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My sister Ailse got a new laptop this week - her first Mac, a Macbook. I’ve had a Mac for a while now, so I helped her set it up with some stuff that I think is pretty useful, but which you might not know about if you’ve just got your first Mac. Here’s what I helped her out with….

• transferring her music off her iPod onto her new computer - check out Senuti - it’s free, but make sure you follow all the instructions!
• how to copy DVDs onto your iPod - use the free software Handbrake, and the excellent guide to how to use it here
• a free virus scanner - Clamxav. Ok, so viruses may not affect Macs, but you want to avoid passing viruses received by e-mail onto your Windows friends
• Flip4Mac - the Mac version of Windows Media Player is no longer updated or supported by Microsoft, so if you want to watch Windows Media Player files on your Mac, best grab this download, which has been made available for free from the Microsoft site

One thing Ailse didn’t want to use at the moment, but which I quite like is Audioscrobbler (scroll down the page). Sign up for free to Last.fm, download Audioscrobbler, and everytime you play music, it’ll upload that tune to Last.fm. From there you can find people that like the same kind of music, and therefore discover (and listen to) new bands that you might like.

If you’ve just got a new mac, and it’s your first Mac, check out Apple’s Mac 101 guides. And if you’ve got a Mac and think I’ve missed something, leave a comment!