Agaricus bisporus,
Welcome to the Mac world, and congratulations on making the switch.
Although I am supposed to have ilife (its automatically there, right?)
See "Restoring iLife applications after Internet Restore of OS X Lion"
here
Which word processor is recommended?
Try the stuff that comes with iLife first.
Is Firefox an improvement on Safari?
No, its a bloated memory-hog. Safari is great. But hey, it's a free download, so you can try it out if you want.
I can import MS Word files from my PC but can't open them - aren't .doc /.docx files compatible - I thought they were?
Get iLife on there and you'll probably find this question answers itself.
Best way to transfer data between PC and MAc? Wireless? Bluetooth? (Can't make them pair)? Currently the only way that's worked is an ext hard drive but that's a bit clunky tho I can live with it.
You should always have a backup on external HD anyway....
Crossover ethernet cable (or standard ethernet cable via your internet router) between the two. Then enable the appropriate option on System Preferences -> Sharing (I think it's the "File Sharing" one you want).
Any must have progs I should know about?
Don't clutter up your computer with other people's junk.
What sort of stuff do
you like doing ? e.g. Photo editing ?
Any online resources that will help a mac newbie to break the ice?
MacOSX Hints (hints.macworld.com) for neat tips and tricks
Macworld Forums (
Forums - Apple Discussion, Macworld Chat - Macworld UK)
Some random little website called PPRuNe
I'll try to dig up some more beginner sites too...