A bunch of my friends are got Macs for college, so I figured I’d write up a list of my favorite apps and tips and pass it along.
Important stuff is in bold!
Sorry I’m too lazy to go out and find links for all of these, a simple Google search should find them. If not, let me know and I can send it to you.
System things:
- Growl (global app notifications) is a must, as is Quicksilver (app launcher).
- Dock Dodger and Dockless both let you hide an application from appearing on the Dock entirely.
- For controlling iTunes, CoverSutra and Bowtie are awesome.
- Caffeine.app can prevent your computer from falling asleep.
- GrandPerspective shows you what’s taking up space on your computer.
- Google Notifier lets you know when you have new Gmail messages.
- Fan Control System Preferences Pane lets you change when your computer turns up its fans. This is really good if you find your computer gets too hot!
- To access hidden system preferences (including goodies like using screensavers as wallpaper!) and keep your computer healthy, get OnyX.
Productivity:
- Evernote is godly for note-taking.
- OpenOffice.org is a free alternative to MS Office.
- The Gimp and Acorn are free alternatives to Photoshop.
- Inkscape is a free alternative to Illutsrator.
- Audactiy is better than Garageband for straight audio editing.
- (Those are all available on Windows as well, by the way!)
Aesthetics:
- CandyBar is the best way to change icons & the dock.
- Find themes, wallpapers, icons, etc at http://macthemes.net/forum/viewforum.php?id=2
Entertainment:
- Steam lets you play a lot of popular games on Mac.
- LiquidMac is very fun, as is MacSaber.
- Quicktime X and iMovie 09 are nice, but I like the older versions a lot more (more features, more reliable!). If you want them, I can hook you up.
Connectivity:
- Twitterrific is the best Twitter client.
- Adium is the best AIM/YIM/Facebook IM/Gtalk/Whatever client.
- Transmission and µTorrent are the best BitTorrent clients (though Azureus isn’t bad, either).
In most applications that are on both Windows and OS X, the same hotkeys work, just replace Ctrl with Cmd. (Cmd+Z, Cmd+S, etc) Here’s a list of the more Mac-specific hotkeys:
- Cmd+comma will open preferences in almost any application.
- Cmd+D will take you to the Desktop in any open/save file selector box.
- Cmd+D will duplicate the selected file in Finder.
- Cmd+shift+D will bring you to the Desktop in Finder.
- Cmd+shift+A will bring you to your Applications folder in Finder.
- Cmd+shift+U will bring you to the Utilities folder in Finder.
- Cmd+shift+3 will take a full-screen screenshot.
- Cmd+shift+4 will let you drag a box to capture a screenshot of that area.
- Cmd+shift+4 and then Space will let you capture a screenshot of a window you select.
- Cmd+L will take you to the currently playing song in iTunes.
- Cmd+option+D hides or shows the Dock.
- Ctrl+option+cmd+8 inverts the screen.
- Ctrl+scroll zooms in or out.
Gestures are your friends!
- Two fingers on the trackpad scrolls in the direction you move them (or rotates images, if you rotate your fingers)
- Three fingers left or right is the same as Back/Forward (Only on the latest Macs).
- Four fingers up or down is Exposé (show all the open windows = down, show the desktop = up).
Stuff people don’t use that they should:
- Spaces – Virtual desktops! Spaces is really cool. Enable it in System Preferences, and it makes it so easy to organize your open windows.
- Use the preferences in iSync to change what happens when you plug in a camera (Why is this hidden in here? No idea!)
- Time Machine is a great way to make backups, so buy a big external hard drive and MAKE BACKUPS, DAMMIT.
The green traffic light button at the top left of every window behaves differently depending on the application, it isn’t the same as the “Maximize” button in Windows. It’s supposed to resize the window to be the optimal size on the first click, and go back to how it was before on the second, but apps usually resize to whatever size they want. In short, don’t trust that button. Try it in Calculator, for example!
Well, that’s all I can think of for now. I’m sure there’s more. If you have specific questions about any of these, I’d be happy to help!
