Windows and Linux users what are your must have apps/programs when you set up MacOS for the first time? (kbin.social)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by ImaginaryFox@kbin.social to c/apple_enthusiast@lemmy.world

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For me these have entered into my must haves

BetterDisplay: For better scaling support for external monitors
Rectangle: To be able to use a mouse to drag and snap windows
Pixea: To be able to double click an image with a mouse in any folder and then use arrow keys or scroll wheel to proceed to the next file in the folder. Replaced the stock preview with this.

Something I'm looking for now is the ability to use the forward and back buttons on my mouse when I'm in Finder and want to go back to the previous folder I was in. Doesn't work in Safari either. Works in good old dependable Firefox though.

And separate volume controls for each applications.

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[-] Deemo@bookwormstory.social 12 points 1 year ago

Some of my general programs

Homebrew (https://brew.sh/)
Magnet
Shottr
Velja
Bitwarden
Spark
Firefox Nightly/Chrome
Ferdium
Pdf expert (before the subscription junk happened)/ PDF Studio
Day progress
Horo
Obsidian
Bartender (testing it)

[-] Dankry@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Horo

For anyone reading this Horo is a timer for your menu bar. It’s simple but I can’t recommend it enough, I use it so often these days that I don’t know how I ever got by without it.

[+] bob_wiley@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

[deleted]

[-] ImaginaryFox@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

With pixea I can just double click to open an image no matter the folder view it is set to and use arrow keys or scroll wheel to look through the images in the folder.

Meanwhile in Quick view I have to reach for the space bar. Mind you I'm using a macmini so my hands are more likely to not be near the space bar as it would be using a TouchPad on a laptop.

And then my preferred view is grid, but then the arrow key navigation stops at the row it started on instead of automatically proceeding to the next row. So I have to click down then have to use the opposite keys to look at the previews then down again and go the opposite direction. And scroll wheel navigation doesn't work either. So then if I want to use one key I have to go through the process of changing to list or column view so I can just click down to view the next. But, why would I have to do that? It just seems like too many unnecessary steps.

No need to highlight anything with Pixea. Or switch to space or whatever. Simply open the image and just look through the media in the folder with no extra steps, which more fits into my idea of simplicity that I expect from MacOS than the default behavior that doesn't feel mouse friendly either.

[-] brainfreeze@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

App Cleaner!

https://freemacsoft.net/appcleaner/

[-] kratoz29@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

As a Mac user it is a bit of a shame that we need to depend on apps like this... Despite this app is awesome lol.

Sometimes getting rid of certain programs is like getting rid of malware lol.

[-] ImaginaryFox@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Does Mac not cleanly uninstall programs? Is this needed for programs installed from the official Mac store too?

[-] kratoz29@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

I can't speak for all the programs but I think almost all the programs I have ever used let a lot of undesired files everywhere, in theory moving the app to the thrash bin should be enough, but why let all that crap hanging around there?

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[-] Riven@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago

Most Mac apps don’t have an uninstaller (or installer) you’re meant to just toss the app in the trash. The problem is this leaves in place your preferences files, any “application support” files it may have downloaded, maybe a cache, etc

That said, I’ve been migrating the same Library folder from Mac to Mac since around 2003 and have never used an app cleaner. It really isn’t an issue 99% of the time.

[-] arquebus_x@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

I can imagine a very edge use case for an app cleaner, but for most purposes - 99% of users - there's really no reason for it. Macs don't have a Registry. If you remove the application itself, all of its ancillary files in Application Support and elsewhere will just... not do anything. And they won't interfere. They won't interact in any way with anything else on your computer. And in most cases, they're tiny files. There's functionally no reason to care that they're still around.

[-] arden@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Sometimes there's random startup files that clutter up the startup menu

[-] 520@kbin.social 8 points 1 year ago

UTM. The best free VM software that works on all Macs, M1/M2 included. Can even virtualise MacOS instances relatively easily.

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[-] frantisek@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

BetterTouchTool

[-] izax@pawb.social 7 points 1 year ago

These are the Mac-exclusive apps I use regularly on my MacBook Pro 14" CotEditor Amazing open source text editor just for Mac BetterSnapTool for snapping windows (old school I know) Image2icon is useful for making my dock icons consistent TopNotch because the notch is annoying TG Pro because Macs get hot Keka because sometimes you run across a RAR or 7z file

These are just Mac apps, but I also use a bunch of cross-platform apps

[-] ImaginaryFox@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

CotEditor looks kind of like Notepad++ which I love for when I just want a simple text editor that is a little more functional that the default text editor without launching visual studio code. Thanks for the recommendations.

[-] Vector@kbin.social 7 points 1 year ago

I like Spectacle for arranging windows on the desktop.

If you're a command line user, give iTerm2 a look.

If you're a developer or power user, you'll probably want Homebrew for package management.

[-] Z4rK@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Check out Warp as well if you love your command line!

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[-] Frools@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Witch for sane alt(cmd)+tab behaviour

And Alfred mostly for clipboard history

[-] irkli@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Vim

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[-] HellmageTheVile@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Suspicious Package: A great utility for inspecting the payload of a package, including scripts.

Macs Fan Control: Both a temp monitor and fan control. Especially useful on older Intel Macs.

Amphetamine: Good GUI for caffeinate.

coconutbattery: Monitor your battery health, cycles, etc.

The Unarchiver: Think 7-Zip for macOS.

Jamf Now: Stripped down version of Jamf, MDM for Apple devices. You get 3 devices for free. This is more if you want to dabble in endpoint management/light automation. You will get sales emails.

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[-] eddietrax@dmv.social 5 points 1 year ago

AppCleaner

[-] ultratiem@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Check out LinearMouse. Can map buttons and is simple and minimal.

https://github.com/linearmouse/linearmouse

[-] woofbark@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Maccy - clipboard app Alfred - launcher Iterm2 - terminal Firefox BettertouchTool - touchpad gestures Hidden bar - hide menu bar icons Itsycal - menubar calendar IINA - gui for mpv video player Keka - extract archives Espanso - text replacement

[-] ImaginaryFox@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

Hidden bar looks awesome to clean up the menu bar.

[-] whur@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

Blockblock and Lulu from https://objective-see.org/

And three finger drag in accessibility options.

[-] satanmat@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Microsoft Remote Desktop

Homebrew

Keka for RAR

[-] ImaginaryFox@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

I'll keep keka in mind for rar files.

[-] skullvalanche@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

BetterTouchTool (which isn't free but is worth every penny) lets you do everything rectangle does. Also lets you configure your mouse buttons to do whatever you want. Also infinite custom hot keys and shortcuts.

Also Raycast as a replacement for Spotlight.

[-] abhibeckert@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Raycast has replaced BetterTouchTool for me. I own a license for BTT, have it installed, but it's never running anymore.

[-] abhibeckert@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Definitely check out the Contexts app.

It replaces some of the core window management features and can be configured to make Mac window management a bit more like what you're used to on Windows/Linux.

[-] cianmor@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

App Cleaner (app uninstaller), Wipr (ad blocker), IINA (video player), Subtler (converts mkv to QuickTime readable files), Keka (unarchiver), and LinearMouse (no mouse acceleration and separate scroll directions).

[-] nickwitha_k 2 points 1 year ago

My MBP is largely a glorified SSH client. So, my must-haves are:

homebrew
Chrome and Firefox
iterm2
oh-my-zsh w/ Powerlevel10k
Amethyst

I'm going to try out Kitty soon to replace iterm2.

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this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2023

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