If you have the TouchBar, in addition to the suggestion of Better Touch Tool, I would also add Haptic Touch Bar. It adds the Haptic feedback to the TouchBar that is missing. Free to try for 14-days, $4.99 if you like it.
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First Macintosh. Absolute essential apps?
- Thread starter Bojack Horseman
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Wow. Nobody should be using FTP.
I hope you mean "for sFTP"...
In an adjacent area, I like CloudMounter for mounting all sorts of remote resources, including S3, etc.
The syncing between apps from my Macbook and my iPhone: iCloud, iTunes, Photos, Messages, etc....
I'll be sure to check out BetterTouchBar!
Well I see something missing. Good backup software. There are several. For my use I have ChronoSync. There is also SuperDuper and Carbon Copy Cloner (aka CCC).
I'd also look at DetlaWalker as you can use it to compare two folders on different drives or even individual files.
I'd also look at DetlaWalker as you can use it to compare two folders on different drives or even individual files.
The above is the strategy I always recommend.
As a stereotypically tight-fisted Yorkshireman, I hate to spend money if I can possibly avoid it. I'd suggest going with the default apps that come with your Mac - for a lot of users they're more than adequate. At least persist with them for a little while and see how you get on.
If you find you have a use case that none of the default, installed apps address then it's time to dust off the old wallet.
The one piece of advice I would give is to take the time to set up TimeMachine and/or CarbonCopyCloner.
The software I always download on a newly arrived mac:
Alfred 3 (it's like Spotlight on crack)
AppCleaner (good uninstaller for apps that leaves a lot of pesky files behind)
Burn (disc burner)
LibreOffice (to type all the words)
NightOwl (this is a new one to my essentials, it switches between light/dark mojave on the fly)
Transmission (for the downloading of many things)
The Unarchiver (when you need to unpack pretty much anything)
And then of course I'd also install Chrome, VLC, GIMP, FileZilla, Serviio, Image2Icon, 4K Video Downloader, Discord, Spotify, Bandwidth+, Mactracker and all that good stuff, but that's not really essential.
Alfred 3 (it's like Spotlight on crack)
AppCleaner (good uninstaller for apps that leaves a lot of pesky files behind)
Burn (disc burner)
LibreOffice (to type all the words)
NightOwl (this is a new one to my essentials, it switches between light/dark mojave on the fly)
Transmission (for the downloading of many things)
The Unarchiver (when you need to unpack pretty much anything)
And then of course I'd also install Chrome, VLC, GIMP, FileZilla, Serviio, Image2Icon, 4K Video Downloader, Discord, Spotify, Bandwidth+, Mactracker and all that good stuff, but that's not really essential.
SuperTabs- a utility that is an incredible time saver and super easy to use. Costs about $10 I think
BatchImageResizer- rapidly resizes/rotates/changes resolutions of photos. One of the biggest time savers for me I have and always very stable and dependable. Not sure cost, but a good investment, IMHO.
IINA- an excellent video player for mac; plays about anything you throw at it. Free.
TypeItForMe- text expander that's a little more robust than the built in Apple one and cheaper than TextExpander.
iClip- my preferred clipboard, although you can use SuperTabs now as a clipboard so I may have to rethink this one?
QuickTime 7 Pro- my favorite video software for quick edits. OH, WAIT! Apple is ending its support soon, so never mind.
I don't think any of these take up very much space. Hope this is helpful.
BatchImageResizer- rapidly resizes/rotates/changes resolutions of photos. One of the biggest time savers for me I have and always very stable and dependable. Not sure cost, but a good investment, IMHO.
IINA- an excellent video player for mac; plays about anything you throw at it. Free.
TypeItForMe- text expander that's a little more robust than the built in Apple one and cheaper than TextExpander.
iClip- my preferred clipboard, although you can use SuperTabs now as a clipboard so I may have to rethink this one?
QuickTime 7 Pro- my favorite video software for quick edits. OH, WAIT! Apple is ending its support soon, so never mind.
I don't think any of these take up very much space. Hope this is helpful.
I would change that to: TimeMachine and either CCC or SuperDuper.
TM for continual running backups that allow you to recover single files or small batches of files. CCC can also be used for regular automatic file level backups.
CCC or SD need to be used to do occasional complete bootable clones of the internal drive allowing recovery from complete failure of the internal storage and from massive damage to the OS. Clones also provide a safety net when doing OS upgrades as they provide a means of using the machine if the upgrade fails and a means of easy reversion to the previous system state.
Time Machine doesn't backup complete bootable clones? So if my MacBook were to be stolen, my Time Machine external HD wouldn't be enough to restore everything on a new Macbook?
The TM drive is not a bootable clone. It can be used as a source for copying the old files to a new HD, in the old machine or a new one, but only after that new hard drive has had the OS installed and you've booted from that new drive.
Having a true cloned drive allows you to boot directly from the clone without the need for there to be a usable OS on the primary drive.
I use BackBlaze for offsite backup. It costs $6 a month to back up all of the drives attached to your computer. You can add encryption on top of their encryption if you like. If you need to restore something you can restore small amounts of data over the internet or they can send you an entire hard drive with all your data. Because it is offsite and continuous it protects from any sort of catastrophe at your home.
I use the included Pages, Numbers and Keynote for those applications. They are all very good. Pages is nice because it can be used for Page Layout as well as word processing.
You should find a text editor you like. Keeping data as plain text has its benefits. TextEdit is included on your computer.
GraphicConverter is a fantastic tool for working with image formats and much more. It has been on the Mac platform for decades.
VLC is good for viewing videos that can't play otherwise. It can also be used for making screen capture movies.
I use the included Pages, Numbers and Keynote for those applications. They are all very good. Pages is nice because it can be used for Page Layout as well as word processing.
You should find a text editor you like. Keeping data as plain text has its benefits. TextEdit is included on your computer.
GraphicConverter is a fantastic tool for working with image formats and much more. It has been on the Mac platform for decades.
VLC is good for viewing videos that can't play otherwise. It can also be used for making screen capture movies.
Not sure I'd go all the way to "Finder stinks", but I am a big fan of PathFinder 7. PatFinder 8 is a hot mess and support has absolutely disappeared.
I do a lot of Final Cut Pro and found Copy'em Paste invaluable, as are several other utilities:
Bartender (manage that Menubar)
Moom (window management)
PCalc
The Unarchiver (zip/archive utility)
BBEdit
Carbon Copy Cloner
IINA (media player >> VLC)
Typeface (for previewing installed fonts - helps you pick the perfect font for any use)
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This is not the first time I hear about IINA but I have yet to find a situation where VLC didn't just play the video at hand and VLC is easier on the CPU and RAM usage* compared to IINA so... Question: What kind of video type/situation/usage benefit from IINA and make that program better than VLC?
* =
VLC
RAM: 69,3 MB
CPU: 8%
IINA
RAM: 108,9 MB
CPU: 14,2%
* =
VLC
RAM: 69,3 MB
CPU: 8%
IINA
RAM: 108,9 MB
CPU: 14,2%
I had the same question and after testing both I kept VLC as better media player for mac OS. At this stage VLC is way better than INNA in terms of optimization so if are on a laptop better stay with VLC for battery life, memory, cpu, etc.
INNA isnt bad at all and it's better looking but if for pure efficiency VLC is better.
TimeMachine/Time Capsule allows you to return from the repair partition. True, not bootable but it does do a full restore.
But it is incremental differences from a full base backup. It is continually pruning old versions of files that are no longer needed depending on space constraints.
At least that is my understanding of TM/TC operations.
Your info is a little outdated. Ever since Lion 10.7.2 you can option key boot to a local Time Machine drive and get to a recovery screen where you can format a new drive then restore everything, including the OS and all your apps and data. No need to install the OS first.
You cannot boot to a TM drive and run the computer, but the TM backup can restore everything like I mentioned.
It doesn't "run great" on Safari anymore. It is taxing the CPU significantly, and some ads are starting to get through. It is slowly becoming obsolete... Sad but true.
I would stay away from uBlock Origin for Safari, solely because it has not been updated for almost a year.
An app I rarely see mentioned is Shotcut.
It's a free, open source video editor that will also play just about any file format you throw at it.
It's a free, open source video editor that will also play just about any file format you throw at it.
Spacetime Anomaly, thank you for suggesting this simple, intuitive and effective app.
It is now on my must have list.
It is now on my must have list.