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Any generally well regarded recommended software?

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S1njin

S1njin

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Hey Gang,

So I haven't had a Mac for well over a decade and a half now. I'll be getting my new M2 Air shortly (though sadly its going under the tree before I can get to it). Are there any software products I should be considering with it? Maintenance software (I see a lot of YouTubers have CleanMyMac X), Anti-Virus software, malware software, etc.? I'm already have a password keeper sub so I have that angle covered.

Way back when I had my Mac the common wisdom at the time was "The OS is based on Unix so you need not worry about viruses) and malware wasn't totally a thing yet.

Any advice?

Thanks much.
 
S1njin said:
Any advice?
Click to expand...

First, here are my views on Mac security:

My browser setup:

Some paid utilities I like:

I'm not generally a fan of cleaning apps but I do use Onyx occasionally.

A discussion about free alternatives to MS Office:

Finally, if you want Adobe-style image software but without a subscription, the maker of the Affinity suite has a sale on its software through mid December:
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S1njin said:
I see a lot of YouTubers have CleanMyMac X
Click to expand...
They surely got paid to install this kind of crapware. I agree with @KaliYoni that Onyx can be occasionally useful, but most "keep your Mac clean" apps are useless at best, and a waste of money and/or system resources, if not outright harmful, at worst.
 
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I recommend installing IINA and/or VLC to be able to play just about any video file. And of course Handbrake if you want to convert or recompress video files.
 
I just recently made a list of the support tools that I am using on my new M2 Air. When populating the list I was actually surprised at the large number I have to tweak macOS. Might get rid of some in the future but at the moment I am still happy and find all of them useful.

Here is my list:
- AlDente (battery charge limiter)
- Coconut Battery (check battery status)
- HazeOver (paid app that highlights active window and greys out rest)
- Hush (blocker tool)
- Keyboard Cleaner Tool
- Lockdown (privacy blocker)
- Onxy (great little tool)
- TopNotch
- DuckDuckGo Privacy Tools
- ClipGrab
- Logitech Tools (for Logitech Mechanical Mini keyboard)
- HiddenBar
- SuperDuper! (Complement to Time Machine backup)
- TimeMachine Editor
- TinkerTool
- Wipr (privacy tool)
- GrandPerspective (visualize what is on your harddisk)
- Rectangle (window management tool)

Happy to provide additional infos about the tools and my specific usage.
 
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Moderation Note

There's an existing thread about this topic:

Please take any further discussion there.


If you're specifically looking for anti-virus software, please do a forum search before starting a new thread. Here are two recent search results:

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keyword: virus​
scope: This forum​
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