Mac OS X comes with the "Migration Assistant" that helps you migrate your previously customized settings and configurations from your Mac to your new one. It sounds like a good idea but if you want to avoid inheriting legacy files and some of the old problems that come with, you might want to start afresh.

In fact, setting up a new mac just requires a few tweaks here and there. To make it easier for you, we’ve set up a checklist for the things you need to do when setting up your new Mac.

If you are customizing a fresh copy of Mac OS X, then this post is for you. We’ve got in today’s article, or should we say checklist, some 15 things (plus a bonus mini checklist for designers and developers) you may need to do pre-installation and post-installation. We hope you will find it useful.

Read Also: 6 Simple & Effective Ways To Speed Up Your Mac

Pre-installation

Here are some of the information you need before initiating the installation process.

1. Have your Mac-related credentials ready

If this is not your first Apple device, chances are you already have an existing iCloud ID and/or App Store ID.

If you wish to have your emails, contacts, calendars, Safari bookmarks, iPhoto photo streams properly sync’ed, you’ll need your iCloud ID. If you wish to be able to re-download previous purchased app without paying again, you’ll need your App Store ID.

2. What to name this new Mac?

During the installation, you’ll be ask to fill in the username and the computer’s name. The username should be a no-brainer; but pay a little attention to the latter. Your computer name will show up in networks you connect to as well as if you are a Terminal user. You can get them changed later, for one reason or another, but it’s better to get it right from the start.

We suggest using the naming convention of: [Firstname]‘s [Device].

Here are some examples:

• Yourname’s Macbook Pro
• Yourname’s MBP15
• Yourname’s MBPr
• Yourname’s iMac
• Yourname’s iMac27
• Yourname’s Macbook Air
• Yourname’s MBA

3. Is your Internet connection working?

To get your iCloud properly set up, you’ll need a working Internet connection. The installation can be done without an Internet connection, but it’s best to get everything set up complete from the very start.

Post-installation

4. Perform a system update

Apple releases updates from time to time, so there is a chance that the new OS installed has yet to be updated with the latest fixes. Check for a system update before doing anything else to avoid double work. Do it once, twice, or until there’s no update required.

5. Have your mouse and/or keyboard pheriperals ready

If you’re not a fan of the trackpad, then this is the step when you get your mouse connected.

6. Adjust trackpad scrolling direction

If you work exclusively with the trackpad, you need to calibrate it. By default. when you scroll down, the trackpad page scrolls down. if during the test run, it doesn’t feel natural go to System Preferences > Trackpad > Scroll & Zoom and uncheck "Scroll direction: natural"

7. Setup sharing settings

Do you want to share screen with another Mac? Are you working with peers or have a need to share your local files with them? Do you need remote access to this Mac when you are away? Or is there a need to share other pheripheral devices (scanners, printers, etc) this mac is connected to with other people on a local network?

If you answer ‘Yes’ to any of this, then you might need to visit System Preferences > Sharing to check/uncheck your preferences.

8. Clean up the menu bar

Like any operating system, Mac includes pre-conditioned selections of apps to make things easier to access. if you are the minimalist type, preferring a clean menu bar, you might want to:

• remove the sound icon (System Preference > Sound > Uncheck Show volume in the menu bar)
• remove time machine icon (System Preference > Time Machine > Uncheck Show Time Machine status in menu bar
• view clock as analogue (System Preference > Clock > Select Analog)

9. Personalize your menu bar

Want to display your name on the menu bar like what you see in the image below?

It’s simple. Just do the following:

1. System preference > User & Group
2. Click Login Options
3. Select Show fast user switching menu as..

10. Enable access for assistive devices

There are some productivity apps for example, TextExpander, which requires access to Mac’s assistive devices option. If you anticipiate using such apps, it’s advisable to turn them on. To do this, go to System Preferences> Universal Access > Check Enable access for assitive devices.

11. Lock system preferences

To avoid accidental changes to the settings you’ve made, it’s good to lock the settings in system preferences. Upon locking, no further changes can be made unless you click to initiate an unlock option which requires a password.

12. Remove unwanted icons on your dock

Dock is a convenient way to fire up apps you use on a regular or daily basis. However, default installation of the Mac provides you a set of suggested apps on your doc regardless of whether or not you actually will use them. If you don’t use them, this becomes a source of flutter.

You can remove unwanted apps on your dock, by holding the icon and dragging them upwards to remove them.

13. Remove unwanted apps

If for some reason you got a Mac with a lower spec which gives you less storage space, you might want to remove some of the default apps you are not going to use.

To remove apps efficiently from Mac, we recommend appzapper.

Here are some default apps you may not require (depending on one’s needs of course) and therefore can remove to free up some significant amount of storage space:

• Garage band
• iMovie
• iPhoto

14. Show hard disks on desktop

By default, your Mac keeps your desktop clean. That means that the icons or shortcuts to hard disks, devices or networks you are connected to as well as the discs you’ve mounted are hidden or invisible.

If you want to have these icons displayed on your desktop but have no idea how, do the following:

1. Select Finder app
2. Go to Finder > Preferences
3. Check the required items under Show these items on the desktop under the General tab.

15. Customize desktop icon, grid and text size

Whether you want smaller icons on your desktop so you can fit more, or bigger icons so they are more noticable, either approach are customizable via desktop configuration menu. Just right click on on the desktop, then choose Show View Option.

You can experiment with ‘Icon size’, ‘Grid spacing’ and ‘Text size’ to customize them to your preference. Select ‘Snap to grid’ to allow your icons and folders to fall nicely into the grid you set with less effort.

Essentials for Designers / Developers

I – Install java run time

Java run time may be required by a couple of applications you’ll be installing later, the Adobe Suite of apps in particular. Click here to install it.

II – Install Git

The default Mac OS X does not comes with Git. Click here to download and install Git on the fly.III

III – Get your browser of preference

If you are not a fan of Safari, it’s probably time to download an alternative browser.

• Firefox for Mac
• Chrome for Mac
• Opera for Mac

And here are the links to get Firebug installed for various browsers:

• Firebug for Firefox
• Firebug for Safari
• Firebug for Chrome
• Firebug for Opera

And That’s It!

Will all of this set up, you’ll be heading over to the App Store, browse through your Purchased tab to re-download and install applications you’ve previosuly purchased.

Alternatively, you can also:

• Spice up your desktop with some wallpapers. Check out our collection of Wallpapers.
• Get some free apps for your Mac. Check out our collection of apps here and here.

Did we miss anything essential? Let us know with a comment. Now go have fun with your new Mac! .

Click here for more Mac tips.

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2. Setting Up POP3 Email With iPad [Quicktip]
3. Guide to: Installing Firebug in Major Browsers and iOS Devices
4. How to Turn Gmail Into Your Default Emailing App

Editor’s note: This is a contributed post by Addison Duvall, author of Food Identities, a blog that explores the crossroads of food, design, and culture. She’s written some things, designed other things, and eaten a whole lot of food.

If you’ve ever come across a client (or 20) who refuses to pay you what you know you’re worth, you might start to think that there’s no one out there who knows the value of good design. And you’re definitely not alone – so many designers compete on price that those who want to compete on quality often feel left out.

(Image Source: WebDesignerDepot)

Many non-designer clients just don’t see what the big deal is about design, and they’ll often go for the cheapest, rather than the best. In this article, we’ll explore a few theories on why that is, and what designers can do about it.

Recommended Reading: How To Become A High-Demand Designer (And Get The Good Clients)

Designing the Unknown

The good news is that people love design. According to the results of this design attitudes research done by MarketingWeek, people know that good design is effective and necessary, yet for some reason, they don’t personally feel it’s worth paying for.

There are several reasons why that might be, but, arguably, the most important has to do with psychology. People, at large, like to believe that they are creative on some level, even if their profession has absolutely nothing to do with design whatsoever.

(Image Source: Oatmeal)

As long as designers are up against this kind of overconfidence, they will always encounter non-designer clients who will not only try to intervene in the design process (the dreaded "design by committee"), but who will also insist that your services aren’t worth as much as you say they are.

Recommended Reading: 11 Signs of Problematic Clients You Will Meet in Freelancing

The Paradox of an Awesome Design

Design isn’t like accounting or IT. There is no consensus on what constitutes a "good" design, thus we don’t really know how to objectively value it. Also, since design is a lot more creating than accounting, people are often at awe yet still skeptical of a designer’s ability. They may think 'Wow, what a great design,’ while simultaneously thinking 'it can’t be that hard to do, can it?’

(Image Source: les chansons d’amour)

This is the dark side of creating simple, clean and elegant designs. They look so easy, and yet a non-designer has no idea how much blood, sweat, and tears went into coming up with them.

To get an idea of the amount of work that goes behind an artwork, have a look at this 98-step tutorial on How to Draw a Beautiful Balinese Barong Mask.

Misplaced confidence

When people think they can do your job as ‘well’ as you can, they aren’t going to value it as highly, no matter how much you explain the process. Of course, it isn’t all the clients’ fault. The design community has a well-known problem with designers undervaluing and underpricing their own work, and by consequence, decreasing the market value of design in general.

(Image Source: FreelanceSwitch)

Pricing has a lot to do with how much people value something. The more designers are able to charge, the more seriously they will be taken by their clients. Unfortunately, a lot of clients simply aren’t able to pay for quality design.

Many times, the people in charge of the design budget have no idea what actually goes into creating good design. They rely on the opinion of marketers or managers (again, non-designers) and end up underfunding the design because no one has any idea what design really is. Making design less of a mystery to clients is key to explaining exactly why they should be paying your standard rates.

Stand your ground

Standing your ground as a high-value designer is essential, especially when everyone else around you is caught in a bidding war for the cheapest prices. It might seem like common sense to simply give in and start offering your services for less than they’re worth, but this is actually the worst thing you can do.

(Image Source: Nakanishi)

Long-term Prices

Sure, you might pick up few clients over the next few months if you charge less than your worth, but in the long run, you might pigeonhole yourself into a pay bracket that you’ll never get out of. Once people know they can get your services fairly cheap, they’ll always want to get them for cheap, even if you’d like to raise your prices in the future.

Dead End

It’s virtually impossible to go from being a low-priced designer to a high-priced designer while working for a client (or a certain type of client). If you suddenly begin charging your clients your standard rate after they’ve become used to a heavy discount, they’re going to laugh in your face, and possibly stop working with you.

Client Expectations

Low-paying clients can be some of the most difficult to deal with, and the less you charge, the more demanding they seem to become. And no client is ever going to call you – their discount designer – when they have a high-budget project they need finished. They’re going to turn to someone who’s not afraid to charge top dollar for the highest-quality work. You can avoid this sad scenario by starting out at the top, rather than the bottom.

Get Your name Out There

Designers who focus on value over price are not only competing with those who are willing to work for cheap or even free, they are also being obscured by these designers’ superior marketing skills. In a dynamic and ever-changing market for design, clients will almost always hire the designers they have heard of, versus the ones they haven’t.

(Image Source: Fotolia)

If you’re a developer who design software that can boost user efficiency by more than 200%, you can still be outsold by an inferior competitor if your promotional strategy isn’t up to speed. In this case, pricing isn’t even that important – the right market for your product will probably be willing to pay a premium for what you can offer them – if only they knew you existed.

How to Increase your Worth

Ask for it – if you’re one of the many designers who are uncomfortable increasing their prices, I challenge you to try it just once. If you’re confused about how to go about it, here’s a method you can use to increase your value as a problem-solver.

First, find clients who are willing to pay for quality (no more cheapsters – you can only haggle so much with low-budget clients). Never be afraid to ask for what you know your work is worth. Next (and this part is important), check out their company backgrounds and their target audiences to find out what kinds of marketing problems they have. Interview people if you have to. The more you know about your clients’ markets, the more detailed and valuable a solution you can provide them.

The Bonus

Of course, this means you’ll probably have to specialize in one or two markets, but that’s a good thing. Why? Because it lets you focus only on the clients you know best, which in turn lets you advance up the client ladder and increase your salary much faster. People are always looking for a personalized solution to their specific problems; provide them with one and you’ll have more work than you’ll know what to do with.

Wrap Up

Have you had bad experiences with skeptical or low-paying clients? What methods have you used to resolve those issues? Share your experience with us.

Related posts:

1. 6 Important Tips to Getting More Design Projects
2. 5 (More) Tips to Getting More Design Projects
3. 10 Tips to Invoice Your Freelance Clients Professionally
4. 5 Ways to Tame Difficult and Problematic Clients

Screen recording can be useful when you need to record a how-to video to help someone learn how to use a program, record a game walkthrough, or prepare for a presentation. Record here means you can create a video of whatever you are doing on your desktop, save the recording as a video file and send it to a friend or upload it on YouTube.

We’ve featured screen capturing tools before, and you know a few ways to take screenshots on your computer. For something more than just a still image, here are 8 free screen recording programs that will help you record every action you make on your Windows desktop.

Free programs at times come with drawbacks or limitations, and watermarks are common in many free screen recording softwares. However, the following list of programs has been tested to not have any watermarks and can export to a file format recognizable to most video editing softwares.

1. Ezvid

Ezvid is a screen recorder program that comes with an in-built video editor where you can split your recordings and add text in between two clips, creating a slideshow effect. There is no way to export the video you recorded. However, you can upload the video to YouTube through the program itself.

For gamers, there’s an option to enable ‘Gaming mode’ where it records the windowed mode of your game. The program comes with a few music clips. However if you decide to have no music, it will be replaced with a ‘Silent machine’ which sounds like a small fan from a computer. You can add in other pictures and video clips, as well as add in your voice after you’re done editing your clip.

2. BlueBerry FlashBack Express Recorder

BB (short for BlueBerry) FlashBack Express Recorder lets you use your webcam to record yourself while recording the activities that are happening on your desktop. After you have stopped recording, it creates an FBR file which can be edited with its packaged video editor.

If you did not enable your webcam, you can skip the video editor program and export it to the AVI file format right away. Otherwise, you can use the software to position and resize your webcam box before exporting it. Although it requires you to register (for a free account) after 30 days of usage, it still provides you with all of its functions before you register.

3. Screenr

Screenr is an interesting way to share a screencast (recording of your screen) online without installing a program on your computer; it requires Java to work. You select an area on your screen which you want to record (max: 5 minutes). All recordings are saved into your account.

After recording you’ll be given a link which you can share. You can also export your video to MP4 or upload it on YouTube.

Screenr also provides a bookmarklet so you can record without going to the website. Register with your Facebook, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn, Yahoo or Windows Live account in order to use Screenr for free.

4. Rylstim Screen Recorder

Rylstim just records your screen after you hit the ‘Start Record’ button. This will be useful for people who do not want to configure anything and just want a basic recorder. This program does not record sound from input devices like a microphone.

The only options available determine if you want to show your left or right mouse button clicks in the video. If you enable the mouse click options, a red ripple will appear at your cursor when you left click and a green ripple appears for right clicks. This mouse click ripple effect will only be visible when you view your recording.

5. CamStudio

CamStudio comes equipped with many options to tweak the way it records. There are options to enable or disable your mouse cursor, record sounds from programs or a microphone (or have no sound at all) and the option to enable custom screen annotations.

You can also choose to record a particular area on your screen or a program window so that the rest of your desktop isn’t showing on the recording. It can record at different frame rate speeds; for example 1 FPS (frames per second)to create a time lapse video effect, or 30 FPS for a smooth video.

More!

Webinaria

Webinaria is another easy-to-use screen recording software with basic options for your recording needs. It can record your entire screen, a program window or a custom selection. You can choose from 3 frame rate options; 5, 10 and 15 FPS (frames per second).

Videos are produced in AVI file format. If you were using Google Chrome before running Webinaria, Google Chrome will be detected as the program window for recording.

DVDVideoSoft Free Screen Video Recorder

This program has a simple user interface carrying 9 icons. The first 4 is for screen capturing, the next 4 handles screen recording and the last icon opens the options of the program. It also exports its video to an AVI file format. What’s good about this program is its automatic file naming options.

It gives you options to include the specific date and time in the filename of your recorded video. Users who need to keep track of many screen recordings back to back will find this automatic file naming option useful.

Krut Computer Recorder

Krut does not require installation but uses Java to run. After downloading, you’ll have a folder where you have to run the ‘KRUT.jar’ file to get started. The capture area and recording frames per second can be set by the user.

There is an option called ‘Follow Mouse’ where it captures the area around your mouse, wherever it moves to. When using the ‘Follow Mouse’ feature, you can enable preview mode to see the captured area as you record. This program outputs to three types of files: the WAV file only has the audio recorded, while of the two MOV files; one has no audio and the other has both audio and video of the recording.

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