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Top 20 Must Have Apps!

Spotify- Free! Great little program that i use to listen to whole songs before i make the commitment in the itunes store.

AppCleaner- Free! Does what it says on the tin

Doubletwist- Free! Can convert media into suitable formats for many devices
 
ChrisA said:
The Mac comes with about 300 applications already pre-installed. Most people could not even tell you what 20% of these do.
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300? what are those, can you find a link for me? I would be interested to scan through them :), if I dont use them, I probably need to remove them..
 
clevin said:
300? what are those, can you find a link for me? I would be interested to scan through them :), if I dont use them, I probably need to remove them..
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There might be a list of them in your "applications" folder. ;)
 
cjm3113 said:
There might be a list of them in your "applications" folder. ;)
Click to expand...

well, my application folder only has less than 60 items, and im sure at least 20 of them is not pre-installed.

If there are another 200+ application in OSX, I sure would like to know and maybe save my HDD a bit.
 
My app folder has 173 items, but I have to admit that I love trying out new apps. I've only been a Mac user for a year now, so I have stuff that I downloaded that I wanted to try and haven't had time to get to all of it.

My favs:
1Password is a must have for me (372 passwords and counting):eek:
OpenOffice 3 (much better than Office for Mac IMHO)
Postbox (email, I like it much better than Mail and Thunderbird, multiple Gmail accts using IMAP, it's free)
VLC
Firefox and Flock (browsers of choice)
Filezilla (free ftp)
TimeMachineEditor (free)
Stick 'Em Up (notes - free)
Dockless (free)
AppDelete (free)
 
mark2288 said:
AppCleaner is free and does everything AppZapper does IIRC. AppCleaner also has SmartDelete which basically integrates it with your Trash, so you can just drag an app to the Trash and AppCleaner will run automatically. Not sure if AppZapper does this. Check it out.
Click to expand...


Check out AppTrap it is only a pref pane and simply removes the associated files when you drag an app to the trash. Its great and free check out my video demo of the application
http://www.thecheapgeek.org/2009/02/20/apptrap-the-best-application-uninstaller-for-os-x/
 
Don't install stuff that you don't need or aren't planning on using right now.

You'll end up with scores of apps that you have no idea on earth what they do when you look at the list of names and icons in the Applications folder.

And furthermore, by the time you actually need to use one of them, you won't remember the name, so it'll be back to looking on Google, and the installed app itself will be out of date, so you'll still need to go download a new version from the net.

Better to install them only when you need them, then you'll learn what they do and remember the names.
 
RedTomato said:
Don't install stuff that you don't need or aren't planning on using right now.

You'll end up with scores of apps that you have no idea on earth what they do when you look at the list of names and icons in the Applications folder.
Click to expand...

I can't agree more with this advice. Periodically, I go through and clean up apps that found their way into my Apps folder whilst I was just trying them out. They really do consume space unnecessarily.
 
It's not really about the space, I have acres of drive space. It's more about finding what you need quickly and easily and not feeling intimidated when you open your app folder by all the stuff that you were planning to try out but never got round to.
 
First app I install is LittleSnitch: http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html

I usually then just browse the apple download site [ www.apple.com/downloads ] for widgets and apps which are relevant to my usage, obviously everybody's usages are different so just spend a while reading through what each app does and if it's relevant to your uses or not.

@ the OP, would you be a little more specific with what you will be doing with your Mac(s), that would enable folks to offer up suggestions of a more relevant set of apps to you because there are so many available it's almost impossible to recommend "must haves" that'll suit everyone.

Just give us a few more details of use . ...btw I'm just going through setting up my new Macs with apps at the moment too so I'll edit this post to include what I put on my machines over the next few days......

I donate to the developer on the free apps i use regularly.

Flip4Mac [free

Firefox 3.0.9 [free

VLC [free

Transmission [free

Duplicate Annihilator [working demo

Intaglio [shareware I picked up as part of a macupdate / macheist bundle promo a while ago

Amadeus Pro [ shareware from macupdate / macheist promo bundle

Dropbox [free 2Gb with upto (by sending referrals) 5Gb total storage for free -paid service available (PM ME FOR REFERRAL_ WE BOTH GET EXTRA SPACE)

Onyx [free

TechTool Deluxe [ via appleare

DivX player [ free

CoconutBattery [ free

GoogleEarth [free

Doozla [ 30 day demo

OSXImageResizer [free

Asteroid [free

I will continue to update this post.


WireTap Studio [ 30 day trial

PaintBrush 2.0 [free


Just found the site below, it has a list of OS X apps:
http://macspecialist.org/content/articles/essential_apps/

NeoOffice 3.0 [free

AlarmClock [free
 
My favourite mac apps, all free open source software

Firefox
Thunderbird
Adium
Skim
Transmission
Openoffice 3.0
VLC
Perian
GIMP
Seashore
Handbrake
 
RedTomato said:
It's not really about the space, I have acres of drive space. It's more about finding what you need quickly and easily and not feeling intimidated when you open your app folder by all the stuff that you were planning to try out but never got round to.
Click to expand...
I had that problem big time. Then iShater recommended that I create aliases for all my apps then divide out the aliases into folders by category. Now I have doc icons for: browsers and email, video dsp & editing, audio playback & editing, images and photo editing, web design & ftp, docs & spreadsheets, system utilities. Now, when I want to work on something and try out new apps, I don't have any problem finding what I'm looking for.

If I had added spotlight comments everytime I installed an app, I wouldn't have found myself wading around like I did at first.:eek:

An app I forgot to mention that I use all the time... actually, it's a widget... Shackle. I use it all the time to resize photos for the web in an instant.
 
miles01110 said:
..and Ad Blocking...and expandibility...and it just does little things better. Like just assuming that the "www" and/or ".com" is implied in a web address, for example (did Safari 4 fix that?).
Click to expand...
Ever heard of Safari AdBlock? But www isn't required in any way (unless the website have a retarded server administrator), and if I'm not wrong Safari tries with adding "www." if it can't reach the server without it.

Then to something which makes Firefox rather annoying to use that thankfully Safari does the right way. When you're typing an address in the address bar you can hit enter directly to go to the suggested address. In Firefox you have to hit arrow down before. Oh boy has that got me so many times.

To add something to the topic I'd have to say Inquisitor!
http://www.inquisitorx.com/
It's a search bar plugin for Safari, Firefox and Internet Explorer and it just makes searching so much better than any of the defaults.
 
rastersize said:
Ever heard of Safari AdBlock? But www isn't required in any way (unless the website have a retarded server administrator), and if I'm not wrong Safari tries with adding "www." if it can't reach the server without it.
Click to expand...
safari ALWAYS add www. and .com to any term you typed if inpute has none of them. which is inefficient, there are many domain out there with suffix such as .org, .net, etc, with safari, you have to type them, otherwise safari will just goto .com.
Then to something which makes Firefox rather annoying to use that thankfully Safari does the right way. When you're typing an address in the address bar you can hit enter directly to go to the suggested address. In Firefox you have to hit arrow down before. Oh boy has that got me so many times..
Click to expand...

It was very easy to turn on autocomplete in about:config for firefox

The decision has been argued and debated at bugzilla and apparently most users comes down to the other side and think it should be off by default.

Currently, the design of firefox's awesome bar now support much more powerful url input, which allow users to reach their desired website much much more quickly in most cases than the urlbar input url+autocomplete.
 
1- Dragthing
2- VLC
3- MacFuse + NTFS-3G
4- btpd + btpd front
5- Adium
6- Toast Titanium
7- VMware Fusion
8- Subethaedit
9- PHTPasteboard
10- MenuMeter
11- Flipformac
12- Microsoft Office (Word)
13- Keynote
14- Skype
15- TVShow
16- XCode
17 - Visual Paradigm UML
18- SVN
19- Dockless
20- SleepDisplay
 
Top 20, easier than top 5 lists. ;)

1. Mellel
2. Nisus Writer Pro
3. NeoOffice
4. Scrivener
5-11. Adobe CS4 Master Collection (InDesign, Illustrator, PhotoShop, Acrobat Pro, Flash, FireWorks, DreamWeaver)
12. Papyrus
13. AppDelete
14. Accordance
15. Firefox/Opera/iCab
16. RagTime 6
17. Reunion
18. MyPalm
19. Dropbox
20. Onyx

(and yes, I paid for all the commercial ones out of my own pocket, plus supporting some of the donation-ware listed)
 
My Favortie

SketchBox

Sketchbox is the built in Mac OS X app called stickies on steroids, allowing you to type out your notes, add drawings along with your text or without, and the ability to set a alarmon more important notes, it is truly a multifunctional application. It is also possible to export notes to a .pdf format and organize your stickies in a very ‘mac like’ way. One negative I’ve seen is alarms not being played if the application is quit, other then that this is a great download if you want an enhanced version for those who use stickies.

Transmission

Transmission is a BitTorrent client, unlike other BitTorrent clients it is well designed and easy to use. Simply drag ‘n’ drop any torrent to get things started, once that is done select the files you wish to download. Download this app if you have ever needed to torrent.

Quinn

Tetris can be played in the terminal although it is much better when played with Quinn!
Quinn’s graphics are slick, and it also provides multiple preferences. Quinn alows you to change little things such as the color of the blocks to major things such as the controls. Quinn runs smooth on any computer, another compelling feature is support for high scores! Download this game if you have ever once played tetris!

Handbrake

Handbrake allows you to burn DVD’s to multiple formats. Simply insert your DVD choose the device you would like to export to, choices vary from devices like the iPod to a PS3, now click start and voila. Download this application if you ever have wanted a movie you have on DVD on your iPod or in digital format.

Cooliris

Cooliris is the best way to view your own personal media, online photos using google, flickr etc; and browse through video sharing sites such as youtube, hulu, and etc;! Cooliris runs thorugh your internet browser both firefox and safari are supported!


Caffeine

Caffeine is a neat little menu-bar application and with it your mac will never fall asleep! Click on it to prevent your computer from falling asleep, and right click to keep it from falling asleep temporarily. Download this app if you ever have to present a keynote, or powerpoint.


UnRarX

UnRarX allows you to open up .rar files! Download this application if you have ever needed to open up a .rar file

Adium
Senuti
Jing
Flock

Some of them have descriptions but then I got lazy :)
ALL of them are free!
 
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