MS Windows equivalent tasks/program on Mac OS

Follow Kurt's first suggestion and drag the Applications folder to the dock. If view by list, you can scroll down the list and open subfolders.

If you only want certain applications in the list, create a folder. Add aliases of only the applications you want quick access to and put them in that folder. Drag that folder to the dock. View to you preference as list or icon view.

That works much better than launchpad. I agree with Kurt. On a computer, it's very little use to me.

It should show the correct icon if only the Alias is in the folder, but it make take a little time to update and show correctly in the system.

Assuming you're referring to a complete image of your system for restoral, you can do the same using Disk Utility located in the Utilities folder of your Application folder. Create a .dmg image file.

What's the purpose of creating an image of your system? If you're creating for backup, are you not using Time Machine?

To make a bootable clone, use SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner. Both have a free and paid version. I think CCC is still donation, but I'm not sure.

I use SuperDuper! because it originally was the only one of the two which could always make the clone match the source (paid version only). It does that by doing the original clone, which of course takes the longest since it has to do the whole drive. But after that, you use the Smart Update feature and it will only copy to, or remove files from the clone to make it match the source. So later clones go very fast. CCC added the options to do the same thing SuperDuper! does some versions later. Be aware that a bootable clone will erase whatever is currently on a drive or partition you use for the target.

Either can also make a .dmg disk image, which does not require a blank drive or partition to do the clone. Files already on that drive will remain. The downside is the clone isn't bootable since it's a compressed image.

CCC and SuperDuper create clones of the system which can be made bootable. They will remove and add files that are changed to match exactly what's on the drive you are backing up. In other words, an exact copy. You can also schedule backup times and dates.

TM does things a bit differently. It creates an initial copy of your system like SuperDuper, but is not bootable. The biggest difference is the fact that TM does not erase files to mimic your hard drive. It just adds any changes made to it. You can actually go back in time (hours, days, weeks, months) to look for files you might have accidentally deleted or to restore files from an earlier time if you have problems with some that may have gotten corrupted.

You can do a full restore from TM if your main drive fails. You can also do a full restore from and earlier timeframe.

I much prefer the TM method, but if you have a large enough external drive that you can partition or several external drives, you can create both depending on your needs.

In Addition: Let me add that TM is also automatic. Once the initial backup is done, TM is set to back up hourly any changes made as long as it's connected to the TM drive. You won't even realize what's going on.

Microsoft Remote Desktop is identical on Mac and Windows (you can even use the same RDP connector files). If you are using your Mac to connect to Windows machines download it from the link Thomas provided.

Both TM and SuperDuper can backup to a NAS drive, but it will be a disk image and SD won't be bootable.

That's my preference. I do any backups of new files to a separate external drive as soon as I'm done with them, so I have no use for Time Machine myself (25+ years of doing manual backups is a hard habit to break 😉 ). I also have no desire to set aside terabytes of disk space for TM I could use for something else.

You could/should break up the external drive into two partitions. One being large enough to backup the main drive containing the OS and your apps, and the other partition for all of the documents you create, downloaded apps you purchased, etc. Essentially, anything that isn't part of the OS or your apps on the second partition. At least, that the way I prefer to do it.

You then not only have a clone of the main drive you can keep updated to match the main drive with SuperDuper! (much faster with the paid version), but you can also boot to it at any time and clone it back, or as an emergency boot drive to try and repair the main drive with any utilities you may purchase, such as DiskWarrior.

nor is there a partition for the OS in case I need to restore to factory default.

For a Mac that came with Lion, it's there, but hidden.

Let's say that if I ever needed to restore to factory default, how would I go about doing so, provided that I did not use TM or SuperDuper to make a copy of my OS?

You restart and hold down Command+R to boot to the hidden restore partition. Your options are rather limited that way though in how you can restore the main drive. There's also the dumb part that if the drive fails, your ability to restore, and your copy of Lion are also gone. Much better to use SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner to create a clone of the main drive on an independent drive.