Here's the applications I use on my Mac. I'm an application user, not a programmer, and my applications reflect my use of Macs over the years. I've posted my recommended Open Software & Freeware on this
thread.
1Password and Dropbox - These two applications are go hand-in-hand.
1Password superbly manages your on-line passwords with both a standalone program and interfaces to all known web broswers including that Windows one.
1Password also helps you generate strong passwords. With
Dropbox, which is a cloud-like shared folder with up to 2GB of data for free, 1Password can be sync'd across multiple computers and OS. I have the Family version which allows my wife and I to use our unique 1Password data across all our Macs.
This is a must have, super utility in this privacy conscience InterNet.
Firefox - I don't use Safari. I've been using Mozilla's
Firefox since the early beta days. (My original browser was Mosaic from the U of Illinois' National Center for Supercomputing Applications - remember Mark Andreessen, et al, from those days in the early 90s? No?! Oh, well...) Then, when the Mosaic crew moved to develop Netscape, I used it until it's bloat caused me to look at Firefox. Firefox's ability to have third party add-ons has allowed excellent privacy protection extensions.
BetterPrivacy, Beef Taco and NoScript extensions keep the data snatchers at bay. There are many more and YMMV. I use
Right-Click-Link, Tab Mix Plus and Adblock Plus to name a few that make browsing easier.
Little Snitch - Speaking of privacy, I've learned to distrust PC computer OS's chattiness in reporting home.
Little Snitch keeps Mac OS X add-ons and applications honest by reporting who's reporting back to the mother ship.
You need this on your Hackintosh. Well, worth the $30 for the single use license. (A Family License for five computers is available for $60.)
Xmarks - Keeps my browser bookmarks sync'd to all my Macs and Windows 7 using
VMware's Fusion. It supports most of the known world's browsers.
Xmarks is a free service, but will probably go fee for service. Xmarks was going to close down, but an upwelling of users have pledged to pay $10/yr if they stay open. Current version lets you use your own server.
Highly recommended.
ThunderBird - My go to email program by
Mozilla. I don't use Apple's Mail nor Microsofts Entourage. I started using Eudora in the early 90s but switched to T-Bird a couple of years ago when it looked like development of Eudora was ending. T-Bird handles multiple email accounts and can be an RSS reader, too.
Vienna - My favorite RSS news reader. I've tried them all, but keep coming back to
Vienna. It's also freeware. Try it - you'll love it.
Office 2008 - Have to have this if you gotta interface with others for your cross platform correspondence (Word, Excel and PowerPoint). Since I'm retired, I'm not going to get Office 2011. Instead I'll depend upon Open Office variants and...
iWorks - Pages, Numbers and Keynote are Apple's answer to Microsoft's Word, Excel and PowerPoint, respectively. Some file compatibility between the two suites. I get the Family Pack for my Macs from either Amazon or eBay.
Bean - A VG small, easy-to-use word processor that takes off from where Apple's TextEdit left off.
Bean is not a replacement for Word or Pages (see below), but it's my go to word processor when I don't want the bloat of Word.
iLife 09/11 - Although the iLife suite comes with new Macs, you need to buy the next years' releases. Well worth the money for iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iWeb and GarageBand. Again, I get the Family Pack for iLife. Since I'm a closet guitar player, I'm into GarageBand in a big way. If you get into GarageBand to record your performances, check out the band
Bullets and Bones site for GarageBand tips and tutorials.
JBidwatcher - For keeping track of my eBay buys.
This donation-ware Java application lets me bid and/or snipe. It a gem.
AppZapper and AppTrap - When you delete an application, changes are you want to delete allow the preference, com.xxx.plst and other files associated with the app. These two applications do that.
AppZapper is a standalone application while
AppTrap is a both a program and Preference Pane.
Flip4Mac WMV - A free Preference Pane that allows Quicktime to play .wmv files. It's a Apple vs Microsoft thing.
Flip4Mac is such a handy addition to your Mac that Microsoft bought it.
Side Note - A handy little program that hides on the left or right edge of your screen and acts like a multiple page notepad or stickies. It's a best kept secret in the Mac world.
Link. Unfortunately, this great program doesn't work in Lion since it's a an universal binary application, and the author isn't planning to update it.
I also use the
previously mentioned Carbon Copy Cloner (and SuperDuper), Onxy, Transmission (can't talk about the neatness of it on this forum),
Handbrake nightly builds, Evernote, Perian, Growl, VLC and Cyberduck.
OK. That's enough for now. I've got more to share, but I've spent enough time listing the above neat and useful programs. I'm hungry.
Check these applications out.
