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"OSX- Must have apps"

comda

comda

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 15, 2011
619
85
Greetings Mac Rumors!

Back in September i was still using Snow Leopard on an older 2007 Macbook and made a jump to a Retina Macbook Pro in december when my drive died in the macbook. Anyways i use the standard stuff, firefox, word and pages as well as i use dos box and VMware.

BUt as im seeing there is a LOT more titles since snow leopard was last updated. So ive already gotten Open Emu, but what other software titles can you suggest that are useful or even fun? Preferably free.

Thanks
 
Some of these may have been around on Snow Leopard, but here's my list.
- f.lux
- Amphetamine
- Dropbox
- Evernote
- AVG Cleaner and Anti-Virus software
- The Unarchiver
- Daisydisk
 
  1. OnyX
  2. Epic Browser
  3. Malwarebytes
  4. Simplenote/Evernote/Onenote
  5. VLC
  6. Wunderlist
  7. EtreCheck
 
Here are some apps I use very often.

Free:

Jumpcut (or Clipmenu if you want to save images to clipboard)
aLaunch
Degrees
Disk Inventory X
Malwarebytes (and ClamXav ($40) or Bitdefender)
Amphetamine
OneDrive/Google Drive/Dropbox app
Etrecheck
Onyx
Google Picasa
Adium
AllCleaner
Who's On My Wifi
Unarchiver


Paid:

Hyperdock
Popclip
Carbon Copy Cloner
Fantastical
NetNewsWire
 
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Evernote is a must-have app.
So is 1Password.
For me, Text Expander and Alfred are must-have general purpose apps.
Otherwise, it would depend entirely on your use cases.
 
My must-haves include:

1Password - password manager with extensions for all brownsers - your password is always ⌘\ (paid)
Bartender 2 - menu bar icon manager (paid)
Fantastical 2- OS X calendar on steroids (paid)
Dropbox - cloud storage (free)
Moom - OS X window manager (paid)
TextExpander - keyboard scripting and shortcut tool (paid)
Filezilla - FTP/SFTP client (free)
VLC - media player (free)
MacTracker - excellent resource for info on all of Apple's products, past and present (free)
Tincta - editor for text, HTML, XML, etc (free)
OmniDiskSweeper - identify and manage your disk space (free)
TorBrowser - anonymous web browser (free)
 
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The only app from the App Store I use consistently is iheartradio. Aside for not hooking into the play/pause button, it's a really seamless way to listen to music. I love the way it works into OS X.
 
Great Thread. I'll read through everyone's suggestions and hopefully find some golden nuggets for myself :)

My must have installs have been:

VMWare - for accessing windows (not as important as it used to be for me, but still handy)
VLC - for playing things Quicktime won't...
Transmission - for Torrents
Handbrake - for converting/optimising movie files
UnRarX - for compressing/uncompressing files
iStat Menus - for checking on what the hardware is doing
Perian - to add to Quicktime support
 
Genghis Khan said:
Great Thread. I'll read through everyone's suggestions and hopefully find some golden nuggets for myself :)

My must have installs have been:

VMWare - for accessing windows (not as important as it used to be for me, but still handy)
VLC - for playing things Quicktime won't...
Transmission - for Torrents
Handbrake - for converting/optimising movie files
UnRarX - for compressing/uncompressing files
iStat Menus - for checking on what the hardware is doing
Perian - to add to Quicktime support
Click to expand...

I prefer Keka to UnRarX. It does more file formats and the icon is just beautiful.
 
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I just found and installed HyperDock - a $7 app that gives you the ability to select individual application windows just by moving the mouse on a dock item. It also adds other utility functions.
 
throAU said:
My must haves are:

istatmenus
vlc
boxer
filezilla
affinity photo
affinity designer
1password
dropbox (purely for 1password sync)
ownCloud
DaisyDisk
Click to expand...



You can use iCloud to sync your 1password database, no need to have dropbox slowing down your system.
 
All Free Apps That I Use!

• Anki - Create flash cards, and sync to study on the go with a Android or iPhone (great for school)
• Atom - a programming text editor which I use instead of Sublime Text 2 (HTML, C, Python, etc.)
• Handbrake - encode videos to MP4 format or MKV
• KeePassX - Password management
• Notation Velocity - Create notes only using text, and can sync with SimpleNote (Can Encrypt too!)
• LineIn - Connect other devices with 3.5mm cable to output sound from MacBook speakers
• OpenEmu - Emulator to play some retro games
• Keka - RAR & 7zip extractor and compressor
• Simple Comic - Read CBZ and CBR comics and manga on your Mac
• Transmission - Torrent Client
• Noizio - Simulates the sounds of various things like rainfall, thunder, or a running fan to calmly get work done.
• SelfControl - Blacklist or whitelist websites to keep you from being distracted
• Mini vMac - a Macintosh Plus Emulator (best using System 6!)
 
comda said:
Greetings Mac Rumors!

Back in September i was still using Snow Leopard on an older 2007 Macbook and made a jump to a Retina Macbook Pro in december when my drive died in the macbook.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Comda, I've been gun shy about doing the leap from Snow Leopard to El Capitan, both due to concern about bugs, but mainly because I dread having to re-learn how to use some of drastically different versions of some software, in particular, Mail, & iTunes. Was it a major transition for you, requiring much of a learning curve & "period of adjustment"? I know I need to upgrade, as so many of my apps haven't been updated for quite some time, and Safari is horrible. Thanks..
 
I am unable to find a SIMPLE...free app to download video's from youtube and other sites....many are overly complicated or just don't actually work.
 
Phil in ocala said:
I am unable to find a SIMPLE...free app to download video's from youtube and other sites....many are overly complicated or just don't actually work.
Click to expand...

iTube Studio. Works incredibly well and has extensions for Safari, Firefox and Chrome for even faster and easier downloading. Has built-in video player, converter, and is a great way to quickly and efficiently (read: NO iTunes necessary!) copy videos to your iPhone or iPad. Will also download subtitles when available.

Great way to download MP3s as well.
 
- BetterSnapTool: organizing your windows
- MenuMeters: a free monitoring tool (iStatMenu style)
- iCompta: tracking your expenses
- PDFZone: Smart PDF extraction ;)
- Cyberduck: FTP client
- Textmate: fast text editor
- Transmission: torrent downloader
 
Monosnap - making screenshots, free w/ in-app purchases
Opera browser - anonymous VPN, free
Things - task management app for macOS & iOS, paid
 
Phil in ocala said:
I am unable to find a SIMPLE...free app to download video's from youtube and other sites....many are overly complicated or just don't actually work.
Click to expand...

The best solution for that, IMO, is to use Firefox and a couple of extensions:

Screen Shot 2018-02-27 at 7.50.06 AM.png
 
Ohh, I forgot to mention one huge MUST-HAVE app: Cookie 5! (or Cookie 4 if you're running pre-OS X 10.11 software)

A fantastic app from a fantastic developer.
 
Must have is rather subjective, but the following are definitely key applications for me as I like writing.

- Forklift - excellent file management
- 1Password - trusted password storage
- Carbon Copy Cloner - I use this in addition to Time Machine
- Calibre - eBook management
- Audacity - for audio work
- VLC - video play back
- Scrivener - must have for writers
 
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