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Top 16
Freeware Apps for
Mac
(not necessarily in any particular order!) So
yes, I know, I’m a nerd, but there’s a ton of
awesome
freeware out there written for Macs that I use almost every
day!
Every once in a while I’ll come across a program that I feel
like
every Mac owner should have. Hence, I have created
a list of
the top 16 FREE programs I use almost every day.
(Disclaimer: I didn't have much time to write this, so it's long, scattered, and may just confuse you more! Oh well!) 1.  Quicksilver
- I’ve heard a ton about this thing, and
it’s on the
top of almost everyone’s “Top Freeware
List” but I
had no idea how awesome it was until I actually installed it and
started using it! It’s essentially a
keyboard-driven
launcher for your computer. Now, since that doesn’t
help
explain it, lemme demonstrate: I can hit [Shift] twice in a
row,
and a tiny little box appears on-screen. I start to type
“iMovie” and before I finish the
“v” it shows
iMovie in the window, I hit enter, and it opens! Or, I hit
Shift
twice, type in an email address, and it opens my email program and
starts a new message to that person. Or I hit Shift twice,
type
in a URL and hit enter and my browser opens and goes straight
there. OR I type in the name of a file, I hit Tab, type
“Compress” and hit enter, and it automatically
compresses
that file! You’ll never really understand
how awesome
it is until you just try it. I use it everyday!Get It Here 2.  iBackup
- There are a few free backup programs out there, but I personally like
iBackup the best. You can choose to have it automatically
backup
and compress any files you want, any time you want, anywhere you want,
and however frequently you want!Get It Here 3.  Onyx
– Awesome maintenance utility. Onyx gives you full
control
over your system and gives you the option to clean and optimize your
system. This program has fixed many problems on my computer
as
well as friends’!Get It Here 4.  LiquidCD
– A wonderful program if you don’t have the money
laying
around to purchase Roxio Toast or other programs like it.
Very
simple to use, and lets you burn lots of different types of CDs and
DVDs.Get It Here 5.  Handbrake
– If you have a video iPod and some DVDs, you’re
probably
heard of Handbrake. In case you haven’t,
it’s a very
nice freeware app that lets you rip DVDs to your computer and
automatically compress them to a iPod format or just a compressed video
format so you can fit and watch a bunch on your laptop!Get It Here 6.  ffmpegx
– EXTREMELY versatile video encoder. It’s
shareware,
but will let you try it out as long as you like. In my
opinion,
it’s worth the $15 if you convert lots of videos to various
formats.Get It Here 7.  Buddi
- Free personal financial manager. It’s
simple, and a
bit difficult to get working just right, but I was extremely happy to
find it to help me keep on top of my finances! It has nice
features such as the ability to generate pie charts of where your
income has come from and where you’ve spent your hard-earned
cash!Get It Here 8.  Firefox (+ AdBlock Plus +
DownThemAll)
– Most people have heard about Firefox, but what makes
Firefox so
awesome is it’s ability to add plugins. The two
must-have
plugins for Firefox are Adblock Plus and DownThemAll. Adblock
does what the name implies, blocks virtually all ads, banners, etc on
web pages. I was ecstatic when I found this plugin because of
all
the dumb ads scattering pages. DownThemAll is a built in
download
accelerator. When you use it to download large files, it
breaks
them up into 5 smaller sizes and downloads them simultaneously,
maximizing your bandwidth. We have fiber-optics at my home,
but
rarely do things download at the 1.5 Mbs unless I use
DownThemAll. Sweet Plugins.Get Firefox Here Get AdBlock Plus Here Get DownThemAll Here 9.  MacTheRipper
– Simple, easy to use DVD ripper that can even remove the
copy-protection from discs. I use it when I want certain
scenes
from DVDs in a movie or to backup my personal collection.
Please
don’t use it illegally (aka, copying DVDs you do not
own…)Get It Here 10.  Uapp
– When you delete an application on a Mac, most of the
program
goes with it, but not all of it. Most applications store a
few
extra files somewhere on your hard disk that aren’t deleted
when you delete the application icon. Uapp
automatically
finds the files that are associated with any program and deletes those
as well!Get It Here 11.  Growl
– Sweet system notification program – Tells you, in
a
little popup, what song is playing in iTunes, when a download has
finished in Safari, when a certain project is finished rendering,
etc. More and more programs are being written with Growl
support
– it’s sweet!Get It Here 12.  KeepassX
– Truly a must-have if you have many different passwords and
many
different accounts to keep track of. A simple, free program
that
keeps all your passwords and important information under a single
master password. Extremely useful.Get It Here 13.  Jumpcut
– A little application that sits up in your menu bar and
records
what you copy and paste in any program. Click on the little
scissors and you can access the last however many things
you’ve
copied to the clipboard. Certainly beats going back and forth
between programs constantly!Get It Here 14.  Monocle
– Another super-useful menubar app. It works like
spotlight, in a sense. I programmed mine so I just hit
APPLE-ALT-Z and a tiny search bar pops down. I type my search
term, and it automatically opens my browser and searches in Google for
my request. Another time saver.Get It Here 15.  Caffeine –
A very nice app for those of you who have laptops and have to keep
moving the mouse every 3 minutes to keep the screen from going
dark. Click this little menubar app and it’ll keep
your
screen awake while you watch a movie or do whatever you do!Get It Here 16.  Nvu
– The only good open-source (freeware) website editor that
I’ve found. It has it’s bugs, but overall
it works
well and you certainly can’t beat the price!Get It Here |