Software Update

One of the things I usually do early in the setup stage is to do a Software Update check. You can find the Software Update icon in System Preferences.



In the Software Update pane, there is a 'Check now...' button. click it to begin the process of finding the latest updates for your system.



This will open a new window that looks like the following with a list of things to update.



Go ahead and install the updates. The only update that I recommend NOT INSTALLING using Software Updates is any Mac OS X 10.x.x Update (where x is any number). I usually recommend going to the Apple downloads site and downloading the COMBO version of whatever Mac OS X update is required and then installing the update from the downloaded COMBO UPDATE file.

You can go directly to the Mac OS X Updates download by clicking here.

Accounts Preferences

The second thing I do after setting up the Security preferences is usually to setup my Accounts preferences. Open up your System Preferences as usual and click on the Accounts icon.



In the Accounts pane, you will see only one account which is the one you setup when you did the Welcome portion. You may have to click on the LOCK icon at the bottom-left to make changes in this screen.



Here are the things you want to do:

1. Create a new administrator account by clicking the ' + ' just above the LOCK icon. Be sure to give it a name and password you will remember.
2. Select your personal account and create a password for it
3. While your personal account is still selected, UNCHECK the option "Allow user to administer this computer". This will change your account from ADMIN to STANDARD

That is all for the Accounts pane.

-= Further Explanation =-

The reason why I recommend that you downgrade the account you use on a daily basis to a STANDARD account is so that even if that account gets exploited unwittingly by malware or accidental use by friends, it will not be able to do much damage to the system.

You will still need at least one ADMIN account to do things like installing and updating applications. This account should not be for regular use. Any account you create for regular use should be a STANDARD account.

Security Preferences

After stepping through the welcome screen and the various setup questions that you are presented with, you will finally be shown a rather sparse Desktop screen with a Harddisk icon to your right and a Dock at the bottom of your screen.

The first thing I usually do is to setup some Security Preferences. Begin this process by clicking the System Preferences icon on your Dock at the bottom of your screen.



You will then see several rows of icons. Click on the icon that says Security.



There are three tabs in the Security Pane. The first is called General. I usually recommend ticking "Require password..." and "Disable automatic login" as seen below.



The next tab is called FileVault. I usually do NOT recommend turning on FileVault but I strongly recommend setting a master password so that no one else can sabotage you (on purpose or by accident) and lock you out of your own data.

So please do go ahead and click "Change..." to set a master password. Be sure to set something that you will definitely remember. If you do forget the password and you accidentally turn on FileVault, you will lock yourself out of your own data.



That concludes what I do with the Security Pane in System Preferences.

My New White DevBook Setup

I started this blog to document every step that I take to setup a brand new Macintosh computer. A number of friends have asked me how I do it over the years and since I just bought a new MacBook, I thought I might as well begin this documentation process in case it is of some use to others out there.

Especially those of my friends that have just switched from Windows to Leopard. (^_^)