Mac Must Knows

#1 On my list of "Top 10 Mac Applications" is Quicksilver.

Finally we have Quicksilver. I put it as #1 on the list... not necessarily because I ranked everything from best to worst... but this is definitely my favorite.

I call Quicksilver a application quick launcher... but it's soo much more!

I'll try describing it to you but I'll most likely fail so excuse me if that happens. The best way to understand it is download it and try it yourself.

Quicksilver allows you to do tasks like open applications, manipulate files, run scripts send e-mails and more... only using your keyboard.

This application will make everything you do go 10 times faster... literally.

Say you want to open an application... say iTunes.

Now I could go to the application folder and do this but that takes a lot more time then using Quicksilver. I would open it by:

1. Opening quicksilver using my chosen "trigger" (a combination of keys you press to start Quicksilver. I use Option + Space.)
2. Type "i" (Quicksilver indexes everything on your computer, typing "i" makes it search for things with/relating to "i")
3. If you use iTunes all the time, Quicksilver will figure this out and iTunes will be at the top of the list for things to open.
4. Hit enter and iTunes opens.

This takes all of 2 seconds.

Quicksilver doesn't only let you open apps, you can open bookmarks with it, find and open files and so much more.

Check it out because me explaining it will take up too much space.

Quicksilver Website: http://docs.blacktree.com/quicksilver/what_is_quicksilver

You can download and find out more about it there.

Enjoy!

#2 On the list of "Top 10 Mac Applications" is AppZapper.

With a Mac, installing and uninstalling is as easy as moving a package to or from the "Application" folder.

Or is it?

Adding an application is very straight forward. Drag the app to the "Application" Folder. But how about removing applications?

Well, when you move the file and run the app, other program files get moved to different areas in your computer.

Then down the road you don't want that anymore. So what do you do? Drag the file to the garbage. Fine, but one small problem with this though.

The other files that were installed are left behind.

AppZapper is an application that removes the ENTIRE application, leaving no trace behind.

Now this isn't much for something you have to buy, so it does other things.

AppZapper also makes it easy to install plugins, widgets and preference pane items you may have installed. It's kind of like the ultimate Mac uninstaller.

You only buy it once (for the small price of 12.95$) and you get free updates for life, give it a try at:

AppZapper website: http://www.appzapper.com/

#3 On my list of "Top 10 Mac Applications" is ClamXav.

One of the reasons you bought your Mac was most likely the thought of "No Viruses". And good for you because it's true, Mac hardly has any viruses for it.

But even though there's not many doesn't mean you can't get them.

Your computer has all your pictures, music, videos, documents, files... why take the chance losing that all?

Even if it's a low chance, it's a chance so be cautious. This is why I will recommend ClamXav.

It's a free Virus Scanner that works just as well as the few other virus scanners you can buy.

You don't need to scan everyday or every week (not that you would want to, ClamXav is quite slow) but every 1 or 2 months would be nice.

This way you can always be sure your stuff is safe and nothing has found it's way on your computer.

Definitely try it out, it's not a big thing to have and it may save you a lot of stress in the future. Here's the website.

ClamXav Website: http://www.clamxav.com/

#4 On the list of "Top 10 Mac Applications" is Firefox.

Today on mac there are 2 main browsers, Safari and Firefox.

Safari boasts extremely fast load times while Firefox has it's endless amounts of add-ons and plugins. So which to choose?

Well both are great browsers. Before I tried the new Firefox (Firefox3) I would have said Safari. It's fast, blends in with the OS X interface, perfect.

The current stable Firefox (Firefox 2.0.0.14) seems to be a bit slow on mac and also doesn't look too great (in my opinion).

Firefox3 is tottaly different though. They've changed the look to match the rest of the OS, it's faster and works much better. And it's still it Beta.

Safari is great but cannot stand up to the amount of features and add-ons you can get for Firefox.

For the moment feel free to stay with Safari, but when Firefox3 comes out your gonna want to give it a try.

You won't be disappointed.

Firefox Website: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

Current Firefox3 (Beta 5) Download Site: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-beta.html

#5 On the list of "Top 10 Mac Applications" is "Onyx".

After using your mac for a while it is going to accumulate junk type files, permissions get changed and so on.

This can cause your computer to slow down and so on.

For this reason it is good to have a application to clean out the crap and check that everything is working alright. There are a few applications that do this but my favorite is Onyx.

Why?

Well all these applications do pretty much the same thing... Onyx just does it for free.

You can get a variety of different apps but they cost money and do the EXACT same thing. Why pay?

Onyx also lets you get at some of your Mac's hidden features allowing you to customize things like your Dock, Finder, Dashboard, Login, Safari and other things.

Onyx is a great application to have to do regular cleaning and change hidden preferences.

Definitely worth looking at.

The Onyx Website: http://www.titanium.free.fr/pgs/english.html

#7 On the list of "Top 10 Mac Applications" is Xslimmer.

Xslimmer is a great app that "slims" your applications. It can take your 500mb Applications and shave them down to 200mb.

How?

Applications are full of other stuff you don't really need.

Language support files are the big one. These are used if you want to use whatever app in a different language.

It's great that you can use iTunes in everything from Chinese to Spanish but nobody does. Most people use only 1, maybe 2 and barely ever 3.

Xslimmer let's you choose the languages you want to keep and deletes the rest. Doing this to all your applications will save you tons of space.

This application is great. It frees space, speeds up your computer and makes your applications load faster.

Unlike most of the other applications which are free, Xslimmer costs 12.95 but's worth every penny.

Check it out.

Xslimmer Website: http://www.xslimmer.com/

#8 On the list of "Top 10 Mac Applications" is Perian.

Have you ever tried playing a video file only to have Quicktime tell you that for it to be played you need a special codec or plugin.

I used to have that problem all the time and it made me go mad! Most people will either download tons of things, trying to find the one that they need OR just use a different media player all together.

Well I'm here to tell you there's a much easier third option. Download Perian.

It allows quicktime to play all types of video files it couldn't play before.

It doesn't make Quicktime as good as say VLC (great media player) but it will make most files work. This also saves you the time of having to say Open With... --> VLC for every video file you want to play.

It you use Quicktime or couldn't before because of lacking the right software, check out Perian.

Perian makes Quicktime just that much better.

Perian Website: http://perian.org/

#9 On the list of "Top 10 Mac Applications" is Growl.

When I first heard of this I thought "What's an event notifier". Well it's exactly what it says it is.

Growl is an app that displays notifications for other applications.

Say I receive an e-mail in Mail. Growl will pop up a message telling me. If I'm using Adium (MSN Messenger type app) it notifies me when people log on, when I receive messages and so on.

You may think "I don't need that" but it's actually quite handy. You'd be amazed at how many apps work with it.

Download it and try it out.

Growl Website: http://growl.info/

When I first got my mac I wanted to juice it up with all the coolest apps. There are tons of cool apps out there, but they all do different things and not everyone needs ALL of them.

So I've made a list of all the Apps I've ever used and came up with a list of 10 that I think are the most useful. I don't care who you are, these are good to have... and most of them are free! :)

My list of 10 have apps is:

1. Quicksilver - Quick Launcher (Free)
2. AppZapper - Application Remover (Shareware)
3. ClamXav - Anti-Virus software (Free)
4. Firefox - Web Browser (Free)
5. Onyx - Multifunction Utility (Free)
6. The Unarchiver - File Extractor (Free)
7. Xslimmer - Application Slimmer (Shareware)
8. Perian - Video Support For QuickTime (Free)
9. Growl - Notifier (Free)
10. Transmission - Torrent Downloader (Free)

These Apps are sick! Google them right now! I'll leave it at that. I'll post much more detailed info on all of these next.

Till then, go, find these!