As a continuation of my Mac evaluation I’ve broken down each of my favourite Mac specific applications that I’ve come to love since the switch.

1. smcFanControl

The Mac gets pretty hot at times. By default the fan speed fluctuates depending on the temperature (I think), but often it won’t cool it down enough. smcFanControl app allows the user to create profiles set to particular fan speeds so that when it gets super hot you simply speed up the fan.

2. Exposé

There are a few things I feel really make the Mac stand out compared with other operating systems; the dock, Spaces, the ability to find and open applications and files/folders with such ease, install and uninstall applications with little effort – but to me the most appealing to new users is Exposé. It looks funky and works very nicely.

Remember the ‘show desktop’ icon in the quicklaunch bar on windows? If you are still a windows user you may be able to click it right now. I was always fond of that little icon, however, it doesn’t show me what is open; Exposé does. Just move the cursor to the designated corner of the screen, top left to show all windows for me, bottom left to show desktop. Here I can see at a glance what is open followed by opening whichever is required. I use this hundreds of times a day – it is an invaluable feature.

3. QuickSilver

The reason I only keep 5 applications and 3 folders on my dock is that I can access any application I need by hitting only 3 or 4 keys: cmd + space opens Quicksilver, followed by letters of the particular app or folder, then enter. cmd + space + f + enter = Firefox.

4. Aperture

Having a well organised, mostly automated photo system is very important to me, and Aperture does this well. Once the camera/card reader is connected the import screen appears, set where you want to import the new photos; for me I create a new album in a project of that type of photography such as live music, portraits etc. The files will then be renamed according to custom settings, and placed into a folder set by date.

Aperture makes searching for photos by keyword easy, basic, yet still fairly complex editing can be done, export in custom sizes, rate images, select only images of a certain rating, easily delete images. View images stored on an external drive. For good photo management this is the one.

5. Time Machine

With so much important information on my computer regular backups are essential, and Time Machine does this very nicely. No one seems to know everything about it, but it creates nice backups for me and helps me feel secure about my data.

Time Machine keeps backups

• Hourly for the last 24 hours
• Daily for the last month
• Weekly until the backup disk is full

6. Textedit

It beats Notepad. ‘Nuff said.

7. ExpanDrive

I don’t code or do a lot of server based-technical stuff other than uploading files to my server, and as such FTP programmes have always bugged me. Big, clunky, and surely unnecessary. What I have always wanted is the ability to transfer files without having to open a new application, and I was very pleased to have found this in the form of ExpanDrive. It lets you mount SFTP servers as volumes in the Finder. So much more convienient than any stand alone appication.

8. Adium

In line with Apple’s simplicity in design, Adium is a beautifully uncluttered and clean way of communicating with contacts from a very long list of IM services; MSN, GTalk, Yahoo!, Facebook, AOL etc.

9. Dictionary

I used to ask myself this all the time, why the hell does Windows not have a Dictionary App?? Before Google, MSWord was the only way of checking spelling. The Mac on the other hand has a dictionary, the way it should be.

10. Skitch

Skitch is a great little programme for taking screen shots of particular portions of the desktop or selected open windows. In conjunction with Skitch.com, a captured image can be uploaded to my account with one click. I’ve also used Skitch for most of the images in this post.

11. AppFresh

Based on the website iusethis, Appfresh checks the site for updates of installed software, then automatically downloads and installs updated versions. This little application saves a lot of time searching for updates of individual software but doing it for you, it doesn’t take long, and as yet hasn’t proved to be problematic at all.

12. iCal

I had been looking for a nice calendar app for a few years, but failed to find one. iCal works exactly the way I want it to. I can add events and reminders easily. It enables subscribing to RSS feeds, such as my GoogleCal feed, and in turn send items to Google from iCal. Thanks to FBcal I can add the birthdays of all my friends on facebook and never have to ‘remember’ them.

13. VLC

As a video player VLC is excellent. I used it on Windows, and so am using it too on the Mac. Quicktime has always been a pain, and even on the Mac I don’t like it. One thing that particularly bugs me is that when I want to watch a video on my second monitor, the macbook screen goes blank (same with iTunes). VLC allows me to have videos automatically open fullscreen in the second monitor, plays almost all video formats.

14. Twhirl

Twitter is a great thing. But this isn’t about how good Twitter is, but rather one of its clients; Twhirl. I don’t quite understand those who use Twitter within the website. The website can be a hassle to have it open all the time while I’m browsing or editing photos, and so I use this little application at the side of the screen (usually on my other monitor to my right though). It pings when I get replies or dm’s – the website doesn’t do that. So yeah, on twitter? Use Twhirl.

15. Google Notifier

This one is also quite simple. It notifies me when I have mail.

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