[ashish.uno]

Originally Posted by tilt

Ashish, congratulations on your purchase.

Your questions are perfectly usual for someone moving from the Windows world, but please note that for Mac OS X you do not need any of those other utilities.

Please be especially wary of any utility that claims to "clean" or "optimise" of "defrag" or prevent any kind of malware or things like that - almost all of them are nag-ware in disguise and prey on Windows users who migrate to the Mac.


If you absolutely feel you need some plug-ins etc., I would recommend using Safari (or Google Chrome if you prefer) and using those browsers themselves to look for plug-ins and extensions compatible with them and use some of them. A couple that come to mind are AdBlock or YouTube downloaders etc.

And finally, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, you do not need anything other than standard vanilla Mac OS X itself. Do not download or install any other utilities, however tempting they may seem.

Enjoy your new Mac, and welcome to the community.

Cheers

Thank you for the kind words tilt.
I myself have been a stickler for keeping my systems clean and have no intention to install unnecessary add-ons. I like safari as it is and don't want chrome etc.
However to clean caches etc. is there something out there? Also the downloads resume on safari, but is there any other faster download manager which can break files in batches and download a little quicker?

[extreme_torque]

Ordered a macbook air yesterday from flipkart. Looking forward to my transition from windows to Mac.

[h@r$h@l]

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

Ordered a macbook air yesterday from flipkart. Looking forward to my transition from windows to Mac.

Did you got for 11" or 13"?

What was the deal? I remember seeing upto 11% off on FK.

Regards,

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by h@r$h@l

Did you got for 11" or 13"?

What was the deal? I remember seeing upto 11% off on FK.

Regards,

13 inch one for 63k's

[tilt]

Originally Posted by ashish.uno

Thank you for the kind words tilt.
I myself have been a stickler for keeping my systems clean and have no intention to install unnecessary add-ons. I like safari as it is and don't want chrome etc.
However to clean caches etc. is there something out there? Also the downloads resume on safari, but is there any other faster download manager which can break files in batches and download a little quicker?

Ashish, you're most welcome.

Mac OSX cleans itself, there is no need for any external cleaner or cache-deleter etc. Just make sure you keep at least 20-25% of your hard drive empty, that's all.

Macs do all the background maintenance stuff themselves, but if you are absolutely insistent upon downloading a tool, just to have some fun or something, download Onyx. Just make sure you are downloading the latest stable version for your version of the OS (Mavericks 10.9 I presume).

Again, Onyx (or the like) are not really necessary at all. Macs just work.

Cheers

[ampere]

Originally Posted by tilt

Ashish, congratulations on your purchase.
If you absolutely feel you need some plug-ins etc., I would recommend using Safari (or Google Chrome if you prefer) and using those browsers themselves to look for plug-ins and extensions compatible with them and use some of them. A couple that come to mind are AdBlock or YouTube downloaders etc.

Earlier I used to always rely on Chrome on Mac. But the recent Safari seems to have caught up. I thought it's quite fast and doesn't lag anywhere.

[QUOTE ] Do not download or install any other utilities, however tempting they may seem.[/quote]
There is one which one must install. And that is Quicksilver.

[Sudipto-S-Team]

Ampere - looks like you and I share three brands in common. Camera, car and computer :-)

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Sudipto-S-Team

Ampere - looks like you and I share three brands in common. Camera, car and computer :-)

:-)

I shifted to MAC about 7-8 years back and since then it's been a joyride. In fact 3-4 years in that time frame I had Ubuntu on office laptop and no wndows at all. Now, only the office laptop has Windows. For every thing else at home its a Mac. A MacBook and a mini.

[tilt]

Originally Posted by ampere

*SNIP* There is one which one must install. And that is Quicksilver.

Quicksilver, Alfred, et al would not fall under the "cleaning and maintenance" category. My response was limited to those specific categories because that was what the question was about.

That said, both Quicksilver and Alfred are great utilities; however, my recommendation would be to let the new Mac user just use plain vanilla Mavericks for a while so that he can get used to it. He can also see what Mavericks by itself is capable of, and then if he still needs Quicksilver or Alfred or the like, go ahead and install them.

Please do remember that Quicksilver and Alfred were made when Mac OS X did not provide similar functionality by itself. Now that Mac OSX has Launchpad, Spotlight, Spaces and Expose built-in, there may not be such a pressing need for other software to do those functions.

Of course, personal preference may vary

Cheers

[Monolithic]

Originally Posted by ashish.uno

Thank you for the kind words tilt.

I myself have been a stickler for keeping my systems clean and have no intention to install unnecessary add-ons. I like safari as it is and don't want chrome etc.

However to clean caches etc. is there something out there? Also the downloads resume on safari, but is there any other faster download manager which can break files in batches and download a little quicker?

You can go to system preferences and then privacy to clear cache and select other settings.

[Sudipto-S-Team]

Originally Posted by ampere

:-)

I shifted to MAC about 7-8 years back and since then it's been a joyride.

I did the transition at home around the same time too. Right now I am on my second iMac :-) Once you eat an Apple, you don't like bananas any more ;-)

[schakravarthy]

Of late my MacBook has started behaving erratically. The trackpad seems to have grown its own mind. It randomly selects icons/text, refuses to function when I double tap and sometimes doesn't work at all. The misbehaviour extends even to the buttons(?) below the trackpad.
Reboot doesn't solve the problem.
Help anyone?

[ampere]

Originally Posted by schakravarthy

Of late my MacBook has started behaving erratically. The trackpad seems to have grown its own mind. It randomly selects icons/text, refuses to function when I double tap and sometimes doesn't work at all. The misbehaviour extends even to the buttons(?) below the trackpad.
Reboot doesn't solve the problem.
Help anyone?

Check with traditional mouse. If all seem OK, then you know it may be a hardware problem.

[schakravarthy]

Originally Posted by ampere

Check with traditional mouse. If all seem OK, then you know it may be a hardware problem.

Culprit was a swollen battery. Seems it was pressing against the trackpad. Removing the battery makes the problem go away.
Downside, I now have to spend close to Rs.10k for a replacement!

[ampere]

Originally Posted by schakravarthy

Culprit was a swollen battery. Seems it was pressing against the trackpad. Removing the battery makes the problem go away.
Downside, I now have to spend close to Rs.10k for a replacement!

Very possible. Happened to me as well. (Now why I did not think that first) Battery might have gone bust. I replaced it after 5 years.