This guide has been created for regular office folks - if you're a developer go look elsewhere - you probably don't need this info. Feel free to contribute to this guide though
- THIS IS IMPORTANT - Setup Time machine
- THIS IS IMPORTANT - https://preyproject.com/ in case your computer gets stolen you can locate it, block it, track it, and see through the camera, using their web app. Install their app immediately. Protip: it's available for iphone, androids, ipads and regular PC's as well
- THIS IS IMPORTANT - Encryption for hard drive
- Setup your google accounts
- Self control app - do you have problems staying focused because of tweeter / facebook / email ?
- Always Paste and Match Style - avoid this annoying moments
- Get "optimal layout" application from the appstore - useful for those with two monitor setup
- Take a look at Alfred - it's just like a spotlight, but way better
- Ical - as much as I like gmail, corresponding calendar app is just not up to the task
- Flycut for clipboard history - did you ever copy one thing, then another just to realize you need the first one again ? All of this copied content is in "clipboard", and you can get an app for storing its history.
- Keyboard repeat speed
- Hot corners - access your desktop easily
- VPN In case you need a quick and simple VPN ( so that you can access pages blocked in UAE - use Tunnel bear http://www.tunnelbear.com/ - It's dead simple to setup, and you get 500MB of free transfer each month - enough to check forums and email. Plus you can get 1 Gb extra for tweeting about it ;)
- TOR project - It's like VPN but better, safer, free and open source, but you'll need a VPS to access their website and download their app