Favorite Mac Utilities

I try to keep my Macs lean and mean and not too “haxied” up, but there are a few apps and utilities that I just cannot live without. A few of these are freeware, but even the shareware/donateware I use is well worth the small cost involved. All of these have great developer support.

I’ll occasionally add to this page so check it out periodically. On to the good stuff!

Drag Thing ($29 shareware with free trial) – this is an app/file launcher that I like the best, and I’ve tried most of them out there. Drag Thing is very customizable with a variety of built-in skins, or you can create your own skins. Add as many docks and layers (tabs within a dock) as you like, and anchor them to your screen edges in several different ways (horizontal or vertical style drawers) or just leave some docks/layers free-floating. Use it to launch applications, files, or URLs. Read my full Drag Thing Review.
Rating: ★★★★★

2Remember ($10 shareware with free trial) – a small lightweight ‘reminder’ app that docks to the edge of your screen and slides out drawer-like to hold any number of alarm-able reminders. I use this in place of setting iCal alarms for small things like “don’t forget the clothes in the dryer” and such because I tend to forget what is not right in front of my face – I love this app! Read my full 2Remember Review.
Rating: ★★★★☆

EasyFind – works WAAAY better than Spotlight and much faster too, without the indexing overhead. I’ve deactivated Spotlight to keep it from indexing my drives (which speeds up many other functions) and just use EasyFind when I need to find something on my computer.
Rating: ★★★★☆

KMRemoteControl and ClipCommControl – these two work in tandem – KMRemoteControl lets me use one keyboard and mouse across mulitple Macs and also a Window$ PC so my desk is less crowded, and ClipCommControl lets me copy clipboard contents back and forth between my Macs, although that feature isn’t available for Window$. I’ve tried the free Synergy also, but I like KM much better.
Rating: ★★★★☆

Transmit ($30) – this is a great FTP application with a lot of features including a tabbed interface for multiple concurrent sessions, easy editing of remote files, and the ability to automatically detect your server’s time zone for synchronization, plus a lot more. Everyone has their own personal preferences when it comes to FTP, and I’ve tried many FTP apps out there – I personally like Transmit the best. Has a Dashboard Widget too – great for a quick drag-n-drop upload.
Rating: ★★★★☆

Adium (free) – don’t get me wrong, I love iChat, but Adium lets me connect to several of my IM accounts (Yahoo, MSN, Aim, Jabber, etc.) and have a single contact list – very convenient – so I no longer have to run multiple IM clients to cover all my contacts.
Rating: ★★★★★

Awaken ($9) – This is a terrific alarm clock program that uses your iTunes music to wake you up (or any other built-in sound that you choose). You can create recurring or one-time alarms, or set a sleep timer to fall asleep to your music. Awaken will wake up your Mac if it’s sleeping, and adjust your volume to whatever level you think is needed to wake you up. I generally keep my volume turned down fairly low during the day, but since my Mac isn’t in my bedroom, I need it louder to wake me up – Awaken works great so I never worry about oversleeping. Read my full Awaken Review.
Rating: ★★★★★

ChronoSync ($30, free demo) – I absolutely love this synchronization tool. I use this to automatically keep both of my Macs backed up nightly to an external networked drive, and to manually synchronize certain folders on my PowerMac to my PowerBook when I hit the road. It has a simple to use interface, as well as a simple to use scheduler, and a Dashboard Widget to let you know everything is going according to schedule.
Rating: ★★★★½

Ghost Action ($19.95) – Anyone familiar with GTD software will appreciate the the simple elegance of Ghost Action, a Mac-only application that keeps all your “to do’s” neatly organized by Contexts (such as personal or work related items), Projects (within those Contexts) and Tasks (within each Project)…. Read my full Review
Rating: ★★★★☆

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