Recommended Software Thread

I just bought a MacBook Pro and here are my recommendations:

1. BluePhoneElite 2 - Best Bluetooth Phone-to-Mac software yet.
2. Cabos - Like Acquisition only free. Works like Limewire but with a cleaner interface.
3. Evernote - Extension to your brain. Notepad software with online sync service. Free with monthly storage options.
4. Little Snitch - Firewall software. Useful for blocking apps that call back home.
5. QuickSilver - Type-in application launcher. Very useful for someone like me who has a lot of apps and documents.

 

1) iStat Menus - Network Speeds, HD Space, RAM/CPU usage, Fan/Temp & Calendar right on the menubar.
2) Adium - All in one Instant Messenger, includes YM, unlike iChat.
3) Caffeine - Keeps your screensaver or power settings from darkening your screen from nonuse, handy right on the menubar.
4) InsomniaX - Keeps your MacBook from going to sleep when you close your MB. I use this when I have to close my MB and move around without having to come out of sleep.
5) Google Earth - not useful to me, but fun to have and use.
6) smcFanControl - increase the default fan speed; I use this if I use my MB in a non A/C environment for long periods of time to prevent overheating. It lowers the temp where the fans kick in.
7) Stuffit Expander - Useful & full bodied archiving program. More robust than the default OS X Archiver
8) VLC Media Player - I use it to play DVDs - more controls than DVD Player
9) AppCleaner - Nice program to get rid of the associated files that are left behind if you just delete programs by dragging to trash.

10) Mac the Ripper/Handbrake - To save wear & tear on my genuine DVDs, I rip the content and convert them into MP4s. More Portable that way and I get to keep a clean unscratched original DVD.
11) LiquidMac - Not very useful, but fun program to look at that takes advantage of the MB's motion sensor.
12) MPEG Streamclip - Good for converting various Video formats into other formats.
13) Flip4Mac/Perian - Allows you to play AVIs, WMVs, & ASFs in Quicktime.
14) Senuti - Handy for transfering files from your iPod to your MB, used this when I had a HD crash and all my stuff were just on the iPod.

As far as I know all these programs are free.

 

Rafael listed down most of the important ones na. But, i suggest Toast for burning discs and mounting them and Squirrel/Bento to organize your stuff.

 

I suggest you also download vuze (azureus) for your torrent needs. "Just in case"

 

Quicksilver to act without doing. You're not a hardcore Mac user unless you master the Jedi like skillz that Quicksilver will give you. May the force be with you all...

 

the file wont open once downloaded.

 

Hi! Just wanted to check if this program is REALLY useful and REALLY safe. For me, I think it's very useful whenever I need to change from room to room. But I'm having a small problem if it's really safe. I mean, it does something with starting up or maybe if I take it out and go on normal sleep, maybe my screen will never come back on.

Can anyone give me feedback on InsomniaX before I try it? Thanks. Useful but just want to be safe!

 

luisito, what exactly are your concerns? As the person who endorsed the product, let me tell you why I downloaded it and what my experiences are.

I had been using caffeine as the program I use to prevent my Macbook from going into screensaver or sleep. I tend to read lengthy documents, news articles, & blogs. When I am on battery, I have the power setting set to "better battery life", which means the screen will dim & goto screensaver rather quickly, before I end up moving the page I'm reading. Caffeine worked well for me.

However, I tend to move around alot with my laptop. I go from kitchen table to desk in my bedroom; or from table to table in a coffee shop, of table to table in a library. It got pretty annoying having to come out of sleep and enter my password each time I come out of sleep, as well as unlocking my Keychain.

So I found InsomiaX. I've been using it for a month now and I've had no problems. If you activate InsomiaX on the menubar and you close the lid of your laptop, the Macbook will not go into sleep. The screen does not go off, the apple on the back of the lid stays on. It acts as if you never closed the lid in the first place.

I only activate InsomiaX from the menubar when I need to move. The rest of the time, it's in an inactive state on my menubar. This way, the MacBook acts normally. It sleeps when I close it, when I open it back up, the screen comes back on.

I'm not sure what you mean when you say "it does something with starting up". But I think I answered the second part of that sentence.

Like I said, I recommended that program for everyone. I wouldn't have if I haven't used it myself and has behaved in a way meeting my expectations, safety being foremost among them.

Try it out. I hope it's as useful to you as it has for me.

Addendum: I don't recommend you use InsomniaX in the following manner. If you are using a resources intensive program, or if your system is running very hot, DO NOT ACTIVATE INSOMNIAX AND LEAVE YOUR SCREEN CLOSED FOR EXTENDED PERIODS OF TIME. I'm not sure that this is healthy for your screen as well as the system since I think the fan intake & outlet is obstructed if the lid is closed. This is just my personal opinion, so I'm not saying this is 100% fact. Just a concern I have, but as I said, I only activate the program for brief periods of time when I am moving around.

 

To rafaelc378:

Thanks! I see that it's most useful when you want to switch from room to room without putting the laptop to sleep and at the same time, the lid is closed. i just realized that Apple should have put this feature in its wares in the first place. It's very useful. Anyway, got it. I just wanted to know the implications and all. Anyway, thanks and will download now. Haha.

 

I use caffeine more than InsomniaX and if your goal is just to keep your screen lit up. It should be sufficient.

 

I use the following softwares:

1) Paparazzi- downloads a web page from top to the very bottom of its footer. A good option than just using screenshots.

2) Disco- Burns DVDs and CDs like Toast. Fun part is as you burn, smoke literally comes out on its icon on your desktop

 

Oh nice, finally found this using search. Thanks for the recommendations.

 

thanks got a lot of ideas !

 

AFloat!!! (make your windows "always-on-top") http://infinite-labs.net/afloat/
i use it most of the time, while surfing the web and watching videos in quicktime, or chatting away to my hearts content while typing on a word processor.

i love having that ability to have windows stay on top for my read-then-type-what-you-read habits.