[th3champish3r3]

I am really excited in making the switch from pc..I am getting a mac pro. I just have a few questions that I am confused about...
I have seen a lot of peoples desktops and notice that none of them have installers. Lets say I download mozilla camino. It leaves an installer on the desktop but does everyone put the installer in a folder? Or just delete it? I am just wondering because no one has a bunch of installers on their desktop.

Another thing is I am going to be working with alot of text documents and presentations. Will I have a problem importing, working with, and viewing them with Iwork if my peers make them on pcs with microsoft office?

I have heard I can import songs from a friends ipod even if the songs were put on the ipod from a pc. Or from an external hard drive. On windows there is a freeware app that allows you to do this from any ipod called idump. Is there anything like this for mac? Or does the mac os do this without any extra software?

If I need to delete an application, I am confused on how to do this. I have heard just drag it to the trash from the applications folder. Wont doing this leave traces of the application behind? Since there isnt a wizard that deletes applications.

In leopard I keep hearing that I dont need drivers for printers, scanners, etc. How true is this? Would I be able to plug in a new printer without installing it and be able to print?

Thanks for all the help guys and sorry for all the confusion.

[slpdLoad]

When you download software, it usually mounts as a DMG, which is just a folder with the application in it. To install, either run the installer on the DMG, or drag the Application to the Applications folder, and then delete the DMG.

iWork is compatible with Office documents. see apple.com/iwork

You cannot take songs off of an iPod and put them on your computer, due to copyright issues. You can however add songs from an external hard drive if that's where your media is now.

To delete an application, just drag it to the trash. If you want to get rid of some of the files it leaves behind (preferences, application support files), you might look into something like AppZapper (shareware program).

You won't need to worry about drivers for printers because they will already be installed on your computer. A fresh install of OS X installs a little over a gigabyte of drivers. If you end up not having the correct driver, Print Setup Utility will usually take care of downloading the appropriate drivers off the internet.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by th3champish3r3 

Another thing is I am going to be working with alot of text documents and presentations. Will I have a problem importing, working with, and viewing them with Iwork if my peers make them on pcs with microsoft office?

In leopard I keep hearing that I dont need drivers for printers, scanners, etc. How true is this? Would I be able to plug in a new printer without installing it and be able to print?

iWork is mostly compatible with MS Office, but not 100%. If you're depending on it for school or business, buy a copy of Office.

Depends on the device. OS X, like Windows, includes a lot of drivers for common devices. For some devices you'll still need to download drivers from the manufacturer, and for others there aren't drivers available for OS X at all. Make sure devices are labeled OS X 10.4 or 10.5 compatible before buying them.

[TravisReynolds]

Originally Posted by th3champish3r3 

I am really excited in making the switch from pc..I am getting a mac pro. I just have a few questions that I am confused about...
I have seen a lot of peoples desktops and notice that none of them have installers. Lets say I download mozilla camino. It leaves an installer on the desktop but does everyone put the installer in a folder? Or just delete it? I am just wondering because no one has a bunch of installers on their desktop.

Another thing is I am going to be working with alot of text documents and presentations. Will I have a problem importing, working with, and viewing them with Iwork if my peers make them on pcs with microsoft office?

I have heard I can import songs from a friends ipod even if the songs were put on the ipod from a pc. Or from an external hard drive. On windows there is a freeware app that allows you to do this from any ipod called idump. Is there anything like this for mac? Or does the mac os do this without any extra software?

If I need to delete an application, I am confused on how to do this. I have heard just drag it to the trash from the applications folder. Wont doing this leave traces of the application behind? Since there isnt a wizard that deletes applications.

In leopard I keep hearing that I dont need drivers for printers, scanners, etc. How true is this? Would I be able to plug in a new printer without installing it and be able to print?

Thanks for all the help guys and sorry for all the confusion.

well for #1 if your like me i like to delete the installer right after i download it. and second now leopard puts all downloads into a dowload folder

#2 When your done with the file, go to export it in the "file" tab and export and u should see what kind of export u want to. and just find one that can be also opened on windows.

#3 look at my blog article Top 10 iTunes Plug-ins. There is one exactly for that.

#4 and yes u do just drag it into the trash, but if thats not enough there is one called app zapper that works better

and then i dont know aobut the fifth one because i do not own a pritner

[jamil5454]

Originally Posted by th3champish3r3

I am really excited in making the switch from pc..I am getting a mac pro. I just have a few questions that I am confused about...
I have seen a lot of peoples desktops and notice that none of them have installers. Lets say I download mozilla camino. It leaves an installer on the desktop but does everyone put the installer in a folder? Or just delete it? I am just wondering because no one has a bunch of installers on their desktop.

The first thing to keep in mind when using OS X is that it's not Windows. The vast majority of applications for Mac are all self-contained in one package file. This is the file you download and drag to your Applications folder to install. The benefit here is that uninstallation is simply a matter of dragging that package file (.app extension) to the trash.

Originally Posted by th3champish3r3

Another thing is I am going to be working with alot of text documents and presentations. Will I have a problem importing, working with, and viewing them with Iwork if my peers make them on pcs with microsoft office?

iWork claims to be Office comptabile, and it is to a certain extent, but Microsoft Office '08 for Mac should be more compatible. Either way, you should open your documents on a PC with Office just to make sure everything is formatted correctly before you give a presentation.

Originally Posted by th3champish3r3

I have heard I can import songs from a friends ipod even if the songs were put on the ipod from a pc. Or from an external hard drive. On windows there is a freeware app that allows you to do this from any ipod called idump. Is there anything like this for mac? Or does the mac os do this without any extra software?

This has been addressed.

Originally Posted by th3champish3r3

If I need to delete an application, I am confused on how to do this. I have heard just drag it to the trash from the applications folder. Wont doing this leave traces of the application behind? Since there isnt a wizard that deletes applications.

As explained above, simply drag to the trash. Some of the bigger applications will come with uninstallers. The general rule is that if an application needs to be "installed" (ie with a traditional installer) then it will also need to be "uninstalled".

Originally Posted by th3champish3r3

In leopard I keep hearing that I dont need drivers for printers, scanners, etc. How true is this? Would I be able to plug in a new printer without installing it and be able to print?

It depends on the printer, but if you had to bet on it, chances are it will work painlessly. Almost all recent consumer printers have Mac drivers so this shouldn't be an issue.

[SierraDragon]

Originally Posted by th3champish3r3 

In leopard I keep hearing that I dont need drivers for printers, scanners, etc. How true is this? Would I be able to plug in a new printer without installing it and be able to print?

What Mark said. Generally prior to using any new printer you should download and install the very latest driver from the printer vendor; no big deal, such installation is easy. It is NOT a good idea to simply rely on whatever by-definition-old drivers came with the OS.

-Allen Wicks