Day two of the new Mac is fairing much better than day one! I have found several Open Source packages that seem to fit into the Mac OSX desktop rather nice.
For FTP I chose Cyberduck which is a straight forward FTP client that was quite simple to setup and use.
For text editors I have found a product called Smultron that was highly reviewed but sad to say it has been pulled from development. The creator has left two links, one for a version that runs on OSX 10.5 and a beta version for 10.6. I downloaded the beta version and like a lot of other OSX software it is visually pleasing, yet at the same time somewhat barren. I also downloaded and installed Komodo Edit which is more of a programmer tool, but it works as a text editor.
Before purchasing my new Mac I promised myself to look into Anti-virus software before using the system and after looking around I chose the open source Clam project, on OSX it is known as ClamXav. I can hear the whaling of the Apple crowd right now, stating Apple’s operating systems do not require this sort of protection, but that is hogwash, and may one day make this group of believers look very bad!
I have decided to take Apple’s own warning to heart:
“Security Advice: The Mac is designed with built-in technologies that provide protection against malicious software and security threats right out of the box. However, since no system can be 100 percent immune from every threat, antivirus software may offer additional protection.”
Multiple key loggers are out for OSX, with some being sold to track your children, your spouse, or for nefarious reasons, and spying on your spouse and kids with a key logger just seems wrong to me. Key loggers can also lead to identity theft and monetary loss by having passwords to bank accounts stolen.
Another piece of malware out is called DNSChanger, and since I am not a Mac expert I will recommend that you head over to F-Secure to read more on this issue.
Apple also has a software repository of sorts that included tools from McAfee, ClamAV, and others that I had never heard of, but I felt better browsing these items on Apple’s site as opposed to unknown sites through Google searches.
But that is it for now, and today was a great day on the new Mac! I have enough tools installed on my new Mac that I can now get some serious work done, and if you are a Mac enthusiast or another beginner like me, following my adventure and have some advice or pointers please leave a comment below for all to see.
