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Good image viewers are hard to find.
 technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

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10 of my favorite free and low-cost apps for OS X


Sept. 7, 2005


By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2005, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2005, The Post-Standard

   I try out a lot of software week after week. But when I'm doing my own thing, I like to stick to the programs I know and love. This week I'll tell you about 10 of my all-time favorite applications for Mac OS X. They're all free to try and most are free to keep using, too.
   1. Firefox. Is it the best Web browser ever? Maybe. I like Safari and use it most of the time, but Firefox is simply superb. Get it from www.mozilla.org.
   2. Pic2Icon. The author of this beautifully designed thumbnail maker has moved on to other things, but the program is still the best way of creating image thumbnails in OS X. You can drop an entire folder hierarchy on the application icon to have it make thumbnails of every image. Get it from http://technofileonline/pic2icon.dmg.sit.
   3. WakeOnLan. This little utility will wake up other Macs (or even Windows or Linux PCs) on a network remotely. It's ideal when you're using your iBook on the porch and need to get at a file on your husband's sleeping G4. It will also put any Mac to sleep remotely. Get it from http://homepage.mac.com/dtl/WakeOnLan.
   4. Monolingual. Apple's OS X is multilingual, with menus and instructions in nearly every known language in which Apple has customers. But you probably only speak and read one or two of them. Get rid of all the languages you don't need -- and reclaim hundreds of megabytes of space on your drive -- with Monolingual. Use it carefully. Try removing just one language first. Get it from http://monolingual.sourceforge.net.
   5. iPhoto Library Manager. You might find this essential if you have a lot of iPhoto pictures and you'd like to create separate iPhoto libraries. Get it from www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/7158.
   6. MacJanitor. Apple had its collective head in the sand when it designed the cleanup routines for OS X. They run automatically -- but only if you have your Mac turned on at an unseemly time of night one day a week. MacJanitor lets you run those very necessary cleanup tasks at any time. Get it from www.download.com/MacJanitor/3640-2274_4-10227094.html.
   7. TransparentDock. I don't know about you, but I think the dock icons look better if they just float on the desktop without an ugly background, just as all other icons do. Dock Clear gets rid of the ugly background. Get it from www.freerangemac.com.
   8. Goldberg. Good image viewers are hard to find, especially when you're hoping to find one that's free. This program is excellent. Get it from http://mac.softpedia.com/progDownload/Goldberg-Download-4678.html.
   9. SuperCal. Most Mac OS X computers could use a little display tweaking. The others could use a LOT of display tweaking. SuperCal is the best way to do it if you don't have a hardware calibration device. Get it from www.bergdesign.com/supercal.
   10. PS Renamer. When you need to rename a group of files, nothing works as well as this amazing utility. This will save your sanity some day, so keep it handy. Get it from www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/12655.