New to Mac, Basic questions

I don't recommend any AV software. Since there is nothing for the AV software to do, why spend all of those those resourses to do nothing. Then some AV software such as Norton can actually cause problems on Mac. Why be bothered.

Yes, Skype works with Mac.

Allan

upgrade to Mountain Lion and you can use Messages to send text to others using Messages (iphone/ipad,macs)

iMessage will only go to apple devices, but you can use Messges for Google Talk and android phones have that on them.

wroger45 wrote:

I have Snow Lion OS.

I think you mean you have "Mountain Lion." Officially known as OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. To confirm, pull down the Apple Menu and select About This Mac.

wroger45 wrote:

What Anti Virus program do you recommend?

None. For the time being, there isn't anything for anti-virus software to detect. Wait until there is an actual threat.

wroger45 wrote:

Face Time appears to soley be for one Apple product to another; therefore, does Skype work with this Mac?

Yes, there is a Skype for Mac <http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/get-skype/>.

wroger45 wrote:

I want to be able to use Safari to TEXT to smart phones. Is there a SMS App that you recommend for Snow Lion? Any help in this area is greatly appreciated as I am new to the smart phone world as well. I have a situation this summer where I will be on a ship that has WiFi but no Cell service, so I can surf but still have a need for text.

Mountain Lion has Messages, which can be used to send iMessages to other OS X and iOS devices. However is there is a particular web site that you've used in the past to send SMS messages to phone numbers that we site will probably still work with Safari. Or, if it doesn't then download Firefox or Chrome.

AV: None, Mac's don't need it.

Skype works on Mac.

Mail: Use some other Mail program as the one built in isn't that good. Try Thunderbird.

Have no idea about a message program as I don't do that.

wroger45 wrote:

Only thing left, how to get a functioning Email Address Book. Eudora is so simple, Apple seems nuts IMHO.

Macs use a centralized address book that any application can hook into, sort of like the Outlook contacts list in Windows. You manage it from the Contacts app (it used to be called Address Book in older versions of OS X). Here are some links:

Mac 101: Address Book

Address Book 6.x: Import contacts (I think it still works similarly)

Mountain Lion: Hands on with Contacts and Calendar

I am a former Eudora user, I even customized it and used rules and scripts, and I'm very happy with Apple Mail now.

wroger45 wrote:

No quick link and no way to manually add an address, you can only add after someone mails to you...I am sure that is not right, but I can't find out how.

OS X offers multiple ways to add new contacts. The slowest way is to open Contacts and type it in, but you'll often find that when you are looking at an street address, phone number, or email in an email message, a web page, a text document, often all you have to do is right-click the text and OS X will ask you if you want to add that data to your Contacts. Once it's added, you can edit that contact at any time using the Contacts application.

Also, if you haven't found out yet, on a Mac laptop, there are multiple ways to "right-click":

- Control-click

- On trackpad: Two-finger click, bottom-right corner click, or bottom-left corner click (depending on how you configure it in your Trackpad system preferences)

- Use a mouse with a right button

- Use a stylus with a secondary-click button

wroger45 wrote:

No way to add to it unless you first get an Email that you can cut and paste. No way to have your mail removed from server once down loaded. All Basic functions for Eudora > 10 years.

Is your email account set up using the POP or IMAP protocol? IMAP has settings for automatically removing mail from the server on a schedule, or once you hit Delete and empty the server trash they are gone. It isn't even a problem, and it works with all email clients (webmail, smartphone, laptop...)

I'm almost thinking you're still using POP, because one of the reasons I was driven away from Eudora is it used to have terrible IMAP support...

Do you use Google Mail at all? If you do you can Sync both Thunderbird and the Mac Address book with Google Contacts.

I use a Android phone and Gmail as my main email (but you don't have to use Gmail at all for emailing. Just have a Gamil acount) so all my contacts are in my Gmail acount. Which syncs with my phone, Mac Address book and the Thundebird address book.

Make a change of any type on my phone, Mac Adress book or thunderbird address book and it gets updated across all devices I own. Phone Win PCs Mac. Even if you use an iPhone you may be able to sync that with the Gmail contacts also.