Advice

Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
I'm fairly new to the Mac world. I had added and downloaded small apps and utilities to my PC - some of which I miss - I don't miss the PC. I have two of them but haven't felt the need to turn one on for months.



What I'd like to know is whether or not there is a forum for discussing downloads: Gems, hints, mini-apps, etc.



One thing I missed on a PC was the ability to use the edges of a document to resize it. One of your members told me about Window Dragon and it works better than the PC facility - for me anyway. It also solved another problem I had. It allows me to drag a document from any place on the doc.



That is the kind of stuff I'm talking about. I'm not a techie, so at this point, I'm not interested in AppleScript. Maybe later, I'll use Automator.



I'm concerned whether non-Mac utilities will cooperate with my computer, so I'd like to know your experiences with them.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 14
    curiousuburbcuriousuburb Posts: 3,325member
    What kind of dragging are you seeking?



    Dragging the bottom right corner of almost any window will resize it.



    Drag and drop works almost anywhere in Mac OS X.



    What is it you're seeking to do that you are having issues with?
  • Reply 2 of 14
    sequitursequitur Posts: 1,910member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by curiousuburb

    What kind of dragging are you seeking?



    Dragging the bottom right corner of almost any window will resize it.



    Drag and drop works almost anywhere in Mac OS X.



    What is it you're seeking to do that you are having issues with?




    Guess I wasn't clear. I'm using Window Dragon which was suggested by another member. It works fine. Better, in fact, than I expected.



    I'd like to know if there is an AI forum re: discussing third party downloads: Gems, hints, mini-apps, etc. I see some mentioned in Mac World magazine and other places, but I'm concerned about compatibility and other problems. I'd also like to know about other applets that Mac users find useful.
  • Reply 3 of 14
    1337_5l4xx0r1337_5l4xx0r Posts: 1,558member
    Well, I'll start with free software.



    AbiWord, decent free word processor, reads Word docs.



    ClamXav, free antivirus, if you want to get in touch with your PC roots. Unneccessary, but if you're paranoid, there you go.



    Coconut WiFi, a little menubar light that tells you if/how many wireless hotspots are around at a glance.



    Kismac, a great cracking utility, to break into password-protected hotspots you just found with coconut wifi



    CotEditor, my personal favorite editor for eg: html and php. See also smultron.



    ChessPuzzle widget for Dashboard. Wow, perfect!



    Desktop Manager, virtual desktops for OS X (it's a unix thang, but these can be very handy!)



    Menumeters, also for the menubar. I use it to monitor CPU and Net Bandwidth usage, to alert me of problems. Also a unixy thang. I gotta have it.



    Firefox, with Adblock, Filterset.G for adblock, Bookmarks Synchronizer <- perfection!



    Adium, multi-protocol chat/IM client



    Tomato Torrent, for .torrent files, like, er, linux ISO discs...



    Acqlite, for, um, er, y'know, stuff... (Limewire client, but better)



    LiquidCD, a handy disc burning app, works like Toast.



    Mac The Ripper, one-click DVD ripping/transcoding software



    MAMP, if you are a web developer (MySQL, Apache, PHP in one easy to use package)



    Quicksilver, a kind of launcher for power-users (not so much newbies to the Mac)



    OSXVNC, VNCviewer if you know what VNC is and have a need for it.



    Tickr, a really cool app for viewing flickr searches in.



    This should get you started. Google any of the above.
  • Reply 4 of 14
    sequitursequitur Posts: 1,910member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by 1337_5L4Xx0R

    Well, I'll start with free software.



    AbiWord, decent free word processor, reads Word docs.



    ClamXav, free antivirus, if you want to get in touch with your PC roots. Unneccessary, but if you're paranoid, there you go.



    Coconut WiFi, a little menubar light that tells you if/how many wireless hotspots are around at a glance.



    Kismac, a great cracking utility, to break into password-protected hotspots you just found with coconut wifi



    CotEditor, my personal favorite editor for eg: html and php. See also smultron.



    ChessPuzzle widget for Dashboard. Wow, perfect!



    Desktop Manager, virtual desktops for OS X (it's a unix thang, but these can be very handy!)



    Menumeters, also for the menubar. I use it to monitor CPU and Net Bandwidth usage, to alert me of problems. Also a unixy thang. I gotta have it.



    Firefox, with Adblock, Filterset.G for adblock, Bookmarks Synchronizer <- perfection!



    Adium, multi-protocol chat/IM client



    Tomato Torrent, for .torrent files, like, er, linux ISO discs...



    Acqlite, for, um, er, y'know, stuff... (Limewire client, but better)



    LiquidCD, a handy disc burning app, works like Toast.



    Mac The Ripper, one-click DVD ripping/transcoding software



    MAMP, if you are a web developer (MySQL, Apache, PHP in one easy to use package)



    Quicksilver, a kind of launcher for power-users (not so much newbies to the Mac)



    OSXVNC, VNCviewer if you know what VNC is and have a need for it.



    Tickr, a really cool app for viewing flickr searches in.



    This should get you started. Google any of the above.




    Thanks1337_5L4Xx0R, that will keep me busy for a while.
  • Reply 5 of 14
    1337_5l4xx0r1337_5l4xx0r Posts: 1,558member
    No worries! Welcome to the Mac platform!
  • Reply 6 of 14
    kenaustuskenaustus Posts: 924member
    Apple has a good list of apps for OS X on their web site under Made4Mac. There is also a very good site (http://osx.hyperjeff.net/Apps/) that lists 15,200+ OS X apps, everything from freeware to full commercial packages - you can spend hours looking through this list. There is also http://www.freemacware.com/ that lists freeware only. The simple fact is you can have a ball finding new areas to play in with your Mac. I've done far more with mine that I ever did with a PC and I'm just getting started!
  • Reply 7 of 14
    lupalupa Posts: 202member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by 1337_5L4Xx0R



    Desktop Manager, virtual desktops for OS X (it's a unix thang, but these can be very handy!




    I would recommend Virtue since desktop manager is no longer being developed. Virtue is based off the same code but is actually in development and performs a bit better.



    http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/mo...159&vid=178068
  • Reply 8 of 14
    cosmonutcosmonut Posts: 4,872member
    To answer your original question, the Applications forum is the right place for this thread. Good job.



    Next time, make your subject line a bit more descriptive, okay?
  • Reply 9 of 14
    kim kap solkim kap sol Posts: 2,987member
    Instead of Tomato Torrent suggested by 1337_5L4Xx0R, I'd go with Transmission.
  • Reply 10 of 14
    Wow...how casually we endorse breaking the law and stealing of copyrighted material.



    Breaking into WiFi hotspots is a federal offense.



    Stripping Web content pages of ads is immoral and improper ? do it and you are stealing from me, taking food out of my child's mouth. I don't do popups or other sleazy types of ads. I don't charge for access to my sites, but I do ask that you leave the ads in place, because otherwise you are stealing from me.



    This world is becoming a much poorer place because everyone thinks that content should be free and the we content providers should just be happy with a nice, big thumbs up.



    How would you feel if what you do for a living ? people suddenly decided it should be free and you get paid, or not, now, accordingly? I was a professional writer long before the Web ever came along ? and now suddenly what I and thousands of others do is looked at as stuff that should be free.



    And that's wrong.



    I'm not asking you for money. But I am demanding that you stop changing my Web site and violating my copyrights.



    Again...I'm shocked a moderator here hasn't put the kibosh on people advocating breaking the law.
  • Reply 11 of 14
    noah93noah93 Posts: 168member
    Welcome to the Mac community sequitur!



    Good idea on a thread, allready helped me a bunch with software I never knew about. Many people say there are not a lot of apps for mac, but they are wrong. There may be a million apps to do one thing on windoze, but none do it right. I have a few things to contribute, that I have found useful.



    BrowseBack - Captures a screenshot of all the sites you visit, handy if your doing a research paper and forgot the link.



    MediaCentral - A great frontrow like application (if you have an older mac)



    Delicious Library - Useful for keeping track of movies, books, and other items. You scan the barcode over a firewire webcam or isight and it adds the information to your 'virtual library'.



    Firefox is a must. I find Safari very unreliable, and firefox is a decent replacement.



    SafariSpeed - For those times when you must use Safari (or if you like it), it makes Safari go almost 20x faster.



    Skype - Free calls to anyone who has the software, and to landlines and cellphones anywhere in the US or Canada.



    Appzapper - for removing every peice of those unwanted applications.



    Enjoy,

    Noah
  • Reply 12 of 14
    skatmanskatman Posts: 609member
    Quote:

    How would you feel if what you do for a living ? people suddenly decided it should be free and you get paid, or not, now, accordingly?



    I'd rethink my business model and/or go find another thing to do for a living. Clearly my services as they are not valued by the society much.
  • Reply 13 of 14
    Quote:

    Originally posted by skatman

    I'd rethink my business model and/or go find another thing to do for a living. Clearly my services as they are not valued by the society much.



    I don't think it is quite that simple. In any kind of media business (which web development is a media), sometimes you need advertising revenues to cover your costs. Personally, while I do not like banner ads or anything like that, I do understand the need for them. As log as the banners or ads are not intrusive (i.e. Popup ads, Pop-under ads, etc), then we as the public should just accept them for what they are.



    I understand people are becoming more Anti-Advertisment, but just remember that behind that ad are in face people who need those ads.



    However, calling people who strip ads and what not criminals because they strip it is very extreme.



    Quote:

    Originally posted by mmcgann11

    Wow...how casually we endorse breaking the law and stealing of copyrighted material.



    Not all people who use these tools are criminals. If this is the kind of mentality that we are starting to accept, then we need to do the following:
    • Remove our radios, because you might copy the song from the radio.

    • Pitch your beloved Mac out the window, because you might steal protected or copyrighted materials.

    • Throw away your TV, because you might illegally copy a TV show.

    • Give all of your CDs and DVD media (all of it: blanks, store bought ones, your backup disks) because all of those could have pirated software/music/video on it, and how do we know that you bought it? Have your receipt?

    As you can see, it is a very slippery slope that we tread upon when we start saying that certain applications are used for nothing but piracy/criminal activity.
  • Reply 14 of 14
    mmcgann11mmcgann11 Posts: 66member
    I was pretty specific in my points of criminality.



    When you hack someone's password to join their WiFi network, you're breaking the law. An application that breaks passwords is the cyber version of a lockpick. Possession of burglary tools is a felony in most states.



    And stripping ads from Web sites is wrong. Yes, I agree that pop ups and pop unders are intrusive and do not use them. However, reading a few minor ads seems more than a fair price to pay to read my content. Don't think so? Go somewhere else.



    Quote:

    I'd rethink my business model and/or go find another thing to do for a living. Clearly my services as they are not valued by the society much.



    Wow, that's flippant. So, the web should be just all free stuff? Well, you get what you pay for.



    This here site you are posting on would likely go away without banner ads ? and if you're stripping out ads, you're freeloading ? and yes, robbing the Webmaster. Rationalize it all you want, but the truth is the truth.
Sign In or Register to comment.