Tammy Camp

Must Have Mac Applications: 15 Free, Useful Software Add-Ons For Daily Computing

Posted on 03. Apr, 2009 by Tammy Camp in Mac, Technology

Apple prides itself on building computers that work perfectly the very first time you take them out of the box.

That being said, there’s also a wealth of free, useful programs available for download on the Internet.

Here’s a list of 15 apps that can make your life a whole lot easier.

(And by the way, if you just scanned the list and perceptively spotted 16 instead of 15, that’s because Perian and Flip4Mac are grouped together here as one collective tool instead of two separate ones.)

WEB BROWSING

Even if you’re completely satisfied with Apple’s stock Safari browser, you may want to consider rival Firefox along with its younger cousin, Flock.

• Firefox: Mozilla’s open source project that took the world by storm in 2004, Firefox is still fast, powerful as ever, and customizable with useful add-ons.
• Flock: This “social web browser,” also powered by Mozilla and championed by a rabidly growing fanbase, streamlines and connects all of your separate social media accounts, including (but not limited to) Gmail, Twitter, WordPress, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and Digg.

VIDEO PLAYBACK

QuickTime Basic, which comes pre-installed on all new Macs, unfortunately can’t play most video formats besides MOV and MPEG. A tag-team of two plug-ins (Perian and Flip4Mac) fixes this problem, as does the stand-alone player VLC.

• Perian: The self-proclaimed “swiss-army knife for QuickTime,” Perian supports many video formats including AVI, DivX, and XviD.
• Flip4Mac: Allows WMV (Windows Media Video) files to be supported in QuickTime.
• VLC media player: This open-source, stand-alone application plays all the same audio & video files supported by QuickTime (including Perian and Flip4Mac) and then some. Interface includes playlists, shuffling, and a volume control that goes up to 300%. (That’s right, Spinal Tap fans: this one goes to eleven.)

INSTANT MESSAGING / PHONE

• Adium: The gold standard of instant messaging on the Mac. This program is the “Trillian for Mac.” It connects with multiple protocols including (but not limited to) AIM, MSN, Jabber, ICQ, Google Talk and Yahoo.
• Skype: Allows you to make phone calls over the Internet using VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). Calls to other Skype users are free, calls to landline and cell phones cost a small fee. Other features include instant messaging, file transfer, and video conferencing.

WORD PROCESSING / OFFICE SUITE

• NeoOffice: The most stable, most compatible free alternative to Microsoft Office out there. There is no true substitute for Word-Excel-PowerPoint, but if you’re on a tight budget or just waiting for the real thing to ship, NeoOffice can do the trick in a pinch.

BACKING UP FILES

• Carbon Copy Cloner: Literally “clones” your entire hard drive onto the backup drive. If anything happens to your regular hard drive, you can boot your computer off of the backup created by Carbon Copy Cloner. (You can NOT boot off of a backup made by Apple’s Time Machine.) He asks for a donation of $5-$10, but the download is free. You’d be hard pressed to find a better backup system without paying a lot more.

FILE TRANSFER

• Cyberduck: The best free FTP client for Mac. Also handles SFTP, WebDAV, Cloud Files & Amazon S3. Some users prefer Fetch (not free) or FileZilla, but Cyberduck gets the vote here.

EXPANDING / DECOMPRESSING FILES

• UnRarX: Expands RAR files. Has a reputation for successfully handling files that competitors StuffIt Expander and even The Unarchiver cannot.

DVD BACK-UP

Interested in backing up your legally purchased DVDs before your younger brother gets scratches all over them and you have to repay for your entire collection?

• HandBrake: Highly reputable DVD ripping program. More powerful if VLC media player (featured above) is also installed.
• Burn: This versatile program burns DVD, audio CD, MP3 CD, DVD-audio, VideoCD, and DivX discs.

BIT-TORRENT CLIENTS

• Transmission: Lightweight, open source BitTorrent client. Bare-bones in terms of customization, but completely functional and very easy on system resources. First-time torrent users can navigate intuitively.
• Azureus (now called Vuze): Powerful, resource-intensive BitTorrent client. Lots of options for expert customization, and better than Transmission for private trackers. Potentially difficult for the newbie, though.

SOFTWARE UPDATE / VERSION TRACKER

• AppFresh: What good are all these cool programs, anyway, if they’re gonna become obsolete in months, if not weeks? Enter AppFresh. It automatically checks for application and widget updates.

Go test out one of these, and respond with your feedback. Happy computing!

Tags: Mac