ESSENTIAL MAC OS SOFTWARE suggestions welcome:
Good to hear you got your m.2. BlueTooth/WiFi working
@HedgeHog2k.
I don't really care about SIP more of a problem for a tech enthusiast. First thing I do is turn gatekeeper off. It is a good idea for those that don't know how to keep a computer secure. You have to turn off "unsigned kexts" to allow for our hackintosh kexts to be injected anyway.
I think the best way to know if anything nasty is installed on your computer is to put a
firewall that checks for any outgoing connetions and you have to give each permission or block it. If you see a program that shoudn't be connectig to the internet and most need this to be malicious then you see it in the firewall warning.
I did some reading about MAC OS firewall which is turned off by default and it only blocks incoming connections.
I can recommend this
FREE firewall which is open source is great. It is perfect for all my needs
LuLu:
https://objective-see.com/products/lulu.html
It is similar to the paid version LIttel Snitch and does everything I want. There are lots of great reviews. I feel naked without a firewall and knowing what software is connecting to the internet.
I've been working in the Windows world since the early 80's but only the past couple of years in the MAC OS world. I fix PC's and MAC hardware but still researching Mac utilities to match my Windows collection.
What do you suggest are your essential MAC utilities that you use. So far the must have for me are:
Carbon Copy Cloner: The new APFS snapshots that Catalina uses is fantastic. You can roll back any patch or change in the OS and the auto logging does hourly changes. See
I can test all patches that might break my Hackintosh and then roll them back with this software. Plus I do a clone backup to another external SSD for proper backup before anything that might brick my Hackinthosh.
iStat Menu: I like to be able to
monitor the important stuff. It costs money but I couldn't find free options this good. You might recommend free versions. On windows 10 all my monitoring software is free.
An advanced Mac system monitor for your menu bar, with CPU, GPU, memory, network, disk usage, disk activity, temperatures, fans, battery info and more.
bjango.com
Free Paragon NTFS: Mac read's NTFS but as I work with Windows a lot I want to swap files to a portable 2.5" external USB drive. Seagate has a free driver that lets you
WRITE to windows formatted drives. Seagates link to the download is here
https://www.seagate.com/au/en/support/downloads/item/ntfs-driver-for-mac-os-master-dl/
If you use Western Digital it has a free driver too.
https://support-en.wd.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/19554#subject2
When you buy new external hard drives they put this on the hard drive so copy it off before formatting it.
Windows Seagate HFS+ read and write to MAC formatted drives. Note the driver doesn't allow APFS read or write you have to buy that.
That is my short list that have made my transition from the Windows world to Apple Mac.
I would LOVE any suggestions just names even and I'll track them down of good utilities you find a must for your Catalina/Mojave OS.