For the record, some notes on things I do to set up OS X.
System Preferences
- Set solid background colour (System Preferences -> Desktop & Screen Saver -> Desktop)
- Spectrum Screensaver, after 15 minutes (System Preferences -> Desktop & Screen Saver -> Screen Saver)
- Reduce size of dock, automatically show/hide (System Preferences -> Desktop & Screen Saver -> Dock)
- Enable spaces, show in menu bar, with 6 spaces (2 rows, 3 columns), moving between them with option/command, disable switch to space with windows (System Preferences -> Expose & Spaces -> Spaces)
- Change medium date format to YYYY-MM-DD, change time formats to 24 hours (System Preferences -> Language & Text -> Format -> Customize)
- Require password 1 minute after sleep or screen saver begins, disable automatic login (System Preferences -> Security -> General)
- Enable firewall (System Preferences -> Security -> Firewall)
- Sleep display after 5 minutes, and computer after 15 minutes on battery power (System Preferences -> Energy Saver -> Battery)
- Sleep display after 10 minutes, and computer never on power adapter (System Preferences -> Energy Saver -> Power Adapter)
- Enable secondary click, in bottom right corner (System Preferences -> Trackpad)
- Turn off bluetooth (System Preferences -> Bluetooth)
- Change computer name (System Preferences -> Sharing)
- Show digital clock in 24-hour format, with day of week and date (System Preferences -> Date & Time -> Clock)
- Check Daily for updates, but do not download automatically (System Preferences -> Software Update)
Firefox
- Install Firefox and drag onto Dock
- Set to start with blank page (Firefox -> Preferences -> Main)
- Disable blocking of reported attack sites/forgeries (Firefox -> Preferences -> Security)
- Increase size of web cache (Firefox -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Network)
- Check for updates and ask what to do (Firefox -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Update)
- Disable Bookmarks Bar (View -> Toolbars -> Navigation Toolbar)
Misc
- Show battery time remaining (Battery icon -> Show -> Time)
- Set hostname (in addition to Sharing preferences): "scutil --set HostName HOSTNAME"
- Safari New Windows open with Empty Page, hide bookmarks bar, show status bar (Safari -> Preferences -> General)
- Set bash prompt: .bashrc: PS1='\u@\h:\w\$ '
- Ensure bashrc loaded: .bash_profile: test -r ~/.bashrc && source ~/.bashrc
- Make additional Application Directories: mkdir /Applications/{OpenSource,Freeware}
Terminal
All settings in Terminal -> Preferences.
- Rows: 54 (Settings -> Window)
- Close window if shell exited cleanly (Settings -> Shell)
- Visual bell only (Settings -> Advanced)