I am new to the whole Mac thing after using a PC all my life. I am learning new things everyday about my MBP. My question is, what are some good applications I can download for free on the Apple website? Any good apps that can clean-up my MBP to make it run faster, anything that might help it from viruses...anything cool that has to do with music and sports, battery health, etc. Just anything useful that you guys really like and would recommend. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!
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New to Mac: What are some good apps to download?
- Thread starter derek1984
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Onyx. A free utility to help maintain your mac.
And a quick link to MRGoogle to help you search the forums for FAQ.
And a quick link to MRGoogle to help you search the forums for FAQ.
If you're into web design, I just love Cyberduck, an FTP and SFTP program. Also, Audacity for audio recording, and Prism for audio/video file conversion.
I will second Prism, i use it and love it.
Adium = Instant messaging
HandBrake = encoding videos
Mac The Ripper = ripping DVD
Transmit =FTP
Snap and Drag = Screen capture software
CandyBar = customizing your desktop
Flip 4 Mac = allows you to play windows media files.
Steermouse = If your going to be using a mouse
Adium = Instant messaging
HandBrake = encoding videos
Mac The Ripper = ripping DVD
Transmit =FTP
Snap and Drag = Screen capture software
CandyBar = customizing your desktop
Flip 4 Mac = allows you to play windows media files.
Steermouse = If your going to be using a mouse
I like VisualHub better for vid editing.
I definately second Onyx though, excellent cleaning prog
P
I definately second Onyx though, excellent cleaning prog
P
There are no known viruses for Mac, so don't worry about that. In regards to software, how about let us know a bit of what you might be doing?
If you're simply looking for cool software, then there is a great search engine for MacRumors called MRoogle.
If you're simply looking for cool software, then there is a great search engine for MacRumors called MRoogle.
The best thing is NOT to go just looking for anything that is free.
What you need to do is state a problem to be solved and ask how best to solve it. That and learn to use what you have. For example you ask about "music" Well you have Garage Band already on the computer. There si a big learning curve.
Nah there's no such thing as a dumb question on here.
Skype has only recently been available to the iPhone. Here's the link to download it for the Mac: http://www.skype.com/download/skype/macosx/
Most are simply trojans that smart browsing can avoid. All in all, having virus software on a Mac is a big resource hog, it can really screw up your computer (ahem, Norton), and takes up space/memory. Not cool, not needed.
Backing up your Mac is the best idea, which you should be doing anyway. In the off chance that you do get malicious code on your Mac, a restore is just a few minutes away, especially if you are wise and allow Time Machine to backup for you.
Nah there's no such thing as a dumb question on here.
But there is a such thing as "a question that's been asked dozens of times before."
good apps
isquint, this will allow you to convert and install mp4 videos on your mac and into your ipod/iphone. It will do flv, avi(most), wmv, all kinds of stuff. Its a freeware-donation. Make a donation!
appcleaner and appdelete. I just found appcleaner and I find that it is superior to appdelete. Very intuitive, and it gives you the piece of mind that you can try those apps and get rid of them if ya dont like em.
idefrag-lotta schools of thought here. Some say you dont need to defrag, but I like to cleanhouse. It requires a small donation. I like it tho.
Also if you want to print wirelessly dont forget your gutenprint 5.23. I was able to finally get my mbp to print thru my windows network using this.
audacity- if you like to play with sound files. I have used this to record mps from old audiobooks on tape! I like to listen to audiobooks and I have a huge collection on tape.
Clamxav-if you feel that you MUST look for viruses. You wont find any tho.
isquint, this will allow you to convert and install mp4 videos on your mac and into your ipod/iphone. It will do flv, avi(most), wmv, all kinds of stuff. Its a freeware-donation. Make a donation!
appcleaner and appdelete. I just found appcleaner and I find that it is superior to appdelete. Very intuitive, and it gives you the piece of mind that you can try those apps and get rid of them if ya dont like em.
idefrag-lotta schools of thought here. Some say you dont need to defrag, but I like to cleanhouse. It requires a small donation. I like it tho.
Also if you want to print wirelessly dont forget your gutenprint 5.23. I was able to finally get my mbp to print thru my windows network using this.
audacity- if you like to play with sound files. I have used this to record mps from old audiobooks on tape! I like to listen to audiobooks and I have a huge collection on tape.
Clamxav-if you feel that you MUST look for viruses. You wont find any tho.
Not entirely. There are tons of freeware/shareware apps that one might not ever think you have a need for, but love once you have it. Several listed here fit that category--one might never know about Adium since iChat is pretty good. Or another, iStat Menus (and other iSlayer software) that are great little utilities that you might not realize exist if you're new to mac.
And there's such thing as courtesy in regards to assisting new members on the forum.
And there's such thing as courtesy in regards to assisting new members on the forum.
My post was pointed, I don't think it was necessarily uncourteous.
Anyways, it's in the user's best interest to search. They're more likely get an answer faster.
It's not windows. OSX is UNIX so it DOES NOT REQUIRE user "clean-up" of files, etc.
There are no viruses.
Additional info:
https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=7012495#2
There are no viruses.
Additional info:
https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=7012495#2
Hmm another good app is Xtorrent.
You also might just look into the MacHeist Bundle. http://www.macheist.com/
You also might just look into the MacHeist Bundle. http://www.macheist.com/
Sharewares
[Regarding my esteemed coleague's choice of handbrake and mactheripper. Ripper is pretty cool, but I still hold out for isquint over Handbrake(which is a good program)Isquint is so much easier and handles flvs, wmvs and sens it right straight to itunes if you have an iphone(which as we know must be synced) Also regarding the torrents..I use bittotrrent myself. But if you are not that serious about torrents, Opera will download them as well as being the best browser on ANY OS.(IMHO) This is a fun subject. But like I said before..get appcleaner so you can undo what you dont like<g>
[Regarding my esteemed coleague's choice of handbrake and mactheripper. Ripper is pretty cool, but I still hold out for isquint over Handbrake(which is a good program)Isquint is so much easier and handles flvs, wmvs and sens it right straight to itunes if you have an iphone(which as we know must be synced) Also regarding the torrents..I use bittotrrent myself. But if you are not that serious about torrents, Opera will download them as well as being the best browser on ANY OS.(IMHO) This is a fun subject. But like I said before..get appcleaner so you can undo what you dont like<g>