05-31-2009, 03:23 AM

Hi, im a newbie here as well as in the world of Mac. I'll be getting my 1st Macbook Pro 15.4" Unibody next week and im currently doing as much research as i can regarding the MBP as well as how to fully utilize OS X Leopard.

So far i have found out that OS X is as much tweakable as WINDOWS and you can basicly customize your Mac to be much easier to use and at the same time boost up its performance using many different applications.

I've found many sites that showcases many applications for OS X, yet its difficult to do a full research on all those applications. In my experience of searching for good apps (during my pc-windows life),its difficult to rely on just ratings of those apps until i actually install it and try it out. Different users may have different taste and thus trying out apps 1 by 1 until you find the perfect 1 is a long painful task .

So i would like to ask for help, what are the apps that are in your MAC.
Apps that have helped you in different ways while using your MAC. Maybe a list of what you have would do good for me. At least, i can further my research based on those apps that you have posted.

Do state whether the apps you are using are free.shareware or $$$$.

I hope you guys could help me out as I am a newbie Mac User and would like to learn as much as i can on how to fully utilize it.

05-31-2009, 05:01 AM

VLC Player - Download this to play any file format on your Mac. I haven't come across a format in which it cannot handle so far. Free.

Flip4mac - This is a plug-in to help you play .wmv files on your Mac. Free.

AppFresh - This keeps all the third-party applications in my Mac up to date. Free.

Handbreak - This helps you to rip DVDs into your Mac, or to convert it to iPod compatible formats. Free.

GetTube - I use this application to rip audio off YouTube videos. Free.

YouSendIt Express - I use this to send large files, especially when my chat clients in Mac cannot support high speed transfers. Free.

OnyX - Basic maintenance applications to repair permissions and to clear caches. Very important application, and it's free.

StuffIt Expander - Opens any kind of compressed file formats. Free.

Keyboard Cleaner - This application paralyzes the keyboard while you clean it with a cloth. Free.

Polardroid - I use this application to turn digital pictures into polaroids. Free, in beta version.

Skitch - Application to edit pictures and quickly upload them onto the internet. Free.

Adium - Best chat client for the Mac, and it supports a lot of other accounts like GoogleTalk, MSN, Facebook... the list goes on. Free. Also, highly customizable.

Skype - Free webcam chatting client. Stable, and high quality. Free.

Transmission - Torrent downloading application. Free.

05-31-2009, 02:13 PM

Everything Psyko said, plus:

Candybar - Theme software for your mac. Allows you to customize the look of icons as well as the Dock itself. $pay.

Caffeine - Stops your computer from "going to sleep". Good for use with long youtube videos and the like. Free.

CoconutBattery - Tells you the current state of your battery-- like how many charge cycles it's gone through, how old it is, and what ercentage of your original battery life (from when your FIRST got your mac) you have left. Free.

Omni Disk Sweeper - Scans your hard drive, and displays to you all of your files, putting the largest ones on top. This is useful when you're trying to free up space. Free.

05-31-2009, 04:04 PM

i have nothing to add cause i'm also a noob for macs, but i'll be downloading all of that later.

05-31-2009, 05:03 PM

My customising includes reading up reviews on MacUpdate and Version tracker before installing and using. As there were significant changes in Leopard compared to Tiger before it and as well moving from the PPC to the Intel i tend to avoid any that have not been reviewed in the Leopard/Intel environment just to make ops more stable. i have most of those listed above but remember if you load 17 new apps at once and have issues the troubleshooting becomes long and drawn out. Additionally i would get SuperDuper and an external HD and make an bootable copy on that while all is going good and then add apps incrementally such that if you do have problems it is easy to go back to pre problem.

05-31-2009, 05:20 PM

I recommend The Unarchiver over StuffIt.

05-31-2009, 09:10 PM

so i tried downloading caffeine but it won't work on mine, it just opens as text edit...

05-31-2009, 10:08 PM

Try downloading from here - see if it works better Download Caffeine for Mac - Menubar item prevents your Mac from sleeping and more. MacUpdate Mac System Software Downloads

05-31-2009, 11:13 PM

still doesn't work, this comes out.


The document “Caffeine1.0.4.zip” could not be opened. The file is not in the right format.

05-31-2009, 11:15 PM

How are you trying to open it? If it doesn't work, can you open any other zip archives?

06-01-2009, 03:15 AM

yes i'm able to open other zip files except for this one.

06-01-2009, 09:48 AM

Try downloading it again or from a different location. If that doesn't work, open up Terminal (/Application/Utilities) and type the following:

unzip /directory/to/zip/Caffeine1.0.4.zip

Replace /directory/to/zip with the directory that the zip file is in.

06-01-2009, 06:57 PM

thanks!

06-02-2009, 12:29 AM

Thanks a bunch guys. I will definitely search for all your recommended apps.

Btw, are there any clashing problems if any of these apps are being used simultaneously, especially apps which are use to tweak os x settings.

e.g: if im using onyx and say...Mainmenu..or Macpilot..?

Also..are there any apps that i might stumble upon but should stay away from?

Again,thanks guys!

06-02-2009, 12:47 PM

since no one mentioned it ;

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