My First MAC

[Tycoonguy]

I Got my first mac as a gift from my parents. I got the 20-inch 2.0Hz

It runs awesome. But I have a few questions

1. I was told I should delete language files, to help run faster is this true?

2.I tried to download a screen saver (http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/icons_screensavers/plasmatubemotionlightscreensaver.html) it them told me to place it in the screen saver file when I tried to do that it said the volume could not be found. any ideas?

3.Any fun programs i should try out?

 

[72930]

If you have enough HD space, there's no point deleting the languages. There are apps that can do it, but the best way to strip the OS is to put in the Leopard disk and reinstall it, unticking the languages/drivers/etc you don't want.

 

[IMcD23]

1. I was told I should delete language files, to help run faster is this true? yes

2.I tried to download a screen saver (http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/icons_screensavers/plasmatubemotionlightscreensaver.html) it them told me to place it in the screen saver file when I tried to do that it said the volume could not be found. any ideas? elaborate more.

3.Any fun programs i should try out? what do you want to do with the computer? what are the programs for?

 

[bjett92]

Welcome to the Mac light side! And congrats on the iMac.

1. I was told I should delete language files, to help run faster is this true?

Yea, unless you speak hundreds of languages (some are really obscure) then you don't need them all installed. Monolingual is a great program that will allow you to check the languages you want to remove.

2.I tried to download a screen saver (http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/icons_screensavers/plasmatubemotionlightscreensaver.html) it them told me to place it in the screen saver file when I tried to do that it said the volume could not be found. any ideas?

I looked at the screensaver you tried to install. I just dragged the quartz composer file and the folder onto the "Screensavers" folder to the right of them. Then go to your screen saver pref pane in System Preferences and it should be listed on your screensavers. It worked perfectly for me.

3.Any fun programs i should try out?

There are tons of free awesome little apps that are fun and sometimes useful. Check out this and this, they are some lists of the best OS X apps.

 

[tersono]

1. I was told I should delete language files, to help run faster is this true? yes

Uninstalling un-needed languages will save disk space but WILL NOT make your machine run faster.

2.I tried to download a screen saver (http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/icons_screensavers/plasmatubemotionlightscreensaver.html) it them told me to place it in the screen saver file when I tried to do that it said the volume could not be found. any ideas?

'

Not sure exactly what you tried... You should make a folder in ~/library (that's the library folder in your user directory) called 'Screen Savers'
and put your screensaver file in there. Do not add it to the screensaver folder in the main /Library directory (the one directly off the root of your hard drive) as this is the system area and should not be altered unless you REALLY know what you're doing.

 

[kaltsasa]

Escape Velocity Nova - Must have
Netflix Freak - Must Have if you use netflix
Scrivener- Must have if you write
Write Room - Neat full screen writing (I use both Write room and Scrivener for different things, Scrivener does have a sudo full screen mode)
Delicious Library - Must have for media management
Disco - Ok disk burning app, looks really neat though, I wouldnt buy it at full price but I got a deal at Maczot once
Toast - The premier mac disk burning solution

Maczot.com - deal a day kinda like woot

VisualHub - if you deal with a variety of media formats this is your conversion angel
VLC- cross platform, you need it
TextWrangler - great text editor and it's free
Colloquy - the new king of Mac IRC apps (sorry ircle you're dead these days it seems)
Checkbook - Virtual Checkbook
Graphic Converter - It's like visualhub for photos, convert, basic editing, etc...
iClip - Add additional clipping capacity to your mac
iStopMotion - Premier mac Stop Motion application

Inside Mac Games - Your mac game information source
Mac Game Store - Place to purchase your Mac games

Plus you can always find something fun or new or useful at Version Tracker and Apple's download site.

 

[IMcD23]

Hey, thanks for the apps, i have not heard of most of them.

 

[EricNau]

PS - it's "mac" or "Mac" - not MAC which is a networking acronym for Media Access Control and applies to both Mac and Windows based systems.

I hope you are enjoying your new iMac.

 

[MacNerd12]

Congrats on the new Mac. I just got the same one for Christmas, and i upgraded it to 3GB of RAM the other day. it runs like a beauty (it still did before the upgrade)

Hope you enjoy it, I know you will.

BTW this is my first Mac too. I love them, being a guru of PCs, I knew how to use Macs before I even had one.

 

[bluecluee]

Thanks kaltsasa! Great concise starter list

 

[Tycoonguy]

Thanks for all the help everyone.