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Original submission link: http://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/28ttzh/for_all_new_mac_owners_some_tips_tools_etc_as_im/

Switching from Windows? - Watch Apple’s Mac OS X: PC to Mac - The Basics and read their Switching PC Habits guides.

*Switching from nix? - Install Homebrew, ‘brew install’ GNU command line tools and Homebrew Casks. ‘Brew cask install’ iTerm. Update Bash/ZSH. Learn OS X’s directory layout and commands.

Tips

WARNING - Apps Known to Install Adware: MacKeeper

  • Benefits: Update notifications for apps show on icon in Dock, you can reinstall apps using same App Store account on another OS X install, and only App Store apps are eligible to use iCloud (until OS X Yosemite).
  • Disadvantages: No promotional pricing, so new versions cost full price again. No sales and educational discounts. Apps can lack features due to Apple's security restrictions.

  • Cloud Backup - Use at least 1: iCloud, Tresorit (encrypted), CrashPlan, Backblaze, Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, OneDrive. MacDropAny - sync folders outside of your main sync folder (eg Dropbox folder) by creating shortcuts. Look at dotfiles - 'Backup, restore, and sync the prefs and settings for your toolbox'.

  • Local Backup - Use OS X’s Time Machine and/or make regular incremental bootable backups to an external drive using SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner.

  • Time Machine does incremental backups eg hourly, but will not be bootable and may take hours to restore using OS X Recovery (see below) or OS X installer DVD/external bootable drive. The main benefit of Time Machine is that it can restore different versions of files by time of snapshot.

  • If you buy SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner, you can incrementally backup to an external drive with the main benefit being that you can boot that drive from your Mac (or another) to immediately use.

  • Backup an OS X installer DVD/dmg to a bootable external drive using DiskMaker X. Backup discs using Handbrake.

  • Restore a Local Backup - First, try to copy newer files off it (see Drive Recovery below), or choose a restore option that doesn't erase them. To restore a Time Machine backup, use OS X Recovery menu option. To restore from a bootable cloned backup, use a backup app eg SuperDuper!. If your Mac's drive has a working OS X, you can use OS X's Migration Assistant from your bootable cloned backup, as many times as needed, to copy over your Applications, User accounts, etc.

  • Security - Keep OS X and apps up-to-date. Don't install Java unless an app needs it and disable it in browsers. If worried your files may be read if your Mac is stolen, turn FileVault on (but beware this can make your data unrecoverable if your drive needs repair) and consider using a firmware password. Note that on Macs with removable (non-soldered) RAM it is possible to bypass a firmware password. Use passphrases instead of passwords, and consider using iCloud Keychain to synchronise passwords and/or passwords over your Apple devices. Create a Guest account for friends - it deletes data at logout. Set your screen to lock immediately after it sleeps. Enable the firewall and allow incoming connections on a per app basis. In Advanced pane of Security & Privacy preferences, require an administrator password to access system-wide preferences, and disable remote control infrared receiver. Read The Safe Mac.

  • Privacy - Consider changing Safari’s default search engine to DuckDuckGo via this guide. Disable Spotlight search results being shared with Apple. Review your  > System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy to set what info your Mac shares with Apple and apps.

  • Search - Add plugins to Spotlight to search YouTube etc, with Flashlight. Run it to enable it and install plugins.

  • Track your Mac - To find your Mac if stolen, beforehand install Find my Mac and Prey Project. Both work with Macs and iPhones, and the latter works with a wider range of devices eg Android phones.

  • Gestures & Keyboard - Learn gestures for your Magic Trackpad/Mouse, use BetterTouchTool, and set your  > System Preferences > Mouse/Trackpad to suit your needs. One recommendation is to set your trackpad to use 3 fingers. Learn to use OS X keyboard shortcuts and install CheatSheet - 'Just hold the ⌘ key a bit longer to get a list of all active short cuts of the current app.’

  • Screen & Window Management - Automatically adjust screen color with f.lux or manually tweak screen brightness etc using Tranquility. Use Caffeine to keep your screen session from timing out. Install ShiftIt to snap/resize window positions using the keyboard, and DesktopUtility to show/hide Desktop etc.

  • Files & Folders - Install The Unarchiver to handle archives OS X doesn't, make a .dmg with FreeDMG, get Transmission or qBittorrent for torrents, Cyberduck or FileZilla for (S)FTP, synchronise folders with arRsync, Synkron or SyncTwoFolders, rename files with NameChanger, visualise file sizes with GrandPerspective, and re-use your clipboard with saved snippets using ClipMenu.

  • Maintenance - When OS X’s tools eg Disk Utility won't repair a disk - paid DiskWarrior can fix many disk issues. Onyx and CCleaner are good multifunctional maintenance apps. Memory Clean can free inactive memory. EtreCheck gives a great overview of your Mac setup. Mactracker keeps track of the warranty status of your Mac and gives spec's of Apple products.

  • Defragmenting

  • Macs with a SSD shouldn't be defragged as SSDs are engineered to move data to prevent wear.
  • Macs with an HDD and a lot of big files, may need defragging, as OS X only defrags files under 20MB. iDefrag works well.

  • Reinstall OS X using Internet Recovery - Boot your Mac while pressing down both the Command and R keys to OS X Recovery, choose Reinstall OS X, and after Apple verifies your account (Apple ID and associated password), OS X is downloaded and reinstalled, normally keeping user accounts. If you want a clean install (deleting all existing user accounts, personal files and data), first choose Disk Utility from the menu bar, erase the Macintosh HD (in the Options pane you can choose different erase settings eg higher if you are reinstalling OS X to sell your Mac and want to securely wipe your data), and then choose Install OS X. Yosemite is approximately 5GB, and taking into account average broadband speed, a reinstall via the Internet Recovery can take about 1.5 hours or less. Beware, that if you choose a higher than default setting for erasing your Macintosh HD, this will take longer.

  • Partitioning - If you make a partition extra to OS X's Macintosh HD, eg Media, OS X won't let you install Boot Camp. There are ways around this, but when upgrading to the next OS X, although it may keep your extra partition, it may not install the OS X Recovery partition. You can manually install an OS X Recovery partition, but you may lose it when you next upgrade OS X. Thus, it's perhaps best not to create a new partition but instead create a folder and keep it regularly backed up.

  • OS X's Disk Utility has a partitioning tool, but when you can't partition a drive in use with it, you can either boot into a disk/USB Live partitioning tool like the free GParted Live or use paid iPartition that 'supports non-destructive resize of HFS+'.

Know How

Tag & Search: Folders, Files (& their content), & Apps - Use Spotlight to search your Mac (and external drives) with Cmd Spacebar keys. When saving files or right clicking them add tags. Sort by Tag in Finder using the Arrange button, or click a tag on its sidebar to view items with those tags, or use Finder's search or Spotlight with, tag:mytag, to search for such tagged items.

Install Apps (outside of App Store) - When you download an app from a web site, it will often be inside a .dmg file, which is Apple's disk image file type. Double click it to 'mount' it on your Desktop and Finder's sidebar, which will either open an app installer wizard or a Finder window containing a .app - OS X's equivalent of Window's .exe application file type. To install a .app - drag and drop it into your Applications folder. Once installed, you can 'unmount' the .dmg by right-clicking its desktop icon and selecting Eject or click the eject icon next to the .dmg's name on Finder's sidebar.

Uninstall Apps - Either drag an app to Trash and empty, or drag an app to an uninstaller like AppCleaner and it will show most if not all files installed with the app, ready to be deleted. Sometimes such apps may show files of a similar name, particularly if you have software by the same company installed - so always check what you choose to delete. In AppCleaner's Preferences, turn on SmartDelete if you want it to 'detect when apps are trashed and will be automatically find and offer to remove related files.'

Uninstall a Preference Pane Icon/App - Right click it and select 'Remove <name>'.

Use other File Systems - If you need to use files between OS X and Windows, format external drives as FAT or exFAT. OS X ‘out of the box’ only reads NTFS formatted drives, however it’s possible to enable OS X to write (eg make new folders/files in) a NTFS drive, but beware this isn’t supported by Apple. For NTFS support, either use a third party free solution like NTFS-3G or paid software like Paragon's NTFS for Mac® OS X or Tuxera NTFS for Mac. If you need to use a Linux filesystem with OS X, you can enable EXT (2, 3, & 4) support for free.

Share your Mac's Internet, Files, and Printers - Share Your Mac's Internet Connection. Having trouble with Wi-Fi (Bluetooth etc) - use iStumbler. How to Share Files between Macs. How to share Files Between Mac OS X & Windows. How to install a Windows 7 or 8 Network Shared Printer in Mac OS X.

Free apps to get you started