Software to get

[Noonster]

As you may have read in the other post i should be getting my iMac G5 very soon...

Never owned one before but know quite abit about them apart from the software side....

So what software do people recomend for

Downloading
Picture editing
Compressing Files
CD / DVD Burning
etc.. etc...

Also i know they rarely get virus's but what software should i get to prevent them??

[Zammy-Sam]

Use the forum search to find similar threads. Here is one for usefull software:
Fave freeware/shareware
I don't know of any mac virus.. The only virus scanner I know about is Virtex which is for .mac users only.

[CaptainQuark]

Norton Anti Virus is also well worth the money.

Pic editing: I'm a professional graphic designer and swear by Adobe Photoshop. They also do a cut-down version called Photoshop Elements which is obviously a lot cheaper. So I guess it boils down to how much you want to spend and how advanced you are.

Compression: http://www.allume.com/mac/index.html Get Stuffit.

CD/DVD burning: Well there's Toast, but I've never seen the need to use anything more than Apple's built-in software that comes with the System. It's intuitive and easy to use.

[texanpenguin]

Correction to Zammy's post:

The virus scanner's name is Virex. My University provided me with a copy of it, but I quickly realised how useless it is. There are no viruses for Macs. There ARE malicious programs, but if you're even slightly careful, you won't come across any.

As for Downloading programs, nah; Safari is more than capable of downloading things (and resuming them if need be). iGetter has had some praise, but I've never used it.

Picture Editing (at a consumer level) is best left to Graphic Converter, which will likely come with your computer. Above that, there are a number of good ones, but I use Adobe Photoshop, whose price is prohibitive for most.

OS X has file compression built in. Use .ZIPs (Ctrl+Click the file and choose "Archive"), or disk images (.DMG) (in Apple's Disk Utility, which you'll find in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder).

CD and DVD burning is personal preference. OS X is capable of it, but for more extensive options, Firestarter FX is a good free program for CDs, anyway. Most people use Roxio Toast. For video DVDs, iDVD is your best bet.


Most functions you'll want are built into the OS. Things that aren't are very easily found online.

http://www.versiontracker.com is going to be an indispensable resource to you, undoubtedly.

[Ceroc Addict]

Great Mac apps (can find them with a simple Google search)

• GIMP - Image editor
• Transmit - FTP client
• Skype - Voice over IP
• Wiretap - Allows you to record any sound played by your computer. A very nice app with 1001 uses e.g. recording iChat AV conversations for making podcasts
• VueScan - Scanner software (if you have a scanner)
• BlueJ - A nice Java IDE for computer science students

Kap

[CaptainQuark]

I'm a bad, bad man!

[Zammy-Sam]

[symphonix]

Noonster, I hate to disagree with some of the previous posters, but I would not bother buying any anti-virus or maintenance software AT ALL. These are more likely to cause problems than resolve them, and you'd just be wasting your money.
In the PC world, it might be necassary to install a number of system & drive utilities (such as Norton Utilities) but on a Mac it really is just a waste of effort.

Downloading -- If you mean P2P file sharing, we can't help you there. Sorry.
Picture editing -- Depends a bit on what you need, but GraphicConverter is a good-value all-rounder image editing program. Try the shareware version and see how you go. Oh, and don't forget, you've already got iPhoto :-)
Compressing Files -- You could use Alladin's StuffIt, but there are plenty of file-compression tools already included standard that will do nicely.
CD / DVD Burning - Roxio Toast is pretty good, though you'll find the built-in stuff is up to the task.