A number of my friends and coworkers have recently purchased Mac computers, and so I thought it would be appropriate to share a little guidance to help them get started. Below is a list of free applications and other goodies that will enhance your Mac experience. Of course, it’s a good idea to install only the things you think you will need or use.
Some of these are applications you would not use every day, but are nonetheless good to have around for special situations or needs.
Internet
- Adium: Chat program that supports the basic features of more than 15 chat clients, include AOL, Jabber, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger (you may also want to get the official clients for Microsoft Messenger and Yahoo Messenger, as they support more advanced features)
- AdiumBook: Finds potential Adium contacts in your Address Book.
- AddressBookSync (for Facebook): Finds updated pictures from Facebook for your contacts in Address Book.
- Firefox
- iStumbler: Great for laptop users! Find open wireless access points wherever you are.
- Plaxo: Helps keep your Address Book data up to date (for contacts who have free Plaxo accounts), and syncs contact data between computers. Great if you have both Mac and Windows computers, and you want to keep their contact information in sync.
- Skype
- Transmission: BitTorrent client.
Word Processing and Text
- Bean: Simple, easy word processor.
- NeoOffice: This is a port of OpenOffice, designed specifically for OS X.
- TextWrangler: Saves plain (unformatted) text.
Audio and Video
- Flip4Mac: Adds proprietary Microsoft video formats to QuickTime, reducing headaches when you want to view videos online.
- HandBrake: Rips DVDs.
- Max: Converts between various audio formats.
- Perian: Adds additional multimedia formats to QuickTime, greatly enhancing your Mac’s ability to watch video online without installing all kinds of junk.
- VLC: Audio and video player that supports many formats.
Miscellaneous
- AppFresh: Searches your applications for newer versions you can download.
- BatChmod: Sometime you will need to change permissions on a file or folder; this program makes it easy.
- Locker: Batch locks or unlocks groups of files.
- Think: Hides everything but the application you are using, to help you concentrate.
- The Unarchiver: Supports many different compression/archival formats.
- WeatherDock: Great weather application.