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Best Freeware Application?

iTunes, of course, I have it running for at least 6 hours a day...

Then you got TextWrangler and Cyberduck, all you need to build a website.

Firefox, my preferred browser since around the time v. 1.5 came out.

Vienna, a very nice RSS reader, that has made it really easy to switch back from Safari to Firefox... :)

Then there's a few very handy little utils to have:
- Quicksilver, the launcher that has become an essential part of my Mac OS X experience
- OmniDiskSweeper, for finding those big, unnessecary files (technically not freeware, but you can get free one day licences from Omni)
- MainMenu, all the maintenance you need, from your menu bar (now that Rakka finally has released an update that works with 10.4.3 and 10.4.4, thanks for that BTW ;))
- SpiritedAway, makes inactive apps hide, a must for a small screen
- Meteorologist, weather in the menu bar
- iSnip, an extended clipboard
- XRG, to monitor my iBook from the desktop

Hmmm... I see that my answer is very similar to the one I gave in the "What cool little Mac OS X apps do you use?"-thread just a few days ago. Just forgot AbiWord, TinkerTool, Conversation and Adium X this time 'round... not the apps I use the most, but all nice and free ones... ;)

Since I got all I need with small utilities I've actually disabled Dashboard all together. Just didn't use it anymore... :)
 
Thanks Mitthrawnuruodo great post your free apps listed are really cool i just started using the menubar weather thing its damn cool...

My contribution has to be Camino in my opinion the best mac browser...

Shadow
 
1.iTunes 2.Quicksilver 3.AdiumX

Would have put LittleSnitch at the no. 1 place as its demo mode provides full functionality/protection but it's such a great little app one should give some support to those guys.

- Dal
 
This one won't pertain to everyone, but man have I got tonnes of enjoyment out of it - iScroll. Since my PB was before the scroll enabled track pads, I really needed this app, and the two fingered right click is awesome, just love it, would recommend it to anyone with a laptop made prior to the new track pads. I also love LittleSnitch but since it's not free...
 
neocell said:
This one won't pertain to everyone, but man have I got tonnes of enjoyment out of it - iScroll. Since my PB was before the scroll enabled track pads, I really needed this app, and the two fingered right click is awesome, just love it, would recommend it to anyone with a laptop made prior to the new track pads. I also love LittleSnitch but since it's not free...
Click to expand...

Agreed

icontroller is also a handy menu bar controller for itunes
 
Mitthrawnuruodo

spirited away is exactly what I have been wanting. I visit a friend of mine to help him with his graphic projects. It's bad enough that I have to go from an A4 tablet to a powerbook track pad but even worse is that when I arrive he will have about 10 apps open with half a dozen windows each, I start hiding or closing them but it never seems to end, I usually just give up and chug along.

Not any longer, it will be a condition that if he wants my help spirited away must be installed.
 
dogbone said:
[...] even worse is that when I arrive he will have about 10 apps open with half a dozen windows each, I start hiding or closing them but it never seems to end, I usually just give up and chug along.
Click to expand...
In those cases just go to what ever app you want to use (with cmd-tab) and then choose the application menu -> Hide Others (opt-cmd-H). You could even quit unwanted apps when cmd-tabbing, by (without letting go of the cmd button) hitting Q between the tabbing... ;)

Then you're can install SpiritedAway and not have to do it again... :D

Edit: Also to differentiate which apps that are hiding you could make those icons semi transparent in the Dock by opening Terminal and give the following command:

defaults write com.apple.Dock showhidden -bool yes

Then restart the Dock with

killall Dock

To restore it to normal just replace yes with no... ;)
 
Mitthrawnuruodo,

Hide others, goddammit I completely forgot about that. I think using a trackpad to draw beziers stresses me out too much to think clearly.

I forgot to mention my contribution to the thread...

KnotPlot it's pretty wacky with a refreshingly different interface.
 
Ok, a new slider/switcher here.
I borked my powerbook and lost a few things.

I was surfing and foudn one of these threads about neat apps and found this neat app that showed my wireless signal strength as a number in the upper menu bar.
It was NOT a widget, nor did it reside in my dock. It was only in the Meunu bar as a number. no colored dot either.
So now I cant see my wireless signal strength.

menumeter, istumbler, coconutwifi, stumbler96; I've tried them all.

thanks
 
iTunes
VLC
Firefox
Audacity

Not necessarily in any order, but I absolutely love those 4 apps and use them all on a regular basis.
 
iSquint
Google Earth

They are both superb!

iSquint does exactly what is needed now the 5G iPod is around.

And Google Earth is just amazing, although my house isn't on it yet.
 
VLC for sure....why can't quicktime be as effortless as that free app....even quicktime pro doesn't have nearly as much flexibility of handling various codecs....


But, my favorite overall is Clutter for getting iTunes art work..love it

Window shade is cool too for managing open windows...but I don't think it's freeware

For Bit Torrent...gotta go with BITS ON WHEELS!

iTunes imo is the single greatest thing (software wise) to ever happen to me...I would pay hundreds for that app alone.
 
tombarnes said:
iSquint
Google Earth

They are both superb!

iSquint does exactly what is needed now the 5G iPod is around.

And Google Earth is just amazing, although my house isn't on it yet.
Click to expand...
when you try to convert long movies, like an hour long, the sound doesn't sync with the video. as the movie goes on, the distance between audio and video is greater.
 
bense27 said:
when you try to convert long movies, like an hour long, the sound doesn't sync with the video. as the movie goes on, the distance between audio and video is greater.
Click to expand...

I only use iSquint for music videos, so I must avoid that problem. All my movies come from my own DVD's, using another fantastic freeware app, Handbrake
 
A lot of great apps have already been mentioned, so I'll chime in with a couple that I don't think have been listed yet.

Smultron is great. I've been using it for all of my coding needs lately.
OnyX is an awesome app too.
Senuti works wonders when you need to get songs OFF of your iPod.
 
i cant get cyberduck to work. i connect to my site but none of the files show up that are in the directory. any ideas?
 
looklost said:
Quicksilver or itunes... I can't decide.

After some thought itunes, I could live without quicksilver.
Click to expand...

Spotlight kinda negates the coolness of Quicksilver although I was a big fan until 10.4 (or 10.3 I forget...)

I like Safari as a neat "freeware" app but I'd have to agree with the peeps who've mentioned Google Earth so far. SO ADDICTIVE!
 
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