuckoo land might be nearer to their home than anywhere else. Yes, it's a nice system, but not so nice that I'd consider it any better than a PC. Sorta like Holden vs Ford.

Glad you got it sorted.

In all fairness, i dont compare PC's to Mac, quit simply, its not comparing Apples with.... well you know.
Also i found you need at least 3 months living with and using a Mac exclusively before you can even begin to judge one.
It took me 3 months to start to enjoy it (But i could still do more on PC) it took a further 6 months to a year to learn a lot of the underlaying tricks and short cuts and programs you need.

All i can say is, i can do EVERYTHING on my Mac that i can do on PC, and i'd say it its a more pleasant experience.
Never crashes, like NEVER CRASHES, its Hung maybe 4 times, all those being XBMC.

There is no doubt, they take getting used to, but once done and then you go back and use a PC, you think whats this horrible crap (once again, only because its different).

And if you really still want a Windows experience, you can Dual Boot a Mac with Windows 8 and OSX

[mandc]

Yeah, have to agree with you there oceanboy....I was a total windows fan until I got a damaged macbook pro real cheap and fixed it like new.

I thought I would have a play with the osx and it really converts you after a few weeks. I boot camped win 7 to use both but can't remember when I last bothered using windows on it.

The one thing I hated was its refusal to allow writing to ntfs formatted external HDD's for my win computers and media player. Paragon NTFS fixed that so that now it is pretty much spot on.

As you said..it just doesn't lockup or crash. It's not perfect but I have been converted.

[ol' boy]

Yes the NTFS thing had me for a while too, many little apps that fix it tho.

Other things i much prefer over Windows based laptops are form factor based.
The magnetic power cord
Alloy casing
Super quite
Backlit keyboard
Best F keys ive ever used

The other thing i've notice about OSX compared to Windows are the available programs.
Windows has every $2 programer writing crap for them, so you are bombed with a minefield of choice and software loaded with other rubbish.

OSX on the other hand, generally has a few very well written and thought out programs that do the same things with a lot less hassle.

The E2 Streaming and Editing program called iDreamX just shits all over anything i ever used on Windows.

[lsemmens]

Son was sent on a recording course in Melbourne as part of his duties with the Army Band and came home very impressed with the mac. I actually worked for an Apple centre for a couple of years selling IBM pcs. I had a IIe on my desk. I agree with the stability factor but the form factor locks you into Apple and premium product and pricing. You do have a plethora of stuff (mostly crap) for the PC so choice of product can be daunting. Time was when if you were into graphics based apps (video, photos, drafting) the apple was streets ahead. Not so much now.

[Uncle Fester]

Apple is light years ahead when it come to music production using Logic Pro X.

Thanks Ocean for the heads up on OnyX . Quite a powerful utility and the included Unix manual a nice extra.

I am with mandc using a cheap ex-broken MacBookPro.
OSX has now become my favourite Unix-like, however I am only about 6 months into this and have learned more about hardware than software tips
and I always appreciate more info about it.
Ocean, you mentioned MACs are quiet. This comes at a cost. In the past their hardware has been running too hot. Apple has acknowledged design flaws sometimes with free mother(logic) board replacements but will not admit that it was heat from the fans running too low that has caused the soldering of BGA chips to deteriorate from heat stress and cause fatigue.
I use an app called smcFanControl to keep the fans running at a minimum level, accepting a little noise. Fans should speed up on it's own when required but that should be tested first to be 100% sure. It shows temp and fan speed on the panel.

I also found an old MAC mini (with DVD player/burner) which I use now as my sole multimedia player, ditched the ROKU.
That thing runs ice cold no matter what I do with it. Great design.
Unlike MacBook Pros, you can't find many faulty Minis on Ebay but plenty of working second hand ones. I think that speaks for itself.

WinXP, the only Windows I will ever need is available with a mouse click using Parallels and has never run more stable. I don't even have to reboot it when I move the mouse
OS X and Windows then merge with a maybe worrying but very practical transparency. However it is easy to ensure Windows can not go online and create havoc.

Apple may be spying on you just like Google, M$ and pretty much everybody else.
Simple solution don't use cloud services.

[ol' boy]

Thanks nomeat, my laptop is a MacBook Pro Late 2011 build, so i can not speak for older models.
But appreciate the heads up.
As for pricing, mine was 100% free, some nice people that were in the wrong kindly offered to me. It is much better than Option 2 which included some wood and their heads.
So like all of you, i have come into the OSX world by fortune, instead of spending a fortune! Which probably puts 70% of people off the product.

[fred121]

Hi guys good to see some more happy OSX users. I'm sorry windows users but there is just no comparison between windows and OSX. Osx is just streets ahead, built on a unix foundation which is there to dive into using terminal if you want to play command line jockey, virtually no virus/malware rubbish and the tight control that apple has over software(which is what windows users always gripe about) means that as others have verified Mac systems just keep on keeping on. I have had a couple of macs that have run for a number of years without stopping or needing reboots, sorry but this is not what windows does!. As for value for money probably time that old argument was put out to pasture if you have a look at the current Mac lineup you will see that for what you get i.e. up to date hardware and software Macs are very competitive. If you really can't bring yourself to purchase apple hardware try the Hackintosh route on standard PC you won't be disappointed if you give it a serious go.

[ol' boy]

I for one can vouch for that.
I just turn it on and it works, no looking for dll files, oxc files, service packs, blah blah blah

And, the BEST thing about a MacBook is the power connection!
No more dodgy socket, no more holding it a certain way or having it rip half your laptop off when someone kicks the lead.
Magnetic attachment, light years ahead!