Mac pro ordered!

Andy

If you are running Leopard the new firewall is even easier to use. Leopard includes an Application Firewall to control connections made to your computer from other computers on the network. In most firewall software, you must know the network ports and protocols an application uses to communicate to control that application's network connections. The Leopard Firewall is an Application Firewall that lets you control connections on a per-application basis rather than a per-port basis. This makes it easier to stop undesirable applications from taking control of network ports that have been opened for legitimate applications.

It is useful to set the Firewall to block incoming ICMP "pings" by enabling Stealth Mode in the Advanced settings.

IPFW is still there and can be configured from the command line; the new Application Firewall does not overrule rules set with IPFW; if IPFW blocks an incoming packet, the Application Firewall will not process it. However, you don't have to worry about IPFW.


To configuring your Apple Application Firewall


1. Choose System Preferences from the Apple menu.
2. Click Security.
3. Click the Firewall tab.
4. Choose what mode you would like the firewall to use.

There's three modes of operation unless you are really wanting to use some really advanced features I'd go for no 2.

1. Allow all incoming connections:

This is the most "open" mode. Mac OS X will not block any incoming connections to your computer. This is the default mode for Leopard. If you upgraded from Mac OS X 10.4.x, your Application Firewall will default to this mode.

2. Allow only essential services:

This is the most conservative mode. Mac OS X will block all connections except a limited list of services essential to the operation of your computer.

The system services that are still allowed to receive incoming connections are:

configd, which implements DHCP and other network configuration services (probably need it)

mDNSResponder, which implements Bonjour

racoon, which implements IPSec (I don't use this)

3. Set access for specific services and applications:

This mode offers you the most flexibility. You can choose whether to allow or deny incoming connections for any application on your system. You can click the "+" button to add an application to this list. You can select an application and click the "-" button to remove it. Control-clicking on the application name gives you the option to reveal the application's location in Finder. Once you've added an application to the list, you can choose whether to allow or deny incoming connections for that application. You can even add command line applications to this list. When you add an application to this list, Mac OS X digitally signs the application (if it has not been signed already). If the application is later modified, you will be prompted to allow or deny incoming network connections to it. Most applications do not modify themselves, and this is a safety feature that notifies you of the change.

ATB Rotf

In terms of security?

Well as stated if you do get a virus in an email then it will be as an attachment.

The Mac OS will nut bug you as much as XP or Vista however when you are opening an application for the first time it will war you.

Also bear in mind that only users with a suitable administrator password will be able to install an software thatan change or does change any system architecture. This includes everything. Hense why bots and viruses are quite difficult to install by accident, and it certainly cannot be installed with out someone putting the password in.

If you do choose to install Bootcamp with windows then windows will be open to the same risks as any other PC. However at worse this will only damage the windows partition. In other words if you run into trouble simply nuke bootcamp.

Seriously for the first few months I would seriously suggest running the mac as it comes out of the box antivirus is unnessery at this stage, there might come a time but not yet.

Other interesting tidbits:

http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/isync/

The above link is compatible phones with Leopard. Simply turn on bluetooth on the mac and the phone and connect the two, never worry about your sim card again.

Sharing. At some point you'll get a mac laptop (Trust me you will) sharing is so simple its almost funny. When both macs are on they will appear in each others finder window. Click on it and the harddrive for the mac appears on your desktop as if it were the internal one. Thats how to share files on a mac.

www.macupdate.com

The above link for updates and shareware/freeware

My favourites.
littlesnitch Checks all outgoing connections and warns you if needed.
cyberduck. FTP uploader
imagewell. Small programme for quick edits of jpegs, will then upload to FTP etc for you.
Teleport. Allows you to use one mouse and keyboard for multiple macs. Over the network, totally and utterly awsome.
isquint. Will convert multiple video format to AppleTV or iPod then put it into itunes for you.
Linotype FontexplorerX. Looks after fonts in a very nice way.
Handbrake. Rips DVDs to your harddrive
CombinePDFs. Does what it says


As you are into music Andy a little app called audacity is quite handy.

Also try and get your head around soundfonts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SoundFont

Basically you are going to be blown away with the amount of built in midi in quicktime, but when the noise you want is not available soundfonts comes in.

Cheers, folks - loads to read inbetween the piano lessons!