Comments on: 5 Useful Mac Utilities

By: Alex Layne

Alex Layne — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 17:41:22 +0000

Thanks for mentioning Caffeine. I’ve been looking for an app like that, but I couldn’t remember the name.

By: nacho

nacho — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 08:09:30 +0000

I just replied to Alex above about several things Quicksilver can make easier to do. Just remind you that Quicksilver lets you easily create custom keyboard shortcuts and mouse gestures (with the Abracadabra plugin installed) for almost anything you want, so with Quicksilver you don’t need XGestures.

By: nacho

nacho — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 08:06:48 +0000

Oh come on! I think you didn’t get the point at all Quicksilver is NOT an app launcher (although it can do that too). Quicksilver indexes the folders you select and you can instantly search any file in those documents (or browse with your keyboard through the entire file directory) and perform lots of actions directly from Quicksilver’s interface: send it by e-mail, move/copy/rename, add tags (spotlight comments), upload a picture to Flickr… You can also browse your Safari and Firefox history and favorites, use any search engine you want (there are lots included in the “Web Search Module” plugin and you can add manually anyone you want). You can add events and to-do’s to iCal. You can browse your Address Book and have quick access to phone numbers (displayed in LargeType), e-mails, addresses. You can also directly create text files and append or prepend new text to existing ones (so you don’t need notational velocity). You can create custom keyboard shortcuts and mouse gestures (with the Abracadabra plugin installed) for almost anything you want (so you don’t need XGestures), and there are many more things you can do with just one app, one interface, all keyboard input.

Quicksilver is definitely my nº1 must have app

By: Pedro

Pedro — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 05:18:30 +0000

Three small apps I find really useful are:

‘jumpcut’ which stores a history of text sent to your clipboard. Really good when cut and pasting a lot.

‘caffine’ stops your computer going to sleep.

‘soundsource’ when needing to switch audio sources in and out.

By: Boruce Lee

Boruce Lee — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 05:16:23 +0000

I use Size Up instead of Cinch. The keyboard short cuts are so much faster. Very handy for rearranging windows on a 23″ display.

By: David Ferguson

David Ferguson — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 14:09:48 +0000

I’ve got to throw out Zooom as a window manager as well. Makes resizing/moving windows quick and easy.

I’ve also got to mention XGestures as well. It took me a while to get used to using mouse based gestures. I started out with FireGestures in Firefox and then wished I could do the same thing in OSX. XGestures allows you to create global or app specific mouse gestures that can launch an app or script, close a window, select menu items, launch expose, etc.

These two are must-have’s for me. Also, following some of the other comments, I never could really find THAT much extra in Quicksilver to make me wanna keep it. I always go back to Spotlight. Spotlight does all that I need.

By: KsbjA

KsbjA — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 13:52:58 +0000

Same here. I gave it a few chances, but never really got used to it. Spotlight is easier to use for me and doesn’t require an additional process running in the background.

By: joel ingram

joel ingram — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 22:03:19 +0000

CopyPaste is my must have utility. To me ‘must have’ means something I install first when i get a new Mac, is always open and use constantly.
http://www.plumamazing.com/mac/copypaste

By: Kevin Ballard

Kevin Ballard — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 20:33:17 +0000

I agree with Tzikis, Divvy is much better than Cinch.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 19:56:46 +0000

Another window manager worth checking out is Breeze by Autumn Apps (http://autumnapps.com/breeze)