Recommended Posts

Essential is, of course, a relative term, but here we'll collect an ongoing list of popular utilities and tools. This is replacing the aging list with a fresh new coat of paint :) This list is in a perpetual state of progress, so feel free to suggest new apps, and I'll try to collect everything here at the top. Anyhoo, on to the list:

Interface Customization

  • ShapeShifter - Safe and speedy theme changer with external application changing - $20
  • CandyBar - Icon manager and packager. Reads iContainers. - $12.95
  • ThemePark - OS X theme creation software. - $20
  • Konfabulator - Desktop application featuring "widgets" you can add to represent anything from games to system information. LOTS of options available - $25
  • Can Combine Icons - Allows Mac OS X users to create impressive customized icons within minutes, by using icons and artwork already available. - $10

MenuBar Extras

  • WeatherPop/WeatherPop Advance - Displays the weather in excruciating detail in your menu bar - Free (Advance version - $8.00)
  • Meteo - Displays the weather in excruciating detail in your menu bar. - Free + Open Source
  • MenuMeters - Display all sorts of nerdy information in your menu bar, such as memory usage, net activity, and cpu load. - Free + Open Source
  • WinSwitch - Fast User Switching menu bar replacement. Saves space and adds features - Free + Open Source
  • BluePhoneMenu - Watches your phone over BlueTooth for new calls or text messages. Can control your phone, too. - Free
  • Sailing Clicker - Control your Mac with your phone. Tons of plugins and extras available. Good way to control iTunes for your AirPort Express ;) - $19.95

Browsers

  • Camino - Browser based on the Mozilla engine, but designed for OS X - Free + Open Source
  • OmniWeb 5 - Safari-based browser with loads of extras - $29.95
  • Shiira - Safari-based browser aiming to be better, faster, stronger. - Free + Open Source
  • PDF Browser Plugin - View PDFs in your browser without the need to load up Preview. VERY fast. - Free for personal/academic use
  • Word Browser Plugin - View Word DOCs in your browser - Free
  • Firefox - Firefox 0.9 is the award winning preview of Mozilla's next generation browser. - Free + Open Source
  • iLink - bookmark manager designed specifically for people who use more than one browser. - $15

Chat

  • Proteus - Well-polished multi-protocol IM client built on the GAIM library - $15
  • AdiumX - Alpha version of the popular AIM alternative for OS X with multi-protocol support - Free + Open Source
  • Fire - Fire is an open source, multiplatform instant messenger client based on freely available libraries for each "service." - Free + Open Source
  • MSN Messenger - The official client from MS. Supports some things that the other clients do not yet. - Free
  • iProfile - Allows you to edit and add a profile to your AIM name in iChat - Free

Developement

  • BBEdit - THE text editor. Considered the best on any platform. - $179
  • XCode - Part of the Developer Tools. You should have a CD of this with your Mac, but you should also download the latest version - Free
  • CocoaMySQL - MySQL database frontend - Free + Open Source
  • Fugu - Since I figure only developer-types would make the most use of SFTP/SCP, I've listed this here. Nice frontend for SCP with external file editing (edit files "live" on the server over SSH) - Free + Open Source
  • SSHKeyChain - Manage SSH keys and have them automatically loaded. Never have to type in an SSH password again ;) - Free + Open Source
  • SubEthaEdit - A Rendezvous based, collaborative and distributed text editor. - Free
  • CSSEdit - A GUI and text-based CSS editor. - $24.99

FTP

  • Transmit - Another app so natural, you'll think Apple made it. Simply the best FTP client. Period. - $24.95
  • CuteFTP 2.0 - The excellent Windows ftp client...but for OS X. - $29.99
  • Interarchy - $39.00
  • Fetch - $25.00

IRC

  • Colloquy - IRC client with a very "natural" OS X feel - Free + Open Source
  • iRC - $15.00
  • Crikey! - $16.00
  • Ircle - $20.00
  • MacIrssi - OS X IRC client based on the *nix IRC client irssi - free
  • X-Chat Aqua - Port of XChat for UNIX/GTK+/X Windows - free + Open Source
  • Conversation - An IRC client for those not familiar with IRC commands - free
  • Snak - Powerful, feature-rich IRC client - $20

Usenet Newsreaders

  • Unison - The ultra-cool Usenet browser, with lots of focus on downloading. Made by the same guys that made Transmit, so it's extra slick! - $24.95

Quicklaunch

  • LaunchBar - A quick search of everything on your computer, hit Command+Space, type in a few letters, and drill down to the thing you need. Very neat and useful. - $19.95
  • DragThing - Launcher palette for files, folders, disks, servers - $29.00
  • Quicksilver - launcher and personal data manager - free
  • Butler - launcher, bookmark manager - $19.95

Neato Apps

  • Desktop Manager - Virtual Desktop manager with tons of neat transition effects. Don't worry about the Alpha warning, it works just swimingly! - Free + Open Source
  • Watson - A Do-It-All application to search, find, and manage your only information. Search Google, track eBay items, track shipments, search PriceGrabber, etc etc. There is TONS to do in this app. - $29
  • ecto - Desktop blogging client for MacOSX and Windows, supporting a wide range of weblog systems, such as TypePad, MovableType, WordPress, Drupal, Nucleus, Blogger, and more - $17.95
  • NetNewsWire - News feed reader and aggregator. Has a bunch of nice extras, such as blog posting. - $39.95
  • NewsFire - Another news reader by the guy that did Aquasition - $18.99
  • Mail Appetizer - Displays a little transparent popup window of a message when you get new mail. - Free

Media

  • VLC - Media player with lots of format support options - Free + Open Source
  • MPlayerOSX - Another media player with lots of format support options. Based on MPlayer - Free + Open Source
  • Audio Hijack Pro - Record any audio source coming going through your Mac. Good for stream ripping. - $30

P2P (warez is bad, m'kay?)

  • Transmission - Transmission is a free, lightweight BitTorrent client. It features a simple, intuitive interface on top on an efficient, cross-platform back-end - Free + Open Source
  • Tomato Torrent - An alternative torrent client - Free + Open Source
  • BitTorrent - The newest client works more like a bittorrent manager and is rather nice. - Free + Open Source
  • Poisoned - Multi-Network app, primarily used for OpenFT, but also has basic Kazaa support - Free + Open Source
  • mlMac - Mutli-Network frontend for mlDonkey. Supports most P2P networks out there - Free + Open Source
  • Acquisition - Gnutella client. Considered one of the best designed OS X apps around by some - $15
  • LimeWire - Java-based Gnutella client - Basic version free, Pro version $18.88

Finder Replacements

  • Path Finder - a comprehensive file browser for Mac OS X, which combines the best of Apple's Finder (viewing, moving, and manipulating your files) with some powerful, integrated utilities - $34
  • Macintosh Explorer - Macintosh Explorer provides an alternative method of browsing your hard drives. As well, it provides a familiar interface for file navigation for Windows users converting to the Mac - $15.95

Feel free to post any additional apps below, and I'll try to add them all to the main list :)

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/177367-essential-os-x-apps/
Share on other sites

wow very nice list :) however timdorr , are there any free theme changers for osx ? ( im considering buying a mac , thats why i ask )

Not really. There's ThemeChanger, but just about all the themes released nowadays are in guiKit format, which is only supported by ShapeShifter right now.

P2P (warez is bad, m'kay?)
  • BitTorrent - The newest client works more like a bittorrent manager and is rather nice. - Free + Open Source
  • Poisoned - Multi-Network app, primarily used for OpenFT, but also has basic Kazaa support - Free + Open Source
  • mlMac - Mutli-Network frontend for mlDonkey. Supports most P2P networks out there - Free + Open Source
  • Acquisition - Gnutella client. Considered one of the best designed OS X apps around by some - $15
  • LimeWire - Java-based Gnutella client - Basic version free, Pro version $18.88

Feel free to post any additional apps below, and I'll try to add them all to the main list :)

what about Tomato for Bittorrent on Mac ? :ninja: Quite good until now.

BTW if anybody knows about a better Bittorrent client for Mac, please let us know. ;)

Transmit FTP Access - $25

NetNewsWire RSS feed Reader, version 2 coming out soon - $40

PulpFiction RSS feed Reader thats really like reading email - $25

LaunchBar 4 its like the run command on windows, expect even better. - (version 4 in beta so no pricing yet)

:p

what about Tomato for Bittorrent on Mac ? :ninja: Quite good until now.

BTW if anybody knows about a better Bittorrent client for Mac, please let us know. ;)

Azureus with Safepeer

as for other progs that are a must-have

FTPeel ftp client with mirror support - 19 dollars

Audio Hijack Pro records and enhances audio from any source - 30 dollars

iEatBrainz Uses MusicBrainz (musicbrainz.org) to fix your mp3 and aac tags in iTunes after they've been ripped using acoustic matchings. - free

iTMS Extractor saves music videos and movie trailers from itunes to hard drive - free

iTunes Catalog iTunes Catalog allows you to easily play a song, view album covers, get song lyrics, buy music from the iTunes Music Store or Amazon.com, or search dozens of different music websites. You can even define your own links! Then, you can embed your choice of these links in web catalogs, so everyone can find out all about the music you're listening to. You can also upload your playlist to musicmobz.com - 10 dollars

PhoneAgent For Sony Ericsson t610/t630/t616/and z600 users. Phonebook, SMS, MMS, Theme, and File Exchange program - 30 dollars

Not really. There's ThemeChanger, but just about all the themes released nowadays are in guiKit format, which is only supported by ShapeShifter right now.

Use guiKitty (free) from Unsanity to decompile guiKits, then use Duality to apply the theme. Kind of a pain, but its free. Best option is to just spend the $20 for ShapeShifter, you can easily remake a miniscule $20. :)

I just gotta add some apps that haven't been mentioned.

MaxiMice - http://www.catchysoftware.com

Im so happy i found this software - its great for those who uses and loves the one-button apple mouse. It scrolls Cocoa apps by holding down command and moving the mouse just a bit down or up - and scrolls at different speeds depending on how much you moved the mouse - quirky explanation ;)

X-Tunes - http://www.pol-online.net/

Still the best and unobtrusive iTuns Controller there is. Sadly it isn't developed anymore.

  • 2 weeks later...
This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • DiskGenius 6.2.0.1829 - All Versions: Free, Lite & Portable by Razvan Serea DiskGenius is a full-featured partition manager, which is designed to optimize disk usage for Windows users. It will efficiently help you recover lost data, resize/split partition, backup files, edit hex data, check bad sectors, manage virtual disks, erase data, etc.. Create a system image backup for current Windows with simple clicks to keep the operating system under protection. DiskGenius key features: Partition Management - It can create format, resize, extend, backup, split, hide and clone partition, both MBR and GPT are supported. Disk and partition conversion - Convert dynamic disk to basic, convert virtual disk format and convert MBR to GPT, convert primary partition to logical. File recovery - It can recover files deleted or emptied form recycle bin, recover files from damaged partition or disk and recover files by file type and supports file preview and file filter. Partition recovery - It is the best partition recovery program in that it can recover files from damaged, corrupted and RAW partitions, search for lost partition and recover files from it, besides, it can fix partition table. RAID recovery - It can reconstruct Virtual RAID and recover files from it, and all RAID types are supported. Sector Editor - A Hex editor is embedded to help users edit raw hex data and recover data manually. Backup and Restore - It can backup and restore partition including system partition, hard disk and partition table. Bad Tracks - It can check and repair bad sectors for all storage devices; check hard disk S.M.A.R.T. information. Delete files permanently - It can delete files permanently so that they can't be recovered by any data recovery software. Virtual Disk - It supports virtual disks, including VMware, Virtual PC and Virtual Box. Create WinPE bootable disk and you can manage disk partition when system crashes or there is no operating system on your computer. Support FAT12/FAT16/FAt32/exFAT/NTFS/EXT2/EXT3/EXT4 file system format. DiskGenius 6.2.0.1829 changelog: Add the "Disk Speed Test" feature. Add the "Windows Boot Repair and Conversion" feature. Add the BMB21-2019 erase standard to the "Erase Sectors" feature. Add support for restoring an individual partition from a PMFX disk image file. Enhanced The "Verify Or Repair Bad Sectors/Blocks" feature displays disk read speed in the detection window during scanning. The "Quick Partition" dialog box allows users to quickly select the number of partitions by pressing the numeric keys 1, 2, 7, 8, or 9. The "Set Volume Name" dialog box supports selecting preset volume labels provided by the software. The "Copy Sectors" feature supports resuming copy tasks after modifying the number of skipped bad sectors. Add the "TRIM Optimization" option to the format dialog box. The "Clone Partition" and "Clone Disk" features perform TRIM optimization on target partitions or disks before cloning. Add support for Not Equal To search conditions (prefixed with "!") when searching hexadecimal data in the sector editor. Optimize the display of capacity values in the program interface to show two decimal places. Add a minimize button to dialogs that may require long processing time. Enhance support for the ReFS file system. Enhance support for newer HIF and MP4 formats when recovering files by type. Enhance support for the EXT4 file system. Enhance compatibility of the "File Recovery" feature with special data structures. Fixed Fixed the issue that the selected file system type automatically reverted to NTFS after changing it to exFAT or EXT4 in the "Quick Partition" dialog box. Fixed inaccurate Unicode string search results in the "Sector Editor" feature. Fixed the issue that exceptions might occur when adding multiple disks in the "Erase Sectors" feature. Fixed the issue that insufficient target disk space was incorrectly reported in some cases when cloning, backing up, or restoring disks. Fixed the issue that folder modification timestamps were not preserved when copying files from ReFS partitions. Fixed the issue that Excel-format reports generated by features such as file copying or bad sector checking could not be opened when the report contained more than one million rows. Fixed the issue that folders were not displayed in the exclude-folder dialog box when backing up partitions to image files. Fixed the issue that the "Erase Sectors" feature could not be executed in some cases. Download: DiskGenius 6.2.0.1829 | 63.9 MB (Freeware, paid upgrade available) Download: DiskGenius Portable 64-bit | 40.0 MB Download: DiskGenius Portable 32-bit | 36.0 MB Download: DiskGenius Lite 64-bit | 13.4 MB Download: DiskGenius Lite 32-bit | 11.6 MB View: DiskGenius Home Page | DiskGenius Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • Really? Use a better search engine https://www.google.com/search?...ourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
    • Seems like Neowin has transitioned into being simps for the white house. I can't find a review for the last UFC games that came out.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      agatameier earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      agatameier earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      ssd21345 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Contributor
      MarkHughes4096 went up a rank
      Contributor
    • Dedicated
      jordanspringer earned a badge
      Dedicated
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      513
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      182
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      141
    4. 4
      ATLien_0
      94
    5. 5
      Steven P.
      75
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!