Essential Free OSX Utilities
Despite putting it off for as long as possible, and feeling that it may not quite be ready for prime time, I recently updated to OSX 10.5 Leopard. When you go through this process, you get a number of options. You can either upgrade your current version of OSX, retaining all your settings and applications, or you can wipe everything and start from scratch. Like many other up-graders, I took this as an opportunity, or rather excuse, to clean up my Mac. So I wiped everything and started from scratch.
This can be a risky tactic. Not only do you have to be absolutely confident you can get all the critical tools and documents back, but there’s a risk that you will forget some. Rather than let these risks weight me down, found it all rather liberating. If I wasn’t using a utility, it would no longer be installed. From now on, I’d only install things that I actually need.
One of the first things I did after installing and updating Leopard was to install all the applications I can’t do without. Then I came round to the utilities. I’m a sucker for the little OSX utilities, small programs and preference panes that make certain tasks easier. Unfortunately, I used to install a lot of them. So with my new attitude, and my vow to only install things I need, I cut it down to four truly essential utilities. Ones that I can’t live without. And best of all, they’re all FREE!
Perian
What does it do? Perian is a collection of media codecs for Quicktime covering most of the popular file formats currently out there.
Why use it? If you watch and download a lot of media, you need Perian. The odds are that with Perian installed Quicktime will support pretty much any file you throw at it. No more searching round for that obscure codec to watch that must see video, Perian already has you covered.
flip4mac
http://www.flip4mac.com/wmv_download.htm
What does it do? flip4mac allows you to play Windows Media Files in Quicktime.
Why use it? For the same reasons as Perian, but for Windows Media Files. flip4mac has a fantastic selling point. If you use it, you don’t have to use the quite awful Windows Media Player for OSX.
NuFile
http://growlichat.com/NuFile.php
What does it do? Allows you to create files through a right/command click menu.
Why use it? For recent Windows converts, the option to create new files through a right-click menu may be something you actually miss. NuFile takes this idea a step further, not only allowing yo to create new files but also allowing you to create templates for files. So if you create a lot of XHTML files for example, you can create a template that already has the doctype and other header information in it. This functionality can also be found in Quicksilver.
iStat Menus
http://islayer.com/index.php?op=item&id=28
What does it do? Displays information about your system, such as processor usage and temperature, in the menu bar.
Why use it? It may be geeky, but I like knowing what’s happening in my system. This is the easiest, and least obtrusive way of doing it. I find it particularly useful for monitoring applications which may be sucking up more resources than they should be. The newest version is highly configurable, allowing you to change colours and exactly what gets displayed and in what format.
Did I miss anything? I would include Growl but it’s temporarily unavailable.
Utility pole photo by LearningToSee.
You took the plunge that I’m not ready for yet. Everything is working perfectly on my 3 Macs right now, and I just can’t see messing that up with Leopard. I’m sure I would run into issues with compatibility of apps that work great now, but will be problematic in Leopard. I suppose I’ll go there someday, but not now.
For the system info stuff you mentioned, I can get that from Activity Monitor, which is included in the Utilities folder. It doesn’t do temperature, but I found the free Temperature Monitor to provide good results.
Id NuFile simply a faster way to choose “Save As”?
Yeah…no doubt Flip4Mac is essential. I’ve even got their upgraded version that lets you convert stuff, and, I found a little known dvd copying thing from them called Drive In.
Antonio – It’s funny you should compare NuFile to “Save As…”, I’ve never thought about it that way. It boils down to your own personal workflow, I’m used to (on Windows) creating the file I want and then editing it, instead of editing a blank file and saving it. The only thing I would say about NuFile is that the templating system is really quite nice.
I’m glad I took the plunge with Leopard, specifically I love Spaces. So far I’ve not found anything that doesn’t work, I and I have quite a selection of apps. Everything from Photoshop to Quicksilver. If you have any apps you are worried about, let me know and I’ll let you know if I use it on Leopard.
Hey Simon, There are several important apps that I must have working perfectly. iRatchet, by http://www.prettygoodsoftware.org/ is my business tracking and invoicing program. They’ve said it’s Leopard ready, but I depend on that everyday for my bread and butter, so it’s got to work.
I use the Unsanity application enhancers, Window Shade, Clear Dock, and Fruit Menu. I ran into one problem…if they are not up to date, you get the blue screen of death when installing Leopard, but that sounds like an easy thing to avoid.
How about iPhoto? Are there changes to that? I have thousands of photographs, and the last time I upgraded it, the process it took me thru ended up corrupting a few shots, besides the fact that it took forever for the updateing.
And…CS2. Will is run in Leopard? Haven’t had the budget to up that, so it might be a concern? Oh, and one other thing that’s important is an app called info.xhead …it keeps track of all my vital info.
ok…thanks
I did hear about the APE problems when Leopard first shipped, but as you said, that’s been fixed with an update. So providing you are up to date, it will be ok. Although I personally don’t use it.
iPhoto works great, as you would expect, and I’ve got tens of gigabytes of photos stored on a firewire disk. I’m on CS3 (upgraded from CS1) and that works as far as I can tell, flawlessly. Adobe are saying there are compatibility issues even with CS3, but I’ve not come across anything (if anything, it’s notably faster on Leopard).
I can’t say I’ve ever used iRatchet or info.xhead (website claims Leopard compatibility), so I wouldn’t like to comment. Overall, I’ve not had any problems with the apps I use going over to Leopard. And I’m convinced it’s significantly faster that Tiger on my laptop.
If you decide to go for it, good luck! And be sure to let us all know how it goes.