Just did a fresh install of OSX, what should I download?

I just reformatted my macbook with a fresh install of Show Leopard. the only thing I have downloaded so far is chrome. I'm still shocked that 5 years ago I payed like $900 for a computer with an 80 gig hard drive... Anyway, what else do i need on this thing?

I'll show you my leopard, if you know what i mean... uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh

@Devil240Z said:

I just reformatted my macbook with a fresh install of Show Leopard. the only thing I have downloaded so far is chrome. I'm still shocked that 5 years ago I payed like $900 for a computer with an 80 gig hard drive... Anyway, what else do i need on this thing?

well technically my student loans that ill never pay back payed for it.

f.lux

@Seroth said:

f.lux

oh yeah! i've been using flux for ever. Ive actually forgotten that I use it. Need to re download it.

I suggest installing CCleaner and FreeMemory. The latter frees up RAM, which I find is something I have to do often in my 4GB MacBook Pro, where I am typing this right now.

@Snail said:

I suggest installing CCleaner and FreeMemory. The latter frees up RAM, which I find is something I have to do often in my 4GB MacBook Pro, where I am typing this right now.

probably a good idea. my macbook only has 2gb of ram.

Windows 7

I've been on an OSX software hunt as well.

As far as free stuff goes, Dropbox is nice. Steam, if you're into that. VLC. Skype.

Then there's Quicksilver if you want to Google that. Apparently it's pretty cool, but I haven't quite wrapped my head around it yet.

@JJWeatherman said:

I've been on an OSX software hunt as well.

As far as free stuff goes, Dropbox is nice. Steam, if you're into that. VLC. Skype.

Then there's Quicksilver if you want to Google that. Apparently it's pretty cool, but I haven't quite wrapped my head around it yet.

Try Alfred instead, it's much better than Quicksilver. It's like Spotlight on steroids.

@Seroth said:

f.lux

I used to use this but having to disable it manually for games drove me crazy, also I switch between too many devices that don't support it so all the other screens around me look weird.

Divvy is really neat for window management. It's $14 though.

Windows.

@Snail said:

I suggest installing CCleaner and FreeMemory. The latter frees up RAM, which I find is something I have to do often in my 4GB MacBook Pro, where I am typing this right now.

Which one is best, CCleaner, FreeMemory or Memory Clean?

@Sooty said:

@JJWeatherman said:

I've been on an OSX software hunt as well.

As far as free stuff goes, Dropbox is nice. Steam, if you're into that. VLC. Skype.

Then there's Quicksilver if you want to Google that. Apparently it's pretty cool, but I haven't quite wrapped my head around it yet.

Try Alfred instead, it's much better than Quicksilver. It's like Spotlight on steroids.

Wow, thanks for the recommendation. After about two minutes I already feel like I understand how I can use Alfred more than I ever understood Quicksilver. Much more user-friendly.

Just checked out Flux thanks to this thread and that's one of the best ideas ever.

Splitscreen, SMC Fancontrol and adblocker

Not a "useful" application in the slightest, but Steam has a decent Mac client. Buggy here and there, but functional.

Porn

@GunslingerPanda said:

Windows.

(:

@Sooty: I got Alfred just a few hours ago. Thank you XD

Steam.

gog.com has some mac games now.

@ajamafalous said:

Windows 7

@GunslingerPanda said:

Windows.

Umm... Thats what my Desktop PC is for...

As for the non jerky responses, my list so far is:

• VLC
• Steam
• F.lux
• Dropbox

Also these are all apps I already had on my macbook before I wiped it. CCcleaner and freememory are new to me though so I will have to check them out.

Hey @Devil240Z, I always download these things when I do a fresh OSX install.

• Transmission an excellent light-weight torrent client.
• Dropbox a must have for cloud saving or syncing files between devices
• Steam because: games!
• Handbrake am easy yet powerful video encoder
• VLC the do-it-all audio/video player
• Chrome an excellent backup or primary browser
• Flash plug-in for anything that still uses it
• The Unarchiver better unpacking for many files types (RAR, ZIP, etc.)
• Disconnect and Adblock browser extensions, for piece of mind

There's a few great pieces of paid software out there as well. If you have any other questions about OS X feel free to ask.

@Devil240Z: Alfred Alfred Alfred Alfred Alfred

@jasonefmonk: sweet thanks. also adblock auto downloaded when I logged into chrome for the first time so yay.

also to everyone, if it wasn't clear, ive had this macbook for like 5 years but this is the first time ive done a fresh install of OSX since it was brand new. I bought this thing for school but now its mostly my hulu machine for when I'm playing games on my PC.

@Sooty said:

@Devil240Z: Alfred Alfred Alfred Alfred Alfred

Alfred looks cool but I don't think it will do me much good. I would probably get alot more out of it if there was a PC version cause thats where I do most of my computing. I basically just use my mac to watch shows and do giantbomb stuff.

Windows.

Or Linux.

2006 Macbook on Snow Leopard representing. Pretty much echoing all the suggestions. I have the official Twitter app and I use uTorrent instead of Transmission.

Paid programs I run on: Photoshop CS4 and MS Office 2011. Have a bootcamp install of Windows 7 for some crappy old programs I need on occasion for school. Otherwise, I love this laptop.

Vox - The best lightweight music player. When I need to hear a folder of music as easily and quickly and beautifully as possible, Vox is where I turn.

Monolingual - Most of us use our computers in one language. Monolingual quickly, easily, and most of all, safely removes unneeded language and architecture files from within apps, saving hundreds of Megabytes.

Quicksilver - I've tried Alfred, Launchy, and a dozen other app launchers. Quicksilver wins hands down. Yes, it takes a day to learn its tricks, but once you learn them you'll do it faster with this than with anything else.

Semulov - This is a very system-light system menu app that allows you to eject removable drives directly from your menu bar.

Sublime Text 2 - I looked for a text editor for a very long time. Name one and I've used it. This is the most beautiful and functional one I've come across. It's "unlimited demo-ware" with a $60 price tag. If you do any code writing it's absolutely worth the price. If you just use it for basic text editing I think abusing the license would be excusable.

AppCleaner - Sure, uninstalling a Mac app is just drag and drop. Except it isn't really. AppCleaner finds preference and other files associated with apps you no longer need and lets you choose which ones you want to keep and which ones to delete.

Boxer - I wish someone would make a DosBox frontend this good for Windows...

Caffeine - Another tiny system menu app. This one allows you to prevent your Mac from sleeping by clicking the icon. One of the first things I install on fresh OS X.

Onyx - Forget CCleaner. Forget MacCleanse. Forget all other system cleaners and maintenance tools. This is it. It does everything. It's a bit intimidating at first, but take the time. After installing it I was able to remove six other apps that all did bits and pieces of what this one does.

MacUpdate links:

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/24852/vox

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/7758/monolingual

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/14831/quicksilver

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/23347/semulov

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/39459/sublime-text

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/25276/appcleaner

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/27440/boxer

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/24120/caffeine

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/11582/onyx

@Bobstar said:

@Snail said:

I suggest installing CCleaner and FreeMemory. The latter frees up RAM, which I find is something I have to do often in my 4GB MacBook Pro, where I am typing this right now.

Which one is best, CCleaner, FreeMemory or Memory Clean?

FreeMemory frees up RAM. Software like CleanMyMac or CCleaner cleans up your Hard Drive. I don't think I've ever heard of that last one, so can't help you there.

@Seroth said:

f.lux

Wow. This is awesome.

@Devil240Z: Off the top of my head, Adium, AppCleaner. and Unarchiver. What do you intend to use your mac for? That way I can recommended more apps.

@xaLieNxGrEyx said:

Windows.

Or Linux.

That was so funny the first two times that you just couldn't resist. So clever!

@Devil240Z said:

@Sooty said:

@Devil240Z: Alfred Alfred Alfred Alfred Alfred

Alfred looks cool but I don't think it will do me much good. I would probably get alot more out of it if there was a PC version cause thats where I do most of my computing. I basically just use my mac to watch shows and do giantbomb stuff.

Still worth having I think though, it's super fast at finding files as well as just quicker to launch apps with, you can hide the dock and then just do the Alfred shortcut to launch anything, I always do that now.

Alfred, but I guess that's already been brought up. :)

@JJWeatherman said:

I've been on an OSX software hunt as well.

As far as free stuff goes, Dropbox is nice. Steam, if you're into that. VLC. Skype.

Then there's Quicksilver if you want to Google that. Apparently it's pretty cool, but I haven't quite wrapped my head around it yet.

I couldn't get Quicksilver either. I highly recommend Alfred instead. Much better designed, much cleaner and easier to use.

@Sooty said:

f.lux

I used to use this but having to disable it manually for games drove me crazy, also I switch between too many devices that don't support it so all the other screens around me look weird.

f.lux is great! I've run into the same issue you have with it messing the color on games up, too but I think there's a workaround. As long as I'm running a game fullscreen (not fullscreen windowed), games seem to disable f.lux. I'm only running a single monitor so your mileage may vary depending on your setup.

"Little Snitch" is a must have for every mac user.

@mlarrabee said:

Onyx - Forget CCleaner. Forget MacCleanse. Forget all other system cleaners and maintenance tools. This is it. It does everything.

I would agree that Onyx is better and more powerful than those other maintenance apps. However I don't see why you need any of this software for normal use. OS X does an excellent job of maintaining itself and doesn't require constant user nagging to run well. It doesn't need to be defragged or have it's temp files handled by another application.

Caffeine - Another tiny system menu app. This one allows you to prevent your Mac from sleeping by clicking the icon. One of the first things I install on fresh OS X.

I knew i forgot something! Caffeine is awesome and easier than changing your Energy Saver preferences all the time.

@jasonefmonk: True, the average user won't have to muck about with system maintenance. But with the suggestions of CCleaner and such popping up I knew I had to mention it. I love CCleaner on Windows, but it can run very slowly or even be destructive on OS X. And if one is a "power user" (someone else's description of me, not my own) a good system cleaner is necessary on every OS.