I just received my new M1 MacBook Air last night. Yippee! But I’m trying not to open it yet because then there goes my day ;)
In order to contain my excitement, I made a list. What will I do once I open my new fancimachine?
Many ideas below are taken from this article and from this one. I’m sure there are many others out there as well, please feel free to put them in the comments if you care to share your favorites.
A new Mac! Let’s:- Open box
- Cmd+Opt+P+R
- set strong password
- set hostname
- configure wifi
- set admin account
- set standard account
- turn on filevault
- turn on firewall
- disable remote access
- set firmware password
- disable spotlight suggestions
- disable notifications
- configure trackpad
- disable news, stocks, home, siri, reminders
- disable Apple Advertising, Analytics & Improvements
- install firefox (and sign in)
- disable bing, amazon, google, ebay
- configure VPN
- install ClamAV
- install Tor
- install Homebrew
- install & enable Lulu
- turn off wifi
- turn off computer
- plug in dock (with ethernet)
RESTART
- install & login Synology Drive
- install & configure BusyCal
- install & login Brave
- configure DuckDuckGo as browser search
- install & login Lbry
- install Adapter
- install Cryptomater
- install & login Dashlane
- install & login Exodus
- install & login Pocketcasts
- install & validate SuperDuper
- install & login Zoom
- install Atom
- install & validate SnagIt
- install & validate Camtasia
- install CyberDuck
- install Balena Etcher
- install Yamaha AG06 interface
- install printer interface
- install Logitech camera interface
- install & validate Tableau
- download purchased Mac applications
- Alfred
- FinalCut
- Compressor
- GarageBand
- iMovie
- Keynote
- Numbers
- AnkiApp
- Bear
- SiteSucker
- Speedtest
- Webcam Settings
- Todoist
- Message+
- run MacOS updater
RESTART
- configure Mac Settings
- configure printer connection
- configure AirPods
- configure iTunes (with Plex)
- configure Mail
- configure BusyCal
- configure Contacts
- configure Todoist
- open & configure or delete all applications
- create bootable rescue disk
- validate, then cancel
RESTART again
- run SuperDuper backup
- run Time Machine incremental backup
- install iOS applications
- Stride
- others?
- Microsoft
- Amazon
- Apple iCloud
- Slack
I may put Microsoft OneDrive on for work handoffs, and Google for Maps/Google Earth, possibly iCloud, and maybe Amazon Kindle if I end up publishing and testing a few eBooks again. But these aren’t sure things, and I want my core restorable backup to exist without these extra services mucking things up as I know from experience that they do.
What do you think should be here and isn’t? Anything you think shouldn’t be listed above? Or that should be in a different sequence? Please tell me in the comments, and have yourself a merry little xmas.